I've been meaning to post this for awhile. I don't even have any excuses because I had this mostly typed up in the hospital!! Oops!! Anyways, here it is :)
* I woke up with lots of pressure, took Hank to daycare, came home and hung out & watched my newest guilty pleasure, The Real Housewives of Orange County
* Had a lot of Braxton Hicks, that were wrapping around to my back, but they were not intense
* Tracked my "contractions" on & off and they were about 8 minutes apart then I stopped tracking because I got annoyed! LOL
* Chatted with a girlfriend saying we were ready to have our babies and she told me to drink some of my red raspberry leaf tea!
* Picked up Hank from daycare at 12:30 pm & mentioned to the girls that I was feeling "off", I got home and put him down for nap & ate some lunch
* Timed contractions again & they were about 5 minutes apart but a little more intense than they were in the morning, but still not bad by any means (snuggling with Hank when he woke up)
* Because they were averaging about 5 minutes apart, I called my OB at 2:20 pm and they said to head to L&D to get checked out
* Called Casey to come home from work & told him to take his time because I wasn't sure if I was in actual labor or not. I texted Mary that she needed to take Hank and she sent Marcus over to pick Hank up and we headed to the hospital at 3:20 pm, but not without stopping at Redbox first to drop off my movie (Pitch Perfect 2)
* Contractions got closer (about every 2.5 minutes) and much more intense on the way to hospital. I think Casey was getting a little nervous as I kept grabbing ahold of the "oh shit handle". Thank goodness we were before rush hour and didn't run into any traffic problems!
* Casey dropped me off while he went to park his car, I went to the ER and got lots of stares and the person on duty brought me up to the L&D unit.
* Got into triage and was checked and the resident estimated I was around 5 cm, but then the Doctor came in and estimated I was closer to 7 cm. Holy shit! I really was in labor. While waiting to get into a delivery room, I went to the bathroom and saw my bloody show. I also texted my birth photographer, Lisa, to let her know she should head to the hospital. I think I gave her a mini heart attack
* I was officially admitted at 4:38 pm
* Contractions were getting really intense and I asked for epidural because the back pain was unbearable. At this point I was picturing a long night ahead of us. So, I asked for the epidural at 5:30 pm.
* They started an IV and wanted to get antibiotics started ASAP since I was GBS+. They prefer to have the antibiotics in for at least 4 hours. They were happy I asked for the epidural in hopes it would stall labor a bit so I could have as much of the antibiotic as possible.
Mid contraction:
In between contractions:
* After the epidural was placed I was feeling the contractions still & at this point the contractions were on top of each other with virtually no break in between them, so the doctor gave me a second dose and it finally started kicking in by probably 7 pm
* I told them I kept feeling pressure in my bum so they decided to have me checked again and I was fully dilated. This was just minutes after the epidural had kicked in.
* So I started pushing at 7:10 pm
* I said "maybe baby will be born in the caul!" because at this point my water still had not broken & they said waters bulging, then pop and it broke
* Since the epidural had just kicked in, I couldn't feel when I was pushing, so it was basically guessing game. It's not something I would recommend. I would rather have that feeling of when to push. Had I realized I was "right there" I wouldn't have gotten the epidural.
* I got to feel his head as he was crowning, it was the coolest thing!
* I had Remington Scott Astry at 7:50 pm. 7 lb 15 oz, 18 3/4 inches. We were "team green" and Casey told me "Remi has a weiner!" Apparently the OB spilled the beans in the delivery room when I was pushing, but neither of us caught it thankfully!! Haha!
* I needed an episiotomy (again) and had a 3rd degree tear in the same spot as I had with Hank. They told me the healing process would likely be worse this time around but instead I healed much faster and felt much better after this birth than I did with Hank. I had no problem at all moving around!
* I was able to do skin to skin with Remi for probably an hour, during which that time he pooped on me! They said he probably would've been 8 lbs had they weighed him when he was first born haha!!
* We nursed for the first time in the delivery room when he was about an hour old, he had a VERY strong latch! I told the doctors he was a little piranha!!
Overall, I had an awesome labor and delivery experience! I hope my next labor goes just as fast!! I'm so glad I hired a birth photographer to capture my labor & delivery, if you'd like to see the pictures, here's the link: http://dorkystorkphotography.pixieset.com/remingtonastrybirth/
I also ended up getting my placenta encapsulated this time and I'm so glad I did!! I felt so amazing just days after giving birth & best of all, no PPD!! Hallelujah!!
First picture as a family of 4:
Look at that hair!!
Heading home:
Here's my Detailed contraction history from the "Full Term" app:
My morning contractions :
Its really a beautiful story.
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