With my water breaking at 5:30 AM on Friday, I assumed we would have the baby by 1 or 2 in the afternoon, this being my second pregnancy and all. I even thought we might have him sometime that morning! Not so.
After getting some things together, doing last minute chores, and figuring out a plan for Lucy, we left to drop her off at a friends house, stopped by Panera to get some breakfast for Pete (he forgot to eat before we left haha) and headed to the hospital. We probably checked in to the hospital around 9 am and I had been contracting every 6 or 7 minutes all morning.
When they checked me I was only dilated to 4 centimeters, but was determined not to be upset, thinking it would quickly move a long soon enough. The nurse suggested we do some walking to speed things up... we probably walked for 45 minutes off and on over the next couple hours, and watched a few episodes of the Cosby Show on netflix in between.
The next 9 hours went by extremely slow. We used the birthing ball which I liked a lot. Mostly what I remember is that every time the nurse checked me, she would say, "okay, you're only at about a 4 to 5 still, so definitely don't push." An hour later: "okay still only about a 5, don't push." This pattern continued for awhile. It seemed like I was in transition forever stuck at 7 centimeters. I kept on thinking, maybe if I try to push a little it'll feel better and move things along. (That was the case with Lucy when I wasn't sure I should be pushing yet and I was at 10 already.)
They started me on antibiotics at 5:15 because it had been so long since my water broke. When they told me that morning I would need to go on them if I hadn't had the baby by 5, I dismissed the possibility thinking that I would
definitely have a baby in my arms by then!
The hours dragged on and on. After I "cried wolf" about 4 times telling the nurse to come a check me because I thought I might need to push, it was about 8:30 pm and I was still at 7. Not happy. My contractions were excruciating and I was extremely disheartened because labor had already been longer than with Lucy and I had no idea when it would end.
Pete was an excellent coach during the whole ordeal by the way, constantly reassuring me and encouraging me. I couldn't have done it without him.
At about 8:50 I had a contraction where I could not help pushing. I told Pete and he called the nurse. As she came in, I had a huge contraction where I'm pretty sure Adam almost came out. The next 5 minutes were chaotic as my body decided to push him out quite violently. I feel like I just pushed for several minutes while nurses yelled at me to stop pushing, called for Dr. Nord. The doctor came
just in time, even though they told me I'd probably have the baby without him because baby was coming so fast. He arrived in time to join in the party of people yelling at me to stop pushing so fast and breath. At 9 pm sharp, Adam was born.
The cord was wrapped around his neck a couple times so he was slightly blue and needed some oxygen. He was fine after a few minutes and scored an 8 (I think) on the apgar test. He was 6 pounds 11 ounces and measured 18.5 inches long.
Because pushing was so fast and furious, I had a second degree tear and the doctor took awhile to stitch me up. Adam had a little bit of bruising on his head but I couldn't notice it the day after.
Despite a long labor (or at least way longer than I expected), and a chaotic delivery, my recovery has been really good. I needed almost no pain medication afterwards and was able to walk out of the hospital when we left Sunday afternoon. Its only 5 days after birth and I don't feel sore at all.
Adam is a dream. He is eating really well and sleeping wonderfully. He weighed 6 pounds 8 ounce at his doctor's appointment yesterday, and didn't cry at all last night except for when he was hungry. I'm pretty sure I got more than 6 hours of sleep combined!
Lucy is also doing well. She loves her baby brother, says "hi" to him and gives him kisses often.
I should mention too that we were very blessed to have Pete's parents come in on Friday night to help us take care of Lucy and adjust these first few days. We are so thankful for them and thankful that God decided to bring Adam in on a weekend to they could come.
