Tuesday night I started getting irregular contractions that felt more like braxton hicks. Not painful, and sporadic, but I was hoping it was doing something. I ended up staying up until 2:30am cleaning our house because I just knew we wouldn't get the chance to the next day. Wednesday morning I had a doctor appointment. I told Justin, "I don't think we'll be coming back here today. Make sure to pack everything you need for the hospital." At my doctor appointment I was only 1cm and he stretched me to a "soft 2cm". I had no idea what that meant, and I was a little bummed I hadn't dilated more, but I was still convinced she would be here either that night or the next morning.We drove to my parent's house (where we had dropped off Jacob). Justin, Jacob and I went out to lunch with my dad and brother. I was contracting somewhat regularly and while they were stronger, they weren't painful. Justin was convinced we needed to start timing when we finished lunch, but I didn't want to. We walked all through out my parent's neighborhood - nearly an hour. We went back and began timing. I was averaging just over 5 min apart and just under 1 minute long. I got tired and since my contractions weren't painful yet, I decided to nap. After an hour, I woke up and we started timing again. They were now 4min 20sec apart and about 1min 20sec long, but still not very painful, although I could feel them getting stronger. I still didn't want to go but Justin was so insistent so I let him call my doctor. They told me to head in, but I still didn't want to. My husband started loading everything up while I ate something and then we left. Oddly enough, my contractions pretty much stopped. I started getting frustrated and so did Justin. I didn't want to go, but he kept saying "the worst they can do is send us home."
We checked in around 5:45pm and they put us in a room with the best view. I mean, it was incredible - this is only a part of the panoramic view we had. I was thinking, "Oh man, I hope they admit me and we keep this room!" The nurse checked me and I was *almost* 4cm. They had me walk the floor for about 25-30 minutes, and during that time I got some contractions that were strong enough that I couldn't walk through them. When I was checked again I was 4-5cm. The nurse said they still hadn't gotten orders to admit me from my doctor, but she said it was very unlikely that I would be sent home (yes, I get my room!) Eventually, around 9pm, they admitted me and started monitoring my contractions. They were decent, but again, not too painful. People started coming - my mom, dad, Justin's mom and aunt. The randomly our good friend Glenn showed up, and shortly after him, my friend Tiffany. It was kind of neat having them there (until I had to flip Glenn off for saying stupid thing... he he he). My contractions started getting painful, but moaning through them made them manageable. Then they decided to break my water. I was a little hesitant, but I agreed to let them do it. It was gross and there was a little meconium in it. Then the fun began. My pain level was at an all new level. I could hardly take it, and I treasured my "breaks" in between (that were progressively getting shorter). Although I once again was unsure about it, I decided to get an epidural. The anesthesiologist came within 5 minutes and was super nice. He even put up with Justin asking a million questions. He said, "Wow... you have a scientist's mind. You're extremely observant and ask me questions no one has ever asked before." Ha. Good thing this guy had a great sense of humor :)
After the epidural I felt great. I could still easily move my legs, but the pain was gone. It was a good balance. They checked me and I was an 8. I was told "Let us know when you feel pressure on your bottom and we'll call the doctor to start pushing." Well... almost immediately I started feeling some pressure but decided to wait to say anything because I wasn't sure if it was just the baby moving. After about 10 or 15 minutes later I said, "Ok, I'm definitely feeling pressure". So the nurse said she'd call my doctor. That was at 1am. A few minutes after that I was like, "Um... I need to push." My nurse kept telling me I needed to wait for the doctor. I started having to do relaxing breathing techniques and kept telling my body to relax because the urge to push was so great. I was trying to convince the nurse we didn't need to wait, lol. I was like, "you do all the work anyway... the doctor only really catches the baby..." lol. Finally the doctor came, with sheet marks on his face and hair disheveled and at 1:30 I started pushing. Immediately, with my first push, she was crowning. Everyone yelled "Oh my gosh - look at all that hair!!" I kept pushing, and got her head halfway out, but just couldn't get her out any further. I started yelling "JUST GET HER HEAD OUT!! GET IT OUT!!" lol. My doctor kept trying to stretch me but I guess I finally started to tear, so he gave me an episiotomy. At that point he could have punched me in the face and I wouldn't have cared, as long as it helped get her head out ;) After the episiotomy, one good push and her head was out and I was like "Oh my gosh... that's so much better!!" Then they said, "Ok, one last push for the body!" So I pushed and at 1:36am, Jenna Lynne French was born! (Yes... only 6 minutes of pushing!) They put her immediately on my chest and she was beautiful. I kept saying, "Her hands look big!" lol :)
In the room with me, I had Justin, my mom, Justin's mom, my Aunt/godmother and my friend Tiffany. I wasn't planning on having all those people in there, but they were there so I said they could stay if they wanted. My friend took the camera and took a bunch of what I call "action shots" (aka, crotch shots), but I'll spare you all those :)
After Jenna and I had some time together, they took her to clean her up and weigh her. They weighed her in grams at first. The nurse weighing said "4600 grams". I have no concept of what that equals in pounds, but I looked at the other nurse's face as she entered it into the computer and her eyes got really big. Then the other nurse said, "Ok, in pounds... 10lbs 2oz." Everyone in the room said "OH MY GOSH!!!" And I said, "ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?" I honestly didn't believe it at first.
Still in shock at her weight, the measured her and she was 20in... a little meatball! I got her back for my "golden hour" and by 2am she was latched on and nursing away. Everyone was shocked and said, "Is he already nursing?!?" I was like, "Uh... yeah..." She's a big girl. The kids gotta eat ;)
Over all it was a great delivery and I don't regret any of the decisions I made. We ended up spending the night in our delivery room because they were so full they had absolutely no rooms available. Finally at 11:30am we got a recovery room. I could go on and on about the ups and downs of the next couple days (lack of sleep + a constantly nursing baby = crazy mama), but I'll spare you all of that. Jenna is here and I am SO excited to have her as part of our family. Welcome to the world, Jenna bird :)
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