Sunday, May 19th, I hit 41 weeks. Needless to say, I wasn't too happy to be a week over due AGAIN! Bo was born at 41 weeks and 1 day and on the 20th of the month (August 2010), so I was hopeful there'd be something happening soon!
I was feeling fine and normal all day, no contractions or pain. We went to church like usual, which was exhausting, so I came home after and rested while Jared and the kids had lunch. We ended up getting the pool out for Arabelle and Bo Sunday afternoon, so most of the afternoon was spent outside in the yard. I started having the occasional crampy like feelings, but nothing painful or even uncomfortable.
Our last day as a family of 4!
Sunday evening, Arabelle and I went to church, while Jared and Bo stayed home. Jared had court Monday morning and figured he'd better be prepared in case we weren't at the hospital. ;)
When we were getting dressed for church and while we were at church, I started noticing some contractions instead of just the cramping. They didn't hurt badly enough that anyone noticed, but I figured things would be picking up into the night.
We got home, had supper, and got the kids into bed, then I showered and started making sure I had everything together. I also did 2 loads of laundry and straightened up a bit. In hindsight, I should have tried to sleep a little at that point. By 9:00, I knew it was the real deal. The contractions weren't lasting all that long (under 30 seconds) and were still about 7 minutes apart, but they were picking up a bit.
I crawled into bed at 11 and slept for maybe 15 minutes before I had to get up. I knew we'd be going soon, so I started timing them. Once they got to 4-5 minutes apart and lasting nearly a minute, I woke Jared up and let him know it was time to go!
Sambo arrived to stay with Arabelle and Bo around midnight (?? I'm not exactly sure what time....). We got to the hospital, registered, and went up to Labor and Delivery. By then it was about 1:45, I think. Let's just say, when you arrive on the 20th of the month and tell them your due date was the 12th, they assume it is the real thing. ;)
I was at 5cm and fully effaced when we got there, which was good news! By the time the IV was in, labs were drawn, etc., it was about 4:00. The contractions were about 3 minutes apart and getting pretty intense, but they were easy to breathe through. I let them know I'd take the epidural any time because I really wanted to sleep some before it was time to deliver.
I got the epidural at 4:30. I should have known it was't working right when my right leg went numb really quickly and it took a while for the left leg to catch up. I was numb for awhile and was able to sleep off and on for an hour or two, then I started feeling the contractions more and more. I couldn't move my right leg at all (not even to wiggle my toes!), but I could move my left leg decently well. The anesthesiologist gave me another dose of the epidural after 7 am, but it didn't help at all, despite position changes, etc.
At 6:30, I was 7cm and at 9:25, I was 10 cm! Dr. G was in surgery, so the nurses started setting things up. Pushing started at 9:51 with the nurses and after 2 contractions, she told me to stop and Dr. G came in to deliver. He told me that the baby would be out in 1 more contraction, which really surprised me! It took about 20 minutes to deliver Bo and Arabelle, so I was counting on the same this time. When he said that, I figured the baby just had to be smaller than they were.
One more contraction and she was out, at 9:56 am. Yep, started at 9:51 and she was here at 9:56! I couldn't see if it was a boy or girl at first because the umbilical cord was in the way, so Dr. G announced, "It's a girl!!!" for us! I cut the cord (Jared hates being in the Delivery room) and they took her to the side to get cleaned up and checked out.
Even after I saw her, I didn't think she'd be as big as she was. I was thinking *maybe* 9 lbs, but probably 8 something? She measured 22 inches long, then they took her to the nursery to be weighed. I was really surprised when they came back and said 9lb 10oz!
I was SO relieved she was here and healthy and I can't even describe the relief I felt to have that big girl OUT!
Stay tuned for part 2 to hear about everyone's reaction to "It's a GIRL!".
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