The Birth Story

My due date, February 4th, came and went.  Even before my due date, I tried things to kick start labor. My friend Lori, who was due the day before me, was induced on January 28th as she had been on bed rest leading up to her delivery.  I thought it would only be fitting that we should be in the hospital together...of course, no such luck.  The Wednesday before my due date, I had a doctor's appointment. I asked her to strip my membranes.  I was told that this usually kicks starts labor within hours or days for people.  My uterus scoffs at said remarks.  My actual due date arrives and I thought, ok, I will probably go this weekend. With Dylan, I went into labor 2 days after my due date.  The weekend passed and the doctor's appointment that I scheduled for Wednesday, that I said I probably wouldn't need, I go to.  This time, I am dilated to about 4 cm. She once again strips my membranes, and once again, my uterus laughs.  The following day, I decide to call the office and schedule an induction for Monday, you know just in case I don't go into labor on my own by then.  (I mean we have company coming in the following Friday to see the baby. It would be nice if I am not in the hospital when they come)

Ten days after my due date, I find myself waking up at 4:30am to go to the hospital for the induction.  It felt surreal.  It felt more like going to the airport to catch an early flight than to head to the hospital for a delivery that I wanted to happen on it's own. Oh well....

We get there, and they check us into a room. It's not the room I delivered Dylan in, which I so wanted again, but I guess any room will do, right.  About 8:50am, my doctor shows up.  The nurse was going to go ahead and start on pitocin before that, but I really wanted to just have my water broken to see if that would do anything.  She broke my water and it was clear, that meant she would give me a few hours to see if I did anything.  At 11:00am, the nurse checks me, I am now about 5.5cm dilated but they still had hoped that I would be further along. The start the pitocin. I have heard rumors about pitocin making contractions a lot harder than normal labor contractions. To prepare, I asked if I could go ahead and get the epidural port put in so that I didn't have to sit still through contractions as they tried to poke my back. (Last time, they did it 3 times before she got it in.) Low and behold, I get the same lady, I am thinking it's going to take her 3 times again.  She commented that my muscles in my back were tight and that I must be an athlete.  Thankfully, it only took once and it wasn't that bad. I asked to not to any epidural until I was ready as again, I heard rumors that could slow down labor.  About 12:50, I give in and push the button on my meds deliverer thingy and get my first shot of whatever is in an epidural. At this point, I was dilated to about a 7 or 8. I thought I better do this now before it's too late to do it at all.  I really didn't feel like it made that much difference but I had to wait 30 minutes before I could push the button again. After I pushed the button again, 30 minutes later, I talked to the nurse and asked her why I was still feeling all the contractions ( I remembered with Dylan, I felt nothing after they did my epidural). The NA came back in and gave me some meds directly in my port to the epidural to help with the pain.  About 2:00, I tell my nurse, Rosie, that I feel pressure.  She came over and checked me, I was at a 10.  She called the doctor.  I decided that even though I could do another shot, I decided not to.  I was like, how cool would it be for this baby to be born at 2:14pm on 2/14.  The nurse had me push one time to see if anything happened and immediately, she told me to stop. Thankfully, as Dr. Eia was walking in and getting dressed.  The nurse kept her hand in place, just in case it popped out, I guess.  At 2:05pm, I started pushing.  Damien said there is no way you can do this by 2:14pm. Maybe I was to agressive, as I was 2 minutes shy of my goal.  Dr. Eia had asked Damien if he wanted to call it (the sex of the baby) and he said yes.  After saying yes, he started to fear that he would call out the wrong sex, so when it was time to call the sex, he paused briefly...it's a .......GIRL. (Later he admitted he was diligent about announcing the sex of the baby a) not to get it wrong and b)baby's genital are swollen when they are first born and he had never seen a girl before. I couldn't believe we had a girl. It was worth the wait. All the nurses thought it was so cool that we didn't know what the sex was which made it more exciting.  Damien got to cut the cord and he had to lean in really close as the doctor said the cord was really short.  I think maybe that's why the baby was late, couldn't really drop per say. After the delivery, the doctor pediatrican asked if I had any questions. I began to ask her who would do the circumcision since my doesn't do them.  The doctor said oh ok, we call talk to her about that tomorrow.  Then I was like, oh my...I had a girl, not a boy.  We had a good chuckle over that. I blame the drugs.  Damien says she was just being nice to go along with it...Damien thought for a minute that we knew something that he didn't know.  

That's how our little valentine came into the world...

At 2:12pm on Feburary 14, 2011, weighing 8lbs 3oz and 20 inches long (Dylan was 8lbs 2oz and 21 inches)  with a head full of black semi curly hair.  We are happy to have Natalie Estelle in our family.