As with Emmeline's birth story, let's start with Corabelle's birth story in emojis:
4⃣🕙🕙🚫🕙😳❓🏩😩6⃣💉☺️7⃣😴😌9️⃣💦🔟😝😖👶🏻💗😍💕👨👩👧👧
Corabelle's due date was February 10th, but given that we were moving at the end of the month, we were hopeful that she might decide to come a little bit early. Like with Emmeline, at about 37 weeks, I was 3.5-4cm dilated, but we knew from Emmeline this still just meant a waiting game. Just after 37 weeks, I woke up in the middle of the night with what seemed like contractions and lower back pain. After timing them in the living room for a while, I decided they were getting closer together and that I should take a shower in case we went to the hospital. As soon as I got in the shower, they stopped completely and I had no more contractions for the next several days. So back to the waiting game!
In the meantime, Dr. Strong surprised all of us when he said since I was already dilated and on the second kid, that if I wanted to, we could induce any time after 39 weeks. He anticipated it would go very quickly since Emmeline had been quick, and I was already so far along. We decided to go ahead and schedule an induction for February 7th. Again, we were still hopeful that maybe, just maybe, she would decide to show up on her own before then!
And sure enough, she decided she would! Saturday, Feb. 3rd, at 3:30am, I woke up with about 45 minutes of contractions and lower back pain. But, when I got up and walked, they went away. I chalked it up as another false labor like the one the week before. We woke up Saturday morning and ate a normal breakfast. I felt a bit crampy, but nothing super strange. I did decide to eat a little bit of pineapple since one of my friends swears it sent her into labor.
We met Sally, Mike and Everett for brunch, and towards the end I started getting some semi painful, short contractions. When I started timing them back home, they were only about 10 sec every 3-7 minutes, so I thought maybe dehydration related. I sat down, chatted with Hannah on the phone, and they mostly went away for the next few hours. Emmeline decided not to nap this day, so after her rest time, we headed to H-E-B. I started getting some short contractions again. Nick happened to get a call at the time we walked into the store, so while he pushed Emmeline around in the cart, I was trying to time contractions, read the grocery list, and navigate the busy store. At this point the short contractions were now lasting 15-20 seconds and were 2-4 min apart, starting to get a little more painful.
I think this is the point where Nick realized that it might be the real thing, and he was ready to the go to the hospital. I still wasn't sure because they were so short. We decided to go home and that I would sit and rest to see if they stopped. They did become farther apart at 7-8 min, but they also became longer 30-40 sec and more intense, even having to breathe through some of them. As they became more intense, Nick started putting things in the car for the hospital. I was still not 100% sure it was time to go, but decided it was best to get Emmeline to Sally and Mike's before dinner and bedtime. We handed over Emmeline to Sally at a gas station around 5pm and headed to the hospital.
We got into triage and checked out, where I was dilated to 6cm and had a bulging sac and were told we would be staying. I was very worried about not getting epidural based on Emmeline's birth, so I immediately asked for one since I was already 6. We were told we have to do labs and paperwork in our room first. We finally got into a room and started paperwork. The nurse tried to start an IV and take blood, but she couldn't seem to find a vein. This was probably the worst part of my whole labor. Sooooo painful on top of increasingly painful contractions. She'd put in an IV, but it wouldn't work, and she tried 3 times in one hand, before the other nurse successfully placed an IV on my other hand. I still have a green hand and wrist today from the ordeal!
But, once that ordeal was over, the epidural was in by 6:45pm. We sat and waited a while, and met our nurse for the night, Liz, who was fabulous and a welcome change from my IV nurse. Around 8:30pm I was 7cm. Because I tested positive for Group B strep, they wanted to get my second dose of penicillin in at 10pm before breaking my water or doing anything to speed up labor. Dr. Strong also called and said he will come in for delivery no matter the hour even though he was not on call. (He seriously is the best doctor; the only one of all my friends' doctors who tries to deliver every one of his babies unless he is out of town.) This meant we had a lot of time to nap on and off, talk, and most importantly choose a name! We had it narrowed down to two names before arriving at the hospital, but we hadn't decided yet. We went back and forth all night, writing names on the board before finally deciding on Corabelle Mae around 11pm.
Shortly after finishing my 2nd dose of antibiotics, I was 9cm dilated, but my water was still in tact. More napping, rolling side to side on the bed, etc. Around midnight, Liz says that my water broke but there wasn't much liquid so that's why I didn't feel it break. She said I'm still a 9, almost 10 and would call Sr Strong to see what he wanted to do. However, at the same time, we heard his voice outside the door; he was guessing it was about time and came on his own. What perfect timing! When he checked me, he says I'm at a 10, station +2 so it's time to push and that is should be fast.
By the time they made bed and got everything ready, it was about 12:45am and time to start pushing. I was still mentally preparing for lots of pushing since Emmeline was 1.5 hours, but about 3 pushes/contractions later (5min), and Dr. Strong and Liz say that's it you're done and she's out!! Nick and I were both in shock at how fast it was! Corabelle made her appearance at 12:50am, Nick cut the cord, and we started our skin to skin "Golden Hour" time. Corabelle was covered in vernix, and she didn't cry nearly as much as Emmeline did. She kept her eyes closed quite a while, and gave us quite a show of her pouty lower lip. I'm pretty sure that was her way of wrapping us both around her finger right away!
No comments:
Post a Comment