Monday June 20th I had a scheduled induction for 7:30am. My doctor thought my baby was at least 9 lbs and thought it was necessary since I was already over-due. We woke up bright & early on Monday and headed to hospital with such anticipation! It was quite interesting knowing I was going to be in labor that day! And this was our last picture as a family of 2!
First thing they got me gowned up, did a blood draw, and broke my water. I was dilated to 3 cm. Then they started an IV, hooked me up to a million (felt like it!) other cords/machines, and started pitocin to get contractions going.
The contractions started right away, but I couldn’t really feel them too much. We spent the morning talking about our baby girl who was about to arrive, took a few walks, and tried to rest. I felt completely fine until about noon.
Kyle was an amazing support person the ENTIRE day! My diet for the day was ice chips only and he said he was going to join in my fast so I didn’t feel deprived if he ate (even though I kept telling him to eat!). But he couldn’t resist the mini cans of pop through the OB floor kitchen though!
My doctor came back and determined I had dilated to 4 cm now and baby’s head was very low. The contractions started to pick up quite a bit! I was consistently breathing and focusing through each one. I’m not a fan of this picture…but I think it shows pretty well how I was feeling!
This is the monitor that kept track of my contractions and baby’s heartbeat. I couldn’t see it from where I was in bed, but Kyle kept close tabs and commentated on it for me… “Woah, that was a big one”!
I made it about 4 1/2 hours through active labor without any pain control, breathing through those contractions. I wanted to make it as long as I could because they say sometimes an epidural can slow your labor down. Generally you should dilate 1 cm/hour when you are in active labor and don’t have any pain control. I went from noon to 4:30pm and only progressed to 5 cm and believe me those 4 1/2 hours were a tough go!
About 4:30pm I decided the contractions were plenty strong and requested an epidural. By 5pm they had the epidural in and I had instant relief! I was feeling great and excited to meet my little girl!
Around 7:45pm my doctor checked me and I was dilated to 6 cm and 90% effaced. She ordered internal monitors to determine the strength of each contraction since I couldn’t make that determination now with the epidural.
By 9pm I was 7 cm and still feeling pretty good. Two hours later though I was still at 7 cm and my doctor said if I hadn’t made progress by midnight “we would have to talk”. Of course I knew that meant c section, which I knew was always a possibility. At 11:30pm my nurse checked me and I was still 7cm. Starting to feel discouraged I re-focused and mentally prepared myself for the possible c section. Kyle and I said prayers and knew God was in control of the arrival of our daughter!
At midnight my doctor checked me again and I made it to 9cm…in a half hour!! Needless to say I was a happy camper! I was really started to feel that “pressure”, but couldn’t push yet because I still needed to make some more progress.
Around 2am I was full dilated, effaced, and ready to push! I ended up pushing for over 2 1/2 hours! They were a long, tough few hours, but COMPLETELY worth it!!
At 4:34am Adelyn Marie was born! They put her on my tummy right away and started rubbing her down. Kyle and I were overjoyed, she was finally here! Such an amazing moment! Kyle got to cut the cord and joined our daughter just across the room while they did all those first checks.
As soon as she came out I could hear the nurses and my doctor making guesses about about big she was! No one got it though…she weighed 10lbs 2 3/4 oz and was 22 in long!! A good sized healthy little girl!
Our local hospital recently re-modeled the OB floor. They have labor & delivery suites where you stay the entire time. And when baby comes they don’t have to wisk them away, they do EVERYTHING right there in your room. It so nice!! So while the doctor was finishing up with me I could see Adelyn across the room!
Adelyn had her first bath! She wasn’t much of a fan of it though!
Pretty sure she was checking Daddy out here! So sweet!
They took her foot prints right away and my finger print as well.
After they were finished I finally got to hold my sweet baby girl!!
And of course Daddy too! Kyle was amazing through the entire experience! I am so blessed to have him as my husband and Adelyn’s Daddy!
This was our first picture as a family of 3!! We feel so incredibly blessed to have our new little healthy bundle!
And thank you to EVERYONE for all your kind words, comments, and gifts! We truly appreciate it!
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