As promised, I wanted to share the birth story of my little Emilia...
It was exactly 1 week before my due date when the hubby and I were woken up by Evie at the lovely hour of 4:30am. We were all dealing with colds and she could not seem to get a good night's sleep. As my husband went to go check on her, I laid in bed and tried to go back to sleep but felt some pressure in my lower abdomen. I assumed it was just the baby pushing down on my bladder, so I got up and went to the washroom. While in the washroom, I looked down to see it....my bloody show. Oh boy. Was that a contraction and not just a need to pee?? I went back to bed just as the hubby came back from getting Evie to go back to sleep. I whispered to him..."I think I might be going into labor! Maybe you shouldn't go to work today." To which he replied, "Are you sure? Maybe just get some rest. I'm going to go shower and maybe we can see how you feel in a bit." 10 minutes later, I felt the "pressure" again...and then 10 minutes later again. That is when I knew things were starting. I took a deep breath and thought OK, this is happening!
With Evie, I did start having some contractions, but they were mild and I was scheduled for an induction that day anyways, so I didn't really have the experience of a surprise labor. This was all new territory for me! I told the hubby that I was sure I was having contractions and that we probably should drop off Evie at my parent's house and call my doctor's office. With that, we started getting our things together.
I called my parents to let them know we were on our way. The entire drive over, I was timing my contractions and they eventually went from every 10 minutes, to every 7-8 minutes. I still figured we had plenty of time before I would need to go to the hospital. We got to my parent's house around 8am. At 8:30, I called my doctor's office. I was due to have my 39 week appointment later that day and asked if I could be seen earlier since I was having early signs of labor. They agreed to see me within the hour.
We arrived at the doctor's office and upon an examination, I was told I was about 4-5 cm dialated and that my cervix was soft and nicely effaced. With that news, the doctor thought I should probably just head straight for labor and delivery. It was very convenient since my ob-gyn's office is connected with the hospital. So, we basically just got our bags from the car and headed to get the show on the road!
I think we checked in at the hospital around 11am. Into the lovely hospital gown I went!
My contractions were getting a bit more intense so the nurse called in for my epidural around 1pm. The epidural was just like I remembered from the first time...really uncomfortable. But, I can't imagine not getting it! Labor contractions are brutal...I have all the respect in the world for those mamas that have natural births! I don't know if I could do it. I tried to get some rest in after the epidural, since my pain was down significantly.
A few hours later, they broke my water. Soon after that, the resident doctor checked me and we learned that the baby was in a posterior position or "sunny side up." They wanted to wait a bit to see if the baby would turn on its own. We waited a while and the next time I was checked the doctor said I was ready to push! They called my doctor and I did one push and the nurse told me to stop! The baby's head was already coming out and my doctor had not arrived!! The nurse made a call to get the house doctor into my room as soon as possible because the baby was ready to come out any minute! Just as I was about to push, my doctor rushed in and all it took was one push and baby Emilia was born!! It was really the fastest labor I could have ever imagined! With Evie I was pushing for 2 hours, so this was a whole new ballgame for me!
At 5:37pm, Emilia came into this world. She was 8 lbs. 3 oz. and 20 inches long. She was perfect. My hubby cut the umbilical cord and my doctor placed her directly on my chest for immediate skin-to-skin. I was instantly in love and cried in happiness. I now had 2 beautiful little girls in my life. I felt truly blessed.
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