Birth Story: Ellery Lynn is here!!

"tap tap... anyone still there?"... I am sorry for the long absence... geez, you would think I had a baby or something.... oh wait :-)

** WARNING: probably a long and detailed post, mostly for my memory... so continue at your own risk! **

My due date was Thursday, October 7th. I was a bit skeptical that I would deliver that week because my previous doctor had given me the due date of October 15th...so I figured it could easily be closer to that date as well.
We went to the first meeting of our church small group Thursday night and I felt absolutely normal. No indication of impending delivery. At 3am on Friday morning my water broke. I didn't know how soon "hard contractions" would begin (and I had just a *BIT* of adrenaline) so I got up and packed my hospital bag, did the dishes, watched a movie (I love you man) etc. Now let me put a disclaimer in here that most doctors will tell you to come right in to the hospital if your water breaks. This is because there is a risk of infection. I knew this, but also knew that they wouldn't give antibiotics until it had been broken for about 18 hours or so... so I had some lag time. I really wanted to get through some of early labor at home instead of laying in a hospital bed. So we didn't call the doctor or anything until around noon. Once it was around 10am I wanted to go to Kohls and use up a 10$ gift card since it expired the next day and Adam can usually get a good shirt for 10 dollars. So we did that. We also returned some library books and I got my toenails painted. (I had this extreme obsession that my toenails had to be pretty for delivery... and ended up wearing socks the whole time. Whatever).

We went in to the hospital around 1pm I think. I was very disappointed with the situation at first. I'll just say that we were put in a TINY, windowless triage room for over 6 hours, my nurses were cranky and not very kind, and we were bored out of our minds. They couldn't promise us that we would ever get moved to a bigger room and I was regretting delivering at that hospital instead of Huntington.

When I first was checked for dilation (by an RN) they said I was still about fingertip (which I had been for 2 weeks prior... So that wasn't that exciting. The doctor gave orders over the phone to start me on a medication called Cervadil which would help soften my cervix. This wasn't fun news to me because usually it is left in for about 12 hours (in the hospital) and so it sounded like it was going to be a LOOONNNG night for us. The doctor ended up coming in before the medication was started (the nurses were VERY slow) and when she checked me for dilation she said I was more like 2cm... so she decided to skip the Cervadil and go straight to the Pitocin. The Pitocin would make my contractions strong and regular (so far they were very irregular- not a good labor pattern). I was finally admitted and an IV was started sometime after 7pm (shift change). The Pitocin kicked in right away...ouch!

After a few hours I was moved to a larger room. I won't go into too many details but my new night nurse was also not very kind. She was very blunt and for some reason always said very negative comments. There was absolutely no encouragement... I had to be the positive one. We tried to be very sweet to her but her personality made me feel self conscious. Eventually I asked for an epidural and said something to the extent of "not to be a wimp, but I'd like to get the process of the epidural started"... (I would usually not word it like that but I already felt self conscious around her...). After I said this, she said "You are." I'm sorry, but what kind of labor nurse (or nurse in general) says that!? SO inappropriate I think. I won't mention much else about her... eventually she asked what I do and it came out that I was a nurse- she immediately was much more chatty and kind. It kind of ticked me off but at least the end result was that during delivery she wasn't a jerk.

Also- my mom and Adam's parents were there with us on and off from the time we came to the hospital and throughout the night to right before I started to push. It was great support and it helped pass the time. Taylor came to visit around 11:30 and my dad drove out in the early morning and was there in time to wish me luck before delivery as well.

The epidural process was yucky (mostly because I was still contracting) but SOOO very necessary. Those contractions were killer. I can't imagine having to suffer through them (and the pushing) for the next 8-9 hours. I responded very quickly to the epidural and was completely numb from right under the breast down to my tippy toes. I could no longer feel the contractions at all, Hallelujah!!! But, I have to say that it was also a weirdly uncomfortable feeling to be THAT numb.

At around midnight my family left the room and we turned down the lights to take a rest (only with an epidural!!). By 2am I was feeling VERY crummy. My IV burned from the antibiotics (given to prevent infection), my pulse was in the 140's-150's, my blood pressure was low (80/50's), and my oxygen saturations kept dropping. All of these vital signs caused alarms to continue to go off. They also made me feel very light headed, nauseous, and completely out of control of my body. I woke Adam up just to have some company because I felt SO horrible. A nurse came in (while my nurse was at lunch) and I was about to pass out but then ended up vomiting while Adam held the bowl. Try vomiting while you are laying almost flat and can't move anything below your lungs. It was pretty miserable. And Adam will forever be my hero :-) (Also, he knew I was going to throw up before I did and asked the nurse for a bowl... he knows me so well!). From between 2-4 am I was thinking to myself that if I wasn't dilating then I was going to want a C-Section. At around 4am I was checked for dilation again (It had been a number of hours and the last check I was still a 2) - and TA-DA I was at 9 1/2 cm!!! No wonder I was feeling so miserable....my body had been working very hard!

By around 6 the nurse started setting up the room for delivery and called the doctor. My family came in and said "good luck" and then at around 6:30am it was time to push!! Adam held one leg while the nurse held the other... and I "Huffed, and I puffed,... " haha... okay so at 6:55 am Ellery Lynn was placed in my arms! I remember saying "She's soooo beautiful." And honestly, she was. Her skin was smooth and her head was round. She looked at me and I loved her.

She was crying but it wasn't a very strong cry and the nurses decided to take her to the warmer to try and suction her lungs- get some gunk out!! She wasn't improving like they had hoped so after giving her to me one more time for a family picture and another kiss, they took her to the nursery. I understood and wasn't TOO worried (but of course a healthy amount of concern). Adam followed her to the nursery and soon after my family came in to say hi. Then of course they booked it to the nursery window to take a peek at the little sweet pea!

I won't go into TOOO many details but Ellery stayed in the nursery in the care of some AWESOME nurses for 6 hours. Her respiratory issues resolved and she was fine. There was some concern she was developing an infection after some lab results came back high, and one of the Pediatricians thought she may have felt a click in her hip (which would need some follow up with an orthopedic doctor). Ellery was released from the nursery and came to our room around 1pm and immediately was loved and gushed over. Since family had been there for a LONG time by then, they left in the late afternoon and it was just Adam and I to rest and enjoy little Ellery.

On Sunday October 10, visitors included my grandparents, Uncle Taylor, and later in the evening Michael and Megan Thompson and Tricia and Ryan Hinkle. We felt so blessed to have everyone come celebrate with us! Also, Ellery began antibiotic therapy via an IV for her possible infection. Poor little trooper!!

On Monday we had more visitors: Aunt Janis & the boys, Aunt Pam, my mom, Grannin, and Adam's parents. Unfortunately by then Ellery had been placed under light therapy to treat jaundice so people weren't allowed to hold her as long as they would have liked. Such is life!

I was discharged from the hospital Monday night but Ellery had to stay overnight for the light therapy and to wait for some lab results to come back the next day which would tell us more about her infection. We came back late at night and early in the morning to feed Ellery and then around 8 am her pediatrician called us and said she was okay to be discharged! She was discharged around 12pm on Tuesday October 12 :-) We were soooo excited to take her home.

We have been a tired & happy family of 3 ever since!!

(See, I told you it was loonnggg....)