Annie's Birth

I know all of you have been dying to hear the details about Annie's birth, (okay, so maybe only those Mom's as obsessed with babies as I am) so here is the post you've been waiting for. It's long... you've been warned.

I started feeling contractions when Dallas and I were watching the 10:00PM news on Father's Day. I was trying not to get my hopes up (as I had thought I was going into labor a few other times already), so we continued with schedules as usual- brush teeth, bathe, read scriptures, write in journal, etc. etc. I realized at about 11:30PM that the contractions weren't going away, so I went into action. I was afraid they would stop if I went to sleep, so I got up and went to work! I cleaned my entire house until it was spotless (which is a good thing considering she is now 2 1/2 weeks old and it hasn't been cleaned since that night... sad, but true). I even found the time to blog and get on facebook for a bit.

By 2:30PM the contractions were quite uncomfortable and I figured if this was the real thing I better try to get some rest. Ha. Resting with contractions coming every 8 minutes apart, not to mention the adrenaline that was kicking in, is impossible. Every hour that went by I kept thinking, "I'm going to need to get to the hospital soon", but alas, the contractions never got closer than 7 minutes apart.

By 7:00 AM I noticed that I was leaking amniotic fluid. YES! I knew the hospital wouldn't be able to send me away, even though my contractions were still only 7 minutes apart (although by this time they were uncomfortable enough that I had to stop what I was doing and concentrate). We called Grandma Kaiserman to watch Will and we headed to the hospital (after getting ready of course!).

We got to the hospital at 8:30 AM, and by 9:30 AM they had done the PH test to make sure that I was in fact leaking amniotic fluid, and they admitted me. To my pure joy, my doctor was in town! He told me the wrong day of his race when we were in the office, so he was going to be there!

By 10:30 AM they hooked me up to pitocin to get my contractions closer together- they were still only 6-7 minutes apart, but they were painful at this point. If it weren't for the long break in between, I would have been walking in the hospital doors with my shirt up begging for the epidural immediately.

The pitocin kicked my contractions into gear and they started coming about every 3 minutes. By 11:15 AM I told my nurse that I would want my epidural in about an hour. She hung a bag of fluids to get me super hydrated, and I waited.

At 11:57 AM I was having pretty intense contractions, and I had one that broke my water. And by broke, I mean exploded. It scared me! I literally jumped and let out a quick scream of surprise.

After my water broke, my contractions were extremely painful. Dallas showed up at the hospital (he left to do some work and get his haircut), and I had him rub my back to help me cope with the pain of the contractions. To say they were intense just doesn't cut it. I had never felt pain like that before (and, remember, my epidural had worn off with Will by the end). My nurse checked me as the anesthesiologist was walking through the door at 12:15 PM, and I was a 5.

The anesthesiologist had me sit on the edge of the bed all bent over to give me the epidural. I had one contraction, and he waited until it was over. At this point, I was trying really hard not to scream because the pain was so much. I was good though and held it together on the outside (although on the inside I was writhing in pain!). Dallas stood in front of me and let me hold onto him.

It was the second contraction that came while he was trying to give me the epidural that caused all the racket. I went from a 5 to complete in one contraction. I literally felt myself open up, and the baby slide down. I thought she was just going to explode out of me! I can't remember exactly what I said, but it was along the lines of "She's here, I have to push!" Suddenly people were running in my room, pushing in carts and calling for them to page Dr. Tayler. The anesthesiologist didn't have a chance to get the tube hooked up with the medication.

They rolled me over and broke down the bed. My doctor was so amazing. He just let me go at my own pace. The pain was so bad that I just wanted to get the baby out, so I pushed (even when I wasn't having any contractions), and 7 minutes later Annie was here!

It went so fast towards the end. I didn't have the pain meds like I wanted, but because I was prepared for the pain I handled it so much better than I did with Will. (Ie... they couldn't hear me scream on the other side of the hospital.) If my other labors would go like Annie's did, I would totally just go natural. We'll have to see when the time comes (in several years from now).

Part of me still can't believe my baby girl is here. She is so sweet and we love her so much.