Well, she decided she didn't want to come on her own even though I tried everything "natural" to get her to come... We even went to the mall the day after Christmas! My blood sugar got really low but little Cranberry did not want to come. So, we left Nate with Nonna and headed to the hospital at 7am on the 27th.
They put us in our room right away, so I was in bed and watching Today by about 7:10. They had to ask me a bunch of questions and fill out all of the "paperwork" (which is now mostly electronic). The Dr came in and measured me (I was around 3-4cm) and broke my water around 9, then they started the pitocin. The contractions started kicking in around 9:30. Unfortunately since I was on pitocin I had to be monitored, so I couldn't get in the tub or walk around... I had to stay in or right next to my bed unless I needed the bathroom. I tried everything I could but when they came and checked me at about 12:30 and I had only progressed 1cm, I caved and got an epidural. I was really hoping to be strong enough not to need it, but I couldn't really bear the thought of another 10-12 hours of labor stuck in bed. I'm really glad that I did though. :) I was able to sleep a little bit and started progressing much quicker at that point. I don't know if it would have happened anyway, or if my being able to relax helped to speed things along, but in another 2 hours I had progressed and was ready to push! Unlike with Nate I didn't feel like I HAD to push NOW, so the hour or so I had to wait for the Dr (he wanted me to labor a little longer to make sure she was nice and low) was much better. And, I guess she was ready to come out at that point because it only took 3 pushes and we were done!
Her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck twice and her body once, but it was so long (unusually so) that there was plenty of slack. So, it wasn't cutting off any of her needed supplies or nutrients and never registered any sort of stress during labor. Thank God for that! They did their initial quick tests and got her cleaned up just enough to give her to me for some Koala time. We were very happy to welcome our new little girl to our family!
They put us in our room right away, so I was in bed and watching Today by about 7:10. They had to ask me a bunch of questions and fill out all of the "paperwork" (which is now mostly electronic). The Dr came in and measured me (I was around 3-4cm) and broke my water around 9, then they started the pitocin. The contractions started kicking in around 9:30. Unfortunately since I was on pitocin I had to be monitored, so I couldn't get in the tub or walk around... I had to stay in or right next to my bed unless I needed the bathroom. I tried everything I could but when they came and checked me at about 12:30 and I had only progressed 1cm, I caved and got an epidural. I was really hoping to be strong enough not to need it, but I couldn't really bear the thought of another 10-12 hours of labor stuck in bed. I'm really glad that I did though. :) I was able to sleep a little bit and started progressing much quicker at that point. I don't know if it would have happened anyway, or if my being able to relax helped to speed things along, but in another 2 hours I had progressed and was ready to push! Unlike with Nate I didn't feel like I HAD to push NOW, so the hour or so I had to wait for the Dr (he wanted me to labor a little longer to make sure she was nice and low) was much better. And, I guess she was ready to come out at that point because it only took 3 pushes and we were done!
Her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck twice and her body once, but it was so long (unusually so) that there was plenty of slack. So, it wasn't cutting off any of her needed supplies or nutrients and never registered any sort of stress during labor. Thank God for that! They did their initial quick tests and got her cleaned up just enough to give her to me for some Koala time. We were very happy to welcome our new little girl to our family!
