Lujayn's Birth Story

TMI Alert: There may be portions of this post that are not suitable for the those not wanting excruciating birth details including bodily fluids and or pain descriptions.

I love a good birth story, and I thought I better write this stuff down before it feels like ancient history (already kinda does). Z was 10 days early, so I was pretty sure she was going to be early too. I actually thought she would be earliER so all my preparations were based on that assumption. When that didn't happen, I started to think she could be on her own schedule. Anyway, as we all know, there is no knowing when your baby is going to come, he or she decides that. So, all was set for me to be induced on Monday, May 21, and I had changed my work schedule all around so that I could work through Wednesday the 16th, then have the rest of the week and weekend to ready myself and be at the hospital bright and early Monday morning. Then, Wednesday at 4 a.m. Miss Lu decided to impose her own plan.

I woke up to go to the bathroom (as I have been every night since this pregnancy began) and when I got back into the bed, I felt a little something watery. It was not a dramatic burst as I had with Z, but since I had just gone to the bathroom, I knew it was different. So, I went back to the bathroom to check it out and also found a little blood. At that point, I was convinced the process was starting but had no idea how it was going to progress from there. I had no more major water leaking and really no contractions, so I decided I was going to try and sleep a little more. Then, about 45 minutes or an hour later the contractions started and were about 10 or 15 minutes apart. Try sleeping through that. Not gonna happen. When I had Z, I never really had painful contractions until I was at the hospital on the pitocin, but it came back to me real quick and I knew exactly what they were.

Incidentally, when I got up the second time, Nick woke up and asked what was going on. He's been on labor alert for weeks now ever since I woke up in the middle of the night sick. I told him "I don't know, but I think the baby is coming today." He didn't get too excited, reminded me that women have false alarms all the time and to sleep and we'll see in the morning.

Well, I didn't, but I did manage to stay in bed until about 6, when I decided I was going to prep myself like I was going to the prom. I remembered with Z wishing I had clipped my toenails, shaved, had a fresh shower, etc. So, I didn't waste a minute. When I got out of the shower, I was halfway across the floor and realized I was bleeding, more evidence that today would have to be the day. We were getting all of our stuff together and Nick was thinking we'd take Z to school and go into the office for a few hours then see what happens (I was thinking I wasn't going anywhere bleeding and having contractions every 10 to 15 minutes). I called the on-call doctor and she said to go ahead and come into the office to let them check everything first. So, we decided to pack up, get Z ready for school and head over to the doctor. Nick then realized that nobody was going to the office that day.

Another side note: I had told Nick to have his parents come in on Wednesday the 16th weeks ago. I just thought that would probably be a good day with how I felt the pregnancy was progressing at that time. Also,  my mom starting bugging begging me on Monday to please have the baby Wednesday and that it would be sooo good for her. Haha. She was the first person I called when I realized it was happening and she totally freaked. She even said I could have called her at 4 a.m. that she would have had 2 more hours of joy if I had!

Okay, back to the story. So, we got some pictures including this one mid-contraction, taken by Faris who was on baby watch, but also our resident photographer.

And we headed to Z's school attempting to be normal even though I was clearly in labor. I was just having to pause every little bit to get through contractions.

When we got to the doctor's office, she checked me and said I was definitely ready and was already 80% and 3cm! She sent us straight to L&D and finally Nick was convinced this really was it!

I was admitted by 9:30, called my mom to come, and nurse started my IV and paperwork. We started the pit (which I didn't even think I would be getting, but oh well) at around 10:30 or so, and the contractions started getting real. I was kinda excited that The View was on and my spirits were high despite the pain.

Mom arrived, latte in hand and dressed for the occasion

They checked me again around 12 and I was a 5 borderline 6 and 90 or 95%, so they said it was epidural time, woohoo! Last time the epidural changed my whole demeanor, but truthfully I was already in good spirits, so the epidural was just icing on the baby cake. The epidural was very different this time too. It definitely worked but I could still feel some tightness every so often. At around 1, I was feeling some major pressure way low. I told my nurse that, and she said the baby was just dropping. Yeah, girl she's dropping right out of there is what I wanted to say. The other nurse came in and said well let's just check her again, because they weren't supposed to officially check me for another 30 minutes. The she's just dropping nurse checked first and was really confused. She reported that I was probably about a 7, but clearly wasn't sure what was going on. Then the other nurse checked and her eyes got really really big and she said (what I knew) that I was 10 and 100% and the baby was about +1. She also informed the other nurse that she was feeling the baby's head. Now, we were ready to push (duh, people).

I had a little pump for an epidural bolus and went back and forth about pushing it, then we ended up doing it, and I was still feeling some, but the nurse assured me that I wouldn't be pushing long, so I decided to proceed. I actually liked being able to feel the baby as she was coming out and felt immediate relief when she was delivered. It was like I let out a huge breath that I had been holding for about 6 months!

 I started pushing around 1:15 and Nick guessed the baby would be here by 1:30, which we all thought was ambitious but she did arrive at 1:38. I had a couple of prep pushes then I could feel her coming at which point the nurse literally held her in while we waited on the doctor. I had always heard that you get that urge to push, but I never understood it until that point. It was really neat.

All in all, it was a very low-key experience and quite different than it was with Z. I'm in love with this baby girl and so thankful that she arrived safely!

My dad got Z on his way over. He was more interested in his fruit snacks than his baby sister. Also, he got a battery powered Percy that pulls the other trains from his "baby sister" (really it was from Nana and Tata)