This picture was taken the day I went into labor. Needless to say, a lot has happened since then! Let's start with me going into labor 3 weeks early.
On Monday the 16th, I had a Dr's appointment that included an u/s, a NST and my first internal exam. Geo was with me and it was my longest appointment yet. They started with the u/s. Everything looked good, but part of my u/s was that the tech had to watch for Eli to practice breathing. It's a completely random act and Eli decided to be stubborn. After a good 20 minutes of waiting, we decided that he wasn't going to "breathe", so off to the NST it was. 15 minutes later everything was looking good then it was time to get checked. I was only about a fingertip dilated and pretty much had zero progression. My Dr joked as she did the internal that "Maybe this will get things started for you." Little did she know that within 3 hours I was going to be admitted. After my Dr's appointment Geo and I headed to the mall to get some running around done. As we walked around Home Depot, I was on the phone with my mom and told her that "Pretty much between now and the next month, he'll be here." But, realistically we thought we had at least another week since I had an appointment then where I was going to discuss being induced with my high risk Dr. We hit a couple more stores and then headed to the food court for lunch. We were sitting in front of the pizza place and it happened. We were just getting ready to go get our hair cut (and for all those who know, I was looking forward to that hair cut!) and my water broke. Right there in the food court. Thankfully I got my meal in before my water broke because that would be the last thing I ate for the next 24 hours. We headed home because I thought I had just peed myself since I gushed fluid, then nothing else happened. I made it in the house before another gush occurred and then it didn't stop this time. As I started to panic, I called my mom (not even 2 hours after our last phone call) and she answered with "You can't be going into labor already.." Well, yes I was! I changed, grabbed my hospital bag (Thank God I had it ready!) and car seat and we went to the hospital. On the way we called Geo's parents and told them we were headed in, but not to leave yet since we weren't sure if I was going to be admitted. We headed into L&D where they took me to a room and checked to make sure that what I was leaking was really amniotic fluid. The first time she tested me, the strip came back negative, but we were both confused since something was seriously going on down there... She tested a 2nd time and the strip came back black and by 520 I was all admitted. My bags were brought in, Geo's parents were getting ready to leave and we weren't leaving the hospital with a baby!
Over night nothing excited happened at all. My dad stopped in on his way to work to wish me luck and give me a hug. I was upset that he wasn't going to be there for Eli's birth but, this was so sudden he couldn't make arrangements. I stayed about 2cm dilated but was making no natural progression on my own. Around 6am on the 17th, they started the pitocin. For the first few hours I still wasn't progressing any further than 2cm but I was starting to feel the contractions more. By then my mom, Kristine, Nina and Austin had come up to see me and keep me company. Around 4cm the contractions were consistent and strong and I opted first for the IV meds to help with pain management. The started me on nubain which worked great, but Eli didn't respond to it well in the womb. Every time I would contract, his heart rate would drop. Nothing too serious, but they monitored me closer and only gave me the one dose. By 5cm and a few hours later, I was asking for the epidural. At first they wouldn't give it to me because of how Eli reacted to the nubain, but finally, my Dr. cleared me and it was epidural time. By the time the anesthesiologist got there, the contractions were taking my breath away. They sat me up and got me all positioned and attempted to get the needle in SIX, yes SIX, times before they were successful. At that point, I didn't know which was worse, the contractions or the needle being stuck in my back. My spine curves slightly and apparently that throws everything off. My labor nurse was SO amazing during this time. She held me still, breathed through my contractions with me and comforted me the best she could. FINALLY they got the needle in and I laid back on the bed, involuntarily pushing through the contractions. Breathing through them at this point had gone out the window and I was ready to push. My nurse was getting the epidural medicine all hooked up to my line and decided to check me one more time before administering the medicine. Well, within the half hour it took to get the needle in me I had gone from 5cm to a full 10cm and was ready to push. So after getting stuck 6 times, I never got the benefits of the medicine and was doing this natural. She went in the hall, grabbed George, told everyone else that I was getting ready to push and called my Dr away from her lunch. They broke the bed down, told George how to hold my legs and I was pushing. As weird as it sounds, pushing felt great. It was so hard to NOT push through the contractions that when I got the green light to actually push, I wasn't stopping! My Dr showed up about 10 minutes later and from start to finish I pushed for 20 minutes and Eli was here. He weighed in a 5lbs 4oz, was 18 inches long and perfectly healthy for being small and 3 weeks early.
