Soooo....on June 18th at 11am, I went in for my normal ob visit. I knew that I would be hooked up to the monitors again to watch the baby and look at my contractions. My contractions had gotten stronger over the last couple of days, but still were not painful, just more noticeable. I baked the girls in the office some "I'm Sorry I Cried Cookies" which they got a kick out of. I was in a much better place emotionally when I arrived at this appointment. I told Dr. Wood that I fully expected her to tell me that I was still at 2cm (which I had been since 37 weeks) and I was ok with that. As she did my exam, she told me that, no, I was actually a 4-5 and 80% effaced and my bag was bulging. And literally, as she said that, I felt a pop...and then a gush...and then heard "Oh, oh, here it comes!" My water broke and went everywhere! Wow! Everyone was scrambling to clean it up and I was cracking up laughing. One, because it was funny! Two, because I had prayed for that! And three, because I knew that I would soon be done being pregnant!!! Dr. Wood and her nurse Natalie fashioned a "garment" as one of my friends called it so that I could get to the hospital. Adam went to get the car and we headed across the street to go have a baby! As I was signing in, I just looked up at the lady and said, "I'm sorry, there is just a puddle on the floor on this side of the counter!" And I just kept laughing! I got checked into my room around 11:45 and labored in there for hours! I walked around, rocked in the rocking chair, visited with family, watched tv...around 5pm my contractions felt like they were really starting to pick up and get painful. I asked to be checked and I was a 7! I decided it was time for the epidural. The anesthesiologist came and it was wonderful! I felt immediate relief! So, we waited...When my water broke, it was apparent that there was some light meconium in my fluid, which made me nervous, but did not seem to make anyone else nervous. My nurse did tell me that the NICU nurses would be at the delivery just in case but to not let that scare me. We continued to wait. I was checked again at 6:30 and was only at 8cm. Dr. Wood decided to start a pitocin drip at this time and told me that she thought we would have a baby by 7:30. I told her that I wouldn't hold her to it knowing how long my other labors had been! At 8:30, she checked me and said I had a little cervix left, had me do two pushes to see if I could push through, but decided that we needed to just wait longer so that I wouldn't swell. Around 9pm or so, I told my nurse that I was feeling a lot of pressure and I thought it was time, there was hardly a break between my contractions. She checked me and was telling me that I was complete, when Zoe's heart rate dropped dramatically. She started pushing buttons on the wall saying "We're delivering, we're delivering." A slew of people came in, they put a big oxygen mask on me, a nurse that I hadn't seen was there trying to move the monitor around and find the baby's heart rate and could not find it. It was so scary. Thankfully, my sweet husband stayed so calm. As I looked at him with terrified eyes under that huge mask, he looked at me and said "You're doing great. You're fine, she's fine." I am so thankful for him. In my other deliveries, Dr. Wood used and olive oil massage and would tell me when to slow down pushing and when to push harder. This time, she said "Ok let's push!" She was out in three contractions! But, she didn't cry...she just looked at us and closed her eyes. Dr. Wood said "Chest or table?" I said whatever is safest. She passed Zoe to the NICU nurses who suctioned her lungs out. I heard her cry for the first time and it was the sweetest sound to my ears! She was 7 lbs 11 ozs and 19 3/4 inches long with DARK HAIR!!! They continued to do some chest therapy on her so that she would not have to go to the NICU and could room in with me. So thankful again for that! When they laid that sweet baby on my chest, she picked up her head and looked at her mommy! LOVE! After everything had calmed down, Dr Wood told me that her cord was wrapped around her neck THREE TIMES tight! She said had it not been my fourth baby, she would have had me in an OR in a second, but she knew that I could push her out faster than she could have gotten me to an OR. Again, so thankful that she came out quickly! SOOO thankful that she had stayed high in my pelvis all through labor so that her cord wasn't compressed. SOOOO thankful that she came on that Monday instead of waiting to be induced that Wednesday. On our discharge day, Dr Wood told us that 1 out of 5 babies have the cord around their neck once, every once in a while she saw it wrapped twice, but it had been years since she saw three times! We have SO much to be thankful! The Lord knows better that we do! His ways are not our ways! They are better!
