Becoming Mommy!!!

Monday night at 11:52 my 7lbs 4ounces, 21 inches long, baby girl...Lena Belle made her grand entrance into the world!! About midnight the night before I began to have "real contractions". I had been having braxton hicks for weeks, and everytime I thought they were getting intense they would stop. But there was absolutely no mistaking this....these were highly uncomfortable and came with the pain! I knew this was it, and had literally been waiting around all day for it to happen on Sunday. I even told Josh and Mom that afternoon that I figured I'd go into labor that night. My hormones were out of whack and for the first time in forever all I really wanted to do was sit and cry! Needless to say....something was off. Not to mention my hyper dog was EXTREMELY loving to me!!

When the contractions started I decided to not wake anyone up and just sleep through what I could, no sense in everyone being awake and groggy the next day. I woke up in pain just a couple of times throughout the night. Josh's alarm went off at his usual 5:30 and I decided to go ahead and get up to let him know what was going on. I explained to him that I was really having contractions....they were still about 30 minutes apart, nothing crazy. He went ahead to work per my suggestion, but was told to keep all phones on him at all times. I didn't wake up my mom until about 6:30. By this time I had showered and went ahead and ate a bit of breakfast. (I knew that if I went to the hospital I wasn't getting food...so the plan was to EAT!!) I wish I had the video camera going when I walked in the room. I just opened the door and told her that I was having some pretty strong contractions about 30 minutes apart and would likely end up at the hospital today. Boy buddy did she jump up and get going. She cleaned the house from top to bottom in record time...it was amazing. By this point I was pretty tired so I got a blanket and wrapped up on the couch. I slept for about two more hours and woke up to eat a muffin. Contractions were still coming and the closest they ever got were about 15 minutes apart, but not consistently.

I thought now would be a great time to just lay in the tub and relax, I had a looong day ahead of me. To my shock, the good Lord had other plans. While getting ready for my "spa" treatment I noticed some blood. I wasn't scared, or worried, I know it's normal, but this made it all seem so real. Mom suggested I call my doctor and describe what was going on just to be safe. They decided it was a good idea to go on over to triage and get checked out. Triage let me know that I was having contractions, not crazy ridiculous, and I was now 3cm dilated and 80% effaced. Since it was my due date and I was clearly progressing they went ahead and admitted me and began oxytocin to give me a little push!!


It didn't take long for the contractions to begin to pick up. At 4 cm I was uncomfortable, but completely able to breath and work my way through them. They only lasted at most a minute, and really that didn't seem very long in the scheme of things. However, by the time I hit 7cm the tears were beginning to roll. I could still pull through them, but was beginning to get tired. At this point the epidural was administered. My original plan was to not get an epidural, but the hospital doesn't offer much else in the way of pain relief. The other drugs basically just put you to sleep for a bit and make you very groggy.

The epidural went amazing. Terrifying...having a needle stuck in your spine, but so worth it. I was numb from the waste down, but was still able to feel the tightening in my uterus so I knew when I was having a contraction. Once I reached a 10 we had to wait for the doctor to come in and check on Lena's position and make sure she was low enough. By this point I could have pushed, but they wanted to give her the chance to move herself down a little lower so I didn't have to push as long and wear myself out. After and hour of some fun positions to get her in place and ready...it was go time.

I pushed for all of 45 minutes, which would have been shorter if we didn't have to wait on the Dr. to get in the room to catch her...won't go into detail, but I uncomfortably waited for almost 10 minutes. Pushing was a breeze, and because I still had feeling, but no pain, the epidural didn't hender me at all.

Lena was here, and absolutely perfect. There's an entirely other chapter to this story, one not so amazing, but I will share it with you another time. For now I want to leave you with a few pictures of the most beautiful angel in the world...My Little Lena Belle!!! Enjoy!