Love at First Sight

Hadley Marie arrived on her due date of Oct 3 at 10:14 PM.  I was scheduled for an induction the next day, but after having contractions throughout most of the day, I had called my husband and asked him to come home around 3:30 PM.  I tried laying down to be sure the contractions were continuing.  They were, so I called my OB at 4:00 and they said to head to labor and delivery.

Once we were at labor and delivery, they checked me and I was dilated to 1cm, which is where I had been for the past week or so.  I was also 100% effaced.  They reported back to my OB and she said to admit me since we lived in the next town over.  The plan was to give me a sleeping pill to try to allow me to rest overnight and then carry on with my induction in the morning if I had not begun active labor by that time.

We were pretty much settled into the room by around 6:30.  I was having pretty regular contractions, but I was handling them well.  Since they hadn’t restricted my diet and room service was closed, Dave ran out and got a light dinner for the two of us. My cervix was checked and I was at 2cm.

By the time Dave returned, my contractions were a little stronger, but I was still managing them well with walking and breathing.  We decided to carry on with the plan for Dave to go where Arden was staying overnight with a friend and help settle her in for the night.  While he was gone, I took advantage of the jetted bathtub, which really seemed to make things better.  I was just about wrapped up with a round of in-bed monitoring when Dave got back around 9PM.  We had begun discussing pain control with the nurse and decided to go one more round in the tub and then start working on an intrathecal injection.

After only a short time in the tub the second time, it was apparent that my contractions were getting much stronger and the warm water wasn’t helping enough.  I sent Dave out to tell the nurse I needed to get pain relief.  When I got out of the tub, my membrane ruptured and then the fun really began.

The nurse wanted to get me into the bed to check my cervix and get the monitors on.  I was having a hard time managing the pain and was taking Dave on this weird little shuffle dance around the room to handle it.  Finally I was able to get a breather and got into bed.  The nurse checked my cervix and said she was pretty sure I was dilated to 9cm, but that she wanted another nurse to double check.  The double check confirmed 9cm.   I was beginning to feel urges to push at this point and got pretty freaked out because I could tell by the apologetic looks on the nurses faces when I asked about the intrathecal that I was having this baby naturally whether I wanted to or not.

Several nurses rushed in and started prepping for delivery.  My OB who lived nearby was told to hurry in, and they told me to blow away the urge to push.  I tried, but my body was pushing for me.  Another Doctor here for a different patient came in and took control.  I received a local injection and an epesiotomy.  Hadley Marie was born at 10:14 PM with only a few pushes.  As soon as she was out, I only had eyes for her and the fear and pain of my lightening-speed labor was quickly forgotten.  She was so big with chubby thighs and cheeks!  My doctor arrived shortly after the delivery and completed our cord blood donation kit, the placenta delivery, and my epesiotomy repair.

Hadley is 8lbs., 14 oz, and 21 1/2″ long.  This puts her a full two pounds heavier than her big sister at birth, and about one inch longer.  She is a very quiet little girl so far and we’ve already started calling her mouse because of this and the little squeaks she makes.  She’s doing a good job nursing when we can get her to wake up long enough.  Lately she seems to have figured it out and if anything is a bit too good at sucking.

We have no plans for another baby, but if for some crazy reason we find ourselves doing this again I’m demanding an induction the week prior to the due date and I want and epidural started as soon as the induction.  I’m afraid we’d have a roadside delivery next time!