Obsession is just passion . . . with more passion!: Aurora's Birth Story

Friday, January 16, 2015

Aurora's Birth Story

Considering I'd had contractions/braxton hicks for over two weeks and most of those contractions would take place between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m. and my body made pretty much no progress (I jumped up to a 3 dilation but stayed that way for those last two weeks) I was exhausted when Aurora finally decided to come along. In fact, since I technically went past my due date (the doctor's office had it listed as January 9th even though they'd been telling me the 10th the entire pregnancy), we even had an induction scheduled for the upcoming weekend. I wasn't too worried about that--I figured she'd come when she came, but since she was also sitting completely in front, my body was feeling the wear and tear of my third pregnancy and I was ready, ready, READY to have her join our family!

January 12th we got ready for bed and I got Adelaide to go to bed but Azucena really struggled so I just read to her, played games, and put on a movie, hoping she'd settle down and sleep. Around midnight, I realized that my contractions were finally starting to get serious. I'd been timing them and they were still about 7 - 12 minutes apart. Then, after 3:30 a.m., they started to come more frequently--about 5 minutes apart. Around 4 a.m., I started to pack my hospital bag (it's tradition for me to leave it until the last minute) with Azucena helping me because she was still awake. Unfortunately, I said something about getting ready to go to the hospital to her and Clark somehow heard the magic phrase in his sleep and woke up (I'd been planning on letting him rest until 6). So he got dressed and helped take everything to the car, along with Adelaide, who woke up.

Since it was before regular hours, we had to use the emergency entrance. Clark went to park the car while I walked in with Azucena and announced I was in labor. They were very nice and called a nurse to bring me a wheelchair and take me to labor and delivery. He made sure to wait for Clark to come with Adelaide and then whisked us away to the check-in. The nurse there decided that since we 1) had two toddlers with us and 2) I was technically four days past my due date, she'd go ahead and take me to my room instead of just making me get checked in the triage area. Happy day! Then, when the nurses checked how far along I was, they said I was at a 6. HUZZAH. I thanked them because the last three hours of contractions had really stunk and if I was still stuck at a 3 I would have hurt something. :D

My view from my bed. The chart on the left was to help the nurses keep track of us. :D

I was able to get an epidural around 6 and it was administered differently than it had been in Utah. I had to sit up on the bed and hold on to Clark while the anesthesiologist gave me the medicine. Super weird and slightly awkward. But it did its job and helped me relax and get a little rest before they told me to start pushing.

Some members of our ward had been kind enough to offer to watch the older girls while we were at the hospital, but I felt really, really bad asking someone to come get them at 5 in the morning, so Clark and I seriously waited until it was closer to 7 before bothering anyone. Soon, it was just the two of us in the hospital room waiting for checks and updates. Also, they broke my water a little after 7.

Around 8:30 the nurse and my doctor checked me and let me know that she hadn't dropped a whole lot but that maybe if I pushed, she'd drop. Clark said to go for it, so after a few minutes, we got everything set up and I officially started to push at 8:55. It wasn't as quick as Adelaide's birth, but by 9:03, she was out! She was very calm; she didn't cry until they took her over to the warm table to weigh and measure her.