Obviously Emmie has been in our lives for oh, almost 2 months now, but I wanted to make sure to post my birth story of her to have a record of it and remember it. So, this post is in retrospect, but here it is.
On Monday, July 27th I went to my 39 week OB appointment. I was really miserable and secretly hoping she would go ahead and induce me or accidentally break my water (At this point I didn't know that an exam wouldn't "accidentally" break my water and it would actually be one of the most painful parts of the labor/delivery!). Throughout my pregnancy I had some weird things happen and had been pretty swollen. At 35 weeks I had a seizure like episode where I lost my speech and had numbness down one side of my body. It was very scary and I had to go to L&D triage and then see a neurologist. He wasn't sure what happened, but suspected I had a complicated migraine and wanted me to have an MRI. At this 39 week appointment I kinda had just accepted the fact that I was going to have to work another week and that the baby would probably come late, yada yada yada. Pretty much gearing myself up for another maybe 2 weeks of torture. But, when the nurse checked my blood pressure apparently it was pretty high. So high, that I had to lay down so she could recheck it again. and again. and again. I also had protein in my urine. When the OB came in she decided it might be best to go ahead and send me over the hospital to draw labs, monitor my blood pressure and the baby.
I spent that Monday night in the hospital for observation and by 8:30 AM the next morning, my blood pressure had stabilized (still having a few wacky readings), and my Dr. came in to let Shan and I know I was free to leave as my blood pressure was better and she did not think I was truly pre-eclamptic. So I was a little disappointed that I had to spend that whole night in the hospital being poked and prodded and wasn't leaving with a baby! About 15 minutes later, my doctor (whom I LOVED) came back and said, "I think I'm just gonna induce you". I was a little shocked! She said, well you're already here and you're still having a few random high blood pressure readings, you're already 39 weeks and 2 days and 3 cm dilated. Let's just go ahead and induce you. So Shan and I got on the horn! We started calling the grandparents to let them know things were going to get started today and that the doctor wanted to start my IV and break my water now. I was probably more afraid of the IV than pushing. And I should have been. It took the nurses three tries to start the IV and each time they tried they were first numbing me with lidocaine (I guess that's what it was) so, 6 sticks total for the IV start. It sucked. Shan was trying to distract me and talk to me the whole time but I couldn't really focus on his stories...bless him. So the IV was started and everybody started to get to the hospital before the Dr. broke my water. Doctor comes in and is ready to break my water. My aunt Spring, Shan's mom Andra and Shannon were in the room with me when it all started. I had no idea that the doctor breaking my water would hurt so bad. Shan said I didn't act like it hurt that bad, but it really was almost unbearable.
So, water is broken, I am still at 3 cm and now I feel so weird because I feel like I'm peeing all over myself and can't stop it! My nurse Lori, was great, she was there with me all day and even stayed over her shift for Emmie to make her arrival! I guess you could say the labor process got started around 9:30-10 AM. I started to feel some slight contractions from the pitocin drip, but nothing too unmanagable. They kept coming a little stronger and I probably asked for the epidural at about noon, I was 4 cm at this point. I have no idea how women manage labor without any pain meds at all. I was really trying to hold out on the epidural as long as possible. My aunt Spring stayed in the room with me during the epidural, only one person was allowed and Shan had already suffered through the IV sticks, so he opted to let her take this one. When the anethesiologist came in, I told him that I hadn't watched the epidural video and he almost walked out and made me wait! The nurse had already told me to lie and say I watched it, but I just couldn't lie when he asked me about it! So he spent the next 10-15 minutes explaining risks, and scaring the living daylights out of me, all the while the contractions are getting stronger and stronger and I start crying because I can't take the pain and this man is scaring me to death about getting the epidural. Finally he shuts up and I get the epidural and I'm fine.
Here we are before the epidural and after the IV
Andra, my aunt Spring and me talking about what outfit to bring her home in.
Just waiting on the contractions to get bad, before the epidural.
After the epidural, I pretty much just labored all day and didn't feel a thing. Thank heavens for epidurals! Around 5:30pm, my doctor came to check me and said that I was fully dilated and ready to push! I started to push at about 6 pm. Shannon was at my head, My aunt was holding my right leg and Andra holding the left leg. Let me say it is really hard to push when you can not feel a thing. I'm telling you I had NO feeling at all and pushing was very hard to do because you just can't feel anything. I pushed for about an hour and a half total.
This is right before I started pushing and started to feel nauseous.
Right before Emmie was born, the doctor said that it just wasn't going to happen without some help, so she decided to do the episiotomy. I was very scared of this, but at this point, the epidural had been cut down some, I think and I was starting the feel the pain and pressure, and had even began to cry again from the pain so I just wanted her out. Everybody kept cheering me on and telling me to push and kept saying "she's right there, just one more push" and at one point I said, "you keep saying that!" or "you said that last time" and I was getting pretty frustrated but I just had to get this baby out! Right after the episiotomy, Emmie came out on the next push! I was in labor for about 10 hours. I cannot put into words how I felt at that moment. It was relief and the most joyful moment of my entire life. I remember Shan saying "that's our baby" and he was crying and so was I and everybody else in the room. It was the best moment of my life. She was so beautiful and I already loved her so much!
This is right after she came out. My favorite picture of all of us because you can see how emotional it was
My firstborn daughter
Emerson Lane Rushing was born on July 28th, 2009 at 7:32 pm. She weighed 6 pounds 11 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long. She has my nose, but I thought she looked just like her daddy! We are so blessed to have this little girl in our lives, she is the best thing that ever happened to us!
I love this picture of Emmie and her dad. He was so smitten with her right away, but he didn't leave my side for a long time after she was born. I think he knew the grandmas had it covered!
There were several family members waiting to meet Emmie Lane, the OB was actually impressed at the number of people waiting to come meet her.
This was the best day of my life. The following days were the worst. Maybe I will post about Emmie's transfer to the NICU and to another hospital for surgery later.
