The Story of Us: a baby story

On March 25th our lives as we knew them began to change forever. That was the day that I was admitted to the hospital anxiously awaiting the impending arrival of our baby girl. This is the story of how she came into our world.

At 3 o'clock we arrived, anxious to get settled and begin the process. I was being induced. I was 38 weeks and 6 days. My doctor was set to leave for a week long conference on Wednesday the 28th, and I did not want to risk her not being there for the birth or going over due and having to be induced anyhow. Being that this was my first birth experience I was more likely to go over due... But being SO uncomfortable, what was the point in waiting up to 4 more weeks!? I didn't see a good reason to wait, and neither did Paul. We chose to be induced "early".

It wasn't until 5 o'clock that evening that I received my first medicine to help kick start labor. They gave me a medicine that would help get my body ready for delivery but wouldn't necessarily cause contractions or any of that fun stuff. This medicine was good for 12 HOURS. It wouldn't be until the next morning that they would start me on Pitocin (the medicine to really induce labor) unless my body went into labor on its own. Lovely. So, after the first medicine, it was pretty much a waiting game... Not going anywhere fast, I figured I would enjoy my last meal, french toast, before the "fun" part started.

5am, March 26th came around, and I still wasn't going anywhere fast. It seemed like I was going to live at the hospital. I felt so bad for Paul. He was stuck sleeping on a chair that pulled out into a "cot". Let me just say, Paul is 6'1"... A little chair cot thing is no where near accommodating. I at least got the hospital bed. Comfortable? Not so much... But at least there was a little wiggle room.

6am... Time to start the "good stuff". My nurse (who on a side note, was wonderful... They all were!!) came in, hooked up my IV and got all my drips going. I was officially on a "pit drip" and labor was going to start. Or at least so I thought. Let me tell ya, it takes a long time for all the medicine to make your body go into labor. I suppose it isn't quite as bad as waiting for the unknown start of labor naturally at home.

Throughout the day, my nurses would come in and check on me and up my dosage of Pitocin. Let me just say, working in the medical field, I knew that I was going to not have a "natural" birth, especially being induced. Pitocin, from what I had been told and read about, was said to make contractions not only stronger but also closer together than "natural contractions". I have a high pain tolerance, but I knew that there were medicines available to me to make the birth process easier. Why wouldn't I want that? I don't need the "I had a 100% natural labor" badge of honor. I heard my hospital neighbor get that on my first night there... It sounded terrible. I totally respect those that choose that option, but for me, I chose to make the birthing process a little easier. I don't enjoy being in pain, and I know having people watch me be in pain and suffer is hard on them too.

Speaking of pain... It wasn't until I was between 4 and 5 cm that the pain really got to be very intense. I was having crazy back labor. No matter what I did, walking, birthing ball, all kinds of positions, nothing helped. Not even a little bit. Every contraction took my breath away. It was at this point where I had one good contraction as I was sitting on the ball, breathless, that it just brought on the waterworks. That is when I knew I was in big pain... And it wasn't going to get any easier.

Paul was amazing. He knew that I would try and push through the pain a little longer... I am not one to give in. He went ahead and called my nurse for me and told her that I was going to need something to help ease the pain. Not wanting to go straight to the epidural, she was able to give me an IV pain medicine to help me. The only catch was that it only was going to last an hour. So, an hour and 20 minutes or so later, I was ringing my nurse back in for more. The pain was back, and it was worse, as to be expected. We decided that it was time for the epidural. She gave me one more dose of the IV medicine and called the anesthesiologist to come.

The epidural... I was expecting some awful pain. This gigantic needle going into your spine? Not so fun sounding. Actually sounds very, very painful. However, I did not feel a thing. Not even kidding. My IV that the nurse had given me in my wrist that morning definitely hurt more. Thank goodness. After that was all hooked up things really began to progress much faster. And even more importantly, I was able to really relax a little bit for the first time in HOURS.

At this point the day was very close to over... I was bummed. It meant there was going to be another shift change, and my nurse (who it was her second shift with me) was going to be leaving soon. She was awesome and I was a little sad that after a LOT of waiting that she wouldn't be there for little Peyton's arrival. But, thankfully, the nurse taking over for her was equally as awesome.

It's time!! My nurse prepped me for the hard labor part of the process. After a few pushes, she decided it was time to call in my doctor (since she said to give her a 30 minute heads up). Then, it was more waiting. Knowing that the process was so close to over and having to wait, again, was hard. But I kept reminding myself that our daughter was almost here and that all the waiting would soon be worth it. My doctor arrived and the room was transformed! It was REALLY time now. It was a lot less crowded than I expected, which was definitely a nice surprise. My doctor told me it was time to push with the next contraction. A few contractions and pushes later, Peyton was here! Screaming and all, it was amazing.

It was 1:05 am on Tuesday, March 27, 2012. Our lives were forever changed. She was a perfect 6lb 12oz, 17.5 inches with dark hair and slate blue eyes, she was here. Finally. She looked so beautiful. She was definitely her dad's daughter. She looked just like him. It is amazing how in a moment your life can be so immediately transformed.

Welcome to our world Peyton Olivia. You, dearest Sweet P, make our world filled with so much more love and happiness. I can NOT wait to share so much of the world with you. You are going to be the most loved little girl on earth.