WE DID IT! We successfully created, carried, and delivered a living human being! And you may call me biased, but I think she's pretty amazing, and probably the cutest baby that has ever been born...
One day you look like this:
The next day you have this:
It all started one Wednesday morning. We had our regularly scheduled OB appointment where we went in and heard the baby's heartbeat, measured my stomach, and heard the regular weekly phrases:
"You're urine is clear, blood pressure good, any questions?"
At this point I asked if my doctor would check my cervix, since she had the week before and we were 1 centimeter dialated and 50% effaced. After a quick check she said I was 2 cent. dialated and still around 50% effaced. She showed no indication that little Audrey was on her way, and claimed that although she thought she weighed around 5.5 pounds by the time her due date rolled around she would weigh a good 6-7 pounds.
Scott and I left the doctor's appointment and I went right to school. My principal was covering my class while I was at the doctor and got everyone on staff excited, thinking she was on her way. Their faces fell as I walked in the building, and they realized I was at a routine doctor's appointment.
That day I was really uncomfortable, and had some minor cramps, but nothing serious. I called Anne because I was worried something was wrong, but she assured me everything was normal, and a sign that my cervix had been bothered by the doctor. There were no warning signs that we were headed into labor, in fact, I sent an email asking Scott to go to the grocery store on his way home so I could put my feet up. I was just so exhausted!
That night we watched our regular run of Wednesday night television. We laughed at Modern Family and sat on the couch resting up for the rest of the week. Around 10:30 I went into the basement to fold some laundry in the dryer, I just wasn't quite ready to go to bed. Because of my huge belly I had to sit in a chair to get the laundry finished. As I was reaching in the dryer for some blue pajama pants I felt a rush of water. I yelled up the stairs to Scott that I thought my water had broken and he came rushing down. There wasn't a lot of water yet, so we just looked at each other wondering what to do. Either way, water breaking or not, something wasn't right so we decided to call the doctor. As I stood up it was a little more clear that my water had in fact broken, and we leaped into action!
* A side note: Many people have said that when your water breaks it is not like in the movies. For us...it was!
*Another side note: Once your water breaks you leak LOTS of water consistently for a longer period of time than I would like to remember. Doctors and books do not prepare you for what to do while water continuously flows from your body. It's pretty fabulous. I felt like I needed a kiddy pool underneath me as I packed and got to the hospital.
The doctor on call said that yes, we indeed need to head into the hospital. After some last minute packing we left our anxiety ridden dog in his kennel and headed to Loveland.
Checking the list more than twice...
When we got to the hospital they checked us into triage and told us to put our bag down, we would be there a while. They did the customary checks "Urine is clear, blood pressure good, any questions?" As I got onto the table to have the nurse check to make sure I was leaking water and not some other fluid we got another rush and they decided that it was not necessary to walk around the floor, that yes, I was indeed in labor.
They got us checked into our room around 2:30 a.m. Scott and I were amazed how much time had passed. By this time we had contacted all of our parents and were thinking our little girl would arrive in 8 - 9 hours. Around 4:30 a.m. the nurse came in and started the Pitocin because even though my water had broken my contractions were not regular, strong, or anything to speak of.
Scott and I were able to sleep a little bit until the next morning when I asked if I could get up and walk around. The hospital had these gadgets that check my heart rate and the babie's heart rate, and they were able to set me up with a portable set. It was pretty fabulous to go from being wired to 3 different machines to being wired to only 1.
Scott and I walked the hallways for almost 45 min. until my contractions were really strong and regular. We headed back to the room where I had my EPIDURAL!
*Side note: Epidurals are wonderful. It is difficult to be still during contractions and it's painful to remove the back-sized band aid they put on your back the next day, but the 15 min. of pain is well worth it.
We were watching the contraction gadget spike and rise and were sure little girl was on her way! Around noon the nurse came in to check my cervix and ... SURPRISE! I was still only 2 cent. dialated. At this point my water had been broken over 12 hours and we were told that if things didn't get movin' then we were on the fast track to a c-section. They decided to come in and do a final check around dinner, and we waited anxiously as I willed my cervix to dialate.
Around 4:30 the nurse came in and commented that things were under way and we were most definitely going to get to have the baby without a c-section, but that we were still 4-5 hours away. The doctor came in around 6:00, did a quick check, and then said "Well! I'm going to head to the bathroom then let's have this baby!"
Nothing can prepare you for this moment. Here we had been sitting in the hospital for hours on end waiting for these words to be spoken and once they were it was like a shock: No turning back now: She's coming.
We were in love with our OB delivery doctor. She was wonderful. As maddening as it may be for you to read this, we had a great time having our baby. That's not to say it's wasn't painful and extremely exhausting and difficult but our little girl was brought into this world surrounded by laughter, jokes, and smiling faces. We had our doctor in stitches.
My mom was on my left and Scott was on my right. In between pushes we were cracking jokes, adding commentary, and teaching our OB how to give awesome high-fives. Anyone who knows me knows that when times get stressful or difficult I turn to humor, and this was no different. Instead of yelling out and scaring the entire floor we were cracking jokes and looking for the bright side of this hellacious process called labor.
*Dr. Loken (OB) and Shelly (nurse)
Little girl arrived in this world at 6:53 on Janurary 13th. It was amazing. They put her right on my chest but because she was 3 weeks early they quickly rushed her to the nursery where they did a more thorough check. Scott was hesitant to leave my side but with some provoking from my mom and the nurses he grabbed the camera and followed the crew to the nursery. 100 pictures later Audrey was brought back and I got to officially introduce myself to her as her mother.
Before I went into labor I had all of these worries: Will it be awkward to have my mom in my room? What if I make a terrible patient? What if something goes wrong during the delivery? What if Scott passes out?
*Final Side Note: Scott did not pass out during delivery. He watched the whole thing like a champ and had this look of amazement on his fact that made labor so much easier. Seeing his face and hearing his encouragement was something I hope I never forget. But two days later, when we had to get one TINY drop of blood drawn from Audrey's foot, Scott was light-headed and needed some juice and a snack before he could regain the color in his face and walk without shaking down the hallway...
None of these things mattered in the heat of the moment. It was awesome. Scott did great, it was wonderful having my mom there, the doctors and nurses make you feel like you can do no wrong, and in the end you are holding a human being that started out as two cells joining on a random Tuesday morning.
Unbelievable.
And now, all I can say is, I'm in love.
Audrey Lynn Ward
Born January 13th, 2011 at 6:53 p.m. (just in time to avoid mooching on her mother's birthday)
Weight: 5 pounds 11 ounces
Length: 18 inches
