We were totally bummed with the news as we left the hospital. I slept for about two hours only to be awoken by a very strong, and more painful contraction. The contractions continued, but were very spread out. Mom, Geoff and I went on a walk with little success of progressing the labor--even with 'curb walking'. Finally, I was too stir crazy and insisted I go to work so I could wrap up a few last things for the sub. Around 2:00 PM that Thursday, I arrived at work and began knocking off the items on my to-do list. A strong contraction would come about every 20 minutes--these ones made me sit down and I had a harder time talking. Because of the condition I was in during contractions, I decided to stay in my office during our school's meet and greet, so I didn't get to see any of the kids. Around 6:30 PM my Mom came and picked me up, we made a quick run to Babies 'R' Us and headed home and ate dinner.
Around 8:00 PM the contractions became more frequent and increased in intensity. By midnight Thursday they were back to being one minute long and five minutes apart. We called the nurse's helpline again and they directed us to go to SkyRidge to be checked. This car ride was a little more intense due to how strong my contractions were and my hopes of delivering this baby soon were heightened. Soon after we were admitted through the ER, we found ourselves in the hospital's triage room only to receive some disheartening news: I was still only 1 cm. and 90% effaced! Luckily, the hospital was not busy at the time--we were the only ones in the triage room. So instead of sending us home, the nurse suggested we walk the halls. She had seen the monitors on my contractions that they were pretty intense and extremely regular, so she was hopeful a few hours of strolling through the hallways would move things along. Geoff was a trooper and held my hand as we circled the hallways time and time again. We met back with the nurse at 3:30 AM--after all that walking I only progressed to 1.5 cm! By this time I was exhausted. I hadn't really slept much since 2:30 Thursday morning so Geoff and I stayed in the triage room to sleep. I would sleep for five minutes, wake up to a contraction and then fall back asleep for five more minutes. At 4:30 AM we woke up and walked the hallways again for an hour. Finally, at 5:30 AM we were admitted in the hospital at 3 cm! They put us in a Labor and Delivery room, hooked me up to an IV and monitor and I attempted to sleep again while Geoff laid down as well.
A few hours later, they unhooked me from the monitor and IV and had me walk again to try to get things moving. By this time we knew every nook and cranny of the halls and were becoming experts at avoiding eye-contact with all the nurses who had to keep seeing our faces roam up and down the halls.
Around 9:30 AM on Friday, Mom arrived at the hospital and to Geoff's delight she brought a huge sandwich from Subway! We got back in the Labor and Delivery room for the nurse to check me to find I was now 5 cm! I was never more excited in my life! Finally, some REAL progress! Dr. Schultze also came in, introduced himself, and checked the size of the baby. His guess was 7 lbs. and proudly told us he has never been off by more than 4 lbs. After a quick chuckle, Geoff took off to eat his sandwich while Mom stayed with me as the contractions continued.
Around Noon my contractions became extremely intense, lasting three minutes long and then only having a 30 second break in between. It was starting to get unbearable. Geoff and Mom would watch the monitors and update me as I writhed in pain, "Ooh, this is a bad one--it's off the charts! Wow, it's lasting a long time!" I let them know I was in no need of updates when I was experiencing everything first hand. By now, the contractions were so bad they brought me to tears and I knew the chances of me making it through this slow-moving labor were going to be extremely difficult. So I requested an epidural. At 1:20 PM the nurses and doctors came in and worked quickly, but they asked me to do the impossible: hold still during contractions while they administered the epidural. Geoff and another nurse braced my upper body as I tried to not move during the pain. All I can picture from that experience is me looking down at my legs as they shook through each contraction. After three pokes, the anesthesiologist got the needle where it needed to be and the pain began to lessen and eventually I could barely tell when a contraction was occurring.
Right after the epidural was administered they checked to find I was at 8 cm--but my bag of waters was still in tact so Dr. Shultze broke my water by merely touching it with his fingers because it was bulging so badly. Because of the lack of pain, I was able to rest but at 5:00 my contractions felt different--I felt the urge to push! I let Geoff know and he quickly picked up the phone to summon a nurse. He so poetically notified the nurse with, "Dianne feels like she needs to poop." Thanks, Geoff--that is NOT what I said, I did use the word push...but he had to spice up the situation I guess. The nurse came in and found that I was 10 cm and began coaching us on how to push. Well, I guess I took the coaching to heart because immediately the nurse saw I was making progress with my pushing. Geoff was pretty excited with his role, he did a great job prompting with the, "Breathe in and push 2, 3, 4 etc." Because of how well we were doing, the nurse quickly told us to stop pushing and went for the doctor.
At 5:30 PM Dr. Bosman came in to introduce himself. There was a shift change in doctors, so he checked to see where the baby was and tried to guesstimate the size and let me know he would be delivering the baby. I asked if I could continue pushing and he let me know I could and asked who told me to NOT push. The nurse then piped up and said she didn't want anything to happen while she was getting the doctor. Dr. Bosman then left while the nurse continued to help with the pushing. Well, again, the baby was coming fast and they immediately paged Dr. Bosman to return to our Delivery Room.
Everything just started happening fast. Geoff continued to coach me on pushing, Dr. Bosman came in and started getting suited up, the nurses started taking the bed apart to ready it for the baby and I just kept pushing. Soon thereafter the baby's head peaked through and Geoff excitedly exclaimed that he saw the head and it was covered in dark hair! The next push the head comes out and the doctor asks me to stop pushing. What? Stop pushing, again? A few contractions passed and every time I asked, Can I please push? NO! Replied the doctor. Oh, that was so hard not to push. But finally permission was granted to proceed and the next push out came our beautiful little baby at 5:58 PM, on Friday, August 17, 2012. Geoff exclaimed that it was a girl and then was able to cut the cord. Soon thereafter our lovely daughter was placed on my tummy and tears could not be restrained. "We have a daughter!" I said to Geoff and then we proudly called her by name, "Hylie Marie". I also found myself studying her features to see if I saw any of Geoff or myself in her...so far I don't notice any obvious resemblances, but I'm sure that will change with time.
They took Hylie over to weigh her and check her out while the doctor started to stitch me up. Geoff followed Hylie and enjoyed taking pictures while the nurses did their thing.
They announced her weight of 8 lbs. 15.5 oz. but the nurses started having a debate as to whether it was 15.5 oz or 15.3 and I chuckled when Dr. Bosman piped up and said, "Give her credit for 9 lbs.!" Finally, Hylie was back in my arms and Mom came in the delivery room to meet her newest granddaughter. I gave Hylie to Mom (right after she washed her hands--Dr. Bosman was quite impressed with Mom's thoughtfulness) and asked her to guess Hylie's weight. Mom nailed it to the .5 oz! The doctor was sure Mom was standing outside the door when her weight was announced, but Mom assured us that was not the case.
Mom gave Hylie back to me, which I was grateful for...the doctor was STILL stitching me up and I was needing a distraction from that part of post-delivery action. Finally, after an hour of stitching, Dr. Bosman was done and explained to Geoff that I experienced some pretty severe tearing--3rd degree tears with 4th degree being the worst. But even though I had that awful tearing, I always felt I was in good hands, that Dr. Bosman was doing everything needed to help my body heal and the team of nurses were very attentive and responded to the needs of the doctor, and of Hylie and me.
