How it all went down (and out)...

Well, I'm finally getting around to posting our birth story, so here it is!

It all started on Thursday as I had been having more and more contractions, but they were still not really painful until about 9 o'clock that night. My mom and sister and I were working on scrapbooks and baby books and I noticed them getting stronger and we started timing them. They were about 8 minutes apart, but not too bad. As we got ready for bed, they were getting a little closer but still irregular. Throughout the night they were about 10 minutes apart and seemed more regular and getting a little stronger, so I was thinking we needed to be heading to the hospital in the morning. We got up around 7 and finished packing and I decided to eat one "last" bowl of cereal before I wouldn't be able to eat anymore for awhile. My sister went with us to help out and my parents came later once we gave them the OK from the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital around 7:30 and waited for a room until about 8. I was having contractions about 5 minutes apart as we waited and walked back to the labor and delivery room. We got all set up with a really sweet nurse and she asked me if I had dilated any last time I was checked. I told her it was only 2 days ago and that I was still closed at that point. So she figured I'd be about 2 or 3cm. Well, when she checked me I was 5cm! She was really surprised, especially since it was my first baby. So we called my parents to come on to the hospital and the nurse called my doctor to let her know I might deliver sooner than later, and also called the anesthesiologist to go ahead and give me an epidural. About 20 minutes after I got the epidural, the nurse checked me and I was 7cm and my water broke as she was checking me. So then we really thought she'd be born soon!

But about an hour later, my blood pressure went WAY down and the baby's heart rate was erratic. Then I started having trouble breathing and could hardly move when they turned me over. So they decided the epidural was too much and they had to turn it OFF. They also put in internal monitors as well as some fluid around the baby since it had been awhile since my water broke and they thought it might help her be less stressed. My contractions had slowed way down and weren't very strong, but the baby was still under stress, so they were afraid to give me pitocin to help the contractions get stronger. But they finally decided to try it since I wasn't making any progress on my own. It worked and the baby tolerated it very well.
It took almost 3 hours after they turned off the epidural for me to start feeling contractions again! So they called the doctor to turn it back on since I was almost 9cm dilated.

Meanwhile Chris' family was driving up from Birmingham, hoping to make it in time for the birth or right after. They arrived about 2 hours before she was born and came to visit me in L&D. Then the baby's heart rate was irregular again so everyone had to leave except my "3 helpers" (Chris, mom, and my sister). Chris was getting stressed and was pacing the floor, then had to lay down and relax. But he was a trooper and a big help when it came time to push. The epidural was working, but I don't think it was quite strong enough, but I didn't want to ask for more and then have too much again, so I felt a good deal of pain. But I know it was a lot better than not having anything! Around 4 o'clock I was fully dilated and ready to push. They called in the doctor and after 30 minutes of hard pushing, little Caroline was out! The cord was wrapped loosely around her neck, but she was fine. And Chris got up the nerve to cut it (even though it was a little gory)! I was so proud of him! I had to have a 2nd degree episiotomy, which was pretty painful because I was only numb in certain places, but the doctor kept giving me shots of lidocaine.

They had put Caroline up on my stomach for a minute when she came out, but then took her over to the warmer to check her. She had to visit the NICU because they suctioned out a bunch of fluid from her lungs (probably from all that fluid they pumped in before she came out) and she was having a little difficulty breathing. It wasn't anything too major, but they just wanted to check her out to make sure. So I recovered a little while in the L&D room, then they moved me to a postpartum room and by that time, little Caroline was back from the NICU and ready for me to hold her (finally! after about 4 hours!).

We were so excited to have a healthy baby girl and so thankful for all the friends and family that were there to support us! We couldn't have done it without your help! Check out our picasa site for more pictures.