Tuesday Night the contractions started to pick back up again, and by 2 am they were about 10 minutes apart. They were pretty painful but weren't getting any closer together. I really didn't sleep too well and I didn't want to get Scott's hopes up so I didn't even tell him that I was having contractions. I knew that weren't getting any closer together and I was sure that it would be a repeat of the day before. Around 3 am I noticed a little bit of fluid but it wasn't the gush you hear about when your water breaks. It was the middle of the night so I decided to go back to bed and wait things out. I got up again around 4:30 and there was a little more fluid and I started to wonder if it could be my water breaking. I wasn't sure what to do my contractions weren't getting stronger or closer together so I wasn't sure if this really as the big moment. I went back into our room and told Scott that my water might have broken but I wasn't really sure (Scott is a deep sleeper, and it usually takes him a few minutes to wake up and realize what is going on) and he said, "Okay" rolled over and fell back to sleep. I figured since he wasn't worried about it I wouldn't be either.
When my alarm went off for work I got up and decided to call the hospital to see if I should come in or not. They told me to walk around for 30 minutes and if I noticed any more fluid then I should come in. There was another small amount of fluid so when Scott got up I told him that we should probably go to labor and delivery to at least get things checked out.
At that point we really weren't sure yet if my water broke or if I was actually in labor so Scott decided to get ready for school just in case he had to head to schools if the hospital sent us home. We got to the hospital at 8:00 am and sat in the ER check in area for a good 20 minutes before someone brought us up to labor and delivery. While we were waiting, Scott asked me if I was still having contractions and I wasn't sure if they were still 10 minutes apart or if they were starting to slow down.
Everything went really quickly after we got up to Labor and Delivery. They got me hooked up to machines to monitor Lacey's heart beat and my contractions. I don't know if I was just nervous or what, but I wasn't really feeling any contractions once they hooked me up and was sure that I would be sent home. The nurse kept asking me if I was having contractions and when I told her that I wasn't feeling any she let me know that I was having contractions and they were 3-7 minutes apart.
The doctor, who happened to the ER resident doing his OB rotation, came in to check to see if my water really did break. They have 3 tests to determine if there is any amniotic fluid, 2 of the 3 tests came back positive that my water broke, but they still weren't sure if they were going to let me stay or send me home. I was dilated to 2 cm when the doctor checked me around 9:00 am (Which was a little disappointing, I figured with contractions every 10 minutes for the last 7 hours I would have made a little more progress than that). The nurse was 99% sure that I was going to stay until I had a baby, but the resident who was checking me wasn't as sure that I was in labor. The OB who was on call came in not too much later to let me know that I had a couple options. If labor didn't progress than they could either induce me or they would let me go home. Lacey's heartbeat kept dropping (especially if I was laying on my back) so the doctors were keeping a really close eye on it to make sure she didn't get too stressed out and they encouraged me to get induced if labor didn't progress on it's own. Luckily, my labor was progressing on it's own and I didn't need any extra help to induce labor.
I asked the nurse how long she thought I would be in labor before the baby would get here. My contractions were starting to get a little more uncomfortable and I was ready for our little girl to finally join us. She said that there was a chance I could have the baby before or after midnight and with the first baby labor usually lasts a little longer. So I was trying to mentally prepare to be in labor until at least midnight.
By 11:00 am my contractions were getting stronger. I didn't feel like they were getting closer together, but the monitor was showing that they were about 3 minutes apart. I still was feeling like I was only having strong contractions every 10 minutes or so. They were definitely getting stronger and very painful. Just after 11:00 am I was having to concentrate pretty hard on my breathing to get through each contraction so I caved and asked to get an epidural. I kept thinking how I had contractions ALL morning and I had only progressed 1 cm and there was no way I could make it to midnight having really painful contractions every 10 minutes.
The anesthesiologists came in within 5 minutes to give me an epidural. They had me sit at the edge of the bed while they put the epidural in place. A couple minutes into the procedure I started feeling hot and sick to my stomach, my blood pressure dropped and they had to pull out the needle, lay me on my side, and wait for my blood pressure to go back to normal. My blood pressure was low enough that they had to pull out a compression bag for my IV fluids to get my blood pressure back up. Once I was on my side they were able to give me the epidural successfully and it made everything so much better. The pain was gone but I got the shakes really bad for a good 10 minutes after the epidural was in place.
After my epidural, the resident came back in to check on my and I was almost 6 cm dilated but my water hadn't completely ruptured yet. They sent in the OB resident to come and drain the rest of the amniotic fluid. Once that was done labor progressed even faster. Scott and I watched Serendipity while we waited for me to dilate more.
At about 2:30 I called in the nurse because I was starting to feel my contractions on my left side. The nurse decided to check me to see how far I progressed and I was dilated to 9 cm. We upped the medicine for my epidural in hopes that the pain would go away, and thats when I started feeling the urge to push. I started pushing at 3:05 and around 3:25 the nurse told me I couldn't push anymore and called for the doctor to come in. A couple minutes later he walked in saw that the baby was already crowning and had to rush to get his gown and gloves on so he could deliver the baby. I pushed 2 more times once the doctor was in the room and she was born at 3:31.
As soon as she was out they placed her on my chest and she just looked at me... and screamed at the top of her lungs. Scott and I both cried, we are parents now. She was beautiful and becoming a mom is the best thing that has ever happened to me.
Lacey Nicole Robinson
Born October 29, 2014 at 3:31pm
7 lbs. 4.4 oz. 19 inches long
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| I'm not one of those people who look good while in labor. This is before my epidural. |
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| After my epidural, I wasn't able to be on my back because Lacey's heart rate would drop |
