My newest love was born yesterday, April 29th at 1:59am. She was 6lbs 3 oz and 19 inches long. I know I’m her mom but she is absolutely amazing. I’m so excited to see her little features develop and her personality to shine through.
On Wednesday my water broke at 1:30pm while Caleb was napping. I called the Labor and Delivery Unit and they told me to shower, eat something and come on in. I had not had any contractions but they wanted to make sure my membranes had ruptured. I called Donavan at work and he met us at home and we all drove over to the hospital around 4pm. They admitted me into the hospital and verified that my water really had broken and began hooking me up to the monitors and prepared my IV. We waited a few hours to see if labor would progress. By 9:00 I had a few contractions but they were not consistent or strong. Donavan and I decided with only 2cm to go before the epidural that I would begin pitocin to move labor along. I had hoped to avoid the pitocin as it usually makes labor move faster and more intensely.
The maternity ward was a full house so we didnt start the pitocin until 11:00pm. By 11:30 I was in active labor. As I had expect labor was much faster and incredibly intense. Our midwife Lauren, who also delivered Caleb, said she expected me to progress quickly and so I needed to tell them the moment I wanted the epidural. At 12:00 Donavan told the nurse to get the epidural process going because the contractions were so strong. At 12:30 I got the epidural and was measured at 3.5 cm. The epidural kicked in by 1:00 and I was able to begin resting. At 1:30 the nurse came in and told me that Isabella was giving signs that she was ready for delivery. I was so tired that I could feel that she was low but I never felt the urge to push so I thought I would rest as long as I could. The nurse measured me again and in 30 minutes I had progressed to 9.5 cms. She went to find Lauren to let her know we are ready.
The nurse came back and asked me to try a practice push to make sure I could feel the contractions and could push under the epidural. The next contraction came and I gave a practice push. I could feel her head starting to come out. The nurse immediately told me to stop pushing and ran to get Lauren. They came back in called a couple of nurses from the nursery and began prepping me for delivery. Lauren told me to try not to push. I still didnt feel the need push so I waited while they quickly prepped the room. I began pushing at 1:55am and in two pushes she was out and born at 1:59am. I couldnt believe how easily she came out but Lauren did warn me that she thought the whole process would go very quickly.
Looking back I wish I would have listened to Donavan and gotten the epidural much sooner. Even though I only labored for 2 hours it was so much worse than with Caleb. Donavan was so supportive through out the whole process. He was almost as exhausted as I was by the time Isabella had arrived. She is such a beautiful and amazing little girl and it was worth the whole process of getting her here.
Caleb has been such a great big brother. I was worried he would be jealous and its still early I’m sure he will be but thus far he has been helpful and loving. He gets excited to see her. He whispers when he talks to her and loves to give kisses and pet her head gently. He likes to give me her bottle and binky. He doesnt try to climb on me when I’m holding her and will share when I need to hold her. I know its still early but I am very proud of his behavior and flexibility.
I am one proud mama of two!!
