That Sunday I was in pain and having Braxton Hicks contractions, so I scheduled an appointment the next day to make sure everything was ok. Which is was, nothing had happened. It's funny to think back after delivery and going through real contractions...because what I was feeling was NOTHING compared to the real thing. I had my 37 week appointment that Wednesday and left super frustrated. Raegan was always a champ at the appointments with me because my Dr always had a bit of a wait. This week we waited out in the waiting room for an hour and a half...then finally made it back to the room and waited another 30 minutes. Then when Dr. Nelson came in he seemed rushed and kind of out of it (which makes sense because he probably was delivering babies that night). Then he checked me and said I was at a 1...and only 50% effaced. So I was super annoyed that I had "digressed" from the previous appointment.
For sure this last week I had checked out. All of the big things were done and I wanted to just relax. As far as we know this is going to be our last baby, so I decided to completely spoil myself and make sure everything was perfect. So I got my hair, nails and eyelashes done. The Sunday before we had cleaners come over and our house was spotless when they left and it was the most amazing feeling! We were scheduled for that Tuesday and most likely would've gone in at midnight to get started. I had my last appointment Monday the 20th, Adam came with me. He worked that day and then had the rest of the week off. It is SO nice to have his parents and family close by that are always so willing to help out. Me and the girl's met Jared at the Dr.'s office and he took them to his house and Grandma was going to pick them up after she got off work. I was sad to leave them, but was excited to meet our little one and I knew they were in good hands and would have a blast that week!
We were the last appointment of the day. I never asked how far I had progressed, but later they said I had. But I was SO nervous because I was doing the Foley balloon catheter again. Last time they started it when I went into the hospital and this time they were putting it in the office and we would go home and wait. I remember last time it being super uncomfortable and wasn't excited for that part again. He put it in at about 4:45, it didn't hurt at all and we were able to talk through the plans for the next day. Dr. Nelson had said it could be as early as a couple hours that we would need to go into the hospital and if nothing had happened by the next morning then we could come back in and he would break my water so the hospital would take us in. This time I wanted to deliver in Scottsdale because I had heard that it was an amazing hospital and you kind of got celebrity treatment that. That sounds great to me! But...they only downside was it was super hard to get into. When you get induced they call you when they are ready for you. So that is why we had the plan we did. :)
When we left the Dr.'s office we were able to go on a little date before all of the fun started. We went a did a little shopping then went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Adam had a lot going on at work and was pretty overwhelmed and I was super nervous for everything that was about to happen, so we weren't super hungry but figured we should eat because it could be a while before we ate again. At this point I was starting to feel pretty uncomfortable, so we took our cheesecake to go. We had two cars so we had to drive home separately. Adam was pretty nervous to do that so we were on the phone the whole drive home. I was having contractions pretty regularly when we got home and was feeling really uncomfortable. It was about 7:30. I was supposed to fill the catheter 4 different times, but only did it once when we got home and was super uncomfortable and didn't fill anymore. I just layed back on the recliner and we started an episode of Monk. I was having contractions consistently every 5 minutes. Adam was getting really nervous and kept saying we should probably head in. I thought it was way to early and didn't want to go in and have to go back home. So we watched the end of the episode and I was now having them every 4-5 minutes and they were about 45 seconds of pretty intense contractions. Adam wouldn't wait any longer so we loaded up and headed to the hospital.
On the drive and when we got to the hospital my contractions were every 4 minutes. They put me in a pre room (not sure what they're called) and filled out paperwork and answered questions...which Adam had to do most of the talking because I couldn't talk through my contractions. They took out the catheter and checked me and I was at a 6 so they checked me in and we got transferred to the labor and delivery room. I told them when I was transferring that I wanted an epidural a soon as possible. Once we got settled the anesthesiologist came in and I got my epidural. It was about 11:30 at this time. Last time with Raegan once I got the epidural I slept for the next 4 hours...which I assumed would happen this time, not much of this delivery was the same as Raegan's. I didn't get ANY sleep the whole night. I also didn't get more than 3 hours of sleep the night before because I was so anxious. I was pretty exhausted...and frustrated that I couldn't fall asleep. I got the WORST acid refux! They gave me some medicine that was supposed to be awesome...and it didn't touch it. I couldn't feel my legs at all, I was freezing and just wanted sleep. They checked me again at 2:30 and I was still at a six. I assumed something would've happened by now but obviously the epidural completely slowed things down.
They started a little bit of pitocin to get things moving again. It worked, my water broke at about 4:30, which was a weird feeling. I will have to add that we loved our L&D nurse Shelby. She was awesome and so great the whole night! She checked me and I was at a 9 1/2 so they called Dr. Nelson to head over. At that point my epidural and worn off and I could feel everything! I was in SO much pain! I was bawling like a baby and dreading overtime another contraction would come which was every 1-2 minutes. They called in the anesthesiologist again and it took him about 15 minutes to come back in. The funny thing is...I just kept thinking I made sure to have everything done (my hair, nails and eyelashes, makeup...) and now I'm crying so hard I'm going to look so ugly in my pictures. Ha! Dr. Nelson showed up at about the same time. We waited about 15 minutes for the meds to kick in before I started pushing. It was SO fabulous when the meds kicked in and I couldn't feel anything. Adam and Shelby had to hold my legs for me because I couldn't move them at all myself, and I only pushed through 2 contractions (about 5 minutes) until she started coming out. Dr. Nelson had me pull her out after he got her shoulders out (which I think is so cool). I put her right on my chest and was so in love! She had the sweetest little cry, and a head full of dark hair like her sisters. She was born at 5:17 am weighing 6 lbs 13 oz.
We were in the L&B room for about 2 hours and then were transferred to the post delivery room. This hospital didn't have a nursery so sweet Ellie was with us the whole time, in fact, all of her Dr.'s would come to our room and do what they needed. I think I'm a little different because I love the hospital experience after having a baby. I stay as long as they let us. So we stayed the two nights that is allowed. I love the time with just me and Adam and our new baby. Adam is a trooper and stays the whole time with me too. So I snuggled little Ellie the WHOLE time...I only put her down when she was getting checked or a night when we tried to get sleep. The first night she didn't sleep on her own much, so I held her in the rocking chair for a couple hours and tried to get a little sleep then Adam took her for a couple hours so I could finally sleep longer than a half an hour at a time.
