I went to my scheduled (39week) appointment on Tuesday, December 17th. During that appointment I was dilated to a 3-4 and 100% effaced. Because of the Christmas Holiday coming up, my doctor spoke to me about induction because she would be off the full week of Christmas. Upon speaking with her, our doctor, Andrew and I found it best for me and baby to be induced before the Holiday. Our main reason being that the hospital would be short staffed and our doctor couldn't give us names of on-call doctors because it was drawn at random during the week. There were just too many things to be unsure about going in.
Andrew was not able to go to the appointment with me, but was able to talk to me over the phone to decide on Thursday, December 19th for us to go in to be induced (our other option was to go in that same night...but I wanted to give baby the chance to come naturally since the doctor guessed it could be any time now.)
I got home that night and was talking over all the procedures and info with Andrew over dinner (Meatloaf and Mac n Cheese) when my water broke. I couldn't believe it so I excused myself to the bathroom, then called Andrew in and told him I thought my water broke. We laughed for 5 minutes straight. I called into the hospital, started packing stuff up for the stay,and made arrangements for the dogs. We were out of the house 30 minutes later and on the way to the hospital my contractions were getting stronger and about 2 minutes apart.
We arrived at the hospital around 7:30pm and were immediately hooked up to a contraction tracker machine and also one to track baby's heartbeat. They also had to do some tests to confirm my water broke. I was a solid 4 cm dilated when we arrived. We were admitted to the hospital at 8:30pm.
By 11:30pm I was dilated to 6cm and started really feeling it. I tried to take a shower, but the nozzle was broken and I ended up being more uncomfortable after my shower than before. I decided to accept a drug called Fentonal (sp?) which would allow me about 2 hours of some pain relief and could only be administered up to 6cm. I was able to sleep the entire two hours on that through contractions.
I continued my walking through the night and early morning until my doctor came to see me around 6:30am.
I was still dilated to a 6 and she talked to Andrew and I about an epidural out of concern that I would be too tired and wore down to push if my labor continued to stall. Andrew supported her and was able to coax me into a decision of getting the epidural that I do not regret at all.
The epidural was stronger on the left side than the right so the nurses had to come in every half hour and rotate me to my sides (which was impossible to get any sleep on that schedule). In checking my dilation, they discovered flipping me caused baby to rotate his/her head sideways, which then became their primary concern.
I started feeling pressure around 11:00am and had my nurse re-check me at 11:30am to find that I was fully dilated! (They were expecting my labor to slow down after the epidural and we had to talk about possible induction).
Go figure, another bump in the road, when they called my doctor to have her come so I could start pushing and she was already in route to a scheduled C-Section at a different hospital. She instructed them to have me wait to push and she would be back at 12:30pm.
At 1:00 pm, my nurses came in and informed me Dr. Carr was on her way and we were going to start (practice) pushing. After only a few contractions, they had me wait again. Dr. Carr came in and we pushed for almost 30 minutes and Josephine James Wiltshire arrived.
Because her head was turned, she came out not receiving oxygen, so she had to be whisked away quickly to get her breathing again. In just a few seconds, the most beautiful sound filled our room and my baby girl was brought to me. The most incredible-surreal feeling in the world.
Josephine James Wiltshire arrived at 1:27pm weighing 7lb 10oz and 20inches long. Perfection.
Looking back, I would not change one thing about my birthing experience. And I would not want anyone else by my side helping me through it than my amazing husband. I say husband of the year, but that would be an understatment. He is truly the love of my life, my rock, my best friend, and the best daddy a woman could wish for her child.
Josephine was a name that Andrew and I have had picked out since the beginning and really the only one we truly agreed 100% on. Her middle name is after Andrew's dad. We wanted something unique and felt that "Josie James" couldn't be any cuter or fitting for our little girl.
Nicknames (so far): Joser Bean, Beany, Jos, Josie, Josie Posie, Punkin Tunkin, JJ, Tilly
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