Birth Story

(fair warning: this is a birth story; I try to avoid the gory details, but it's still a birth story. I also apologize for how horribly written this post is; I'm very sleep deprived these days)

So by week 39 I was pretty convinced I was never going to into labor and I would be pregnant forever. I had been having painful false labor almost everyday. Each time I was convinced I was really going to into labor, but nothing ever happened other than a total lack of sleep.

My doctor's office called on Tuesday and told me I could come in for an earlier appointment. I was super excited because my doctor promised he would strip my membranes and I figured that would send me into labor pretty quickly. My doctor checked me and I was nearly a 5! However, when he started to strip my membranes there was a huge gush and water went everywhere. He accidentally broke my water!
"uhh...what just happened?"
"I just broke your water. That has never happened to me in 22 years!"
"I didn't even know that could happen!"
"Neither did I..."
My doctor told me to go to the hospital as soon as possible because second babies come very quickly.

After freaking out for a few minutes, I called Peter and told him to come home, found someone to watch Jude, and called my mom. We left immediately for the hospital, and luckily contractions hadn't started yet. (I'm so glad I wasn't in pain for the 20 minute drive to the hospital.)

Once we got to the hospital everything felt kinda surreal. We were really relaxed and I wasn't in pain yet; I couldn't believe this was labor! After about an hour I started to feel contractions and they called for an epidural. While I waited, the nurse gave me this AMAZING drug that worked super fast and made me super loopy. Overall, I only felt about 15 minutes of actual contractions, which was fantastic. Soon after I got the epidural but I noticed my arms and neck starting to go numb. My epidural was going too high, so they turned it down to help me get back feeling. (My epidural was way different than I had with Jude; I could actually move my legs this time and it wasn't so painful. Apparently they use a totally different drug.)

The doctor came in and checked me, and I was barely at an 8. At this point I was starving, so I got a jello cup, turned on food network, and settled down, thinking it would be a little while.

...And it all went downhill from there. Halfway through my jello cup I started to feel a LOT of painful pressure. By the time I was done eating I couldn't talk from pain. The nurse checked me again, but I was still at an 8. She left the room, telling me not to worry, but within two minutes I was in so much pain I started screaming. The nurse came back with the doctor, he checked me, and I was at a 10! The anesthesiologist came back in to turn up my epidural to help with the pain, but it was too late. I FELT EVERYTHING. And I totally started FREAKING OUT. I was not planning on a natural birth and had no idea what was going on. It was one of those "fight or flight" moments and my brain told me I had to get the heck out of there. Unfortunately, I couldn't leave but had to push. To put it simply: it was horrible. No matter how much I tried I could not stop screaming. I lost track of time, but I think I pushed for about 15 minutes and then finally she came out! Overall, I only spent about 4 hours in labor.

Thankfully, she was healthy and everything worked out great from there. Eleanor took to breastfeeding easily and I recovered so much faster than with Jude. Other than the traumatic pushing experience, it was a fairly easy delivery and I'm grateful it's over and now I have a beautiful daughter!