Delivery Day!

The day had finally arrived and I was really nervous but very excited. I prepared our bags and put together her bouncer, swing and crib. We were set for her arrival! Lori, Nate, Braden and myself were the first ones to start out our adventure at the hospital. They got me all checked in and into a beautiful little hospital gown ha ha, and went over all the prep work for starting the induction. The first thing to do was start my iv (which almost made me pass out), and place a drug called cervadil into my cervix which wasn't very comfortable. That was to be in for 12 hours before anything else happened. So basically all we could do was wait for it to soften my cervix and wait all night. We decided it was best for Braden to get some rest at home and Lori really wanted to be there every step of the way. So she set up camp on the cot and we were in the waiting game. I had a wonderful nurse to start named Liza, she was so sweet and I loved her. Unfortunately there was a shift change and I had a rough sounding/acting nurse named Kathy from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Almost immediately the cervadil started giving me contractions about 4 minutes apart, minor ones but they still hurt. It made me very crampy and it just wasn't comfortable. My doctor ordered me a sleeping pill so I thought I would try to sleep through the pain. I took those and we shut out the lights. About an hour went by and I could not get comfortable so I asked for pain meds ha ha! Kathy just looked at me like I was a wimp, but I seriously couldn't sleep or lay or anything with the discomfort I was feeling. So the combination of the sleeping pill and now pain killer in my system, Lori said I was saying some pretty funny things! All I knew was I was feeling better and could get in maybe 3 or 4 hours of rest before the big day. Morning time finally came and sometime during the night Lori and I heard the lady next to us scream her way through delivery. Not something I wanted to hear just before my turn came! Luckily there was another shift change and we were able to get Liza back! They started me on pitocin at 7 a.m. and the contractions started and it was still uncomfortable and I knew I wouldn't last long before the epidural. Dr. Swainston showed up for a delivery around 9 and came in to check on my progress. He actually was able to monitor my progress through his phone! He checked me for progress and I was at about 2 1/2 centimeters and he decided to torture me and try to manually dilate my cervix to a 4. That was THE MOST PAINFUL thing I have ever experienced!! He left the room and I just started to cry! It hurt so bad! He came back and said I could have my epidural and after that it was smooooooth sailing ha ha. The epidural was not bad at all and it started to take effect after a few minutes. I couldn't feel a single contraction from that point on. The only thing I kind of "felt" was a tightening sensation in my belly. The funny thing was you could look at the monitor and see how close the contractions were and how frequent. I was in hard active labor and couldn't feel a thing. I even took a nap. It was great! I was in active labor for 6 hours or so and was complete at 1 p.m. So it went fairly quick and it was pain free. Exactly what I wanted all along. Braden and I initially wanted to be the only ones in the delivery room but got to thinking that we would love to share this experience with our parents. So we invited my mom, his mom, Lori and my dad into the room. They were all thrilled and my dad was designated camera man. From waist up of course! I started practive pushing with the nurse and made great progress with 10 or so pushes so she called Dr. Swainston. She let me see everything with the mirror which was great motivation and I could see her crowning. He arrived after about 15 minutes, suited up, sang some songs to lighten the mood and told me to push. He kept making jokes asking if that's all I had in me so I pushed harder. I pushed maybe 7 more times and her head was out! I will never forget looking down and seeing her cute face! She started crying before she was even out and with a contraction she just slipped out and she was here! The tears came right away and he let me hold her on my tummy very briefly and took her away to be cleaned up. I cannot express the flood of emotions that went through my body after she was born. It was the most intense, spiritual, special feeling I have ever felt. Braden and I just looked at eachother and it was so emotional for the both of us. There wasn't a dry eye in the room! Kelsie Ann Workman was born at 1:42 p.m. weighing in at 5 lbs 9 oz and 18 inches long. Even smaller than expected! Dr. Swainston looked her over and said there is a difference between a growth restricted baby and a small baby. He feels that she is just small and on the lower end of normal. She has passed all of her tests with flying colors and had a healthy set of lungs on her. She's just petite! I loved my labor experience. I just wanted to enjoy the day and I did. It was light hearted, fun and pain free. Our families bonded and grew closer together with her arrival. We love her so much and she is such a joy. I just can't believe she's here! She will be one week old tomorrow and I can already see how fast time is going to go. I am going to soak in every moment!