I was scheduled to be induced on Monday, March 10th, 2014 at 3:00am... Yes, you read that right. 3 o'clock in the morning!
The night before, I fell asleep around 9:00pm and woke up at 10:30pm with horrible back contractions. Ironic that I started going into labor hours before I was scheduled to go to the hospital. Around 2am, I got a call from the hospital saying there was not a bed available for my induction and they would call me back whenever one was available. I was told it could be hours, later that day or even the next day. Ugh!
Finally, just a few hours later at 6:30am, the hospital called saying a bed became available and I was to be the hospital by 7:30am. I woke Colton up, he got 8 hours of sleep that night haha, we packed up and headed out. My sister came to the hospital with us and my mom came before I got put on the pitocin. Colton, my mom and Heather were going to be my support team for the day and be there when she was born. I could not have made it through the day without my wonderful husband, loving mom and supportive sister!
I got admitted and hooked up to all sorts of fun machines. My doctor came in around 8:30am to check how dilated I was. At that point, I was in active labor dilated to a 4 having back contractions every 3-5 minutes. I tested positive for GBS so my doctor wanted me to get on an antibiotic for 2 hours before I started pitocin to kick up my labor.
At 10:30am, my nurse hooked up the pitocin and then it was a waiting game. Immediately my contractions started to get more painful. At 11:30am, it was recommended I get my epidural since the anesthesiologist would be busy for awhile with another patient. My nurse and anesthesiologist were shocked because I was having contractions every 3 minutes and I was dilated to a 5 yet I was still talking through my contractions, laughing and having a good time with them. I got my epidural and all it felt like was getting a shot to get my blood drawn. After that, life was good! I even got to take a nap :) I also got to watch Pirates of the Caribbean and Blind Side. The hardest part was not being able to eat any food. I was starving!
Around 5:00pm, I was dilated to a 10 but my water still had not broken. My nurse told me that my baby was still really high and we would try 3 practice pushes to see if she would eventually move down. If she didn't, I would have to get a c-section. I did my three practice pushes and she showed signs of moving down! No c-section for me to which I am extremely grateful for! I was warned though that it would take a long time to move her down with lots of pushing. From then on I started pushing every contraction... which was every 3 minutes.
Around 6:15pm, my water had to be broken. The nurse started to notice that with every contraction, my blood pressure and baby's started to get very low. I was put on oxygen and monitored closely. I fought back throwing up and having a massive headache the rest of the time pushing. Finally, at 7:00pm, my doctor was called to come deliver my baby! "Lucky" for me, by this point, my epidural was starting to wear off. My legs weren't numb and I could feel a lot of what was going on. Props to all you moms who have your babies without an epidural! I had to have some "extra medical treatment" to help get my baby out. At 7:24pm, after 21 hours of labor and 2.5 hours of pushing, Dr. Beck pulled out our precious daughter.
First time holding his daughter :)
Paige Carlene Walker was born at 7:24pm on March 10th, 2014 weighing 8lbs 2oz and 20inches long.
The Girl Who Gave Birth,
Erica Walker
