I thought nothing could be more exhausting than the first trimester of pregnancy. I was wrong. That last 4-6 weeks is just as exhausting, if not worse, in a different way. I tried everything to help me sleep, including Ambien, and other than feeling drunk and walking into walls, I still couldn't sleep more than a 2 hour stretch. The morning of October 11 was no different, and I finally fell asleep around 3am. At 5 am I woke up, and quickly realized that I was feeling some very mild contractions. Although I wanted it to be labor so badly, this had happened before, so I didn't think much of it.
By 9am I was tired enough to go back to sleep. Over the next 2-3 hours I woke up frequently with stronger contractions. Still not convinced that I was starting to go into labor, I tried some of the old tricks to see if it was only Braxton Hicks. I took a bath, drank a bunch of water, and stayed active by cleaning. My contractions kept coming every 15minutes, and I was finally convinced that this was the start of it. I knew it could still be a long road, but I was excited none the less.
One of the nurse practitioners I work with swears that a long walk and Hooter's hot wings pushed her into labor with her girls. So by the time RJ got off of work at 5pm, I was ready to get things moving along. We leashed up the dog, put on our walking shoes, and headed out. 3 miles later we were finally home, and my contractions were 5 minutes apart. I should've stopped there. My advice for any woman in labor is to not eat wings. We ordered the wings, ate a ridiculous amount, and then proceeded to clean. I know I should've rested, but we were going to be having family stay with us for the next couple of weeks, and I just had to get the house ready. I did laundry, dusted, vacuumed, cleaned toilets, and yelled at RJ to pack his hospital bag. I'm not sure if he believed I was in labor, or maybe it was just his usual procrastination, but he didn't actually pack the bag until right before we left for the hospital. By 10pm I was on my knees on the floor during contractions, but just had to shower before calling the doctor. I couldn't go to the hospital without looking cute!
I had this whole plan of taking some cute before pictures of me once we got to the hospital, but that plan went out the window on the drive there. As soon as we got in the car, the contractions became out of control. I knew I couldn't talk through them and give RJ the directions, so I set the GPS. I then became one of those women you see on tv going through natural childbirth. Writhing, screaming, crying. I kept looking at the countdown clock on the GPS and thinking I have never seen it go so slow in my life. I looked over at RJ and realized he was, for the first time in his life, driving the speed limit. In my mind I lost it. I told him to put the pedal to the floor and hurry up. He sped up a whole 5mph, and spent the rest of the drive biting his nails and trying to console me. Every time he touched my arm during a contraction I wanted to punch him. Sorry babe, not sure that you knew this. Don't take it personal, I just couldn't stand to be touched while I was having a contraction.
By the time we reached the hospital I wanted nothing but to get in that bed and have an epidural. I couldn't even fathom those cute pictures I originally wanted. As they rolled me up to labor and delivery I remember a woman looking at me and saying "Oh my," but I couldn't even see her through my tears. We got to our room, got in my hospital gown, and those wings made their grand entrance...several times. The contractions were coming every 2-3minutes, and I just remember as one would stop the next would feel like it was starting. I would panic as I felt another come on and just start saying "I can't take it, I can't take another one." When the doctor came in and told me I was only 2-3cm, I wanted to punch him. Thank god he let me have an epidural at that point, and I was impressed with how fast the anesthesiologist showed up. I wanted to hug him when he came in that room. RJ swears the guy looked like a mad scientist, but he could've looked like Mr. Hyde and I would not have cared. I was completely numb and happy as could be.
I love how the nurses and doctor tell you to rest and get some sleep. I was exhausted, but my mind was racing. I was just so excited to meet my little girl I couldn't sleep to save my life. RJ apparently had no problems...
Tuesday October 12, 2010:
As the night went on, I progressed from 3cm to 6cm. Around 6am I woke RJ to tell him he needed to go home and bring the dog to the kennel. I assumed I wouldn't see a nurse or doctor for a while since it was coming up on shift change. He left around 6:30 and the doctor came in at 7am to check me. I was 7cm so he broke my water. I immediately emailed RJ to tell him to not take too long, because I knew things would speed up once my water was broken. 15minutes later I felt Ellie hanging out in the birth canal. I immediately emailed RJ (because he wasn't picking up my phone calls as usual), and told him not to dilly dally. Guess who finally showed up at 8:30? I recently found out that not only did he take the dog to the kennel, but he decided he needed to shower as well. He apparently doesn't realize a baby comes when it wants to. As soon as he showed up, the nurse came in and I told her I thought I felt the baby. She went to get the doctor and the wings made yet another entrance to the world. As they did, I felt Ellie move down even further. When the doctor came in to check me, he said she was right there and time just seemed to stop. I remember it so clearly. It was 9:30 when he checked me, 9:40 when I started pushing, and 9:50 we had a beautiful baby girl.
Elizabeth Ann Whiteley
6lbs 15oz
20.5in long
We had such a hard time coming up with a name for her. The entire pregnancy we couldn't come to an agreement. We knew we were going to use Elizabeth as a middle name after my Grandma Rudin (it was her middle name). But we couldn't agree on a first name. At some point I suggested using it as our first name and call her Ellie, but RJ wasn't sold. He joked he'd call her Betty, and it drove me crazy. Although I figured once he saw her, she'd be too cute to call Betty anyways. Almost immediately after she was born they asked us her name. We just looked at each other and agreed, Elizabeth it was. We wanted to include another family name for her middle name, and Ann seemed to be everywhere. It was RJ's Grandma Whiteley's first name, his Grandma Gee's name is Maryann, his mom's name is Luann, and my mom's middle name is Ann. It was perfect. My Ellie was here, RJ's Betty was here. He really does call her Betty, and it's grown on me. He can have his little love name for her. After all, she was daddy's girl from the moment she was born.
I had been waiting for this day for 9 months. It was the best day of my life. We were finally a family.
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