1/2/08

Brijette Elizabeth is finally here! It was an interesting journey getting her out! Sunday, December 2nd at 8:00pm contractions began. They were stronger than normal and started getting pretty regular. They came about every 5-7 minutes, so nothing to get too excited about, but of course we wondering if this was the real deal. They continued through the night and at 8:00am stopped completely. I didn't go to work because I wasn't sure what was going to happen. And...nothing did. So my husband and I tried everything from sex, to eating pineapple, spicy foods, shoveling the snow outside and walking. Still nothing! So we called the doctor to check in and let her know what was going on. She had told us she'd be going out of town that next weekend so we were a little nervous I might go into labor when the doc was out of town. We all decided the best option would be to schedule to be induced on Wednesday. But my doc also mentioned trying a more natural way of inducing with a foley bulb. So Tuesday night I went into the hospital and they measured me at almost 3cm. The foley bulb only gets you started with contractions and once you reach 3cm it is supposed to fall out. (It is similar to a balloon and they fill it with water and then they insert it to irritate your cervix to get contractions started, then it falls out.) So we went back home and I had this bulb inside of me. I had more contractions throughout the night but nothing was steady. So the plan was to go in at 6:00am and get on pitocin if the bulb didn't get things rolling. I left setting the alarm up to my husband, and of course it doesn't work!! So at 5:34am he somehow wakes up and in a calm voice says to me "Ah, honey, we should get up now!" and I asked what time it was and he calmly replies with "time to get up!" So we rush out of bed, shower and grab out things and we were at the hospital again at 6:05am! Pretty good we thought! So we told the resident the bulb didn't fall out. I was down in the dumps because I was all hooked up to IV's and it felt so unnatural. I was sad the labor didn't progress past 3cm even with the bulb. Then the resident took out the bulb and measured me......6cm!!! I was so excited!! For some odd reason, the bulb didn't fall out, yet still worked!! Over half way there! I was very pleased and the mood definitely changed! At 7:30am they still put me on pitocin to get the contractions regular. So Bryan and I hung out going through contractions watching the monitor as they happened. Then we realized if I laughed hard enough the monitor looked like I had a contraction so we started quoting movies-especially Super Bad and I laughed my way until about 11:00am. Then contractions started getting a bit more serious. By 12:00pm my doc came in the room and said it was time to push! Her guess was 12:37pm...but when 12:37 rolled around I said..."It is 12:37, where is this baby?" She was happy I still had my sense of humor! They kept saying only a few more pushes and she'll be here. I'd ask then for a specific number because after "a few" she still wasn't there!! They also kept telling me they could see her head and she had a lot of black hair!! I was amazed at how long she stayed in that one position without coming out. It was for about an hour. I didn't realize how long that part took....it was really painful. Bryan was such a wonderful coach. He was able to sit right behind me on the bed and push against my back to help me push. He was so great to have there, cooling me down with wash clothes and feeding me popsicles! What a fantastic husband. So, finally by 1:10pm December 5th Brijette decided to come out!!!! It was such a relief to have her little body come out and be placed on my belly! All I could feel was love. I couldn't say anything or even cry I just stared at her body and cuddled her! She was so beautiful, I thought newborns were supposed to be kind of goofy looking. Not this one! Just gorgeous. We are so thankful she is healthy and such a happy baby. God has truly blessed us. I was really happy with myself for sticking to my plan and not asking for pain medication. I wanted to have a natural birth and really go through what I felt like my body was supposed to go through and I made it! I can't believe how much pain I could endure, but I did it just fine. I didn't even curse anyone out! Recovery has been going smoothly and we are so happy with our addition to our family. We thank God every day for her!