38 1/2 weeks...

Don't feel like you have to read the novel ahead but for those who want the birth story....here goes: Tuesday March 10th was a full day for me. I had coffee in the morning with my dear friend Sarah. We talked about baby and my slight concern of not being sure when my water would break. Next I headed to my Tuesday morning Pre-Natal Yoga class. I love that class and have made several friends all due around me. For several of them this was their last class and I wanted to be sure to see them since the next few weeks of class for me could be lonely waiting for my bundle to come or the Dr. to tell me no more yoga. After class I headed over to lunch with a group of gals from Seiko - Sam, Ola, Nicola, and Jen. Finally, I headed over to my weekly appointment with our OB/GYN. Chris decided since we were both having busy days he'd just meet me there.

We checked in, did the normal pee on the paper to check all the levels, and the nurse came to check my blood pressure. She thought it was a little high but said that Dr. Mills would check it again when she came in. A few minutes later Dr. Mills came in and also got a high read...not super high but in the 140's range. (Side note, the previous week I had a border-line pressure read but had consistently been so low that they weren't worried). She did my weekly "check" and sadly I was still not dilated. But still Dr. Mills said we needed to talk about inducing labor. She said I was far enough along for the baby to be safe and there were greater risks if my blood pressure went up more. In my mind, I'm thinking through which day in the next week would be good to schedule an induction. I still had a handful of things I wanted to get done before the baby came so I was hoping she'd let me wait until the following Monday. I asked about what the time line for the induction would be and this is the moment when everything changed:

Dr. Mills: "Time line?" You need to go across the street and check into the hospital right now. You aren't going home without a baby.
Karen: "Umm - I think I might cry" Chris: (jumps into Coach mode and is on his feet with a tissue in hand rubbing my back)
Dr. Mills: (Explains a few things was super nice and reassuring, encouraging, and wonderful but I honestly didn't really hear a word she said)
Karen: (thinking of everything I wished I had done at the house) Ummm...ok.... Dr. Mills: I'll be there to check on you once you get settled in.

Chris and I walk down stairs and get in the car to drive right across the street to check in. We were assigned to room 28 and within minutes they are drawing blood for blood work, putting in the IV asking me to sign all the consent forms and telling me to stay calm and not think about everything. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I'm listening to the baby heart beat on the monitor, I'm getting juiced up by the IV fluids, and I didn't get to shower after Yoga and was thinking it would be a long stinky time before I smelled good again and I'm supposed to "not think about it." Chris ran home to get our pre-packed bags and I just laid there...thinking about trying not to think about it.

An hour later the blood work was back and Dr Mills was there. The great news was the blood work didn't give them any concerns for pre-eclampsia which left it to be pregnancy induced hypertension. They still had to induce but at least things were less severe. The rundown from Dr. Mills was this: - I was supposed to order and eat a big dinner - After eating they'd insert Cervidyl to loosen my cervix and hopefully help it start to dilate. - 12 hours later they would start the potocin to induce labor. I could have that for 12 hours. - If labor did not progress I'd have a c-section which was likely since I was not dilated at all.

I was assigned a labor and delivery nurse - Cyndi and ordered dinner. I had pasta, green beans, a salad, a roll, and jello (what is it with hospitals and jello?). At 7:00 Cyndi came in to insert the Cervidyl. I'll leave out the details but let's note that I had to resort to the pain management breathing we learned in our birth classes for the entire 3 minutes it took her to get it in. Gross. I then had to lay still and let it set for 2 hours. No using the restroom and again trying to stay calm and not think about it. Really they wanted us to sleep since we would be in for a long day. We called a few people, waited for the 2 hours to pass, and watched a little TV. At 10:30 we tried to sleep. By 11:30 we realized I was in too much pain for sleep so I agreed to a light dose of Ambien. By 1:00 the monitor was showing contractions that I didn't feel though I was in pain and my body was having the shakes to manage the pain. They wanted to give me a narcotic for the pain but I just didn't want to go that route so I opted to do more breathing and had my Coach (Chris) guide me though and rub on my legs and back. I was literally praying for the shakes to stop so I could sleep. 2:00 - The shakes stop, I take a breath of relief, my stomach cramps hard, I hear a pop, and suddenly water is gurgling out...my water had broken!!! This was really fabulous because now I was in active labor which meant the painful Cervidyl came out. Nurse Cyndi checked my cervix and I was 3cm dilated! Again, great news. I opted to get the epidural because I had been managing pain for hours and didn't think I could sleep or get through tomorrow's long day without the help. At 3:00pm I got the epidural in and waited for it to take effect. At 3:45 I got a popsicle for all the hard work...Yum! At 4:00pm Nurse Cyndi put in the catheter and Chris and I went to sleep. We slept awesome for two hours. At 6:00pm I abruptly wake and tell Chris I am feeling LOTS of pressure. Cyndi comes in for a check and again miraculously I am 9.5cm dilated. By 6:30 we started pushing but my contractions were 6 minutes apart rather than the normal 1 - 2 when you start pushing. At 7:20 Dr. Mills arrives and starts to help with pushing. Around 7:35 I do a final round of pushing and the baby was crowning so Dr. Mills calls in the nurse who will catch the baby and starts the bed setup. At 7:40, the baby just popped out on her own...I didn't push and the nurse didn't make it in but Dr. Mills grabbed her.

Baby girl Craxton was a tiny 6 pounds 3 oz and 20 in. long!!!!

What a miracle....more to come.