Her Story

I was set to be induced on March 13, 2013.  The day before, I got a call from my doctor’s office telling me that it would have to be pushed back to Friday, March 15.  I was sad and disappointed because I desperately wanted to meet my little Elizabeth.  However, since it was Spring Break, Mark and Charlotte were home with me, so we tried to take advantage of a few extra days together as just a family of three.  I guess it was mother’s intuition, but I had this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that even though I was rescheduled for March 15, if I had to wait to be induced, they would reschedule again.  So, I prayed and prayed for God to help me to go into natural labor.  Plus, I had being feeling a little guilty about the decision to induce because I had told myself that this time around I wanted to experience going into labor at home.  Well, God delivered!  On Thursday, March 14 Mark and I crawled into bed about 10:30 pm.  Within 15 minutes I had a contraction.  That was not completely alarming because I had been experiencing sporadic contractions at night time all week long.  I lay in bed for another 45 minutes and had about 3 more contractions.  I knew at that time that I wasn’t going to sleep and didn’t want to keep Mark awake.  So, I moved to the couch and turned on the TV to wait it out.  I wanted to see if the contractions would stop, like they had the previous few nights, or if this was the real deal.  I started timing the contractions to see their spacing and they were coming about 15 minutes apart.  Around 1:00 I realized I had gone about 40 minutes without a contraction, so I turned off the TV and settled in to sleep.  Right then, I had the most intense, longest contraction I had experienced to that point.  I think it was the moment that I realized this was going to happen today.  I started timing my contractions again and they were still about 10-12 minutes apart.  I knew that it was too early call the doctor, so on went the TV and for the next few hours I labored on the couch.  Somewhere around 2:00 Mark woke up and realized I wasn’t in bed.  When he learned I was having regular contractions, he couldn’t go back to sleep either.  By about 4:30 am my contractions were regularly 8-10 minutes apart and I decided it was time to call the doctor.  We were told to head to the hospital.  So, we called Mark’s mom to come over since Charlotte was in bed sleeping and we packed the few last things we needed in our bags.  We headed to the hospital around 5:00 am.  It is about a 20 minute drive and the whole way there I didn’t have a contraction.  I started to worry that my labor had stopped.  I did, however, have a contraction in the hospital parking lot.  When we arrived at labor and delivery, they asked if I happened to be on the list of inductions for the day.  I told them I had and they said they were happy I went into labor on my own because they were pausing all inductions.  Out of their 22 L&D rooms, there were only two left!  They were very busy that day!  We ended up in L&D room 1 at about 5:30.  My nurse, Melissa, got me all set and hooked up to monitors.  For about 30 more minutes I still didn’t have any contractions.  I once again worried that my labor had stopped.  When the nurse finally checked me, I was 5 cm dilated.  She told me I was definitely not going home and I would be having my baby today!  After that, the contractions really started again in earnest.  They were intense and coming about 3-5 minutes apart.  By the time I was administered my much desired epidural around 7:30, I could not have been more ready!  After they put in the epidural, they told me to lay on my back to let gravity work with the medicine.  Not a good idea!  My blood pressure immediately dropped to about 40/60 and I became very light headed and nauseous.  For the remainder of my labor, I had to lie on one side or the either.  Elizabeth seemed to tolerate my right side better, so I spent most of the day in that position.  By this point my nurse had switched to a lady named Caroline, and she was amazing!  Dr. Hartley came to check on me around 10:00 and I was dilated to 8 cm.  She said she hoped I would have the baby within the next hour.  When she came to check again an hour later, I was still an 8 and that is when the waiting started.  Hour after hour, I continued to have very regular contractions, but no progress was showing.  Around 2:00 I was at 9 cm, but was very disheartened because I was just ready to have this baby!  The nurse kept telling me to let her know if I felt pressure.  In an effort to feel pressure, I let my epidural wear off a little.  However, that didn’t help because I still wasn’t progressing.  The nurse checked me again around 3:15 and said they would be back in 30 minutes.  Around 4:00, Dr. Hartley walked in with my nurse, and I knew that meant business.  Before she even checked, Dr. Hartley said we were going to get this baby out!  Well, what do you know?  When she went to check me, Elizabeth had moved down into position and the doctor was literally touching her head.  Everything went into fast motion after that.  Two NICU nurses were called because there had been a little meconium when my water was broken and we were ready to go.  On my first push, I realized I had let my epidural wear off too much and I was feeling the pain of delivery.  Talk about motivation to push with all your might to get it over with!  Luckily, Lizzie came out in only 3 contractions!  I think I started pushing around 4:10 and she was born at 4:17 pm!  What an amazing sight to see your child for the first time, followed by the terror of a mother when you are waiting to hear that first cry.  Because of the meconium, they immediately took her across the room to suction out her mouth.  It was probably only seconds, but it felt like forever before I heard that first cry. When I finally did, I was overcome with tears of joy.  My baby Elizabeth had been born!  About 5 minutes later they laid that sweet girl on my chest.  It was instant love.  I did not want to let her go.  I got to hold her for a good long while and then I let her Daddy have his turn.   When they weighed her and told me she was 8 lbs. 11 oz., I couldn’t believe that I had ever been able to hold her inside of me!  Lizzie was 20 ½ inches long.  My absolute bundle of joy.  The name Elizabeth means “gift from God” and she truly is.