Last Saturday night, I had the worst case of insomnia. I didn't get to sleep til 4:30. Needless to say, I didn't get up in time for our 9:00 church, but got up in time to get ready for Sacrament meeting. As soon as I got up at 10, I started having some really minor contractions. By the time we got to church, I decided I should time them. They were anywhere from 10-20 minutes apart. This went on through the afternoon. Finally that evening, we were supposed to go to Cord's parents' for dinner, but contractions were coming 8-15 minutes apart and getting more painful, so we stayed home. I was way hungry and unsure whether this was real labor, so I ate dinner anyways.
By 8:00 that night, they were becoming unbearable. Well, almost. Each one, I'd have to go lay on the bed and squeeze a pillow and die a little inside. It was at this time that I decided I for sure was getting an epidural. How people do natural childbirth puzzles me. Cord was great through the whole thing though. He made up stories and told them to me during each contraction. In the meantime I was eating ice cream bars. Maybe like 10 of them. Then my body all the sudden decided it only wanted water. It's amazing how your body knows what it's going to need. I think I had six water bottles in those few hours? Crazy.
So we're timing contractions and finally they are anywhere from 2-7 minutes apart. They tell you you're supposed to go to the hospital when they're 5 minutes apart, so we really had no idea what to do. We finally decided to head to the hospital at like... 1 or 2 in the morning.
They wheel me on up to labor and delivery, and check me out. This was probably one of the worst parts of labor. I was strapped to the monitors and laying on the bed and I couldn't get up to walk off contractions. Ugh. The nurse checked me to see if I was progressing (I was) and went off to call my doctor to see if they wanted to keep me. Another nurse came back and took me to my labor room! I was SO relieved! I did NOT want it to be a false alarm. We got an IV strapped on (Cord almost passed out) and then I politely asked when I may receive my epidural. She told me anytime! They were just waiting on the anesthesiologist. Luckily it was 3 in the morning so there was pretty much no wait. As soon as that thing was in, I felt so much relief. My body could finally relax. Cord called my parents, Sloan, and his parents.
The next million hours were a waiting game. I tried to sleep but couldn't. Sloan came down from Logan immediately and hung out with Cord and me. The staff decided I wasn't progressing fast enough so they game me a little Pitocin. Baby's heartrate didn't like that one bit. So they stopped the Pitocin. Then my doctor came and broke my water. Then my parents showed up. It was like a party. FINALLY that afternoon, I was feeling no pain, but I was feeling pressure. I told the nurse and she said it was a good thing. Meanwhile, all I was allowed to eat was ice chips and popsicles. I was getting to the point where I was DOWNING that ice. I still had not slept because I was too busy listening to my little baby's hearbeat, and anytime it sped up or slowed down it stressed me out. The nurse announced around 1:30 that we were ready to push, and she was going to go call my doctor. He showed up pretty much immediately, I sent everyone out of the room except Cord, and after about 20 minutes, she was out! Baby Aria was born at 2:30 pm. (Yes people, that's 28 hours of labor right thurr.) It was the CRAZIEST feeling in the world. I think I cried a little, and Cord definitely cried. Baby was a bad baby, and she pooped in the womb, so the first thing they had to do when she was out was clear out her airways. The whole time they were doing all that newborn stuff, I couldn't keep my eyes off her. The first thing I noticed was how much HAIR she had! She was beautiful! And nearly 9 pounds! Cord got to hold her first, and he was so cute with her. Finally I got to hold her and nurse her. Then they told me she had a fever so they had to take her away. I almost cried. Cord went with her and I was left alone wondering what was going on with my baby and there was nothing I could do about it. Finally they wheeled me into my postpartum room, and then I had to wait, wait, wait. They finally wheeled her in so she could be with me. They told us her temps were back to normal but they were doing bloodwork to test for infection.
Long story short, one of the cultures came back positive for strep B, but all her vitals were perfectly fine. So they decided it was probably a human error and redid the test, which made it so we had to stay in the hospital longer. :/.
But everything is fine now and being a parent is the craziest thing. I never thought I could love something as much as I love her. I would truly do anything for her. I went and ran errands a couple hours yesterday by myself and I missed her like crazy. Life is a constant whirlwind of diaper-changing, feeding, holding, baby-talking, burping, and rocking at all hours of the day and night, but I love it.
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