Finally, the Birth Story *Warning: may be TMI*

*may be too much information for some*

So I am finally able to sit down and start sharing R's birth story. So here goes :) I was scheduled in for induction on Wednesday, October 27, as long as they had room for me. I got up at 7am and got ready for the day and by 7:20am it was time to call and see if they had room for me to come in for induction. Thankfully they did, so we continued preparing for the day as we waited for the kids sitter to come. After she arrived we hugged the kids good-bye and drove down to the hospital.

Things had changed a little in the three years that it was since I had K. After being admitted, I was sent up to OB triage where they monitered baby, I was given an IV (only because I tested positive for GBS, and yes I was fine with that) and the Dr. came in and administered the 'new' induction method. With T & K is was induced with a gel and things went very quickly with that. With R the new induction method is a product called Cervidil (google it if you're interested), it's supposed to be gentler and it is also able to be removed if it seems to agrivate the uterus. So knowing my history of typically responding well and fast to induction they kept me in triage for an extra hour than normal, but this time I was only having contractions every 15-20 minutes or so. When they wanted me to go walk around, everything stopped. So as typical with their new set-up, they sent me home with instructions to call every four hours and to come in immediately if certain things happened (example: water breaking); they sent a list home with us.

So as disappointed as I was, we arrived home in time to have lunch with the kids. After lunch I took the dog out for a nice long walk (TRYING to get things moving) and still nothing. So I decided to try take a little rest on the couch (in a reclined sitting position, since lying down is the least productive position to encourage labor, lol). Around 2:30pm I started noticing contractions were starting. By 3:30, when I was to call the OB triage and give a 'report' I told her that my contractions were 5-10 minutes apart for the last hour but I didn't think they were quite 1min long at that point. So she said to wait a little longer. I decided to start timing things so I had a better idea of where things were at. Between 4-4:30 I was pretty steady at 5mins apart and 50-60 seconds long, so at 4:30 I called a different sitter (I figured that way if things took a long time then they were at a place that they could stay overnight).

I had been sitting on the couch the majority of this whole time, so I decided to start moving around and see if things progressed or if things would slow down. Things didn't slow down, at 5pm I told my husband, we have to go now. We dropped the kids off by 5:30 and were at the OB triage by 6pm. The nurse seemed a little doubtful that things were as I said, but after 15 minutes of monitering she quickly got things into action. She quickly got my IV going and worked on getting a room ready for me in labor & delivery. By the time everything was said and done they got me into the L&D room by 7:00, the Dr. saw me at 7:15. I was at 4cm and he broke my water. All I can say is that my daughter was born at 8:35pm!! So that means I went from 4 to 10 and delivery in 1 hr 20minutes!! Delivery was fast too, basically one really long contraction!! My favorite part was when they put my new baby girl on my chest (all gooky and everything) and laid a really warm, heavy blanket on us and we just got to snuggle for at least a good 20 min. With my other children they were measured and bundled before being handed to me, so this is something different :)

Thankfully, everything went really well! Our daughter was born at a healthy weight of 8lb 3oz, much better than the 9lbs I was scared of! Although I do think she was more overdue than we thought because she had already started losing weight in utero. She went down to 7lb 13oz at the hospital, but at her first Dr. appointment had regained her birth weight. One thing I've learned to deal with is her reflux issue. I know it's fairly normal, but none of my kids have really spit up a lot before. So after feeding her I try to keep her a somewhat of an incline without putting pressure on her tummy. For now she has also been sleeping in her bouncy chair so when I do night feedings I don't have to sit up with her for 10-15 extra minutes afterwards! Adjustments seem to be going well with the kids, nothing that some structure, discipline and special one-on-one mom time can't help :) So that's pretty much our introduction of the newest little monkey in our family :)