So of course Saturday night comes and we don't sleep at all because we are so anxious and excited to call the hospital, head in and finally meet our little girl! I woke up about 5 and showered and dried my hair. (I wanted to be ready in case when I called they told me to come in). I called and they said they were full to call back in about 4 hours. Well by that point I was wide awake and couldn't fall back asleep. Four hours later would have been right when church was starting so we decided to stay home in case we were able to go in. Well, we ended up having to call about 5 times Sunday and never were able to go in.. So they said to call again Monday morning around 6:00 and maybe they'd have a room by then. My doctor had told me that if I didn't get in by 9:00 am on Monday to go into their office and he would try and get labor started. Well, as we were on our way in to the doctor's office the hospital called and said they were ready! We flipped back around to run home really fast to make sure we had everything for the hospital and then we were on our way.
Once we got to the hospital, which was a 30 minute drive, we got all checked in and got all the paperwork done. They took us up to our room. I got changed and they hooked me up to my IV. They started the pitocin at about 12:00 pm on November 9th and I was dilated to a 1. By 12:15 the doctor had come in and broke my water. Which I hated because then I felt like I could't get up and walk around, I was stuck in that bed for the next 18 hours..
I asked the nurse if they had any rules on when you are allowed to get an epidural (just so I knew!). She said that once you are dilated to a 4 you can get it. When contractions started they weren't anything painful. I would describe it as period cramps. But they just kept intensifying and getting more painful. They told me they had a pain medication they can put in through my IV once every hour up to 6 times. I decided to do that before getting an epidural. The first dose they gave me helped for about 20 minutes then went away. When the hour was up I asked for more and it probably only helped for 5 minutes. Each one after that didn't work at all. You think I would have learned to just stop asking for it. OH, and did I mention every time they gave me more they had to check my cervix again? Which hurt like crazy!! That was so much more painful than the contractions! Every time they checked me the next few contractions after that were pretty much unbearable. I was in so much pain. My contractions were one after another and I didn't feel like I was getting a break at all between them.
In the middle of all that I was dilated to a 4 so I asked for my epidural. The nurse told me I had to finish the bag of my IV first and that would take about 30 minutes and then I would be able to get my epidural. That's was fine, I could handle 30 more minutes. Well, that bag of IV ended up taking about 1 1/2 hours to finish up. I was in so much pain. By the time it was done and I was ready for the epidural the anesthesiologist was in doing a c-section on another lady. And of course the anesthesiologist is the last one out of the OR so I had to wait forever!! I was rolling around in the bed, squeezing the sides of the bed and Curtis' hand, and crying of pain. And every time the nurse or doctor checked me the pain intensified 100x worse.
Curtis and my mom both went out to the hall at different times to find nurses to figure out when in the heck I was going to get my epidural. They pretty much just said once the c-section was done. Finally 3+ hours after the nurses said I would get my epidural the anesthesiologist walked in. They said only Curtis could stay so my mom had to go out in the waiting room. He came over and introduced himself and told me what was going to happen. The nurse sat me up and gave me a pillow to hold. They didn't want me holding on to Curtis because they didn't want him to have sympathy pains and pass out from the epidural, so he sat on the couch. It was about 9:30 pm by this point and I was dilated to a 6! I labored for a long time without an epidural. Sitting up felt so much better than laying down did, I should have sat up a long time ago. Anyway, the anesthesiologist wiped by back and started the epidural. The nurse said it would feel like a bee sting. Now for those of you that know me know that I am absolutely terrified of bees and have never been stung by one! So having it be compared to a bee terrified me. They should have just said "Oh it feels like a little poke from a shot", because shots I do fine with and the epidural did not hurt one bit!
After I got the epidural Curtis and my mom said I turned a complete 360! I was so happy and wanted to chit chat and hang out. I never got mean while I was in pain, I just wasn't myself because it was excruciating. But it was about 10:00 at night and we hadn't slept all day or the past 2 nights so it was nice having the epidural because I was able to calm down and go to sleep.
After the epidural I started dilating a lot faster. I woke up about 1:00 am feeling the urge to push. I called the nurse and she came right in. She checked me and I was fully dilated and ready to deliver. Since it was the middle of the night the doctor wasn't at the hospital and they had to call him. (I didn't know this before delivery but apparently the doctor I had been seeing wasn't actually going to deliver. He would be in the room but the other doctor in his practice who I had never met was actually going to deliver.) So we had to wait for 2 doctors to get to the hospital. The nurse had me pushing and counting and breathing for a while waiting for the doctors to get there. They had to call them a couple of times to get them to hurry in. Brooklyn had been crowning for quite a while by time the doctors actually got there. I was so worn out and tired and exhausted.
The doctors finally arrived and at 2:21 am on November 10, 2015 Brooklyn Ann Evans was born and Curtis was able to cut the cord. Weighing 7 lbs 10 oz and 21 inches long. She was absolutely beautiful! My doctor stood off to the side and took my phone and was taking pictures while she was born. (My mom said that was the most expensive photographer shes ever seen!)
They set her on the table and weighed, measured and cleaned her a little. They handed her to me and let me do skin to skin with her. I just couldn't believe that we had a baby. It was so surreal and she was so perfect.
Curtis was absolutely amazing during the whole process. He is so amazing. My mom was there too and helped a lot and also kept her distance for me and Curtis to be able to enjoy our special moment.
