Birth Story

I just realized I never posted the story of Miss Ainsley's birth! It is extremely long, but I want to be sure I document it all for my record keeping. I had some inklings that she would come before her induction date, so I put myself into turbo mode and scrambled to get the house ready for her arrival. This, I'm sure, made her come even sooner! Starting Saturday night I had terrible back pain and was way more exhausted than I had been the entire pregnancy. I stayed home from church on Sunday (mostly because the only way I could sit comfortably was criss-cross applesauce, which might look extremely odd in Sacrament meeting), but the pain did not go away.
Monday was my last day of work, Lindsey (who has completely spoiled me!) brought us Cafe Rio for lunch to celebrate. I went straight from work to a "landscaping" appointment, and then to pick up Josh from work. For FHE we went to Costco to stock up on freezer meals and things for the house. Josh was wanting to procrastinate our trip because it was late in the evening, but I insisted. The pain in my back started to wrap around to my stomach, but I didn't think much of it because it was a constant pain, not rolling like contractions. When we got home I started watching a movie on the couch, my hand resting on my stomach. I noticed every now and then mt stomach would get tight and come to a point in the middle. I had been having contractions regularly since 32 weeks (according to the NST I had twice a week) but I never could feel them. I still couldn't feel them, but as long as my hand was on my stomach I could tell when they started and ended. I timed the contractions and they were about 15-18 minutes apart, but not regular and consistent. Because I was on blood thinners, Dr.B had told me if my contractions were regular and about 10 min apart, to skip my injection and call into the office. Well I decided to give myself my injection and go to bed.
At about 4:00am the contractions were strong enough to wake me up, but still didn't hurt. When I timed them, they were 7-8 minutes apart. I felt a little silly calling the on-call physician because I wasn't in pain, but when I explained the situation, she told me to got to the hospital for monitoring. When we walked into the ER entrance and I cheerily explained to the nurse I was having regular contractions, I could tell she was thinking I would be sent home. Nevertheless, we were taken upstairs to the maternity ward I was hooked up to the monitors. My contractions were then 5 minutes apart, I was 70%, 4cm, and -1. I was officially admitted, bracelets and all. Because I had done my injection around midnight, they didn't want me to have the baby until after 12:00 noon, otherwise postpartum bleeding could have been a problem. They hooked me up to an IV and pumped me with fluids to slow down labor, and it worked. Josh and I just hung out, I watched some Vampire Diaries, he napped a bit. I think because I was so mellow (no screaming and emotional meltdowns) Josh kept saying we were going to get sent home and that the baby wasn't really going to come that day. After listening to him for a while the nurse just laughed and explained that if we didn't have the baby that day, it would be just after midnight the next day! When Josh realized we would be at the hospital for a while, he decided to run home for a quick shower. Mom Duffy was there to keep me company and my mom arrived shortly after. We had a great time imagining what our baby would look like, which genes we thought would dominate :-), how big we thought she would be.
A little after Josh got back, Dr.B came in to break my water around 11:45am. I was told the anesthesiologist would be in about 15 minutes later to give me my epidural. About 10 minutes later I was uncomfortable. About 20 minutes later I was in pain. About 30 minutes later I was in A LOT of pain. Still no screaming, but my controlled breathing was enough to make Josh nervous. He kept asking if he should go tell someone we were still waiting. This of course made us all laugh a little, you just have to wait your turn. When the anesthesiologist came 45 minutes later Josh and I were BOTH ready for that epidural :-) At first it only worked on my right side, but after adjusting it, I was numb waist to ankles on both sides. Thank goodness! The epidural had slowed down my labor a bit, so both moms headed to Paradise Cafe for some lunch and brought some back for Josh.
In the mean time I was given Petocin to kick my labor back into gear. I dilated 1 cm the first hour, then 2 the next, and before we knew it I was a 10! At  Mission they like to wait until the baby has dropped before having you push. While we were waiting Chrissy showed up with her fancy camera for mom Duffy to take some pictures with, but she ended up staying and taking pictures herself. A little while later we were ready to go! Josh was EXTREMELY concerned that the nurse was having me push before Dr.B was there, he kept asking when the Dr. would get there.  We had to explain that the Dr. just needs to be there to catch. It really was cute to see Josh's concern for me and our little girl. He was such a great support and helper, holding my hand through it all. When Dr.B did get there, the nurse kept scolding him because he was making us all laugh too much, which was amusing, but made pushing a little difficult :-) I only pushed for an hour and half before our little girl made her debut! Ainsley Elisabeth was born at 7:19pm weighing 5 pounds, 15 ounces and measuring 18 1/2 inches long. I cried the moment I held her. I couldn't (and still can't) believe she is here, safe and sound. We are so grateful for her and the added love she has brought into home.