Ella's Birth Story

On Thursday, June 24, the day before my due date, we went to the doctor for our weekly check-up. I had made a little more progress, and while my doctor was hopeful I would go into labor on my own, she told us she would go ahead and make an appointment for induction the following week. She warned us the maternity center had been booked up lately, and it was likely we would not get an appointment within the next few days and could also be bumped if enough girls were there in spontaneous labor. I was still hopeful she would be able to schedule us for the following Tuesday or Wednesday (the 29th or 30th), which were her next on call times. So, when she called that evening and said the earliest she could schedule for was Saturday, July 3, at 7:00 am, I was disappointed and cried.

On Friday, June 25 we didn't have anything planned for the day, and Camryn and I were going to run a few quick errands, so I hopped in the shower and decided just to pull my hair into a ponytail instead of washing it. I did decide to shave my legs quickly though - thank goodness! :) We had a pretty low key day, took good naps in the afternoon, and were headed to Chick-fil-A for supper. While Jason took a shower, Camryn and I played a game of Pretty, Pretty Princess. After we finished, I told Cam we needed to go upstairs and fix her hair so we'd be ready to go soon. When I stood up, my water started to break, although I wasn't 100% sure that's what it was. (Remember, I was induced with Camryn, so didn't have to experience the real signs of labor). I decided I could have lost control of my bladder somewhat (isn't pregnancy so humbling?) and changed pants. I rounded up Camryn to head upstairs again and only got halfway up when it happened again - this time in a very convincing way. I went back down and told Jason what happened, and he told me to go ahead and call the doctor's office. The nurse felt like I should head on to the hospital, so we called for our awesome Jamie to come over to stay with Camryn while I took a quick shower - I was not going with dirty hair! I was pretty proud of how calm we stayed. When I got out of the shower, we packed some last minute things. While Jason went to get gas, I made Camryn a sandwich and laid out the clothes she would meet her baby sister in.

We got to the hospital, and as we walked into the maternity center, Jason reached over to hold my hand. I laughed and joked that this was a great Friday night date since we had a babysitter and all! We were checked in by 6:30 ish, made calls to family to let them know we were there, and got settled into our room. I was not having very regular contractions, and the nurse was having a hard time tracking them. She called to report to the on-call doctor, and he suggested starting Pitocin to get the contractions regular. After that we hung out, watched a little Gamecock baseball, and waited for things to get going.

I had decided I wanted to do a drug-free labor. I was actually doing pretty well until around 9:45 pm. The contractions were really hard and were wearing me out, and I started getting concerned I was going to be too tired or in too much pain to push when the time came. So, I gave in and asked for the epidural. I had to wait until I'd gotten enough IV in me, so I still had to ride out a few more, which was no fun after I decided I wanted drugs! By the way, the guy who did the epidural was Dr. Doolittle, which everyone we were texting during the process had a field day with ... they asked if I was delivering a litter of puppies, and if so, they wanted one!

Pretty much as soon as the epidural was in, the nurse checked and said I was complete and ready to push. She told me she thought I was doing really well and could have made it without the epidural, but at that point, I had no regrets! Around 10:45 pm we started setting up to push and started around 10 til 11. It was actually a pretty easy process, and Crissy, the nurse who had been with us the whole time was fabulous. Dr. Solomon, the on call doctor from my practice, came in around the last 15 minutes or so to complete the delivery. Once Ella's head was out, I had to stop pushing because her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. They got that corrected, and she was born at 11:27 pm! We've been smitten with our new little one ever since!

**I apologize this ended up being so long. I obviously don't know how to tell a short story!