Rowan's Birth Story

The week Rowan was born I had been feeling contractions, and was already dilated to 3 cm. Wednesday night I was feeling some pretty strong contractions, and thought maybe it was time. Later that evening the contractions lightened up, so we just figured it was pre-term contractions. The next morning around 9am I felt my water 'break'. Since Liam's water technically broke 2 days prior to being born, we were unsure how much time we had. I wasn't feeling any strong contractions like the night before, but we knew if the water had broke we should get to the hospital to have it looked at. I was 98% sure this was the real thing, so we spent the morning packing up and finishing up some last minute things. We dropped off Liam at Grandma's house, and then headed over to the hospital around noon. They confirmed that the fluid was amniotic and since I was only at 3.5 cm, and not contracting, they offered to give me some pitocin. We decided to wait to see if I progressed on my own. Mike ran to get a bite to eat since he hadn't had any food that day...when he returned they checked me again and I was the same so we decided to get started on the pitocin. They kept checking me, and I was progressing very slowly. Shortly after I started to feel some pain in my back, and told them I would want my epidural soon. 20 minutes or so went by and the anesthesiologist was not there. I guess I just figured the Dr. was already at the hospital, but he had to be called in. And since it was Thanksgiving, people were busy with their family dinners...They said he was on his way, but another 20 or so minutes went by and he still was not there. I was going to just wait till I really needed it to ask for it, but I am glad I didn't because it was close to 2 hours before he showed up, and I had progressed to 6 cm. He had to go in twice because the first one was going into a blood vessel. After I got the epidural both our heart rates had dipped, and they had to keep adjusting my position to make sure we stayed normal. They also turned off the pitocin until the Dr. could get to the hospital. My normal OB was not available that day, so his partner filled in. I didn't know anything about him, so I was sad that my OB wasn't going to be there. After they turned off the pitocin I didn't progress any on my own, so when the Dr. showed up around 7pm, they turned the pitocin back up. Finally about an hour or so after I was finally at 10 cm. The nurse adjusted the bed and told the Dr. we were ready. She was going to have me push a little, but her head was already crowning!! The doctor came in, and they had me push about 3 1/2 times and she was born at 8:34 pm! They took her over to the prep cart, and wiped her down. The nurse said she was the stickiest baby she had ever seen....I joked that it was all the creamed honey I ate! They let us hang out for 2 hours in the delivery room, which was nice since I had been rushed out with Liam, and ended up passing out in the bathroom. I was able to let the medicine wear off and take in the experience. She started nursing right away, she was a natural!! Then we moved to my room around 11pm. They took her to give her a bath, and check her out. After she was returned Mike was able to say goodbye. He needed to get home to let the dogs out and feed them after being inside for 13 plus hours. Rowan and I spent the night and next 2 days eating, sleeping (me only cat naps) and bonding. She loves being held and wasn't too happy if I put her down. One of the nurses told me that Rowan was the ONLY baby born in that hospital on Thanksgiving. And also one of only a few there the whole time we were there...which is quite remarkable considering we live in Utah county, probably the #1 county of births in the U.S. Before we left they told us that she had a heart murmur, and the Dr. checking her out wanted to see her the next day to see if it was going to be an issue. We took her to be checked out on Sunday, and the Dr. said it appeared to be fixing itself, and to follow up on her 2 week visit to be sure. We are slowly getting used to having a new born again, and no sleep, but are just loving our new addition to our family.