At my 38 week appointment I went in fully expecting not to be dilated or effaced because that's how I was with Hattie. After Dr. Judd Checked me, he asked, "What day would you like to have this baby?" I was so surprised / super excited / scared. I told him that I would have to talk it over with the Mr. and that I would call the office back with the day that we decide on. After talking it over, we both felt really good about Monday, February 27--it just seemed like a good day for this little girl to join our family.
Fast forward one week (and one sleepless night!) and at 5:00am on February 27th we were checking in to the hospital for my induction. We got checked in and ushered in to room 116 or "Sweet 16" as they call it. They named it in honor of a beloved OB who died of Lou Gehrig's Disease--it was his favorite delivery room and there truly was a special spirit there--I felt so blessed to get that special room.
After getting settled, I met my nurse and she put all the monitors on then started my IV with some Pitocin around 7:00am. Worried about feeling any pain, she assured me that it will take some time for the medicine to kick in and that she had already called the Anesthesiologist. She also checked my dilation and at this point I was only dilated to a 1 plus. So we waited a bit and then right around 8:30am the Anesthesiologist arrived with the miracle drug. Watching this is Sean's favorite part--before meeting the baby of course! In a former life he had thoughts of being an Anesthesiologist and he always is amazed by the giant needle that they stick in your back. He loves it. The Epi went in great and everything was looking good. Oh how I love modern medicine! I always know when the drugs start working because I get super sick and start throwing up and get really cold and uncontrolled shivers. It's not fun but I will take anything over labor pains, ha! And Mr. Pack is so good and takes such good care of me--always making sure that I am comfortable and always ready to help with anything, even the barf bag. He is the best man I know. I am so blessed. I am also blessed with a good momma who came at 8:30am to be with me at the hospital. I am so grateful she lives close and is only a phone call away.
At about 9:00am Dr. Judd came in and broke my water. Because my water naturally broke with Hattie this was a new experience for me. It was simple, quick and painless and my water was clear so we knew baby Holden hadn't been in any distress. After my water broke things were quiet for a bit until my nurse came back in seeming a bit concerned. She pulled out the oxygen mask and a few monitors. She told us that Holden's heart rate was pretty low and that she wanted to monitor it rather closely. She put the oxygen mask on me and had me lay on my side to see if that would make things any better. She also put the monitors on Holden's head to get more accurate readings from inside the womb rather than out. This was no surprise to me because they did the same thing with Hattie. What was surprising is that nothing helped. After a bit the nurse determined that Holden's heart rate just had a really low baseline and as long as she didn't dip below the baseline she was okay. It was all a bit unnerving but I knew that she was in good hands and if needs be they would escalate things.
10:30am rolled around and even with the oxygen, I was really having a really hard time breathing. Being an asthmatic I get a little freaked out when I can't breathe. Or maybe a lot freaked out. So, we called the nurse in and she did what was called a "touch test." She took a little swab of alcohol and touched it along my legs and up the side of body asking me to tell her when I could feel the cold swab. Unfortunately I couldn't feel it until it was past my chest--meaning I was too numb. She said that I was a 'lightweight" and that I had been given too much of my Epidural. She immediately called the Anesthesiologist to come turn off the epidural. He said that they were going to keep it off for at least an hour and flush me with some fluids until I could breathe well again and then turn it back on at a lower dosage.
After an hour or so I was breathing much better and at Noon the Anesthesiologist came back and gave me my drugs back. I was one happy lady because I was starting to progress and was already dilated a 7 and I really didn't want to feel an ounce of pain--that's why you're induced right? Right.
We waited and waited some more and just watched my contractions on the monitor. I couldn't feel a thing and the only way that I ever knew I was contracting was that my breathing got shallower. It was such a strange sensation. Right around 1:30pm I called my nurse again because I was starting to feel a lot more pressure. A few minutes later she came in and checked me and sure enough I was dilated to a 10. She told me that I had to try really hard not to throw up anymore, let alone cough, and that she was going to call Dr. Judd. That was the moment that it really hit me that I was going to be meeting our beautiful baby Holden very soon.
Suddenly things got really busy. There were nurses coming in and out of our room setting everything up and making sure everything was ready when Dr. Judd arrived. He seemed to be taking a while so my nurse went to call him again and told him that he really needed to hurry this time. He walked in at about 2:15pm and started to run the show. He was so calm and collected and I knew I am was such good hands. I always tell him that he is not allowed to retire until I'm done having all of my babies, ha! The next thing I knew he was ready to go and up went my feet in the stirrups and I was pushing. Three pushes later, at 2:33pm she was out and I was looking down at my beautiful baby Holden with tears streaming down my face. Dark hair and perfect little features looking very similar to her sister yet she had her own unique look. The feeling of love is overwhelming, indescribable and truly the best in the world--there is an instant bond with this perfect little baby that you are meeting for the first time. There is no greater blessing or responsibility than becoming a parent.
Holden passed all of her tests with flying colors and weighed in at 6 pounds 7.5 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. She has been a such good baby from the start and we couldn't be more smitten with this little beauty.
