So we get to the hospital and check-in and meet my wonderful nurse Brooke. She was so, so kind and I loved her and she made me feel super comfortable. She tries to get me started with the IV with the pitocin, fluids and antibiotic (because of Strep B) that unfortunately took 3 tries to get in because I was so swollen and between the pain of that (I'm a weeny with pain just to give the heads up) and the anxiety/nervousness I was experiencing made me barf a bunch (great way to start off the day right?!). Nurse Brooke didn't want me running on completely empty to have this baby so we called food services and got some breakfast sent up. Though truly I wasn't at all hungry. Well, hours and hours passed and honestly I could feel the tightening of contractions but nothing much different than the braxton hicks I'd been experiencing at home. Jonathan and I played ticket to ride on the ipad, my mom came and chilled with us for a bit, I ate ice chips, and it was fairly uneventful... I was getting tired but other than a few minutes here and there I couldn't really sleep being uncomfortable.
So at 3:30pm my Doctor came to see me to check me. I was only at 2cm & 75% effaced (going into it I was 1cm 50% effaced) and baby was still quite a bit up there. So not exactly what I was hoping to hear after being on pitocin for 7+ hours already. He went ahead and broke my water even though really it was probably too soon for that. Nurse Brooke told me later that she was so nervous that he did that, not thinking my body would be ready. Luckily it worked out ok for me, however, after the water breaking is when I could really feel the pain of the contractions. I feel like my bag of water was acting as a cushion or something because it was basically immediate that I started feeling PAIN! I remember the contractions to me felt like extreme menstrual cramping. I was throwing up and trying to breathe through it all but I was clenching my body so much from the pain so I wasn't really allowing the contractions to do what they should've because I wasn't calm enough. It hurt BAD! (but like I said before, I'm kind of a weeny when it comes to pain!) Twenty minutes of this went by and they ended up just letting me get the epidural then (though usually they like to wait till 4cm). That was kind of scary just knowing how big of a needle it is and how it could potentially jack you up if it's done wrong. But I just did as I was told, hunched over the bed not moving a muscle, Jonathan sitting in a chair at my feet calming me and holding my hand. (They don't let anyone watch because it's made people pass out before haha). Anyway another twenty minutes later and I'm finally numb! I was then able to calm down of course after that and get a little more comfortable.
By the way, apparently not all epidurals are the same in case you're wondering. At my hospital (Boise St. Luke's) the way they did it at that time is give you enough so you "feel the pressure, but not the pain." I had the mindset that I wouldn't feel anything at all from the tummy down but that just wasn't the case. And, that pressure is actually still quite painful if ya ask me! I guess the idea behind this is so you "know how to push" because you can feel more, and it just takes the edge off. But needless to say, I was still extremely uncomfortable when the contractions got more consistent and intense.
Around 6pm they had me at the strongest point on the pitocin possible making a lot of contractions in a row. I had 4 contractions back to back with no break in between. Baby's heart rate dropped drastically, and suddenly 6 nurses came rushing in, turned me on my side, put me on oxygen mask, give me a shot, talk me through it, stopped the pitocin completely, inserted a scalpel thing that connects to the babies head to get a better reading on the heart rate because the monitors on my stomach couldn't find her heart rate at all. It honestly was the scariest moment of my life not knowing if my baby was ok. Jonathan and I just stared at each other in shock, tears (and absolute fear) in my eyes. Her heart rate had gone from the 150s to 60 in a matter of seconds and stayed that way for three 1/2 minutes. Then, after the longest few minutes of my life, it finally slowly started going up.
Shortly before this happened, Jonathan was starting to get hungry and I told him he could leave to go get some food if he wanted to as there wasn't much action happening. He decided he better stay and sent my mom instead. I'm so glad he did because I would have been that much more terrified without him by my side. I was also super grateful that my nurse Brooke was the one with me at this point of the labor. She was just perfect for the role that she played at this point, but at 7pm her shift ended and a new nurse came in. (I HATE that I can't remember her name for the life of me) At first I really didn't love her, she was very matter-of-fact and not super sweet/caring like Brooke. But I realized later that she also was perfect for the role she played in helping with pushing/actual delivery because she was so efficient and a great motivator!
Anyways, after being taken off the pitocin from the scary incident, my body was keeping up contractions on its own and I was dilated to a 6 after a few hours. At some point later, I was put back on the pitocin to regulate more contractions, and in a few more long hours I dilated to a 9 (I think around 1am) at this point I'm so completely exhausted. Like I said, I had only 4 hrs of sleep the night before in anticipation for the induction, and on top of that, it had just been a pretty intense day so I'm already tired before even any pushing. But around 2:20am I was at 10cm & ready to start pushing.
Also, in case you don't already know: Pushing is extremely hard and tiring, it's super uncomfortable and is like the most intense workout you will ever have! My nurse was really proud of my pushes and said I was really good at it! I remember the heartburn being BRUTAL during the pushing. I also remember being SO thirsty, I would have my mom and Jonathan sneak me tiny sips of water from the ice chips that had melted. I was so tired I would close my eyes in between contractions and the minutes would be over all too soon before I had to use every ounce of energy in me all over again. So, after two 1/2 hours of this with hardly any progress I am SO absolutely done, and we can't figure out why the baby is just stuck! My nurse is giving me more info on c-sections because at this point she doesn't really think the baby is going to fit through. I'm essentially giving up and feeling so defeated, but next step is to just wait for doctor who is delivering down the hall to see what we should do. They made it seem like it wasn't going to be long, but in the meantime I'm still in the stirrups enduring these intense contractions and told not to push now which is just a different kind of pain. I'm completely exposed due to my fever I can't even have a sheet over me, I'm so uncomfortable and not knowing if I'm even going to be able to have the baby this way! I was pretty ticked. Obviously, I can't blame my doctor for having to be in another delivery, but in these moments I wasn't exactly rational or patient. My thoughts were if I wasn't even going to be able to get this baby out on my own, then why am I laying here in this horrible position going through so much pain just waiting for an inevitable c-section. But at the same time I was also thinking, I have come SO far already, I don't know how much more I have left in me, but that sucks to get this far and then not even be able to get this baby out, let's just do what we have to do to get this done!
Finally, an hour later around 5am (I am completely dead at this point & just on my last leg) Doctor comes in asks if I can give it all for another 30 more minutes to see if this is going to happen or not. He says that he's going to have to use forceps to help me get her out. He says for the nurses to give me a more extreme dose of epidural in case the situation arrived for an emergency c-section & also because the forceps would be intense to bear. I start pushing again, this time completely numb which I was glad for but also made it harder to tell if I was pushing right, so I was just a little bit, kinda grateful for the earlier pushes where I could remember how that felt and try to do that this time. I finally start hearing "just a few more pushes" and "I see her head" "she's almost here" and FINALLY at 5:59am on Tuesday, September 24th, she finally makes her arrival! Hallie Kay Eldredge has entered the world! It's an excruciating wait to hear that first cry, but it finally happens and along with her I cry tears of relief and pure joy, my baby girl is here, we did it!
They whisk her away because of how blue she is and because of the fever I had to make sure that wasn't passed to her. I was so sad I didn't get her right away. Jonathan got to go over and see her and my mom was taking pictures both reassuring me everything was ok and that she was so cute. She got her normal coloring back quickly and scored a 9 on her apgar! Due to being stuck for so long she had a pretty bad shaped head and some bruising, but its amazing how fast they heal. She weighed in at 7 pounds even and was 19.5 inches long. She couldn't have been more perfect to me and that moment when I finally got to hold her in my arms I was instantly in love!
Seeing these two together made me melt!
The rest of the hospital stay was kind of a blur. I was on some major pain pills due to my cutting/stitches. I had no concept of time. That Tuesday was a gloomy/rainy day and Jonathan and I were so in and out of sleep the whole day felt like night. Before going to the Hospital I was very apprehensive about the idea of my baby being in the nursery away from me, but it honestly ended up being a lifesaver in my case. I couldn't function without a little shut-eye so having the nurses was great! It was also good for me to take little walks to go get her from the nursery. It was so fun to see her so tiny in the little swing they had her in.
Luckily for both Hallie and I, breastfeeding came very easy! It's mazing how these little beings just know what to do!
Jonathan had the first diaper change, and we got her in a cute onsie we brought from home after her very first "bath".
My mom held her for a little while when we slept some more, and she commented how she's never seen a baby spread their legs out like Hallie did! Most are still curled in a tiny ball so we were cracking up at her demeanor already!
We had a few more visitors come to see her.
She had this tiny blister on her hand from sucking in the womb!
I could kiss those cheeks forever.
Nurse Brooke came to check on us!
Before we knew it, it was time for us to leave. We had decided to stay in the hospital just until Wednesday evening. I was a little scared not having help of nurses but with my mom staying with us that eased my worries.
So tiny in her carseat.
Ready for the drive home!
Well, I made it through the hardest, most painful, most terrifying and tiring, most amazingly, incredible, beautiful experience ever! And our journey with little Hallie Girl has just begun!
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