Dear Molly,
Your birth story starts on the morning of June 16, 2012.
I woke up having contractions. Real contractions. I've had enough Braxton Hicks contractions to know the difference.
After about two hours of contractions every five minutes I called your dad. "Are you ready to have a baby today?" He got home pretty quickly.
Then I put him to work. Clean this. Pack that. Fix this. Scrub that. "I thought we were having a baby!"
I was worried about being sent home from the hospital so we went for a walk around the block. My contractions jumped closer together so we loaded up in the truck to take your sister to grandma and grandpas house. On the way there my contractions spaced out.
Another walk: contractions jumped to about 2 or 3 minutes apart. Drive to hospital: contractions spaced to about 10 or 11 minutes. A walk around the hospital: close contractions again.
I was getting frustrated.
Around 4 pm we checked into labor and delivery. I begged the nurse "please don't send me home!"
After a bajillion health questions the nurse announced I was dilated to a 3! Woo-hoo! I could stay.
The nurse started my antibiotics (Group B Strep positive) and around 5 the doctor came in and broke my water. That's when the nurse asked if I wanted my epidural now. "Might as well!" My contractions were still about 7 minutes apart but I was feeling good and I planned to stay that way.
As the time neared six my contractions got a bit closer and a lot stronger. "Go find the nurse. I want my epidural." Kurt wasn't too worried though. "They'll come when they can." If I wasn't in pain I would have kicked him.
The nurse went to see where my anestesologist was. Turns out he was held up the the ER with a trauma. The good news was that there was another aneteseologist that just started his shift. He would be there soon.
Soon couldn't come soon enough. I was in a lot of pain. I was missing my nice, medicated labor that I had with Brooklyn.
At 6:40 the anestesiologist finally arrived. When he had me sit up to give me the epidural my contractions jumped so close together there were basically no breaks. When he asked me to scoot over on the bed about a foot I looked at him like he was crazy. Did he know I could hardly breathe let alone scoot?
I held onto your dad and gave him bruises in his shoulders as the doctor stuck an over sized needle in my back and my contractions tried to kill me.
After what seemed like a lifetime I was able to lay back down. I was so excited for the numbing effects to kick in. They never did.
The anesthesiologist was patting himself on the back and getting ready to go take a coffee break. "You'll start to feel a tingling feeling. Do you feel a tingling feeling?" Ummmmm..... now that he mentioned it my right leg was feeling slightly tingly.
My pain was getting worse. A lot worse. The nurse checked me. "OH! Hello baby!" I was getting close. Come on epidural!!!
After several minutes of no numbness and only little tingles in my right leg the anesthesiologist went back to work. He flipped me to my left side. He messed with my epidural tube. He upped my dosage. The other anesthesiologist came in and he tried to work his magic too.
At this point I just wanted to be left alone to die in peace.
I heard the nurse on the phone. "Get here quick. She's about ready." Oh no. No way! Not without my epidural. "Make it work. Please, please make it work."
All of a sudden there was a lot of pressure. Something was on fire. I was barely aware when the nurse pushed the anesthesiologists out of her way and quickly prepped me for labor. "I have to push."
It was when 7:20 the nurse picked up the phone and basically yelled "Get in here NOW!" Less than five seconds later the doctor ran in the room, shoved on his scrubs and gloves while informing me I could push whenever I needed to.
I was still thinking my epidural was going to kick in when the nurse ran up to me and announced "This is going to hurt. You can do it."
Gulp. Here goes nothing.
At 7:25 the doctor handed me you. My perfect little baby girl.
Since your dad looked slightly pale and a little rattled I even got to cut your cord.
Soon after that my right leg went numb. Go figure.
But I was in love all over again. With you.
For the next hour I just held you and nursed you.
Soon your sister came in to meet you. She was amazed by you. We all were.
We ended up in the hospital for an extra day so they could moniter you since the labor was too fast for the antibiotics to work. I didn't mind. More time for me to just lie there and stare at you while people took care of me.
And that, my love, is the story of how you came into this world.
Sincerely, Lori
