My due date was December 27. I was convinced that I would go early. Once Thanksgiving was over I was ready for her to come. I waited and waited and nothing happened. At every doctor appointment I was the same, dilated to a 2 and 80% effaced. My doctor even said that she would be surprised if I made it to my due date.
So I came home and started doing everything I could think of to kick start labor (with the exception of castor oil). Nothing happened. My due date came and went. I was getting so frustrated and stressed out.
My doctor scheduled an induction for January 3, one week past my due date. I didn't think it was going to come to that. I was obviously wrong. We headed to the hospital the night before so that they could "ripen me up." We got there at 8pm and they got me all hooked up and started the pitocin. I was having contractions before they started the pitocin but they were so little I didn't even feel them. The nurse told me that I could get the epidural anytime I wanted it. It was around midnight that I started feeling some pain so I decided to go ahead and get it. Epidurals are amazing! The only pain I was feeling was from my IV and my catheter was bothering me. The nurse came and checked me around 2am and I was only dilated to a 4 (I arrived at the hospital at a tight 3). At that rate I wouldn't be ready to start pushing until 4pm. That was really discouraging. They weren't able to increase my pitocin as often as they would like because my uterus wasn't getting in a rhythm like it was supposed to.
Luckily things started to pick up and by 10am I was at a 7 and a 10 by noon. Once I was a 10 we waited a little bit for her to drop so I wouldn't have to push as long. Then I had this feeling like I was going to poo my pants (I know, too much information). Little did I know that meant I needed to start pushing. I had my epidural but the pressure was killing me. I was halfway through pushing when the anesthesiologist came in and gave me a re-dose of the epidural. I only pushed for 45 min to an hour and then our little girl arrived.
Ava Sue Henrich was born January 3, 2014 at 2:08pm. She weighed 8 lbs 2 oz and was 20 inches long.
I was so proud of Brandon. He is very squeamish but he did so great through the whole process. He held my leg while I pushed and he even cut the umbilical cord.
Unfortunately I didn't get to hold Ava until she was 3 hours old. When they delivered my placenta it broke apart which caused me to hemorrhage. I lost a lot of blood. (A normal blood count is between 40 to 50 and I left the hospital with a blood count of 22.) I started passing out and was shaking uncontrollably. Luckily my doctor was able to get all of it out without having to perform a DNC. I have to take an iron supplement everyday so I can replenish my blood supply.
Our little angel is perfect in every way. Her hair is much lighter and thinner than I thought it would be. She is 3 weeks old today and I can't believe how big she is getting.
