My Mommy Tales

I know my parents kept everyone posted on how I was while I was in labor, but I figured I’d tell the story myself and post some pics at the same time.

On April 28th I posted about how I had been getting contractions every morning only for them to stop by noon. Well, that did me in. I kept getting them every half hour until about 7pm before they stopped. I cryed. Literally. Ben and I went to bed at around 10pm only for my to get up 45 minutes later because my contractions had started up again. I timed them for an hour only for them to get stronger and closer. It was time. I woke Ben up, called Kaiser (thats a story in itself) and finished packing for the hospital. I called Mom and Dad on the way there to tell them what was up.

By this point it’s 1am on the 29th. I got hooked up to the machines to measure the contractions and Alyssa’s heartbeat. I was 2cm and 60% thinned. I prayed they wouldn’t send me home. The contractions were regular, so they said that they would watch me for a couple of hours to see if I progressed. We walked, A LOT.

At 3am I was hooked up again. Still regular contractions and still sounded good heartbeat wise. Thye nurse was able to “strech me” to 4cm and I was still about 60% thinned. I was told I could go home and wait it out for a couple of hours and come back or I could stay for a while longer to see if I made anymore progress again. I stayed. I didn’t want to go home only to have to turn around and head back.

At 6am I was finally admitted. I was 4m dialated (without streching) and 70% thinned. I thanked God! I called my Mom and Dad again (for the third time) and told them that today was the day. Ben and I walked around and called his parents to tell them the news.

Now we skip forward to 3pm. I was still 4cm dialated. I caould wait it out or have my water broken. I had my water broken. My contractions really picked up at that point. All I really remember from then was that the contractions were on top of eachother and I wanted drugs BAD! I was given something through my IV that lasted an hour. Twice. It made me sick to my stomach and really sleepy. At that point I gave in and got an epidural. I had hoped to avoid it, but I was in so much pain I didn’t care anymore. I became so much happier.

By 9pm, I had regained an idea of what time it was and still hadn’t really progressed. I was given Pitocin to hopefully speed things up a little. An hour later I was 8cm dialated. By 10:45, 24 hours after I had started labor, I had finally made some progress.

Midnight. I was fully dialated and was ready to push. For 2 hours. It flew by though. It wasn’t until I was told to stop pushing so they could get the doctor that time slowed down. Time crawled. When her head was finally out, I could have sworn that I had a good two or three minute break before her shoulders. I guess it was only a couple of seconds.

At 1:59am on April 30th, Alyssa was born. She weighed 6lbs 13oz, was 21 and a half inches long, and very healthy. The 27 hours of labor I went through was worth it in the end. Now I have a healthy little girl to show for it!!!!

The pics of her on the green background and the one of her sleeping on the teddy bear sheets were taken today.