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| Born on July 20, 2017 |
I went to my 39 week appointment to find out I was still only 1 cm dilated and they planned to strip my membranes the following week if labor hadn't started on its own. I left the doctor's office feeling defeated as I had been 4cm dilated with Liv at this point during my first pregnancy. I went home and googled all about membrane sweeps and how they only work a quarter of the time, which was not good for my mental psyche. Two days later I went to work not feeling myself but no signs of contractions, so I chalked it up to being very pregnant in the heat of the summer. That night after Liv went to bed, Randy and I sat on the couch and continued to watch the Tour De France. I decided to go right to bed when it ended since I had felt off all day. The minute I layed in bed watching the commentary on the race, the back labor started. I knew exactly what is was since I experienced it with Liv. I got the handy contraction app up on my phone and starting timing them to see if this was a false alarm. Immediately my contractions were steadily 4 minutes apart. After about 20 minutes, I got up and started gathering the last minute items to throw in my diaper bag. My stirring obviously alerted my husband b/c he came running up the stairs to see what was going on. I think he was just as in shock as I was that the contractions came out of nowhere. 20 minutes later his mom got to our house to watch Liv and I was bending over in pain and breathing heavy with each contraction.
We arrived at the hospital at 11:45 pm on Wednesday night. It was eerily quiet. I was taken to L&D and put in an observation room to confirm now my contractions were coming every 3 minutes. Around 12:30 a doctor finally came in to check me and surprisingly I was 6cm. I think both the nurse and doctor were shocked I was that far along and everyone started to move faster. I was moved to a delivery room and was adamant I wanted an epidural. They promised me as long as my water didn't break, I could get one. However, the nurse did notify me that most women don't make it to 10cm with the second child without their water breaking. My mom and sisters are the best and came to the hospital at 1:00am to sit with me in anticipation of Emmy's arrival. I experienced some very intense contractions before the anesthesiologist showed up around 2:00. He quickly became my very favorite person b/c I wasn't sure if I was going to make it much longer as everyone kept commenting how high the contractions were on the monitor. However, as the pain went away so did my labor. It halted the whole process. At 4am, my family went home to get some sleep. I drifted in and out as well until 6am when I started to feel some pressure again. I assumed the medicine was starting to wear off.
I knew the doctor on call was done her shift at 7. Around 6:30 she came in to check me again and I was finally 10cm and water still in tact. My mom and sisters arrived just as I started pushing. 25 minutes later Miss Emmy Marie arrived at 7:14am weighing 7 lbs 8oz and measuring 20.5 inches long. Thank goodness it was quick b/c it was painful. Emmy decided to come out facing my left side, which is exactly the way she had been laying toward the end of my pregnancy. My mother cut the umbilical cord since my husband wanted no part besides staying up by my head. Then she was laid on my chest for skin to skin time, which I didn't experience with Liv. I held her there for about 30 minutes before they cleaned her up.
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| Emmy is on the right and Liv is on the left. Both made their grand appearance exactly 4 days before their due date. |
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| Olivia got to meet her little sister that afternoon. |
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| Emmy and I went home the following day b/c there is no better place to recover than the comfort of your own bed where you aren't being awoken every hour for vitals, shots, nurse changeover etc. |
