"Once, I was my mother's daughter. Now I am my daughter's mother."
-Lisa Gardner
Sunday, December 22nd (pm): I started having contractions and they became serious enough for me to think I needed to go to the hospital. So we went to Tuscaloosa.
Monday, December 23rd (am): Traveled back to Tuscaloosa because my contractions had started again and my back pain was unbearable!
Monday, December 23rd (pm): Pain medicine from my trip to Tuscaloosa wore off and the back pain returned, along with nausea. So, we went straight to ER in Demopolis. Turned out I had an infection that was causing so much pain it was also causing contractions.
Thankfully, we got that under control in time to enjoy Christmas with Langston! I am thankful for the breaks my job affords, but I realized this about myself during that week, I don't do well with "free" time, especially when I'm anticipating something as big as the birth of a baby! I believe that if I had still been working every day, I may not have experienced some of those anxious moments. What do they say about "idle hands"? Anyway....
Monday, December 30th: Jeremy and I went to our doctor's appointment. Honestly, we were kind of hoping we would hear that I had progressed so far that we'd be able to have a baby before the years' end (can you say tax credit??). No such luck. I was holding at 3 cm. So, the Dr scheduled us to come in on the 7th for an induction. Sounded good to me. I like a plan! So, my mom went on back home and we were all just holding till the 7th.
December 31st, New Years Eve: Jeremy and I decided that we would do our big grocery shopping trip in preparation for the next few weeks (and I had to get my customary sparkling white grape juice to ring in the New Year!)! Well, a long trip walking around Wal-Mart apparently worked wonders...
I started feeling contractions while we were in Wal-Mart but much more once we got home. Well, I just kept monitoring it, but I was able to sleep through the night.
January 1st, New Years' Day:
8:00 am-I started experiencing the contractions more and more frequently. In my mind, I was thinking how I really wanted to make sure this was it because it would be embarassing to make another trip to the hospital and I didn't want my parents to travel 4 hours again for "nothing." The contractions progressively got worse and worse and it was apparent that these were the real deal! Jeremy wanted to go ahead and call his parents at 1:00 so that they could come sit with Langston. I said I wanted to wait till 3:30 to call anyone.
2:45 pm- Good thing he didn't listen to me. He went ahead and called his mom to come over. My mom had called him, so he told her we were headed to hospital.
3:15 pm-The plan was to wait for his mom to get there, but I couldn't wait any longer, the pain was so bad, so a church member came to stay with Langston until his mom got there.
4:00 pm- We leave for Tuscaloosa. If we had waited any longer, I would've had Lakyn by the side of the road! All the way I was contracting every 3-4 minutes. I was screaming, pulling, squeezing Jeremy's hand, anything I could do. I kept repeating to myself that these end, these end! I knew I had at least a few minutes between each one to "relax" and breathe. So, that's what I did while Jeremy got us to the hospital in 50 minutes (that's with a short stop for gas). It's usually an hour and 15 or 30 minute drive.
4:50 pm-Since it was a holiday, we had to go through the ER, and I didn't know how I was gonna talk to those nurses, but they got the point and we bypassed the admitting desk and they wheeled me right up!
5:00 pm-I had to help getting into the bed and getting into hospital gown because of the contractions. First thing I asked was "Can I go to the bathroom?" and the second thing was "When can I get an epidural?" The nurses' answer (Brittany) to both was, "I have to check you first." *A nice surprise was that Brittany had been our nurse when Langston was born as well!* When she did she said, 7 cm!! I was shocked I had made that much progress!
5:30ish pm-Anesthesiologist comes in to ask all sorts of questions and warn me about side effects, all the while I'm thinking, "Just give me the drugs woman!" Jeremy asked at what point it's "too late" and Brittany said either when I'm 10 cm or can't sit still. I was like, "Oh, I can sit still!"
5:40ish pm-Anesthesiologist comes in and after several attempts (and me sitting as still as possible), they cannot get the port and medicine in a good spot. I start to taste copper so they know the epidural has gotten into my bloodstream. Brittany tells them she needs to check me again.
6:00ish pm-Brittany checks me, I'm fully dialated and my water breaks in the process. There is merconium, so immediately Brittany calls for Dr. Mentel (*who delivered Langston, also a nice surprise!*) and NICU. I don't process the fact that she said NICU, but I can't tell by her tone and the rushing around that something is happening. Jeremy told me later that he was getting kind of emotional and worried at that time because they worry that the baby has ingested some of that merconium and if I don't deliver quickly, they will have to do a C-section.
I keep screaming that I can't do it, that I need the medicine....etc, etc. Jeremy, God bless him, was trying to help me and kept saying, you can't get it now, you can do this, you have to, but I wasn't listening (or looking) at him! But Brittany, God bless nurses, told me to look at her and repeated what Jeremy was saying and she was telling me to start pushing. Dr. Mentel still had not made it to the room yet.
I push a few times and, let's just say, I knew the next time she was going to be here! Dr. Mentel walks in the room, gets his scrubs on, I grab a fistful of Jeremy's shirt and push....
6:26 pm- Lakyn Blythe Smith enters the world at a healthy weight of 7 lbs, 12 oz and 19 3/4 inches! She doesn't have as much hair as Langston did and although she is only 5 oz lighter than Langston started at, she is much more petite.
No NICU (or, apparently, epidural) necessary! :-)
We are extremely blessed with two healthy children! My recovery has been wonderful compared to last time. I will write another blog about the interactions between Langston and Lakyn!
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