The Labor Story

OK so I know you all want to know the labor story so here it is. Last Wednesday night I started to feel contractions (4 days before Abby's due date). I began thinking maybe I was getting close and that she would come early. But nothing happened, I continued to have contractions every night all night long until she was born. Each night the contractions got more painful and closer together, but when morning came they would stop and would only happen about once an hour. I called the hospital Friday night to see if I should come in and they told me that since the contractions were 10 minutes apart that I should wait. By this time the contractions were horribly painful and it was impossible to sleep since I was bawled up in pain about every 10 minutes. By Saturday night they were happening every 7 minutes but again stopped during the day. I was beginning to think this was a little ridiculous and hoped that something would happen the next night. Sunday was my due date and I was having about two contractions an hour during the day. By night time they were more painful than ever and coming every 7 minutes. About 2:30 am I woke up and found myself wet, I tried to decide if it was my water that broke, since it wasn't the huge gush of water that I had heard about. I laid there for about an hour trying to decide. Finally at 3:30 I decided that I was in enough pain and the contractions were coming often enough that I should go into the hospital.

Alex and I got there a little before 4:00 am on Monday morning, February 8Th. After I checked in they discovered my water had broken but since the baby's head was so low it made it impossible for very much water to come out. They also said I was dilated to a 4 and would immediately give me an epidural. I was so happy and relieved after the epidural, it was so nice and relaxing to not be in pain anymore for the first time in a few days. I was progressing quickly at about a centimeter an hour. But around 10:00 am I began to notice that when the doctor came into check me I wasn't numb, I also began to notice that I didn't have to look at the computer screen to know if I was having a contraction, I could feel my uterus tightening and it was even a little bit painful. By about 11:30 I could really feel my contractions, they were just as painful as before I got the epidural and I felt like my legs had all the feeling back in them, I felt like I could get up and walk around if I needed to. By this time I was dilated to an 8 and I was worried that I would be delivering this baby naturally. For me this was a very frightening thought since I was already in a lot of pain and I had always planned on getting an epidural. I was so scared and in so much pain I could hardly stand it. Finally the anesthesiologist came back into the room and decided to do the whole epidural over again, I was praying this time it would work like it was supposed to. This time the epidural worked and I spent the rest of my labor (which was only a couple of hours) pain free. About 12:30 the doctor gave me some pitoson since I had stopped dilating at a 9By 2:00 pm the doctor said it was time to push.

After 44 minutes of pushing Abigail Lyn Muir was born at 2:44 pm. They put her on my chest and she immediately began looking around and sucking on her fingers. I was so overcome with emotion, it was the most incredible feeling in the world. Abby weighed 7lbs 30z and was 21 inches long.






My mom was able to come the day after Abby was born, she has been staying with us helping with everything and I am soooo grateful she is here, I would not survive this first week without her.