Lainey Reulet Ford

After staying up WAY too late trying to get everything packed up (for the kids, for myself, for the baby...) I went to bed. And set my alarm for 3:50am. I was told to call L&D at 4am to see if they had a bed available... and they did. So I called my mom who was kind enough to come over and stay till it was time to get the kids up and ready for school and Tracy's. This meant a lot to me because Mama had been having some health issues that I was worried about so her willingness to help was huge!

I left breakfast and a note for the kids and we headed to the hospital! When we got there we had to wait for a little bit. Literally, when the girl called me up to work on registering me (even though I had already pre-registered... i mean... why? what a waste of time!) she said "sorry it took me so long to get to you, I was cleaning out my desk!".

Really? Nice.

A pic of us waiting.... and waiting... and waiting. Totally worth getting up at 4am to wait an hour... Oh well

 When they first called us back our first stop was at a scale. I do NOT remember that with my other two... they NEVER weighed me prior to getting me to a room. Heck, they never weighed me period! They would ASK my weight... maybe too many people fibbed (or didnt know) about their weight which made them inaccurately give meds? It was a tad uncomfortable, though, because they were admitting two of us preggo's at once so literally I stood on the scale in front of Jeff and an entire other family (preggo lady, husband and her mom). Thanks for THAT confidence booster! ha!

We got settled in pretty quickly and I asked the nurse who was admitting me to take one last picture of Jeff and I together. This is likely the last pregnancy picture I'll ever have taken. Makes me kind of sad... till I remember how uncomfortable I was being pregnant :-)

My nurse was getting ready to go off shift but was trying to get as much done as possible in prep for the incoming nurse so she went ahead and tried to start my i.v.... I'll just say I wish she would have left it for the next nurse. She wasnt really hurting me (although it was uncomfortable, sure) but my vein kept rolling and rolling and she was chasing it like crazy. I eventually told her I felt like I was about to pass out. Which was strange b/c like I said, it was uncomfortable but I've experienced way worse. But for whatever reason I literally could feel myself about to go... So she stopped and I drank some water and took a breather and then she said "this is gonna hurt but lets just get it done" and literally just shoved it into a vein. Oh good glory. I mean, I was preparing to push a baby out my you know what but felt like I could have puked when she did that. Wow. But it was done.

Wanna know what Jeff did while all that was happening? Hmmm... Such a supportive hubby.

 So that nurse went off shift and the next nurse, Angie, came in. I went ahead and told Angie that we were going to do whatever possible to be sure I delivered with HER. That i did NOT want multiple nurses seeing my privates (I dont care that its my 3rd kid... I'd just assume my privates stay PRIVATE!) and that I liked her very much and that we would deliver together. She smiled and assured me she hoped for that, too! Then, she started my pitocin :-)

She went ahead and checked me and said I was 2cm dilated, 60% effaced and -2 station. This was 8am.

We talked about the timing of an epidural. I told her I did want one but NOT until I was at LEAST at 4cm. I told her i need to change positions and walk and sit on a birthing ball potentially to stay comfortable and that I did not want to be bed bound and slow the process by getting an epidural too early. She assured me she would support me in that and that we'd find the right time together. Her only warning to me was that since this was my 3rd, she's often seen women go from 4cm to complete (10cm) in literally 30 minutes so she said to just pay attention to how I felt and to be sure to tell her about ANY changes! Good plan!

My contractions got started and felt pretty ok for a while. They were frequent but not super super intense. My biggest concern at that point was that i wanted so badly to go potty before delivery. I told her i did NOT want an epidural until i had a movement and I made one trip after another to the potty with a lot of pressure, feeling just certain that I needed to potty... but couldnt :-(. I was SO worried about that part of delivery. Stupid, I know. But its kind of a pet peeve of mine. I like to feel confident pushing hard as I can and I can only do that AFTER going potty :-)

Dr Pohl came on in pretty soon (Around 9:30) and broke my water! I was super surprised he did it that early but Angie said that this was a good plan for helping things to move along without having to up the pitocin as often. I guess the bag of waters had a pretty thick membrane because he seemed to have a hard time with it and even made the statement "this baby doesnt want to be born today" which made me about die. I assured him we were here and started and she WOULD be born today. Yes, I was a bit sensitive ;-) But it kind of freaked me out! All I kept thinking was "maybe we shouldnt have induced then?!?!" and second guessed my decision. Ugh.
There was not hardly any fluid that came out so it looks like I was a bit low on amniotic fluid which means it WAS good that we induced. The baby tolerated contractions fine, though, which sometimes is not the case with low fluid, so it wasnt dangerously low or anything.

 My friend, Laura, and I were wanting to order some steaks for our friend Emily after the birth of her beautiful 3rd born baby, Tess. So I tried to pass some time (while Jeff slept some more... lol) by cruising their website and placing an order. And I blogged a little (still trying to get caught up... always).

 Angie came and checked in on me several times and I told her the contractions were getting pretty intense. It was around 11am so she went ahead and checked me again. 4cm, 60% effaced, 0 station! So the pressure I was feeling was that the baby was moving down in the birth canal so with each contraction she was pushing on my cervix, causing changes. Good changes! Just a tad painful ones :-)

I actually called Angie in around 1pm and told her I really felt like it was time for the epidural. I was getting to the point of being super super tired and needed to conserve some energy to push. I told her my pain level at that point with each contraction was about a 7 and that I was starting to dread each contraction. She agreed that it was time and went ahead and pushed a bag of fluids and called the anesthesiologist.

We got the bag of fluids in and just waited for the epi. I actually texted Emily and Laura about then and asked Emily for some ideas on how to handle the contractions till I got some relief (I wont take pain meds during delivery so the epi is all i get). She told me to try to relax through the contractions, breathe and have Jeff say calming things to me. Welllll... I tried the first two. Not so much on the last one b/c Jeff pretty much just doesnt do that kind of thing ;-). Although he did let me stand and rest against him for a bit and he rocked with me and let me squeeze his hand when it hurt. He helped the best way he knew how. But in retrospect, I wish i would have prepared w/ Bradley method (with Jeff) so that we would have known how to handle the wait while it was hurting!

The Dr was in an c-section so it took almost an hour for him to come give me my epidural :-(. I called Angie at 1:45 and told her i reallllly needed her to find him and escort him to my room :-).

I just kept apologizing over and over to Jeff and Angie because with each contraction no matter how much I tried to relax all I could do was breathe and make some strange noises. Like whimpering noises? All I know is that it annoys me when other people moan or groan when they hurt (i know i sound awful!) so i HATED that I couldnt control this!

And then the labor shakes started. I remember that part quite well from Rhyan's delivery. Its TRANSITION! Meaning... i knew I was starting to move faster and getting closer to pushing. And STILL had no epidural. Mentally I started thinking "omg, i've been here ALL day and am going to end up pushing this baby out with no epidural?!!??"

But then IN walked the anesthesiologist! Woohoo! at 1:50! He asked if I'd had an epi before and I told him yes. Told him with  Rhyan they had to redo it b/c the 1st didnt work but with Mack it was insanely effective! He said we'd aim for the latter, and I agreed. Sitting through the epidural during contractions is no fun for sure. Jeff was super helpful and encouraging, though! As was Angie who stood by me the entire time and yall, i FELT her praying over me. I knew she was praying for me several times through the process! What a huge blessing she was to me!!!

After the epidural she checked me again. 6cm. She said she'd wait a bit to let the epi set in before doing a cath and I assured her that i literally had gone peepee just 5 min before the epi!

5 minutes later I told her i really didnt feel any relief. So we tried shifting me around in bed and she re-dosed it. Twice. I was REALLY hurting so I asked if they could just re-do it (b/c it was so similar to Rhyan's and we tried for HOURS to get that epi to be effective before just pulling it and redoing it!). She called the Dr who asked my bp... it was 90/50 so he wouldnt do anything till it came up. So she pushed some fluids and got it up to 103/60! I was READY for my new epi! She said he would want to know how far along I was before coming back down so she checked me again and I was 8cm. This was around 2pm. So in 10 minutes I had gone from 6m to 8cm!

My friend and talented photographer, Terrilynn, had so selflessly offered that morning to come and take pictures of the delivery if we wanted. I've never had anyone in the room while I delivered except Jeff, but i could NOT pass up the opportunity to have photos of  possibly my last delivery! So I looked at Jeff when Angie said I was at 8cm and said "Call Terrilynn! She needs to get here fast!"

Angie was on the phone with the Dr again letting him know I was ready when I looked at her and said "I need to push. Like really really bad. I need to push". She hung up the phone and checked me again. I was complete. 10 cm. I had gone from 6cm at around 2pm to complete by 2:15 :-(. With an epidural that I was literally able to get up and walk around with. A little bit of panic may have set in, I'll admit!

So Angie called Dr Pohl who had just gone back to the office... his first patient after lunch is at 2pm... and told them he needed to head over quick or that she would be delivering the baby solo. Dr Pohl wasnt there yet but Angie gave me the go ahead to push when I felt the contractions as she got things ready for the baby to come.

By 2:30 Dr Pohl was there and all set up and we started the legit pushing. I wont lie, I was scared. I could feel everything and it just hurt. But I also knew from my experience with Rhyan that the more I could feel, the harder I'd push and the faster it'd be over. Dr Pohl checked and said I had a tiny lip of my cervix that wasnt quite ready and I asked did that mean it wasnt time and he said that yes, its time, it'll just soften as you push.

So push we did. Jeff helped and encouraged and got me water. OH and Terrilynn snuck in and got set up and started snapping away... She was quiet as a mouse and never once did I feel uncomfortable! She totally respected privacy and took some super tasteful pictures that I cant wait to see and share! :-)

Long story short (too late, right?!) I pushed for 20 minutes and she came out with a compound presentation (like super man... one arm up by her head) and THAT was the most painful part. I just remember saying "Please get her out. please help me get her out" over and over. That part felt like it lasted forever. I think it was maybe a minute, though ;-). And then she was out with one last push!

And the relief I felt was like nothing I"ve ever felt before. SO many emotions flooded me! Joy over seeing my sweet girl! Getting to meet her and have them lay her little self on me... JOY! Jeff cut the umbilical cord and of course I had to deliver the placenta (one last ouch), but there she was.

Lainey Reulet Ford. 2:55pm. Perfection.

 I'll post more about the kids meeting her, family coming in, etc, later. But for now, here are the few iphone pics we took that day! :-)