She's Here!!!

We gladly welcome Stella Kathleen Reid to the world! This post is going to be long as i am going to share her LONG birth story.

After going into the doctor on Monday we decided we were going to induce early Wednesday morning Oct. 26th. I made plans for Nora for the next few days and Peter and I headed to the hospital at 3:30 am. We got there and got checked in and they started the pitocin. Contractions started to come and continued to come. My mom and Katie got there around 7:45 and I was still only a 1, but they kept increasing the pitocin. They increased it every 30 min. until they maxed out on how much they could give me. It was around 10 am that I was maxed out. The nurse came in and let us know that if I didn't progress in an hour they would send me home. I was devastated to say the least. I had never heard of such a thing after being on pitocin. I thought I would be leaving the hospital with a baby! So we sent mom and Katie to work and we hung out. Contractions were still coming and we decided to be taken off the pitocin. They flushed me with fluids and monitored me. I was still having contractions so we ended up staying until 2pm, but by then they were coming less frequently and we went home. We took a nap and then went to get Nora. I was still contracting that night about every 30-50 minutes, but it was not anything I couldn't breathe through. We went to bed and Peter went to work in the morning and took Nora to the sitters so I could rest.

I took a shower and was still having contractions. When I woke up that morning I thought that I might be leaking, as in my water had broke, but I wasn't sure. So I laid around, watched a movie, cried for a little bit and talked to Peter a lot. One of Katie's friends that she works with swears by this woman that does pre-natal massage and made an appt. Her friend said that every time she would go close to be 40 weeks within 24 hours she delivered. So I made the appt. for 5:30 pm that evening. I talked to Peter again and said that i was going to call the doctor's office and made an appt. with the nurse practitioner because i was still undecided if I was leaking or not and she said come in and it will put your mind at ease. So I went in at 12:30 to see her. She did the test and came back in the room and said, "Well, it is leaking, you were right. We are calling now to let them know you are coming back to labor and delivery!". All I could say was, "NO WAY!". So I called Peter immediately and he couldn't believe it either!

I walked down to labor and delivery and they asked me if I wanted the same room I had yesterday. I said, "NO WAY!". So they put me in a new room and started the iv and pitocin again. This was around 1:30 they got everything going. I called the photographer as well and told her what was going on. I was still only having contractions every 30 min. After getting everything going again they had the house dr. come in and finishing breaking my water. After that the contractions sure did start coming! They were coming about every 5 min. and were pretty strong. I could not talk through them and said I am not doing this so I asked for my epidural. The dr. who did the epidural was great. I really don't know why people freak out about getting it, because compared to contractions it is NOTHING! He was pretty funny too, which helped get through it all and I had asked him if I ended up with a c-section could my photographer come in the room as well as of course Peter and he said yes. That made me happy to know, just in case. So we just relaxed and it wasn't until 5 pm that she checked me again. I was hoping to be a 3 and my mom kept saying, "you are a 5". And low and behold I was a 5! She cathed me and it was then just a waiting game. I was really excited after that! We all placed our bets on when we thought she would be here. I said 10:30, Peter said 7:20, my mom said 8:30. Around 5:15 I said i could feel some contractions and felt like I need to have a bowel movement. So the nurse was coming back at 5:30 and I waited until she came back in. Katie and Zach had gone to get something to eat and my dad and grandma were on their way up. My mom, Susie and Jalen headed out of the room so she could check me. She checked me and her eyes got really big and said you are at a 10! A 10?! That was only a 1/2 hour!!!! I went from 5 to 10 in a half hour?! So everyone came back in the room and we told them what was going on and no one could believe it! We called Katie and Zach back and they were stuck in the Jack in the Box drive through! They called the doctor on call and she said she would be there in a half hour. We called the photographer and she was at the baseball game! So she said to call her sister, who is her partner and she was cutting someones hair. I was getting a little worried at that time. So Peter took over and started dealing with that. The nurse came back in and said well one of the other doctor's was still in the office so she is walking down now!! Needless to say the photographer was NOT! there. I am still PISSED about it all. Luckily I had my camera and there was a nursing student in the room and I gave her my camera and just said to take pictures and she couldn't take too many. After 5 contractions she was here! Dr. Campbell let me help pull her the rest of the way out at the end. It was amazing!!! I cried. She is perfect and so tiny. You forget how small they are when they come out! It all happened so fast.

I am feeling really good today. I didn't tear like I did with Nora and am more mobile and feeling way better than I did after Nora. We are leaving the hospital today. Hello real world!