Hannah is here!!! I know most of you knew that already but I wanted to make it official.
On Sunday, DH and I, went on a long walk, ate a late lunch of Indian and DTD. At around 10 I started having contractions that were about 5 minutes apart but that was typical because every night I had been having really strong contractions about 5 minutes apart since Thursday but it never developed. I was just settling onto the couch for yet another night of no sleep and no baby when they started getting closer together. I told DH that they were at 3 minutes apart but that they would probably stop. The contractions kept up at 3 minutes apart and very painful for about an hour when he decided to ask the doula for advise. She advised that he calmly start to get things packed and that if they were still going by the time stuff was in the car to take me in and she would meet us there. He started packing but I wasn't convinced so I just sat and rocked and moaned through them thinking he was wasting his time. After all, I was an entire day before my EDD. :)
He convinced me to go get checked, so I went. When we got to the hospital I was evaluated and they found I was only at a 2, which blew my mind. I was convinced that by the time contractions reached 2-3 mins apart that I would be at least a 5. They decided to keep me since my contractions were so close together and they thought that I would dilate very quickly once it got going.
16 hours later I was still having contractions that were 2 minutes apart and that were very painful and I was still only dilated to a 3.5-4. After 4 nights of almost no sleep and not having eaten since 3pm on Sunday I was very doubtful of my ability to make to the pushing stage with any energy or any positivity. I made the informed choice to get an epidural and to have my bag of waters broken. They were very supportive and I never once felt any pressure to let them intervening in any way. After that, I labored for another 16 hours and with the help of a low amount of PIT I finally reached 10cm. I pushed three times during two contractions for practice and to give them a gage on how my epi was wearing off. By the 6th push, Hannah was crowning. The nurse didn't inform us but I could feel that her head was very close to being born. The nurse called the dr to come to the hospital. With the very next contraction the head started to deliver without any pushing on my part. The nurse kind of flipped and told me NOT TO PUSH! and I held up my hands and told her I wasn't pushing at all. My doula ran to the hall to get other nurses and as they entered the room Hannah came rushing out. There was a little miconium in her fluid so they had to deep suction her but her daddy was right there the whole time. About a minute later my Dr walked in to find a baby and mom all ready to be cleaned. I also delivered the placenta with no pushing.
So, ridiculous, long, hard labor and ridiculous, short, easy delivery.
She weighs 6 pounds 5 ounces and is 19 inches long.
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