Labor and Delivery and 3rd Anniversary

It is December 30, 2008 (our 3rd wedding anniversary) and I am just now getting around to telling my story of Labor and Delivery (October 28, 2008). My daughter is now 2 months old and I can't believe it's taken me this long to tell about my experience. Oh well, I'm doing good just getting on the computer, I think. :) haha. Though it isn't as fresh on my mind as it would have been a couple of months ago, I do remember great details about my labor and delivery. It was something I could never prepare for, something I enjoyed greatly, something that hurt like crap, and something I will never forget!! My mom did a great job of documenting everything via journaling, and I am very thankful to have that to refer back to.

On October 27, Matt and I headed to the hospital to be induced (we arrived there about 5:30 am). We did not sleep at all the night before. It was like Christmas Eve times 1,000!! To know that I would wake up to go have a baby really kept us both wide awake with excitement and crazy nerves. So, we woke up and headed out bright and early to have us a baby. On the way there Matt managed to spill his cup of cereal and milk all over the car (we had to pull over and clean it up) and later spill is dr. pepper. Bless his heart! haha. When we finally got to the hospital, we had to wait about 20 minutes or so until we saw someone to take us back to the insurance lady to discuss everything. As we waited we had some "winners" in the room waiting to be induced. Actually, it was one girl and about 35 of her annoying, loud family members. How do we always get stuck with the obnoxious people?! Oh well-we didn't let it ruin our excitement. :)

After we finally met with the insurance woman, we were taken back to our room (Delivery Room 4). Mom met us there about 7:15 am and my Pitocin was started at 7:30. I was extremely excited to see my buddy, Ashley Adams when her shift started b/c I knew she'd take great care of us. The majority of that morning consisted of us watching Saved By The Bell, Fresh Prince of Bellaire and Home Improvement. The Ivester's arrived around 8 am and joined the party. At one point the Anesthesiologist came in and asked what my "dilutation" was. I was extremely confused and luckily Matt spoke up and said, "They haven't checked yet." After he walked out of the room I looked at Matt and said, "I didn't know what he was talking about. I was about to tell him that I was dealing just fine!" I'm glad Matt is smarter than I am and realized that "dilutation" had to do with how far dilated I was, not how I was dealing with the pain haha. My sweet friend nurse, Ashley came in and out to check on me and I can't brag on her enough. Not only did she ease my anxiety, pain and take good care of me-she also told me to put my nose ring back in that the nurse on the previous shift and told me to take out. God love her! :)

About noon my daddy showed up and I was happy. When he arrived I was only 1 cm dilated. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Things continued to progress slowly throughout the rest of the afternoon. I had contractions that were fairly strong, but little did I know how bad they would get. About 3:30 pm Dr. Gower (the same doctor who delivered me...LOVE HIM!) came in and stopped my Pitocin (after doing the "Gower Maneuver"...very painful I must say haha). I was only 2 cm dilated and not progressing any. He didn't want me to labor any longer since I wasn't progressing any, so he decided to stop it all and let me rest, eat a good supper, and sleep well. He said we'd start the Pitocin first thing the next morning. I was soooo disappointed. I cried and cried and cried because I was exhausted, in pain, and I wanted to meet my baby girl. My sweet husband handled me so well. I cannot give him enough credit. He crawled into the bed with me and rubbed my back (which was aching b/c I had back labor), he rubbed my hair, told me it'd be okay, etc. Words cannot give justice to how AMAZING he was to me throughout everything. Not to mention, he helped me go to the bathroom about every 20 minutes b/c I was all hooked up to IV's. That afternoon Aunt Jane, Mark, Andrea, Brie, Chad, Adger, Lauren and Andrew came to visit and lifted my spirits. Brie was ready to meet her cousin b/c she was all decked out in pink and brown! :) That night daddy brought us Firehouse to eat and it was the best meal I had ever eaten. I downed Sprite b/c I knew I wouldn't be able to have it for awhile. That night I slept great due to an ambien, some cartons of milk and an egg crate that Ashley had ordered for me. :)

The nurse woke us up about 5:30 am on Tuesday, October 28 so that I could shower and be all fresh to meet my little girl. Dr. Gower came in to break my water at 6:30 am. Shortly after my water was broken, the contractions came-hard and painful!! I have never experienced pain like that before (little did I know more pain was to come after the birth). I was in horrible pain for about an hour and finally at 7:30 am I got my epideral. Thank you, Jesus for epidurals! Thankfully, Ashley switched with another nurse so that she could be my nurse again. She was amazing once again! At 7:45 am. Dr. Gower checked me and I was 100% effaced and 4 cm dilated. Yay! At 10:10 am Matt went to get our parentals to tell them to come see me before I slept some. It wasn't a total lie...we wanted to get them in there to tell them that I was 9 cm dilated and went from 4 to 9 cm in 1 1/2 hours. Holy Cow! Thanks, Dr. Gower for breaking my water!! Ashley had checked me when I was 9 cm and later told me that I was technically 10 but she wanted me to rest some before I pushed. I'm glad she did! A little bit after 11 am I began pushing some with Ashley (Dr. Gower had left for the day and my new doctor, Dr. Price was doing a C-Section). I pushed through, maybe 6 contractions with Ash and it was so easy. I couldn't feel a thing. Honestly, I didn't even know I was pushing hard except for the fact that I was straining my face haha. Man, what a good epidural! Finally, Dr. Price came in and it was so surreal. To see all the "accessories" set up for the birth, to have nurses come in and to see Dr. Price come was crazy. I knew I was about to have a baby. I did not know what to expect, but I was ready. Dr. Price was amazing! Everything was set up and he told me to push. And push I did. I pushed one time and Cadence came out. Like I said earlier, I didn't even feel anything so I had no clue she was out. Dr. Price said, "SLOW DOWN! Stop!" b/c Cady came shooting out haha. It makes me laugh to think about it b/c I really had NO clue. It was amazing! Sweet Cadence was born (with strong lungs) at 12:25 pm weighing 8 pds, 7 oz and measuring 20 in.....SO BEAUTIFUL!!

Honestly, words can't descibe what an experience it was. I never want to forget it! Everyone was so amazing!! And seeing my daughter for the first time: WOW! My favorite moment was when they layed her on my chest and I could hear/feel her breathe. It brings tears to my eyes just writing this! In that moment I knew I was created to be a mommy. I loved this little girl more than I could have ever imagined! Even though I had no clue what to do with her, but to love her, I knew my life had changed forever in an amazing way. I'm so thankful to have such a healthy, precious, beautiful baby girl! Thank you, Jesus!

My recovery: ummm painful! After Cady was born the doctor spent about 45 min "fixing" me up. haha. Ashley said that he did such a great job that I will probably be better "down there" than I was when God created me haha. Sidenote: Ashley brought me a whole box of Sprite to down b/c I had been craving Sprite for the past day or so. (Sprite made it all better). I won't go into great detail about how bad it was, but let's just say that it is two months later and I am still healing and in pain. The time in the hospital was so difficult due to my pain. Once the epidural wore off I was in shock at how much pain I was actually in. Again, I can't brag enough about my husband and how he took care of me and handled me. He did everything for me! I am also blown away at how great the nurses and doctors took care of us. I love Greenville Memorial! Our stay was great. We finally got to leave the Hospital on Thursday. Mom and Brenda were there to help us pack up and believe me-we had SO much stuff. We pretty much had a caravan follow us out of the hospital due to all of our loot.

Coming home was great! Matt and I walked in with Cadence and introduced her to the puppies. We spent the afternoon just getting to know her and got her acquainted with the house and the dogs. That night our parents came over and brought us supper. Those first 2 weeks were the hardest weeks of my life....emotionally, physically, everything! Between my crazy hormones, not producing milk and Cadence not breastfeeding and my body being in so much pain, I was a wreck. But thank the good Lord for Matt and our families b/c they really stepped in and took care of us!

Now, it's 2 months later and I am loving life. I LOVE being a mommy and I love my daughter more than I ever could have imagined. She is growing like a weed and her personality comes out more and more every day. I am amazed at how we have fallen into the roles of parenthood. God has blessed us beyond words and I am so thankful. That brings me to today: me and Matt's 3rd anniversary. 3 yrs ago I would never have been able to imagine that I would be a stay at home mommy today. It was always my dream, but now that I am living it, it blows me away at how God has blessed us! God has given me a husband who loves me, takes care of me, and who is my best friend. I fall more in love with him every day and seeing him be a daddy to Cadence makes me love him in ways I can't explain. I look forward to many more years of loving my husband and experiencing life with him. I love you, Matthew!!