Madi's entry to this world

For those of you who haven't heard my birth story with Madelyn, I am going to share it with you now! There may be TMI for some of you, and I am going to include a lot of details, so it will probably be long! I could tell the story 100 times and never get sick of it.

My due date was January 24. On January 4, my mom came over for a while to put up the border in Madi's room. Halfway through the day, I went to the bathroom and realized I thought I lost my mucous plug. I was excited. I had been saying for a while, "I just want her to be here!" I couldn't really tell for sure if it really was my plug or not, so I wasn't too excited. My mom didn't tell me this then, but later she said that if I thought it was, it probably was. So I called Gregg at work and first thing I said was, "I think I lost my mucous plug!" He was like, "Uh ok. What does that mean? Should I meet you at the hospital?" He was a little upset with the way I said it. I guess I was just thinking he knew what that meant. A little while later, he called me back and said, "I think you should call out tonight." I was scheduled to work that night at 7pm. I think I was on the schedule yet for another week or so. I didn't really know why he said that. He said, "I just think it's time for you to stop working." At a doctor appointment the week before, I was already dilated 2-3 cm and the dr. said it could be "any day". I felt bad for calling out, especially if it would be days or weeks till she arrived, but I obeyed my husband and called out. :)

I had slept in late that day thinking I would have to be up all night at work. So when Gregg went to bed around 11, I wasn't tired enough to go to bed. The night before I had had some gassy pains and thought maybe it could be contractions but after going to the bathroom, that feeling went away. As I was tucking Gregg in bed this night, I felt those pains again, but didn't say anything to Gregg. Instead I said, "I am going to Wegmans" and left the house around 11:15ish. I had read that raspberry tea can bring on contractions, and with the thought that I may have lost my mucous plug, I was too excited, and wanted to see if the tea helped. So off I went to Wegmans. When I got there, I was still having those gassy pains. They were like mild menstrual cramps, not even as bad as my normal monthly cramps. So I figured I would go to the bathroom and see if that helped. It didn't. I walked around Wegmans for a little while, got some raspberry tea, and the cramps continued. I figured, "If this is labor, I better be prepared. I might not be able to get to the store for a while." I picked up headbands for labor, nipple cream, a magazine, and some snacks for Gregg. When I got home, I made a cup of the raspberry tea and then got into bed.

I tried to fall asleep, but between being excited, and not really being tired, I just couldn't sleep. A little while later I woke Gregg up and said, "I think I am having contractions." All I felt was something different. It wasn't something I could time. There was no beginning or end to it. It was just like, "I feel a little crampy." Gregg rolled over and said, "Are you serious?" I explained what happened the night before and what happened at Wegmans. And he said, "Why don't you call the Dr.?" So I got up and called my OB who said, "I'll meet you at the hospital. What time do you think you can be there?" I wanted to take a shower first, so I replied "1:00".

The whole way to the hospital-- all of 6 miles-- I still felt crampy off and on. I was worried that it wasn't really labor and here I go getting the doctor out of bed and getting Gregg out of bed when he has to work the next day. When we got upstairs to triage, they put the monitor on me and the nurse asked, "You are having pretty strong contractions, do you feel them?" Still, all I felt was slight cramps. When the doctor got there, she said, "You are 4 cm, and this is the real thing. We are going to keep you. Why don't you get checked in , get your IV, walk around a little bit and we will talk about breaking your water if we need to." BREAK MY WATER!!!???? THIS ISN'T EVEN LABOR!!! IT CAN'T BE! That scared me. I didn't want my water broken prematurely and I still wasn't convinced I was in labor, having only slight cramps.

A couple hours later after walking, getting my IV, getting a little rest, and making a few phone calls, the doctor came back and checked me and I was 6 cm. I tried to sleep, but was too excited, so talked to the nurse instead. Gregg tried to sleep in the recliner. He was tired, and barely had any sleep. About 2 hours later, the doctor came back and checked me and I was still 6 cm. She suggested breaking my water, and at that point, I believed I was in labor, so I agreed. I still wasn't having much contraction pain, but once she broke my water, that all changed. I think this was about 7am or so. I wanted to see if I could to without the epidural. I tried it for a little while, but was worried that it would be hours and hours till the little one arrived, and I didn't know if I could make it. So at about 8:00 I got the epidural. I think I slept about an hour, and the doctor came back and checked me and I was 8 cm. My parents arrived at the hospital soon after I got the epidural. Around 10:30 ish, the doctor came back and checked me and I was fully dilated and Madi's head was "right there". She asked me if I felt any urge to push, but I didn't. She got all set up and I started to push. HOW EXCITING!! Up until this point, my labor was a breeze, and I was already thinking, "I would do this again in a minute!" 22 minutes of pushing, and out came our daughter at 11:01 a.m. She was beautiful! She had a good strong cry, and was nice and pink. I just started sobbing, and didn't stop for about 20 minutes. There is no feeling like seeing your child for the first time. What a little miracle she was, and still is!!