We decided to go to Chick-fil-a for dinner and I texted some friends on the way to say that I thought labor might be starting soon and to see if anyone could come be with the kids until my other friend (who was going to stay the night if we needed it) could be there. A few offered to come if we needed them and it was very reassuring. We had dinner and let the kids play while my contractions came and went. I called my mom to let her know something might be happening. It was hard to tell if I was in labor or not - the contractions weren't consistent in any way.
We put the kids to bed and told them that we might not be there in the morning and that our friend would be there with them if I needed to go to the hospital. We watched The Great British Baking Show and timed contractions for a while. Some were pretty intense, but not regular (they were 7-20 minutes apart), so we packed some things up and went to bed. I couldn't really sleep. The contractions were painful so I continued to time them. At 2:20 a.m. I called my doctor's office and spoke with the on-call physician, Dr. McMorrow. She said that since I'd had other kids and knew what labor felt like, to go ahead and come in. I called our friend to let her know to come over and SHE DIDN'T ANSWER THE PHONE! Oh, no. I called again - no answer. I started to panic a little bit. We finished packing up our things to go. Dan called her husband's phone and he didn't answer. I called our friend again at 2:43 and she picked up. Yay! She got to our house a little after 3 (Dan saw a fox in our bushes while we waited) and then we headed to the hospital. I felt pretty calm as we parked and checked in.
I put on my hospital gown, answered their questions, and asked for a wireless monitor so that I could walk around during labor. We walked the halls and when a contraction came on, I would stop and lean against the wall until it went away. We did this for a while, but the monitor kept getting out of position and they'd call me back to the room to readjust it. It was really annoying. Eventually, they tried to change the batteries and it wasn't working right so I just told them I'd stay in the room from then on. I decided to get an epidural and the anesthesiologist came fairly quickly. Dan got kicked out the room. I warned the Dr. that I have a super sensitive back. I thought that made it clear that I need notice before he stuck the needle in. He didn't understand that and when he stuck the needle in with no warning, I FREAKED out. So everyone started telling me to relax and not move, etc. I was worried that because I flinched, he got it in the wrong spot and I would have spinal headaches or whatever so I started to cry. Woof.
After the epidural began working, I felt super comfortable and tried to rest. Our nurse, Leah, was so kind and amazing and Dan and I both loved her. The other nurse wasn't as friendly. They tried to give me pitocin, but I resisted. They said that the baby's heart rate was too stable and they needed to change it up a bit, which doesn't make and sense to me, so eventually I relented. They told me they'd give me the smallest dose. Then, of course, my contractions got super strong and super fast, so they ran back in and turned it down more (which they wouldn't have had to do if they had actually given me the smallest dose in the first place like they said they were going to). Then they wanted to give me some other drug. I questioned them again, but they gave it to me anyway. You just feel so powerless sometimes in the hospital.
Meanwhile, Mom came to our house to relieve our friend and watch the kids.
The nurses came in to check me around 9:15 and said I was ready to start pushing. Dr. McMorrow came in and I started pushing around 9:30. Right before that, Dan showed me a text from my friend who threw my baby shower with all of these sweet thoughts and well wishes from the ladies at the shower. It was really sweet and made me cry a little.
Dr. McMorrow is really quiet and calm and the birth was a beautiful experience. It was me, Dan, the doctor, and two nurses. I pushed for a while - about 30-40 minutes. They encouraged me by telling me the baby had lots of hair. Dan got a little lightheaded and had to sit out for a few pushes, but the sick feeling passed pretty quickly. I had stressed to everyone that I wanted Dan to be the one to tell me what the gender of the baby was. Eventually I pushed the baby out and Dan announced that "It's a GIRL!" We were both so happy! I got to hold her on my chest for a long time and Dan cut the umbilical cord. Everyone was so surprised at how big she was - 9 pounds, 4 ounces. She was beautiful with lots of hair! We enjoyed the next few blissful hours.
We called the kids to tell them "It's a girl!" and the kids got used to the idea pretty quickly. Afton was especially excited. Dan brought everyone back to the hospital to meet the baby and each of the kids and my mom took turns holding her.
It took my epidural a long time to wear off so I stayed in bed a lot that day. Later in the afternoon I was able to get up and take a walk around with Dan while we mulled over the names we liked. Some friends asked if they could come visit, but I politely told them no. We were getting so little sleep and it seemed like people were always in and out of our room. Baby girl had to get her heel pricked multiple times to test her blood sugar levels, and her blood was slow to come out, so they'd be squeezing her poor foot forever... She was also slightly jaundiced so they kept checking that. She also had a tongue and lip tie. The pediatrician asked if we wanted it clipped and we said we weren't sure yet, so they didn't do it.
Monday morning Dan left to help get the kids off to school and to shower. Mom came to visit and while she was there, we decided that we'd like to leave that day instead of waiting until the usual two days to leave. We also decided officially on the baby's name. Josephine. We both love it and think it's so beautiful. It means "God multiplies" and He had definitely multiplied our blessings by bringing this sweet girl into our lives. We didn't have a middle name in mind. Out of the blue, the name "Belle" popped into my mind. I mentioned it to Dan and he loved it, too, so we went with it.
Once everyone heard that we wanted to leave early, the nurses went crazy trying to get everything done. They pricked the baby's heel again. Ugh. We tried to get Josie's tongue tie taken care of but apparently only one of the pediatricians can do it and he wasn't there so we made an appointment to get it done at our pediatrician's office. I took a few more pictures of our sweet Josephine while we waited to be discharged.
Ready for home!
The sweet nurse who helped deliver Josie walked me out of the building while Dan went and got the car. We were excited to bring our sweet Josie Belle home!
