Thursday night, we decided we would take the kids to Natalie's house since we had to be at the hospital at 7 for the induction. Before dropping the kids , I did what any expectant mother does and took all three of my kids to the grocery store to stock up for when we got home with the baby. I dropped them off said our goodbyes and I stopped and brought home some La Espanola 2 for our pre-baby dinner. We ate and got the last of our things together and got in bed about 11. Who sleeps the night before meeting your baby anyways?
I slept really well until about 2. I noticed that my back was hurting pretty bad...and in intervals. I have never gone into labor with any of my other pregnancies, all have been inductions. I laid there and kept thinking are these contractions...and finally dozed off for about 30 minutes. At 330 I woke up thinking these were a little more intense, so I got up made coffee for Levi and decided to take a hot bath. By the time I got out of the tub, I was thinking ok this is REAL. And got Levi up a little earlier than planned.
By the time we got in the car (we hadn't left any earlier than we had planned to the night before) but by the time we got in the car I was having contractions about every 3 minutes and they were lasting 1.5 minutes. We were both pretty excited that this sweet baby had indeed picked his or her own birthday. Levi drove pretty quickly at my request...I did not want to have a baby in the car.
We arrived at this hospital at 645, I assured Levi I could walk from the parking lot. I didn't want to make a grand entrance acting all theatrical and them tell me I was only a 4 or something. So I walked in...slowly. But by the time we got to the doors I had decided I couldn't anymore...so my sweet hubs grabbed a wheelchair and up we went to the third floor. One of the on coming nurses escorted us up to the station and I could tell they were totally excited that their induction had arrived 15 minutes before shift change and in active labor. Haha...
By the time I got dressed and hooked up I was dilated to a 6 and one nurse continued to tell me this was going way to fast and be prepared to NOT get an epidural. 10 minutes later I was an 8 and my water hadn't broke and again she kept letting me know that it most likely wasn't happening. In comes the day shift nurse and she had already called Dr Freeman and he was excited I had come in on my own and assured them to get my an epidural because we have big babies. She called anesthesia and about 45 minutes later she arrived. I'm pretty sure if the nurse would have checked me I would have been complete or close at this time. I got the epidural but she just dosed me once and did not put it on the pump. I loved this because it took the edge off of the contractions and him breaking my water, but I could still move and feel.
Levi texted all of our family about 730 that the baby was coming on its own and wouldn't be too long. I had assured all of them that they did not need to arrive at the hospital before 10 for the induction, so they all had to hustle a little bit.
At 9:14 am Ivy Lynn James was born weighing 9lbs and measuring 20 inches. She was beautiful and had dark brown hair. This was something new for us, none of our babies have ever had hair and they all have been blonde. Fingers crossed it stays and is like her mommas.
We are all in love with this sweet girl and we can't wait to watch her grow!
