Sunday 1/26

10am- wake up around 10am to some contractions, but don't realize they're contractions and think they're just cramps

11:30am-get up to make breakfast and the contractions ease up a little bit

3pm- start my work shift

5:30pm- go to the bathroom at work following my break and notice some very light spotting

7pm- leave work, still spotting when I use the bathroom

7:20pm- call the on-call doctor to ask about the spotting since it's been a few days since my membrane sweep. She said it could still be left over spotting from the sweep, or cervical changes

8pm-cramps/contractions start back up. Happen every 20-30 minutes or so, I'm not timing them because I still don't really know that they're contractions at this point

11:30pm-jeff and I go to bed, but I am unable to fall asleep because of the "cramps"

Monday

1:45am- "cramps" still happening and feel around 10 minutes apart, and my gasping in pain is constantly waking up Jeff. I start timing them, they're between 5-8 minutes apart. At this point, 2 of my 100 trips to the bathroom, I noticed I passed what looked like small, inch long blood clots when I peed.

2:15am- He asks if I'm sure that they're not contractions and just cramps. I reply that I don't know and he suggests I call the on call doctor again, so I do. I explain what's happening regarding the "cramps" that I don't know if they're contractions or not, and the spotting. She told me I could be in very early labor, and suggested a hot shower to ease the pain, and to keep timing them, and to head in when the contractions are 5 minutes apart for an hour. So I take a hot shower and don't go back to bed so I don't keep waking up Jeff.

3:30am- I've been timing them, and they're about 5-7 minutes apart, but mostly all about 5 minutes, so I wake up Jeff and say I want to head into the hospital. So he gets up and we pack up our last minute things into our bags.

4:30am- we finally head for the hospital

5am- they have me hooked up to a baby heartrate monitor and a contraction monitor and confirm to me what I'm feeling are contractions

5:30am- they checked my cervix and I'm 1cm dilated, they keep me hooked up and say they'll check me in a couple hours to see how far I've progressed

8am- I am still only 1cm dilated so they send us home to labor at home or to see if labor stops since I'm only 1cm. They suggest a hot bath, and the doctor prescribes me Benadryl to help me hopefully sleep through the contractions. They said to come back if my water breaks/contractions get worse/or if I have any bleeding

8:30am- we get home and Jeff draws me a hot bath, and while I'm in the bath, he runs out to get my prescription

9am- when he gets home, I get out of the tub, take the Benadryl, and we both go back to bed.

2pm- I can't take the contractions anymore so we decide to head back to the hospital. We repack everything into the car

2:30pm- we check back in and they hook me back up to the monitors. The doctor checks my cervix again and I'm now 3cm dilated.

3:30pm- they keep an eye on my contractions and discuss what pain meds I can take right now. They asked if I wanted to continue laboring at home, or if I can't handle it, I can continue laboring at the hospital. I refuse to go back home again and choose to keep laboring at the hospital.

4pm- they start me on stadol, which is a drowsy medication that doesn't numb the pain, but eases it so I can sleep. We continue this every 2 hours, but an hour in to each one, I wake up and feel contractions again.

Tuesday

1am- the contractions are now so bad everytime I wake up, that I am seriously considering the epidural. I talk with the nurse about it, as my time to decide is coming up at 1:30am, since that's when my dose of standall will wear off, and I can either get another dose, or get the epidural. I have a mental battle with myself, telling myself I should wait for the epidural, but I am in so much pain that I don't want to keep doing this every hour or 2. My nurse was absolutely amazing and assured me that my baby girl would love me no matter which decision I chose, and that I need to go into labor with a positive mindset, and the pain I was in was not putting me in a positive mindset.

1:30am- I decide to get the epidural

1:45am- anesthesiologist comes in and we get my epidural going. The only pain I felt during it was the tiniest pinch as one of his numbing needles went into my spine.

2am- epidural is complete and I feel great and no contractions. So I can finally get some uninterrupted sleep.

4am- I wake up just seconds before the doctor and nurse come in to empty my bladder and recheck my cervix. I am now 5cm dilated and 90% effaced! Baby girl is facing my right hip but not quite as low as they'd like her to be, so they slightly prop me up on my left side to try and get her to move down. I go back to sleep

6:30am-wake up again for the nurse to check on me one last time before her shift ends, and says they'll empty my bladder in about 30 minutes to an hour

7am- I get the feeling like I *really* have to pee, so I buzz the nurse. She comes in and empties my bladder for me, although I still feel the feeling like I have to pee.

8am- started on penicillin for my GBS

8:30am- another cervical check and I'm still 5cm dilated and 80-90% effaced. They inform me that they will break my water around 2pm if it doesn't happen naturally before then. 2pm because the penicillin needs adequate time to take effect

10am- I was updated that they would be breaking my water at 12 instead of 2. Had my bladder emptied again, and again had that steady urge to pee although my bladder was emptied (the way I could best describe it to the doctors and nurses was like you've been holding your bladder for longer than you should have, and when you finally get the chance to use the bathroom, someone else cuts in front of you and you have to hold it in longer. Very uncomfortable, not quite painful, but close)

11:45am- they just broke my water, and it only trickled out

12:30pm- still having that urge to pee. The nurses were very confused because usually around this time, laboring moms feel the pressure in their rectal area, not their bladder. One nurse talked to a doctor who wasn't part of my delivery their opinion, and they suggested to basically jostle my stomach a little because baby girl was probably resting on my pelvis area and bladder, causing the discomfort. After they jostled my stomach, my water came rushing out and the horribly uncomfortable bladder pain went away.

2pm- they checked me again and I was 8 cm dilated, 100% effaced

3:20pm- checked again and I was fully dilated, and the on call doctor almost had me wait for my OB to be show up before I started pushing. I told her I already felt the urge to push, so she came back in and we started pushing

4pm- my OB joined us

At some point I attempted pushing on my side, but I didn't like that so we only did it for one contraction

5:20pm: the nurse assisting in the delivery paged the baby nurse that "we only have a few pushes left if you want to head up." That sentence was the motivation I needed, because after almost 2 hours of pushing, I was feeling slightly defeated.

5:29pm: the ring of fire we all hear about when the baby makes their way through the birth canal? It feels exactly how it sounds. As soon as I felt her crown, I gave one very strong, very long push to get her all out at once (I didn't want to feel that burn longer than necessary), and she was out and they had me pull her to my chest.

I only got to hold her for 4 minutes following this, and I didn't even get to see her face. She was making small, very weak noises, not crying. She was just kind of whining and the nurses wanted her to cry to get all the air and fluids out of her system where they didn't belong. After those 4 minutes of me holding her, they put her on the warmer and tried to get her to cry over there. It didn't work, so they took her to the nursery, and asked my husband if he wanted to go with them. He asked me what I wanted, and I was so scared I told him to go with her to make sure she was okay, so off they all went.

5:45pm-6:45pm- I got a 1st degree tear, so while the doctor was stitching me up, the doctors in the nursery hooked my baby girl up to oxygen, about 85% and put a tube in her stomach to try and get out the air she wasn't able to herself. After about an hour, the doctor came in to tell us that she was down to 35% oxygen, and assured us she would be okay.

7pm- the doctor who was helping Rileigh get the right amount of oxygen came in to tell us that she was off oxygen and they wanted to watch her for about 10-15 minutes to make sure she was doing alright.

7:20pm- they brought her back in and we finally did some more skin to skin and I was finally able to see her face for the first time 😍

Rileigh Grace, 1.28.2020, 7lb15oz, 20.5in, 5:29pm ❤️