I really wanted MY DOCTOR to be the one to deliver Lucy, not just whichever doc from the office was the one on-call. So my doctor put me on his schedule to be induced May 26th.
I received a phone call on Tuesday, the 24th from the hospital wanting to give me details for my induction the next day. I was like, wait...I am being induced Thursday, not tomorrow! So they said alright, no problem, and put me on Thursday's schedule and said they would call me the next afternoon with details for Thursday. Then that whole evening I was so depressed thinking, "Darn! I should have just said okay to having this baby a day earlier!" but my doctor definitely had me on his schedule for Thursday and I didn't want to mess anything up! Not to mention at that point I was still really *hoping* to go into labor on my own before being called in to be induced.
Wednesday afternoon the hospital called back to tell me I was 7th on the waiting list of women to be induced. At that moment I was SUPER FRUSTRATED because sometimes they make it through the list and other days they don't if they get busy with women in true labor on their own. Plus I was thinking I wouldn't have been 7th on Thursday's waiting list if the hospital had just had me scheduled the right day to begin with!
The one good thing about being down there on the list was that I would be able to go to the girls' preschool graduation Thursday morning (post on that coming soon). Leaving preschool graduation (10:40 am) I called Labor and Delivery to see how things were going. They had told me to call and check if I wanted. Much to my disappointment I was told they had 5 women come in that morning who were in labor on their own. I was now 3rd on the waiting list but there was a woman who was priority due to a medically necessary reason to be induced. With how busy Labor and Delivery was, the nurse told me just to keep my cell phone handy (DUH!) and call back around 2pm to see if things had slowed down. I was SO BUMMED. So we (Travis, the girls, and I) all headed to lunch. (I had been told to have a light breakfast...and if things were really slow and I hadn't been called in to go ahead and have a light lunch as well) but I was so disappointed with the update I had just received I said the heck with it, my light breakfast had been light and I was starving. We went to Pizza Pie Cafe and I ate to my heart's desire, sort of. I didn't over-do it, but I sure enjoyed what I could fit in my stomach :)
We hadn't been home from lunch ten minutes when I received a call from Labor and Delivery (12:32 pm) telling me they would like me to be there between 1 and 1:15! The craziness began! I was trying to get in touch with my friend Brooke who was taking the girls, calling my sisters to let them know since they would be attending the delivery, and letting a few others know as well! Travis left home to take the girls to Brooke's house and I headed to check into the hospital alone.
I got there and was taken to my L&D room and told to get my hospital gown on and wait for my nurse. That part seemed to take the longest of the whole day! Really it was probably about 20 minutes, but I was just hanging out alone in the room still. Once the nurse came in she started to take some history and whatnot and Alyce showed up. Yay for company! The nurse put my IV in and left. When she came back she said that two more women had just showed up in labor and if my IV hadn't been in already, they would have sent me home. YIKES. My doctor came right in and broke my water just to make it definite that I wasn't going anywhere! I was his last patient to fit in that day! I was really only about 3cm at that point...so now it was time to wait. Maria showed up around 2 (Travis still wasn't there). So it was just us girls hanging out. That was also when I was given my first dose of my antibiotic since I am always Group B Strep positive. That means I had to have two doses before the baby was born. The second dose can be given 4 hours after the first. So my nurse said I could have my second dose at 6pm and deliver at 6:01 as long as the second dose had been administered. Though I knew it wasn't likely to be that quick...my past experiences told me that...
Travis showed up soon after that and when the doctor came in and checked me he moved the baby's head to let more amniotic fluid out and that helped. I was only at about 4cm. He told me not to wait too long to get my epidural. I wanted to wait as long as I could. I think around 5 I told my nurse I was ready for it and she let anesthesia know. I received the epidural and the nurse turned the pitocin up. The epidural was heaven. I had one with both Riley and Isabelle's births and had great birth experiences but I had been SO nervous about having the epidural again. Once I got it done, I was so relieved and my body felt SO relaxed. I was able to relax and let the pitocin work it's magic while I didn't feel any more pain! My nurse had to go assist with the delivery of her other patient (she was assigned to two ladies in labor). She told me that when she came back she would put in my catheter. Oh joy. We were just sort of waiting around, time was moving pretty fast for me. And before I know it, it's after 6 and past time for my second dose of antibiotic and we haven't seen my nurse, I haven't gotten the catheter put in...and I am watching the baby's heart rate on the monitor. It was slowing down a bit and making me nervous. So I pushed the call button and told the person on the other end that I wanted my second dose of antibiotics and that I hadn't seen my nurse in awhile. A different nurse came in and gave me my antibiotics and said my nurse would be in shortly to check on me. Good!! I hope she hurries! Was all I could think. Sure enough, she came in, asked if I was feeling some pressure and I said, I guess so...maybe. But also that I wasn't sure because I wanted to be feeling pressure so maybe it was all in my head. She checked me and sure enough goes, "You're ready to have a baby." WHOA. I was not expecting that! She told me she was going to get the doctor...but not MY doctor, he had stepped out to catch his son's soccer game. NO!!!! ha ha It didn't matter at that point of course, but I felt a little disappointment. The doctor on-call came in, got everything ready, put in the catheter to drain my bladder and then told me to push with a contraction. Everyone was really encouraging. I had my nurse at my right leg and Travis at my left. Alyce was down behind the doctor on my left (doctor's right) and Maria was down at my right. And there I was, pushing. The only thing I remember is that I was pushing and a few tears were running down my face. I am not sure if it was from the pushing or just the emotionally charged moment of it all. I am sure that it was from the emotions because I remember thinking...I feel nothing physically, maybe I am not pushing hard enough and so I was trying to push harder. The other thing I remember is that I was focused on Maria's face. She was just smiling and nodding her head, encouraging me. Everyone was encouraging me but I was focused on Maria. I could tell things were happening even though I couldn't actually feel anything.
Two contractions of pushing is all it took and Ta-Da! Lucy Kate Anderson had entered the world at 6:49 pm. (Earlier than I thought it would happen.) Our third baby girl, my third delivery that was awesome....and everything was great! I feel so lucky to have had such good births. I love my birth experiences and say I would do it ten times if it weren't for the pregnancy and actually having to raise the children! Don't get me wrong, I love my girls but it isn't easy and I know I am not cut out to have 6 kids! We all have our limits.
My doctor walked in just after Lucy had been weighed. (Yes, he only missed the delivery by probably 5 minutes--sad!!) But the delivering doctor was great and I have no complaints! Lucy weighed 6 pounds 2 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. (Riley had been 6 pounds 9 ounces, 18 inches....Izzy was 6 pounds 14 ounces and I think 19 inches) So Lucy was my lightest but longest baby. I remember Travis telling me she had hair like Izzy (meaning it was light-like Izzy's was at birth) but she had a lot more hair than Izzy had. Also I remember Travis saying she "definitely has an Odasso nose". My sisters say they loved the experience and so I am glad I shared it with them. Big sisters showed up within an hour to see baby sister and both were smitten at first sight.
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