Birth story

I checked into the hospital on Thursday night at 5:00pm to be administered cervidil that night.  About 7pm, it was administered and I was cramping a little throughout the night but nothing major.  The doctor checked me around 7pm and said I was only about 1-2 cm dilated and about 40% effaced, same as my last appointment.  Around 9:30pm, I was able to eat my last dinner before they cut off all food at midnight.  The next morning, I was checked and was about the same dilation and effacement but they started administering pitocin at 8am.  I was having a few minor contractions throughout the day but was not progressing every time they came in to check on me.  Finally, around 4pm, my doctor said she was willing to break my water as a last effort to get me started on active labor, since I hadn’t even made it that far yet.  She said they would allow me to go 24 hours after breaking my water before I needed a c section but that my pelvis (inside) was a bit narrow for the baby’s size, and I could end up not progressing anymore, or have the baby get stuck and needing a c section anyway.  She left it up to me so Dan and I discussed it and decided to go the c section route.  I’m not sure I’ve ever been so nervous in my entire life!  I was shaking so badly when they gave me the epidural, but I knew I’d have my little girl out soon.  Dan got changed into scrubs and eventually met up with me in the O.R.  I must admit, our anesthesiologist was amazing, and not because of the drugs!  He took our camera and took a ton of pictures for us and even found our video feature on our camera and used that as well!  They had me open for about 20 minutes when we heard screaming and crying and heard the doctor announce, “It’s a girl!” at 5:50pm.  They only took another 20 minutes or so to stitch me up (to which the doctor did an awesome job, by the way!) and then I was headed to recovery for the next two hours.  I was so out of it though that I don’t remember much but getting sick a few times.  Fun!  But she was totally worth it!  Then they wheeled me to the Maternity Ward, where I spent the rest of my stay.  I don’t remember much of that whole night anyway, which is probably a good thing.  They wheeled Ashlan in a few minutes after I got there and I tried to breastfeed her right away (says Dan, I don’t remember that part at all) and ever since that night she was only out of our sight for checkups and things like that.  I just remember being mesmerized by her little angel face (and where she got that blond hair from!) and will never forget looking at her sweet face for the first time!