Introducing Our Beautiful Daughter

At 40w6d (Friday, April 25, 2008) I was having contractions all day just not anything regular. So R and I walked that night to see if we could get them to come any quicker. For some reason it had the opposite affect, they got slower. On Saturday, April 26^th, 2008 I was still having contractions and as the day progressed they became 10 minutes apart and stayed there through out the night. It made for a hard night sleep… About 4 am on Sunday, April 27, 2008 they became 4 minutes apart and stayed there. So I told R that we should probably get ready to go to the hospital. Once we got there they checked me and I was still at 2 cm and that was so frustrating.

They told me that since I was 41w1d that they were admitting me. My contractions were running 2-4 minutes apart and strong. They got me to a labor room to monitor me more and decide if they were going to try more ripening gel or Pitocin. My contractions were so painful it was hard for me to focus on anything, but the pain. While they were monitoring me the baby’s heartbeat slowed down a lot. It got down to around 60 and I was so worried. They came in and had me flip onto my side and put on oxygen mask. R was trying to calm me down because I was so upset that something was going to happen to our little girl. The doctor came in and said that they were going to watch the baby some more and that my contractions were probably too close together for Pitocin. They decided to give me an epidural to see if that would relax me some and possibly get me to dilate more. I was always worried about getting an epidural and it was not bad at all and in fact it really helped with the pain. A couple of minutes after they gave me the epidural the baby’s heartbeat dropped again to around 60. Only this time moving me from side to side didn’t work and I had to get up on all fours. Again I was upset and afraid. The doctor came back in and was talking, but to be honest I really wasn’t listening too much. At this point I just wanted our little girl out of there. So I spoke up and told her. She thought that it would probably end up in a c section anyway and agreed. So we were prepped and off to the OR.

Once we got into the OR and ready I was so numb that it felt like it was hard to breathe. R came in and sat by me and the next thing I know they are saying it’s a Girl. We knew that she would be a girl, but if you have talked to me over the last 6 months you would know that I was having doubts about that and thought she might be a he. So this was music to my ears and so was the crying!!! They showed her to me and she was so beautiful!!! Ruth Elizabeth weighed in at 8lbs 3ozs and 21 inches long. She is named after my Great Grandma.