And baby makes 4....

So my due date was November 28 and there was no sign of baby. After seeing the doctor I agreed to an induction at 41 weeks if there was still no bambino. Although I didn't think the due date was accurate I really didn't want to take any chances since things can get risky for the baby after 40 weeks.

I was scheduled for a stress test on December 1 and all looked good.The baby's heart rate looked normal and then all of a sudden it jumped and wouldn't go back down. They kept me on the monitors until the heart rate settled - the 10 minute test turned out to be 45 minutes because the baby was playing games. After the baby settled I went in for an ultrasound. Again things looked good! Fluid was where it needed to be and the baby was doing some practice breathing. We could see the baby sucking on fingers and the ultrasound tech said she could see some hair floating around on the back of the head. No wonder there was consistent daily heartburn!

I saw the doctor on the 5th and she scheduled a c-section for the 6th. We were supposed to check into the hospital at 8:00 am. I wanted Aubrey to sleep in as much as possible so Brian and I woke up and got ready and then woke up Aubrey. We got her dressed and ready and then we all jumped in the car. We made a quick stop off at Dunkin' Donuts so that Aubrey could get her white "donos". They then dropped me at the hospital and proceeded on to school.

I checked in with my little suitcase in tow. The woman at the desk said, "You don't have anyone to carry that for you?" Sure made me feel like a moron! I explained that my husband was dropping off our 2 year old at school and would be in shortly. I got all checked in, went back into the waiting room and then got called into the labor and delivery room. I met with the nurse, Carole, who was going to be working with us until 6:00 pm. She was super nice and really took care of us! She was able to find a humidifier for me because I had a nasty cough that would not quit. She showed Brian where the snack area was and was just wonderful!

Carole was in charge of giving me the Cervadil which was supposed the ripen the cervix so that I would start to dilate. I was about 60%-70% effaced and was dilated to between 1 and 1.5 centimeters so clearly I still had some work to do. She gave me the first dose of Cervadil at 9:30 am then it was just a game of wait and see. Brian surfed the Internet and I graded for the class I was teaching and caught up on work emails and cases. After an hour I got to get up and walk around the room for awhile. It was so nice not to be chained to the bed the whole time! I even got to eat as well - added bonus!

Somewhere around 1:00 I got round two of Cervadil. Carole said there were some changes to the cervix but still no labor. Brian went off to get some lunch and I clearly stayed put! I put the tv on and hung out. I could feel some contractions but nothing significant or consistent. Around 2:00 I was able to get up and walk around. That got the contractions going a bit more. They seemed to be coming every 4 minutes and were a bit uncomfortable. I though this meant we were in business. Wrong! Once I got back into bed they tapered off and were very inconsistent. The doctor was supposed to come in around 4:30 to break my water to get things moving. Also at that point they decided that they would add some Pitocin into the mix to get things going on a consistent basis.

I was starting to get really tired and the contractions were getting to be uncomfortable but 4:30 was coming so I figured I would hold off on the epidural since the doctor was supposed to be coming in at any point. She finally came in a few minutes before 6:00 and at that point I was super tired and just wanted a nap. She broke my water - super painful - don't want to even think about that again! They found meconium in the water and so they decided that they would have the NICU in the room for delivery in case they needed to intubate the baby. It was scary stuff to hear and there was nothing to do but wait at that point. It was then 6:00 and I knew Carole was leaving.

At around 6:20 the contractions started to become painful and I really wanted a nap. We called for the nurse who turned out to be a woman named Fran. I explained that I was ready for epidural and she said she'd call for it. She came back to let us know it would be about 15 minutes as there was 1 other woman ahead of us. I thought to myself, " I can do 15 minutes". Well 15 minutes came and went. The contractions were very strong and were about 2 minutes apart. Fran kept talking and talking about nothing at all! It was really hard to pretend as though I was even listening to her never mind cared about whatever she was saying. I was at about 8 centimeters dilated at this point.

Finally at 7:30 the anesthesiologist came in. He explained there had been 4 women ahead of me that had asked for epidurals. Fran said that she didn't want to let me know that so she had told me there was only 1 - thanks a bunch! Anyways within a matter of minutes the epidural was in and things started to feel a whole lot better! I was feeling a good amount of pressure but Fran said she didn't want to check me to find that I wasn't ready because she didn't want to get my hopes up. Brian and I continued to try and decide on names for this new little baby. Awhile later I told Fran that I had a good deal of pressure and she asked me if it was strong enough to push. I told her I didn't really know but that there was a lot of pressure. She said she didn't think I was ready but she decided to check. Yup, I was ready! She called Dr. Kimmel in and she assured me that she felt as though I wouldn't push any more that 15 minutes. Four series of pushes and Ciara came flying out screaming her head off. It was one of the best sounds I have ever heard. The cord was wrapped around her neck which was really frightening so I was glad to have the NICU team there. Brian got splashed and wasn't super excited about that. They held her up a bit and I was able to see we had another girl! Brian cut the cord and she went off to the table to be evaluated by the NICU team.

They checked her out and scored her APGAR as a 9 out of 10. That was awesome! They announced her stats as 6 pounds 13 ounces and 20.5 inches tall. Her official time of birth was 8:59 p.m. As they were cleaning her up she pooped so they had to re clean her. She finally got to come over to us and I got to hold her. I looked down at her asking her what name she wanted as we still hadn't decided on Ciara or Caydence. Brian said that this new little baby was Ciara and so she now finally had a name! I nursed her for a bit and she latched right on.

After we were both cleaned up we were taken to our room in Couplet care. Brian headed home to get some sleep. Ciara was taken for a bath and came back with a cute little red and white hat which reminded me of Where's Wado? She nursed for a awhile and then finally fell asleep around 1:00 am. She had been wide awake up until this point - I guess she didn't want to miss anything!