The Day Our Lives Changed Forever

That blog title is purely for Jenn's enjoyment (or annoyment). Throughout both of our pregnancies, people have reiterated the fact that having a baby is going to change our lives. Oh, we have no idea, it will change our lives forever. Well, we both had taken that into consideration when deciding to get pregnant, and we were okay with it!!

Anyway, I'm going to try to post the labor story and some pictures, and I'll try really hard not to make this blog post the longest in history.

April 18, 2009

We started off the morning like any other Saturday morning - yard sales! Stephen and I decided to hit a few yard sales and run some errands. One of the places we had to go was Best Buy, because earlier in the morning Stephen had crushed his phone in the recliner, so we were going to get it replaced under the warranty. While we were there - for an hour and a half - oh my word - I had to keep going to the bathroom. Not just normal going to the bathroom. Like, I would go to the bathroom and while I was washing my hands I would need to go right back into the stall. I was worried that I was either leaking amniotic fluid or my water was breaking, so I called labor and delivery at the hospital to talk to a nurse. I described to her as well as I could, and she pretty much said it could be my water but the only way they'd know for sure was if I came in. She said just to come in if I wanted to, which I really didn't, because who wants to go to the hospital and come home without a baby? So we headed off to Petsmart, to get something for Cassie and look at the fishies for future reference. While we were there, I started feeling uncomfortable enough that I got tired of looking at the fish REALLY fast - and that was probably my chance to get Stephen to buy me one! As we were in the checkout line I felt the leakage begin and raced back to the bathroom. As we hopped in the car I told Stephen I really thought we should go to the hospital, because I was worried I was leaking something that shouldn't be leaking. We got home and my stomach was really hurting at this point. I started timing the contractions and they were lasting about 45 seconds, so I knew they were real, and they were about 5-7 minutes apart. We decided to eat a light lunch and clean up around the house just in case we didn't come home.

We made a phone call to my parents and Jenn to let them know - this might be false labor but we're going to the hospital anyway, and we'd call and update them. We got to the hospital at 2:00pm and they did the test strip - sure enough, my water was broken. Yay! Unfortunately, I was still only 3cm dilated, which was disappointing! They had to hook me up to an IV because I have Group B Strep and had to have antibiotics every 4 hours. But at least I was still able to walk around. We walked for a while around the floor, taking a break with every contraction so I could lean on Stephen and he could rub my back. Around 5:15pm, I was at 4cm - disappointed again! My contractions were definitely getting harder at this point. I was hooked up to a machine that was showing numbers that correlated with the contractions. It went from 0-125 we think. I started hitting the 70's and 80's pretty consistently, so at that point I asked the nurse about the options for pain. I really wanted Nubain, which is a pain medication that just takes the edge off contractions but you can still feel everything. The nurse I talked to said that our group of doctors really likes Nubain, which made me happy. I told her I would go on and take some of that and then in two hours after it had worn off I would decide if I wanted more or not.

The Nubain kicked in almost immediately and those big ole contractions didn't seem so bad after that! I was able to call mom and dad and Jenn, as well as one of my friends from church, and talk right through them, so it must be some good stuff!

I quit walking around at that point because it was too much trouble being on drugs and lugging the IV around. At 7:00pm, they checked my cervix again and I was 7cm! Woohoo! I could have more Nubain at 7:15 but I asked if we could hold off. I knew I could make it through the contractions medication-free for at least 30 minutes, and then I could get some more. The nurse came in and out, and at 7:30, reminded me that if I got to 9cm I couldn't have any IV drugs. I kind of shrugged that off because hello, I was only 7 cm, but she wanted to do a cervix check again just to make sure. Yep, sure enough, in only 30 minutes I had jumped to 9cm! We kind of started laughing and I said, "Holy crap!" and the nurse was like, "I'll go on and give you this dose!" Uh, yeah! By this time my contractions were all in the 90's and over 100. After that everything went really fast. After one contraction the nurse asked if I felt the need to push. I said no and they left the room. Almost immediately I had another contraction and this time I knew what she was talking about! I wanted to PUSH! The two nurses started me pushing just to open the little lip of the cervix that was still closed, so I did this mild kind of pushing for a little while. All of a sudden, one of the nurses was like, "Uh... is Dr. Buchele on the floor?" I said, "I certainly hope so!!" He came in and I teased him about looking like he was walking into a war zone. He had on this mask that looked like a biochemical mask or something.

Anyway, it was only about 25 or 30 minutes later after some big pushes that Brianna Mae popped out! Stephen cut her umbilical cord and we just kind of stared in awe at her as they took care of her. After we held her a bit, I nursed her for the first time, got in the jacuzzi (nice!), and at that point they had our room ready so we were moved to the room we'd stay in the rest of the time. I was starving, so I ordered a cheeseburger and fries from the cafeteria and we settled in with Miss Bri for the night. The rest is history.

I can't believe it's already been a week! She has completely stolen my heart and Stephen is completely wrapped up in her, as expected. I can't wait to see all the new things she does as she grows up and starts showing her personality more.

38 weeks and HUGE!

The day before I went into labor - after working almost ten hours!

She's screaming with joy!

Our first family photo!! She's just a few minutes old here!