Happy Birthday Alyssa

One year ago today I was in the hospital.

I was supposed to be induced on Sunday at 11 am. But Thursday night I started having some contractions nothing too strong but uncomfortable. At about midnight I got up and sat in the chair in our loft for about 2 hours. The contractions got stronger for awhile then went away. So at about 2 I went back to bed. I laid there for 30 minutes and couldn't sleep so I got up to come downstairs to watch some tv. When I got downstairs I went to the restroom. I then came out to watch TV.

As I was walking to the couch I felt something wet drip down my leg. I thought "EWWW that is gross I didn't wipe well enough". So I went back to the bathroom, cleaned up and walked out again. I got to the exact same spot again and I felt more wetness on my leg. This time I knew it wasn't pee. So I went upstairs got a pad and told Chris I was going to call the doctor but I thought my water just broke.

I came down and called the doctor, he said that it sounded like it was time to get this show on the road and that I should head to the hospital. So we finished packing up all our things. Chris the whole time talking about how after they release us from the hospital we can go to Uncle Bills for breakfast.

On the way to the hospital I sat on a puppy pee pad because I didn't want to ruin the car seat. We got to the hospital about 4 am. We get up to Labor and Delivery and they have to confirm that my water had broken. Of course at this time I wasn't leaking so they asked me some questions and got me all set up. Then she checked me and said "Ohh you guys aren't going anywhere so if you need to make any phone calls you can". We informed her that per wishes we were not to call anyone until after 6.

I got hooked up to the monitors and an IV started. I was told I was not allowed out of bed until my doctor okay-ed it since my water had broken.

So we watched some tv and talked about how excited we were. At a little after 6 Chris went to get our stuff out of the car (we had left it in the car because Chris was sure I peed my pants).

At about 6:30 we started the phone calls. The first phone call was to my in-laws.

My father in law answered the phone. I told him I was in labor and that we had left Vinnie at home so they were going to have to go get him at some point that day. He said "okay good luck" and hung up the phone. I told Chris that I bet his mom would be calling back very soon.

I was right she called back I told her all she needed to know about Vinnie. Then I called my mom. I woke her up as well. We then called my dad and woke him up.

I was put on piticion to get contractions moving since they weren't really doing anything. I was then able to sit on a medicine ball and roll around while Chris sat behind me rubbing my back. My goal had been to get to noon without the epidural. By 10:30 I was in so much pain that I could barely breath. At 11 they wanted to check me. I was still not even 1 cm dilated. I was in tears. They called my doctor and he told them to give me the epidural to relax me. So I got it.

The guy was foreign and I could barely understand him through the pain. The nurse had to repeat everything he said.

From 11-5 we just sat around watching TV and giving people updates that nothing was happening. I think I cried a few more times when they told me little progress had been made.

At 6 they checked me and I was at 4. I thought FINALLY I'm making progress. In fact I had told the nurse to lie to me if I hadn't because I couldn't handle 1 cm any longer. I told her that I was leaving if she told me 1. I was serous though I don't know how I was going to do it since I couldn't feel my legs.

At 6:15 I told them I was having a lot of pressure. They thought my EPI was wearing off and ordered a new bag to be hung.

At 6:30 I told them I still felt the pressure. They checked me and I was 10. BUT shift change happened in 30 min so they didn't want me to start pushing.

So I just laid there until 7:15 when the new nurse came on duty. She had me do some practice pushes then told me to stop while they got things ready.

At 8:00 p.m. the room was ready for a baby and the doctor showed up and got dressed. At 8:23 Alyssa was born. She weighed 6 pound 11 ounces and was 20 and 1/4 inches long.

We thought she was the best thing in the world.