Labor Story

So I've been getting this question a lot so I thought I would just share what my labor story was. Todd told me not to tell anyone because they would be mad at me, so you have to promise not to be mad at me before you read this!

So Saturday Sept 27, Todd needed to do some homework so we decided to walk on to campus so he could work in his own office. Campus is literally 4 blocks away, it's very close. We walked there and were there for about 3-4 hours. We then walked back in time so I could get ready and go to the relief society broadcast. When we got home I sat down for a second, I noticed I was kind of wet. More wet than I had been regularly with the normal discharge. So I called Labor and Delivery to see if we should go in to get checked. They told me to come in and make sure everything was ok. So Todd and I got to the hospital at 6 o'clock. They had to do a couple of tests, one came back positive so they decided to admit me and that it was time to have the baby. I was freaked out because I hadn't really been prepared for that.

I was admitted at 8:30. Before they did anything they needed to make sure the baby's head was down. So they did an ultrasound but the nurse couldn't really tell what was going on so she had to call the ultrasound tech. She probably got there around 9:30. The head was down so now it was time to get an IV in and finish breaking my water. They tried 5 times to get an IV in me, the doctor even tried to get one in me. Before my water was broken the doctor checked me to see how dilated I was. I was already at a 5, I hadn't really been having any contractions... So they broke my water and then decided to give me pitocin to really start me into labor. They started the pitocin, but since I was so far dilated the doctor said I could have an epidural at any point I wanted. Once the pitocin hit, it HIT! There was absolutely no break in between contractions, it was awful! I asked for an epidural soon after. Around 11 or so the epidural guy came and gave me an epidural. After that, I didn't feel any more contractions. So honestly I may have felt labor pains for at most 45 minutes to an hour.

The nurse came in around 12:30 and checked me. I was at a 7! I was trying to sleep because I knew it was going to be a long night. The nurse came back in at 1:15 because Lily's heart rate decreased and she wanted to check to make sure I was ok. I was already complete! I started pushing around 1:30. I had asked for the mirror because I wanted to be able to see what kind of pushing did the most work, since I had an epidural and really couldn't tell... Todd didn't like that part. He had to sit down most of the time while I was pushing. He had to help with my legs since I couldn't move, but he did a great job. As soon as Lily's head came out he was kind of like a little kid. He wanted in on the action at that point. I was so happy that he cut the cord and didn't let the blood stop him. When she came out, the cord was wrapped around her neck a couple times, and that's why her heart rate decreased. As soon as they got that off, she was just fine! Trust me, her lungs were very healthy! No question about that! They put her on my stomach as soon as she was born and it was such an amazing experience! I'm glad it went so well for us and that our hopes and plans had gone through. And yes, I know it was a very easy labor I mean honestly I was only in active labor for 5 hours and I only felt a whole 45 minutes of it.