Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Cadence's story

Saturday was a pretty normal day for us. We did some laundry, knowing that the baby would be here soon and chances were good it would be a few days before there was a chance to do any. I attended a candle party that my friend Amanda hosted and Emily was the consultant for and then I met Josh at church for 5pm mass.  After mass we decided to go out to dinner, Chipotle, it was good.  As I was pulling in and parking the man next to me opened his door right into my door, I was already in park so he should have seen me there, it wasn't like I pulled in to his opening door. Anyway, it looked bad at first which made me really crabby, but most of it just rubbed off so I let it go.  I haven't had time to inspect it in the light yet.

After dinner we went home and just hung out. I lit my ginger pumpkin aroma melt courtesy of party lite, it was fabulous.  We put Coen to bed around 9 and I wasted some time and went to bed around 9:45.  As I was laying down I had a contraction, nothing too intense, but the most intense one I had had all pregnancy.  It only lasted 20 seconds or so, so I brushed it off.  Josh came and tucked me in, I told him that we should have a plan in case she decided to come that evening.  As we were talking about bringing Coen to Kendrick and Lindsey's I had another contraction.  Satisfied with our plan Josh kissed me good night and went downstairs to watch a movie. 

 I was in bed for about 3 more minutes before I had another contraction.  Again nothing strong but 3 in a row got me a little excited.  I was no where near the rule of 1 minute every 5 minutes for 1 hour, but I was still excited.  Then I heard/felt a pop in my stomach. At first I thought it was some gas moving around, but then I remembered that your water breaking can feel like a pop and I thought about it for a few seconds, decided that I really didn't think it felt like gas or my stomach so I sat up, climbed out of bed and goosh, I was soaked.  My water definitely broke.  I called down to Josh and he instantly knew that it was time!  We called Kendrick and Lindsey and the hospital, dropped off Coen and headed to Unity.  My contractions were every 2 minutes, but only lasting 30 seconds.  We got to the hospital and it took about an hour to get the paper work done and monitors on.  The contractions were getting a little stronger each time.  We were finally left alone so we popped in What Happens in Vegas.  We got about half hour into it and I was in pain.  The contractions were so much stronger and were still every 2 minutes.  

I got an IV and got some fentanyl, and slept for half an hour.  Fentanyl is suppose to work for 2 hours but after a half hour I was no longer feeling the effects, it was at this time that I decided to get an epidural.  I didn't think I would need one but this labor was so much different than Coen's, much more intense and no time to relax between contractions.  It took about 20 minutes before the anesthesiologist put the epidural in, that was a hard 20 minutes, but the epidural went well and really helped me progress fast.  Soon I was feeling the pressure that signals pushing time. I was checked and was at an 8.  One more contraction came and I told her I would need to push soon, she checked me again and I was a 10.  They quick changed my bed to a birthing bed, called the on call doctor because my doctor was not quite there. Changing positions relieved some pressure so I was able to hold off pushing for a few contractions.  My doctor (who wasn't actually my doctor cause she was on vacation in California) walked in the room, put on a gown and gloves I pushed twice and we had our baby girl!!!  5.5 hours of labor, an epidural, and 2 pushes, overall I would say it went really well.

We left the hospital yesterday went out to Perkins on the way home.  We got all unpacked, Josh cleaned the house and while he was washing dishes the power went out.  We went and picked up Coen at 4, hung out at home until 4:30/4:45 still no power, so we went to my parents so we wouldn't have to sit in our cold dark apartment.  Around 6 the power came back on, we left my parents around 7:45 and came home once again.  It was nice to be home in my own bed, even though I really didn't spend much time there last night.  Coen slept all night in his bed though, so that was nice.  

Coen is adjusting well, he insisted on holding Cadence last night and reading Elmo to her, it was really cute.  This morning he rushed downstairs to see her, he is very interested and likes to help out by carrying things for her and us.

If I ever make it upstairs to my computer I will try to post some pictures.