I started having contractions that hurt on Monday, December 20.  I timed them and they were about 8 minutes apart most of the night.  They hurt a small amount but I could sleep through them.  On Tuesday morning when I woke up, I was only having a couple here and there but nothing too consistant.  Tuesday night at

7:07 I started to have them every 8-10 minutes apart and they were quite painful.  As the night went on, they became increasingly stronger and at 12:21a.m. I started writing every time down to make sure of the time between them.  Most were 8 minutes apart but some were 4 or 5 minutes apart.  These I could not sleep through and they continued through Wednesday.  I had my appointment at 2:00 on Wednesday afternoon so decided to wait to be seen there instead of going to labor and delivery because I didn't know if it was the real thing or not.  I called Matt home about 10:30 because the contractions hurt so bad and I didn't want to go through the pain myself.  He was a little mad because he missed his daily lifting and when he got home, all he did was sit here and wait for my appt. with me.  Oh well:)

 

At my appt. they did an internal and I was 100% effaced and 3 cm. dialated.  Nurse said baby was at station 0.  The nurse told me to go and get something to eat and go walk around for an hour and go to L&D to get checked because they would not admit me until I was 4 cm. I was still having contractions, about every 5 minutes now.  We went and got something to eat and walked around for a bit and at 3:10 I got checked at L&D.  I was then a good 4 cm. dialated and not going anywhere, I was admitted and going to have our baby!  At 4:00 they checked me again and I was a good 5 cm.  Contractions are now making me cry and are hurting bad, I want some pain meds!  At 4:30 the nurse came in to do blood work and start IV.  She missed my tiny veins and ouch, I don't like getting IVs!  About 4:50 I finally got a little bit of relief with some fetanyl.  It was to ease the contractions a little and make me rest inbetween.  It worked but made me super dizzy but the pain was tolerable, unfortunately it only lasted about 30 minutes. 

 

About 6:45 the nurse came in to check me again and contractions were very strong and I am now throwing up (Matt loved that).  The epideral was ordered and about 7:30 I received it.  It was not a bad experience and it hardly hurt at all, I think I only moved once because the initial numbing did not work on the left side and I felt some pressure.  Finally some good relief!  Nurse checked me again and I was 6 or 7 cm. 

 

At 9:40 they broke my water, 10:40 they put me on pitocin because my contractions went down a lot after they epi was put in.  I was having this pressure in my butt when the pit drip was started but had no idea this was the baby ready to come out.  They didn't want to check me cause they had broken my water and there was a greater chance for infection.  So, I'm feeling this pressure and living with it.  The only real pain I felt was in my ribs and a little in my lower belly.  At a little after 12:00 on Thursday, December 23 they checked me and I was ready to push--that pressure I had been feeling the whole time was her ready to come.  At 12:20 I began pushing.  Pushing was hard because I was so exhausted and I can't hold my breath for that long.  She was having a hard time making it past my pubic bone and her heart rate was dropping a lot between pushes.  I was getting worried but the nurse reassured me that if I took some deep breathes, she was fine.  After a lot of painful pushes, her head was out.  I had nothing left in me and started vomitting some more.  Good thing I did because that made her come out the rest of the way.  McKenna Kailyn Toldness was born at 2:01 a.m. on Thursday December 23. 

 

Then we had a scare!  They did not give her to me right after she came out.  They usually place the baby on your belly and clean them.  They immediately took her to the warming lamp.  She was not crying, she was not doing anything.  I was so scared.  They had to get a specialist doctor in the room--that freaked me out.  They were not telling me what was happening but assured me everything was fine.  How can everything be fine when she is not crying.  They said some babies just take longer to come around.  Finally after about 5 minutes we heard her cry.  They had to continuously monitor her but Matt could take pictures.  The day I went home I find out what was wrong with her.  Her heart rate dropped down to 76 and they don't like to see it get below 120.  She had terminal neconium (she pooped inside of me).  They had to do a bulb suction (I can't remember what this is), they tried blow-by oxygen but that was not successful so they had to do possitive pressure ventilation (oxygen to the face), and her initial tone was poor.  Her Apgar scores were 5 for 1 minute and 8 for 5 minutes.  She was finally ok to come to me though and she was beautiful! 

 

Matt was great through the whole labor.  He coached me well and even took my throwing up ok.  He didn't cut the cord but that was ok.  He did a great job and I love him so much!!