I had my mom come out a few days past 38 weeks. Wes came early and Jillian was born on her due date so if history was an indicator of when Georgia would be born, I guessed early. Boy was I wrong. My poor mom stayed with us for almost 9 days before she decided she needed to head home. It was SUCH A HUGE EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER FOR ME. On one hand, I was relaxed because my mom was here, and she is SUCH A HUGE HELP WITH THE KIDS. But there was some pressure too. I can't tell you how often we watched the clock...kept guessing when it was going to happen, it was all we thought about. I would go to bed, and we would laugh and say "I hope you aren't here in the morning....." I wanted so badly for my mom to be here to meet Georgia, and I really wanted her to watch my kids during this emotional change for them as well. If there is one thing I learned, no pregnancy or labor is ever alike.
Right at 40 weeks, we did have a false alarm. My mom, Tim and I were watching a movie and I started having contractions around 9 pm. They were very mild, but consistent. They started to get a bit more intense, but nothing painful and I started timing them. We were all very excited, thinking okay this is going to be it (I didn't have that many braxton hicks, so in my mind this was a very good sign). I went to bed, and woke up around 1 am in discomfort. I hopped in the shower, woke up Tim and said lets go to the hospital. I had heard with a 3rd baby, things happen fast and at my appointment hat week I was 3 cm dilated. I wasn't going to risk having a baby in the car on the way so we headed out around 1:30. It wasn't a very busy night at the hospital, so they placed me in a room and checked me. I was still at 3cm, but I was contracting. However, this particular hospital was VERY different than my previous experience. They did not want to give me Pitosum or any medication to help me along, even though my contractions were consistent. You know what they told me to do?? Walk. Walk the halls. Like in the movies!! I had my gown on, and Tim and I started to walk to halls for an hour at 2 something in the morning. And nothing happened. I was tired, cranky, and feeling defeated. Tim was upset about it all, and I felt the burdon once again of letting my mom and everyone else down. I also need to add, the doctor on call that night was super creepy.
Fast forward a few days and time was up. My mom had to go. So we called in plan B. Tim's parents came out two days later, after my OB scheduled an induction. My induction was scheduled for Tuesday at 10 pm, but the catch was that I had to call an hour before to make sure they had a bed for me. Let me also point out, I was pretty upset about the idea of an induction. I really wanted the baby to come on her own, and I was scared of the extra pain I would endure in the labor process since my body wasn't ready. At 9 pm, I call, and they tell me they are full. Not only do they tell me they are full, but they were totally rude. I balled my eyes out ( in private of course) and had a total pity party. I had emotionally prepared myself for a baby the next day, but my instructions were to hold tight and wait for them to call me when a room opens up. We waited a long 48 hours and FINALLY after many more phone calls to my OBGYN, to the hospital to check and see if any beds were open, and lots of long talks with Tim's parents, I got the golden ticket!! It came in at 5 am on a Thursday and they told me to head in at 7 am. We grabbed our things and headed out the door before the kids even woke up. It was honestly the most ridiculous process I have ever experienced, along with many conversations with rude nurses and short doctors. I was ready to put it behind me and just meet my daughter.
I was exactly 41 weeks. My labor and delivery nurse was friendly, warm and got us set up right away. Everything was very familiar and I was pretty calm. At 9:30 am they begin a drip of pitosum. I was relaxed. They started to turn up the drip and suggested I get an epidural. I got the epidural around 11:45, and from this point on everything happened really fast. Right around 12:30 I felt this huge pain. I called to my nurse right away and after she checked me, the baby was coming. I could tell they weren't prepared for how quickly it happened, and she was a bit frantic in getting it all ready. Turns out there were a few other babies being born right then, so the doctor wasn't available yet. Pretty much, I remember feeling this urge to push, and so my nurse and Tim started to help me get the baby out. I had about 10 minutes of solid pushing and right before the very last push, the on call doctor rushed in and helped pull her out.
They placed her on my chest and those familiar emotions came pouring out. Tears of joy, fear anxiety all were front and center as I listened to her cry and counted all her fingers and toes. They placed her on my chest and I got to look in to her eyes, she was perfection. In my past experience, there is a team of doctors and nurses there to do the initial APGAR testing, measurements, and clean her up quickly so they can hand her back to me. Well, this did not happen to our expectation. While they were sewing me up, Tim was standing next to her in her bassinet (while she she cried, naked, with absolutely no one helping). As the minutes ticked on, Tim started pacing and I could see the anxiety on his face. I remember looking at him and mouthing to him, "Whats happening?" To which he had no response. Mind you, my newborn daughter is sitting naked, wet, on a sterile table waiting for a nurse. Finally a nurse saunters on in, like she was taking her damn sweet time, and you know what she said to us?? She took one look at the baby, and said oh her feet our crooked. There was not an ounce of joy in her voice, not a single heartfelt congrats, and Tim could not hide the way he felt on his face. She went on to tell us her son had to wear braces on his feet for a few years but most likely they would correct themselves with some help. I was in tears. It was so minor, but it hit me hard, the whole experience (even weeks leading up to this) was just draining for me. She could sense Tim was pretty upset so she quickly cleaned up Georgia and handed her to me (after making comments like "Oh I can tell dad really wants me to hurry up here.")
Once I was able to hold her we went skin to skin and I just took her in. I LOVED her instantly, I knew the feeling of meeting my new child for the first time, but this one was my last. It was different. I had this down, but I also was savoring every first second I had with her. I touched her soft hair fuzz and just admired this little lady who came blazing out. Because my delivery was so fast, Georgia was bruised pretty badly. She had black and blue marks over her forhead. Her eyes had a ring of blood around the pupils due to the pressure. She was my biggest baby, at 8 pounds 8 ounces, but I was overdue. I still wonder if they should have just helped me along when I was conracting naturally if things would have been easier for Georgia.
One positive thing about my labor, is I only had the epidural for less than an hour. This meant my recovery was so much easy. I barely had any drugs in my system, so that really helped my mental clarity. I was SUPER hungry after the labor too, something I didn't not feel with my other two.
Georgia was beautiful. Dark skin coloring and dark black/brown hair. She had blue eyes and has definitely been my most alert baby. Her latch was perfect, she ate right away and we stayed in the hopsital for two additional nights.
It was PURE joy having Jillian and Wes meet their little sister. It's immeasurable happiness. They loved her right away, Jillian asking to hold her and change her clothes and Wes asking to stroke her hair. I could pause time in this first moment as a family of five for the rest of my life. In a blink everything was perfect.
Fast forward to today, and Georgia is just that. Perfect. In every single way. Oh man, the love I have for that girl is like nothing else. And it's still growing. My heart is overwhelmed. Still. While the hopsital and nurses contributed to a not ideal labor, the end result is my Georgia girl is healthy.
Would I recommend my hopsital or the OB doctors. No. It was VERY hard transferring to a new practice at 32 weeks, but I feel grateful for the small handful of nurses that went above and beyond. Would I change things? Yes, I would. But labor, pregnancy, all of it is OUT OF MY CONTROL. I was reminded of that daily as I waited for Georgia to make her debut. I am so happy she's here now and that's all that matters.
