Here is my "Labor and Delivery" story – Tuesday, June 14th: On the way home from work we decided to go to the store and pick up a few things for my "hospital bag". I had kept putting it off because I thought it could wait until Thursday since I wasn’t scheduled to go in for my c-section until 10:30am on Friday (June 17th) morning. We went shopping at Walmart for a few last-minute things (toiletries, present for Emberly from Caden, trail mix and m&m's). While we were walking around I started having contractions, nothing too strong or abnormal. At 7:30pm my contractions were about 6 minutes apart. We grabbed dinner on the way home and then I watched some TV for awhile and Michael “packed” my bag once we got home.
Then around 8:30 the contractions started getting closer together, about 2 minutes apart. Michael asked me if we should go in and I told him I didn't know. When Caden was born I was induced 3 days after my due date and ended up having a c-section after pushing for 3 hours with no progress, so this was all new to me. Also, not to mention the fact that I had a scheduled c-section on the 17th. Michael called my mom to get her opinion and then called Labor and Delivery at the hospital. They told us to come in if we felt like I was going into Labor. By this time, I started helping Michael pack everything into our bags because he was being too slow. Close to 8:45pm the contractions were still 2 minutes apart but much stronger (unable to talk, had to stop moving and work through the contraction, etc.) We decided we needed to go to the hospital and Michael called his mom to come watch Caden. That 15 minutes of waiting seemed liked forever!!! I was trying to finish packing and Michael was frantically getting stuff into the car (car seat, boppy, bags, etc.) all the while Caden was following me around copying what I was doing through each contraction. Most of the time it’s cute when he copies but this was NOT one of those times!!!
As soon as Sharon got there we jumped in the car and headed for the hospital. On our way we saw a cop turn around right in front of us on Hwy 30 before Cornelius Pass. Thank you Lord for looking out for us and that we didn’t get pulled over because Michael was driving F-A-S-T! My contractions were getting so strong by the time we headed into Hillsboro that I didn’t know if we were going to make it. I kept telling Michael to “hurry”.
We got to the hospital around 10pm and pulled up to the ER entrance. Michael ran in and said, "Someone needs to help me, my wife is having a baby." He came back with someone and a wheelchair and they wheeled me in and took me up to Labor and Delivery. They asked me questions as I worked through my contractions and took me into a triage room so they could check me. Once I got there they asked me to change into a gown and climb into bed. At that moment I didn’t know if I could get into the bed, it seemed like such a huge task. I remember telling the nurse, "I don't know if I can get into that bed". I decided that I HAD to do it so I forced myself to stand up and put the gown on and then while I was trying to muster up the strength to climb into the bed another strong contraction came and MY WATER BROKE!!! Michael ran out of the room and told them my water broke and the nurse came rushing in to "check me", sure enough the baby's head was down and I told her to “hurry” because there was so much pressure that I knew this baby was coming! The doctor's came in next and checked me and then wheeled me away into a delivery room. I remember one of the doctor’s saying, “you had a c-section the first time is it ok if you deliver vaginally?” and of course I said “yes!”
We got into the room and everyone was running around getting everything setup and waiting for my info to be put into the system. The doctors were getting me prepped to push while the nurses were trying to get my IV in. I wanted to yell at those nurses because it took them forever to get my IV taken care of. I had to keep yanking my hand back from them each time a contraction came. Buh! My hands were so hot and sweaty that they couldn’t get the tape to stick so they tried 3 different things until they finally got a mesh wrap to go over it.
Once I got into active labor, I pushed for a total of 24 minutes and then Miss Emberly Mae arrived at 10:54pm!
I. Cannot. Believe. It. A successful VBAC with no drugs!!!
This whole experience was so much different than last time. Here are a few differences:
- I was wheeled in through the ER and didn’t just walk in nonchalantly with my bag in tow.
- Emberly arrived much faster (3-4 hours instead of 20 hours) and in a very different way (naturally instead of surgically).
- NO MEDS instead of an epidural and whatever other meds they gave me during and after surgery.
- I was able to hold her right away and keep her once she was born instead of only seeing Caden for a brief moment before they whisked him away to get him cleaned up.
- I was able to eat right away instead of waiting until I was able to “pass gas”. The nurse brought me a ham sandwich while we were waiting to be taken to our room.
- The nurses left us alone and only came around to take our vitals or give me meds.
- Emberly passed her jaundice and hearing tests the first time.
- We were discharged from the hospital at 11:40am on Thursday morning (we hadn't even been there 48 hrs yet).
- The pain was sooo different and I didn’t have major surgery. *It was hard for me to stand up straight for several days because my back was so jacked.
Caden LOVES elephants too! 
