Happy Thanksgiving

Most people spent their Thanksgiving gathering with family to enjoy a wonderful feast. We spent this special Thanksgiving, bringing beautiful baby #3 into the world. What a blessing.

I went into the doctor's office on Wednesday, 11/24, for a regular checkup at 36 weeks. I had made the appointment for the afternoon, 4:30, hoping that S and the kids would be able to join me for the doctor visit. He came at least once with the other two, but had not been for Em. I was feeling extra tired, so S said he would stay home with the kids while I went by myself.

The Dr. checked me out and thought that I was about a 4 or 5. (Note: At 31 weeks, I was checked and was 2cm dilated and 50% effaced.) I knew that things were getting closer, but did not know how close. She sent me to the hospital to be hooked up. She wanted to see if I progressed any over a two hour period. I headed over. I was continually having, braxton-hicks, so I was worried that they would send me home at the end of the two hours (I secretly was praying that something would happen [as long as she would be healthy enough], so that I could just stay and have her soon.) The nurses continued to ask my pain level, and I was more uncomfortable, than I was in pain. The nurse came in and checked me and I was at 6 cm. I wasn't going anywhere. :) I called S and told him where the kids bags were (I had been packed for a month now.) and he dropped them off at the home of some friends that lived, literally right by the hospital.

S arrived and they had moved me to my own delivery room at 8 pm. They were beginning to hook up my IV. (I ate a big snack before I came to the doctor, knowing I wouldn't be able to drink or eat.) The Dr. came in to see what the plan was as far as delivery. She suggested I brake my water. (During my pregnancy, I told S that I wanted my water to brake on its own. I felt that this meant that the baby was in a good position and that I would get to push shortly after. I was planning on having her naturally, like I did my other two.) The Dr. said that I could wait but we don't know how long that will take and I could get very tired. She said that she needed to get something to eat and feed her dogs, so she decided to do just that and would come back and I could make my decision. While she was gone, I tried to walk around and sway back and forth on an exercise ball to get things moving along. She was gone for over two hours and my contractions were beginning to worsen. Also, I went back and forth on whether I wanted to get an epidural. When she returned, I asked several questions about the epidural procedure and the positives and negatives. I finally decided to go for it! (I wanted to feel a lot less pain and enjoy the experience more.) I wanted to have it done before she broke my water because I knew that the pain intensifies after. I had the epidural placed around 11:00ish and she broke my water shortly after that. I was able to push within minutes after my water was broken. It went very smoothly. I felt some pressure, but the pain was definitely reduced dramatically.

She came at 12:19, 11/25, Thanksgiving morning. She was 6 lbs. 14 oz. She measured 20 1/4 inches long. She had a full head of dark hair. Since she was early she had to have her sugar level tested several times over the next 24 hours. She was perfectly healthy and was able to stay with me the entire visit. Since she was born on Thanksgiving, S and I enjoyed a Thanksgiving meal from the hospital. It was nice to not have to prepare or clean up anything. My parents, picked up the kids and took them to my sister's house in KY to enjoy Thanksgiving down there with family. So it was the three of us for a couple of days.