Lena was due May 20, 2012 but I was scheduled for an induction on Monday May 14th. I was to skip my evening dose of the heparin (I switched to this at 36 weeks from Lovenox) and go in to the hospital on Monday morning at 4am to get hooked up to the pitocin. Originally I was set up to be induced on Sunday evening (Mother's day) however when I saw my doc the last week of my pregnancy she said I wouldn't need the "ripening" and so she would be pushing my induction to Monday morning. Nate and I arranged for my parents to take Kyler Sunday evening and then we went out for one last "date night" kid free to Olive Garden and then we went to Target and Nate bought me a pair of pink sandals! We then came home to try to get a little rest before going in to the hospital at 4am!
The whole last few weeks of my pregnancy were pretty miserable this time around because I was so itchy from head to toe. I asked my doc about this and she said it could be something called choleostasis (sp?) which the only relief for this was delivery. Anyways, Nate and I tried to get to bed early on Sunday evening (around 9pm) but I kept tossing and turning and ITCHING! I can even remember Nate at one point saying Erin you're going to do more damage then helping the situation right now, go put on some lotion. Lotion did NOT help and so I just kept itching til finally 3am rolled around and we got up, grabbed our bags, took one last pregnant picture, fed the cats, and we were on our way by 3:30 to the hospital.
We arrived at the hospital and we got to park pretty close to the doors in the ER ramp because not many people are at the hospital that early on a Monday morning I guess. We went in and checked in at the desk and they sent us up to 3C to get all set up. Apparently my doc didn't finish filling out orders for my induction so they had to call on a lot of things and we didn't end up getting all hooked up to the pitocin and going til around 5am. The pitocin was pretty uneventful for the first little while. I was even able to watch the movie Bride Wars! Finally by about 10:00 I asked if I could at least try to labor some in the whirlpool tub since I remember this helping SO much with Kyler's birth. The nurse told me I could with the wireless monitors so she went and got them and I got in the tub. I labored for a little while til I felt a weird feeling and said I think I wanna get out of the tub now. I drained the tub and when I stood up, my water broke. I remember thinking uh-oh now the pain is REALLY gonna start, but it still wasn't horrible yet. I got out of the bathroom and was checked, but I was only to a 4. I thought oh no, this is not going to be good, however the contractions weren't right on top of each other and I could handle them.
Around 12:30 a new nurse came in to tell me that my nurse went to lunch and would be back. I told her I felt like I had to go to the bathroom so she said well let me check you first. She said I was at a 5 and at this point I remember thinking, ok I can't go any more and started debating getting an epidural. My nurse came back and I had started rocking because the contractions were really starting to hurt now. We asked my nurse about the epidurals as well as a birthing ball. She went to get one, but when she came back I just said no, I want the epidural now. Around 1:15 I was checked one last time (I was still at a 5, but FULLY effaced) and then the doc came in to give me the epidural.
After getting the epidural I was able to relax and I tried to get comfortable laying in bed. I was checked again at about 2:30 and they said they were going to go call my doc at that point to let her know to come over to the hospital. She got there, got her gown on, they broke down the bed and they had me push. I pushed once with the first contraction (which this time I could feel to push, but had NO pain!) and then the nurse asked if she should get a 2nd set of hands as well as the intern. My doc said, well you better hurry or they are gonna miss it. They came in while my doc kept saying you better hurry, you're gonna miss it, however when they were all ready, then we had to wait for another contraction to come. I pushed one more time with the next contraction and little Lena was born at 3:05pm. They placed her immediately on my chest while they waited to deliver the placenta and to stitch me up. I remember thinking man, she's got a LOT of vernix on her, but feeling her warm little body next to mine was the absolute BEST feeling in the world. All I could think was WOW! I was in awe and I kept praying and thanking God for this beautiful little gift that he had given me!
After they delivered the placenta, Nate finally asked if I was going to feed Lena (this was only about 10 minutes later, but it felt like forever!). I was like, oh yeah--almost like I had forgotten about everything else except staring at my precious little miracle. The nurse helped me position Lena and she immediately started sucking and kept going for like 10 minutes--SO different from Kyler.
After Lena finally finished sucking they took her to get her footprints done, her shots, and to get all her measurements. She weighed 7 lbs. 3.9 oz. and was 20 in. long. Shortly after all this, she had her first visitors--Big Brother Kyler and my mom and then right after that Aunt Megan, Uncle Ben, and cousin Lucas. Everyone else waited to come and visit til we were on the postpartum floor (although I felt MUCH better and LOOKED much better this time around than when I had Kyler!).
Lena is now over a month old and I just canNOT believe I have 2 kids! I take time to thank God for them daily as well as many other things. Throughout this whole experience (the miscarriages) God has taught me to be patient and to be thankful and content in all circumstances. I am so thankful for the gift I have been given in Lena Faith-Marie Studer!
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