the wingates: Eloise's Birth Story

Well the day finally came. Our sweet baby girl was born December 28, 2012. It couldn't have been at a better time. We wanted her to come before the new year and it needed to be after Christmas so her birthday wasn't completely robbed by the holiday. Thursday December 27 we had our last appointment at the OB. She swiped my membranes to see if that would help put me into labor. After we left we went to Target so I could go walk around for a while. Then we went to Wing Stop and got some spicy wings, cause I was desperate for anything to start my labor. We ate those and watched some movies with Adam's family. I started feeling some contractions coming on but they weren't very consistent so I told Adam I wanted to go for a walk to see if they would stay. We went and walked for about 45 minutes. It was like 40 something outside but it felt great cause I was soooo hot all the time. We came home and the contractions started getting more consistent so I started timing them. We went up to bed and I waited 2 hours with them being about 2-5 minutes apart. Around 12:30am we called the hospital and they told us to come in. We grabbed all of our stuff and headed out.

Once we got to the hospital they put me in a wheel chair and took me to our room. They hooked me up to everything and I was having super consistent contractions and I had a fever so they had to put me on fluids. I got checked and I was still at a 2. So we went the rest of the night waiting for me to dilate. 6 hours later they came and checked me I was at a 3. I couldn't believe it, I was so sick of the pain, and I wasn't progressing at all. They told me they usually recommend waiting til you get to a 4 before they give you an epidural so it doesn't slow your labor down, but I was done with the pain so I told them to give it to me now. I got the epidural which I was SUPER nervous about. I was shaking like crazy when they brought it in, but it was so easy. I stressed out over hardly anything. After that it was a breeze. haha JK. But seriously epidurals are gifts sent straight from God. For those who do it naturally, I commend you for it, but when I have a drug that can take away the pain there is no way in heck I am going to pass that up. 2 hours after I got the epidural I still was at a 3 so they broke my water and gave me pitocin to get my labor going. 2 hours after that I had progressed to a 6. Hallelujah!! The nurse said to let her know if I started feeling pressure down low and you felt like you needed to push. I was expecting that to come later, but after 20 minutes I was starting to feel the pressure like crazy. We called the nurse in and she was like woah you are already at a 9, I am calling the doctor. So we waited like 30 minutes for the doctor to get there and then we got to start pushing.

What a crazy experience that was. I did not take a birthing class so I had no idea what to expect which I was glad about that way I didn't need to stress if I was doing it right or wrong. I kept pushing and about 30 minutes in our doctor and nurse told me I needed to stop pushing. Every time I would push Eloise's heart rate would drop. They were getting nervous and started saying we might have to do a c-section, if I couldn't get her out soon. So I prayed and pushed like crazy. Another 10 minutes passed and they were like if we don't get her out in the next few pushes we are doing a c-section. They got the vacuum to help and I pushed and with the vacuum she finally came. She had the cord wrapped around her neck. It was seriously so scary. They took her straight to the carrier to make sure she was breathing and that she didn't inhale any meconium when she came out. She was doing well enough that I got to hold her for a few minutes while the nurses took some pictures for us, then she went straight to the NICU. She was there for maybe 2 hours and came back to us completely healthy. We were so beyond happy. Our perfect little girl had finally arrived, and she was flawless. She arrived at 2:07pm 8lbs 1.5oz and 19.5in long. She was absolutely perfect and we had never felt so complete.

Labor was a breeze. Epidurals definitely helped with that, but once that epidural had wore off, holy cow.... I don't know why people don't warn you about the pain that you have AFTER giving birth. I tore pretty bad so that was not very fun. We were at the hospital for 3 days and I got maybe 2 hours of sleep during that time. It was crazy, but our little girl was finally here and that was all that mattered. And here are some pictures from that day.

Waiting to dilate