I had been in the early stages of labor for a couple of days. I got to the second stage (the much more painful stage) at about 4pm on June 1st. I did my best to get through until the kids went to bed. It was made more difficult because my sweet adorable little boy thinks he has the "magical hugs" to make mommy's pain go away. So every time a contraction hit and I went over in pain, Michael would run over and hug me and say "owie all gone momma!" and no matter if that contraction was over or not I put on a smiley face and gave him a huge thank you hug. My wonderful mother in law come over after the kids went to bed and we headed to the hospital around 11pm. At this point I was in a pretty good amount of pain but was trying to breathe through it best I could. I've learned from past pregnancies that I don't dilate easily on my own. So when the Dr at my appointment early that day said I was at a 2cm I wasn't surprised. But after an entire afternoon and evening in pretty bad pain I figured I had made some serious progress! However, when I got to the hospital and they checked me they said I was a 2 1/2cm. I about died! Are you kidding me!!! My contractions are every one minute and it HURTS! That is when we discovered the reason I was in such horrible pain was because little miss Hailey was turned the wrong way and I was having back labor. Sadly, Hailey decided to send me into labor ONE day before my 39th week was to start. That means that the hospital can not admit me until my water has broken or I am at a 4cm and in active labor. So they told me I had to get up and walk around to try and improve my dilation before they would admit me.
Adam was starving so I sent him to get himself some food. The contractions were bad and they were close together but I was breathing through them pretty well and figured I could survive without him for a little bit. As I got up out of bed and stood up straight I thought the pain was going to kill me. That back labor is AWFUL! I tried to pace the floor of my room but every contraction that hit sent me bent over the counter. They got a ton more intense very quickly. Adam got back to the room and saw a totally different person. I was crying the pain was so awful. I did my best to make it through the hour they wanted me to wait but eventually Adam couldn't stand seeing me in so much pain and he went for the nurse to check me early. Luckily I had finally arrived at a 4cm. The nurse said she could clearly see I was in active labor and would have lied about my dilation just to get me admitted. :-)
I thought I was home free when they put the epidural in... I assure you that during back labor an epidural was a MUST HAVE in the moment. However, lucky me.... my epidural only numbed the right side of my body and even the right side wasn't all that numb. I still could've gotten up and walked no problem. So the contractions were still painful. Not as painful, but still enough that I had to breathe through each one. My wonderful nurse, Bailey, came back to check on me after a few hours cause I told her I was feeling a lot of pressure and pain in my upper thigh. As she walked over to the monitors she said that the baby had finally flipped to the right position. Yeah! And then my water broke! haha. So she checked my dilation and we figured out what that pain in the upper thigh and lower bottom was... I needed to push! The baby was practically falling out. She had to walk me through slow deep breaths so I wouldn't push while they got everything set up. The doctor barely arrived in time. I did one practice push with the nurse and then one more push and there she was! Our beautiful little girl! At 5:22am: 7 pounds 20 inches long and PERFECT! I couldn't believe how much she looked just like Emma. Luckily, she has a ton more hair than Emma had. Maybe all those bows I made for Emma will actually have good use this time around! :-)
The after math of everything went perfectly. She passed all her tests with perfect scores. As did I! As visitors came we all struggled with finding a name for her. We had it narrowed down to Alyssa, Kaitlynn or Mackenzie. As I spent more time with her I just knew none of those were right. I have always felt very strongly about my kids names and knew they were right when we picked them out. The one name I got that feeling for was 'Hailey'. The problem was my niece is named 'Haley'. My beautiful sister in law beat me to the punch. So I started talking to my sister in law about my feelings and asked what she thought and she was SO wonderful and said that if that was her name then I HAD to name her that or I would regret it. Plus we don't see each other very often (live in different states). So we decided I would spell it differently. We finally picked the name and finalized it on the birth certificate about half hour before I went home.
All the visitors were wonderful and I thank you for all the support and help! My mom and Adam's mom were huge helps in watching our kids for us while we were at the hospital. It was so reassuring to know that Michael and Emma were in good hands. It was also the most amazing experience to watch Michael and Emma be introduced to their new baby sister. Both of them just adore her! Michael has already taken on the big brother protector role and it's precious! Even though I know they will all have their sibling issues as they grow up together (especially being so close in age)... I also know that they love each other and they will always be there for each other. If Adam and I were ever gone those three beautiful children would have each other. That touches my heart in so many ways and I feel so blessed and privileged to have the opportunity to raise them and teach them and most of all to love each and every one of them.
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