Wednesday January 11th I started having contractions at 3:00 in the morning. They were only 20 minutes apart and weren't super duper strong...so it was manageable. I did that for about 5 hours. I then started to Skype with Jana...it's a good thing, because I'm terrible at timing contractions. She skyped with me most of the day as I progressed to 10 minutes apart...then 6 minutes apart. By the time I hit 5 minutes apart, I decided to lay down to see if they would go away. By then Tony had come home from work. We decided to head toward Boise to be closer to the hospital...and get Melissa settled in at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We talked about dropping her off and going to Walmart to walk around and see if things would progress even more, but as we drove to Boise, my contractions were getting a bit stronger...still not TOO bad, and coming at 3 1/2 minutes apart. We decided to call the hospital and they told me to come in and get checked. So off we went to labor and delivery...and I was at a 1 and 80% effaced. They suggested we walk the halls of the hospital for an hour and see if I could progress any more. After a LONG hour of walking...they checked me again. Still at a 1. Major sad face...they sent me home. I went back to my parents house and tried to take a warm bath...yeah, I didn't like that. It lasted 2 seconds. By the time I got out of the tub, the contractions got a LOT stronger and lasted longer and were more frequent. Tony had gone to the store to get himself some treats...so I had to wait for him. They were so intense I had a hard time sitting or laying down. It was about 11:00 at night by that time. We decided to go back to the hospital. He even ran a red light while we were driving hee hee. He dropped me off at the front while he parked...it was so cold and I got hit with a pretty bad contraction so puking in the bushes seemed to help. The nurses were a little surprised to see me back so soon. They checked me again and I had gone from a 1 to a 3 in less than an hour.
The contractions were very intense and frequent...and it took FOREVER it seemed to get me admitted. It was about 12:30 by the time they got me in a room and prepped for an epidural. Yeah...I was tired of hurting and VERY thankful for it considering how long we had to wait. I think I instantly went to sleep when it kicked in. The contractions kept coming and I SLOWLY progressed ALL night. I had to get 3 boluses with my epidural because it kept wearing off on one side of my body. That made the night seem longer when that happened. By 7:00 am I was at a 9.5, so the doc decided to give me a small dose of pitosan (spelling?) By 8 I had reached a 10 and then they decided I could try and push. The first push and the nurse said I would definitely be pushing her out because it was too dangerous for a C-section. Good news!! The doctor had left, but she called him back in because it was clear that it wouldn't take very long to push her out. They saw her head and saw tons of black hair. They asked if I wanted to see it...I was game. They wheeled in this full length mirror and I saw that and more of me than I had seen probably ever. I opted for not watching any more...You can't push with your eyes open anyway.
After a couple of pushes her head was out...He unwrapped the chord from her neck and the next contraction he said to push to see if we could get her shoulders out...and the rest of her shot out of there instantly. They cleaned her up a little, set her on me and she peed all over me...she was beautiful! I was overwhelmed with emotion. She was everything I had hoped for and I was able to deliver her the way I was supposed to! I actually did it!! She was a successful VBAC and I felt like I accomplished something incredible! To be able to share that with Tony and with my mom on each side of me, was exactly what I wanted. She was born at 8:52. She weighed 7lbs. 4oz. and was 20 1/2 inches. She is a beautiful little girl and makes me smile every day.
After I had Melissa, I ached to have another baby. I wanted her to have a sibling SO bad. I thought I had lost that chance when Joe died. I always had hope...hope for love again, hope for more family, for children. Her middle name is Hope. She fulfilled the rest of what I had hoped for. I found love and more family...she is here now. Melissa has a sister she can call her own...along with her stepsisters and stepbrother. That makes me SO happy!
