The Walking Worked!

Sunday, March 27, was a lazy day at our house. I was exhausted, so we decided to stay home and relax for the day. It was WONDERFUL! We laid in bed and watched movies, napped, I'm not sure I could have asked for a more perfect day!

The closer we got to the end of my pregnancy, we learned everyone has a theory about how to induce labor. Most people agreed that lots of walking would help. Around 4 p.m. we decided to get out of the house and take a little walk (for me it was more like a waddle!). We put Elvis's leash on, walked around the park, let him play at the dog park for a while and then headed home.

I had left my phone on the counter while we were out, and I noticed there was a message when we got back. It was the hospital, calling about my induction. I listened to it and then put it on speaker for Wil to listen to it. The message said, they were calling about my induction Sunday at 4 p.m. Ummm...my induction is scheduled for the 31st - I wasn't supposed to check-in until 10 p.m. on the 30th. Wil convinced me they meant they were calling about my induction, and they were leaving the message Sunday at 4 p.m. The brief panic subsided as I realized he was probably right. But just in case, I looked at him and asked, "if they want us to come in now - are we okay with that?" Yes, but that's not what they're going to say, we thought. They probably just want to give us directions for when we come in later this week.

So I called back...and the nurse asked if we could come in right then. NOW? I asked - you should have seen the look on Wil's face. :-) We were mentally and emotionally prepared for Wednesday/Thursday...not today! Yes, now. About ten minutes later another nurse called and asked me if we could wait to come in until about 7:30 that evening.

We promptly showered, finished packing my bag, did the dishes (we had been having a lazy day up to this point, so they were not done), installed the car seat and ate dinner. Then we sat and waited, trying to calm ourselves down, because let's be honest this was our first child and I was kind of scared and we were both freaking out!

We reported to Arrowhead Hospital at 7:30 on the dot and were checked-in and taken to the labor and delivery room. Except for when I was born, I've never been a hospital patient before - in fact, I don't think I've even been to the emergency room for myself (urgent care yes, but I don't think I've made an emergency room visit). The only time I've had stitches was when I got my wisdom teeth out and I don't remember ever having had an IV - although it's possible I had one when I got my wisdom teeth out as well, I can't remember.

Never having been a patient before, I was a little nervous about the whole thing! There were consent forms to sign and a long list of family history and pregnancy questions to answer. Then they had to put in my IV. I have horrible veins, so it took not one, not two, but three tries to get it in - I still have brusies from all three tries. I was scared to move my arm for hours, worried the tube would pop out (I actually think the IV might have been the worst part!). Then they wrapped two bands around me, one to measure contractions and one to measure the baby's heart beat and told me to try to get some sleep - yeah, like that's gonna happen!

A little after 9:30 p.m., they gave me my first dose of medicine to soften my cervix. After the medicine, you lay in bed for an hour, get up and walk around for an hour and then get more medicine. My doctor came in early Monday morning to break my water and they started me on Pitocin to increase my contractions. I got an epidural later that morning (a wonderful thing!), and Wil and I hung out at the hospital - okay, so after the epidural I mostly dozed in and out of sleep while Wil sat in the chair next to me bored out of his mind!

I naively thought that if we checked in around 7:30, I would probably have the baby around 7 or 8 Monday morning...HA! She definitely wasn't born until 6:30 p.m. Monday...we had been there almost 24 hours and it's a good thing she came out when she did because I was starting to lose hope that she would ever be born!

The epidural made it easy, and to be honest, I'm still not sure how she fit inside of me...or how she came out of me. I was there, I know it happened, I just didn't really have to feel it, so I have no idea HOW it happened!

Ever since then we've been absolutely in love with our perfect little girl!

And, in case you're curious, Wil and I are totally believers now that walking brings on labor - it worked for us! :-)