I am so thankful to document that my labor and delivery with Savannah was really fast and easy as it was with Brantley. Actually it was better than with Brantley! I'm writing this post for my benefit but feel free to read if you would like.
Tuesday (May 15th): I had contractions a lot during the day and they became more consistent as the day went on until they were about 6 minutes apart and mildly painful. I spent the whole night having those same contractions. They weren't getting closer together but they were hurting a bit more than earlier Tuesday afternoon but I still wasn't sure that I was in true labor.
Wednesday (May 16th): Early that morning I finally got some good sleep from 4:00-6:30ish. When I woke up my contractions had spaced out and had almost stopped so I figured I had been experiencing pre/false-labor all night again (just like Mother's day).
8:30am: I called my doctor's office to see about getting an appointment to come in and get checked. My doctor had plans to be out of town Thursday and Friday so I really wanted to know if I had made any progress before she went out of town. I was able to make an appointment for 11:30am.
9:00am: I decided to go for a walk to see if my contractions would get stronger/closer together or if they would stop all together. They came back at every 6 minutes during my walk and were again mildly painful. After about 30 minutes I went back home to take a shower and get ready to go to the doctor. My contractions continued.
11:30am: I got to my doctors office a few minutes early so I walked in the hall for about 20 minutes. During that time my contractions were more like every 5 minutes and I had to slow down my walking during them. I tried not to get my hopes up of actually being in labor. I kept telling myself that it wasn't real and my contractions would stop as soon as I got in her office.
Once I was finally called back and my doctor came in to check me I was totally amazed to hear her say that I was 4cm dilated and almost completely thinned out. What?! Really!! I was actually in labor. She then said, "How would be feel about having this baby today?" I quickly answered her with, "That would be wonderful! Let's do it!!" During the next 30 minutes I called Chase and told him the news so that he could get Brantley together and taken care of so he could get to the hospital quickly and I was admitted to labor and delivery.
12:00pm: My doctor came down to check on me and decided to go ahead and break my water so that my contractions would begin to progress faster. Wow! It's amazing how much fluid is inside. Savannah had a lot to swim around in and that's all I'll say about that. After having my water broken my contractions picked up and became A LOT more painful. Chase finally got to the hospital around 12:15pm and at that point I wasn't able to talk through the contractions anymore. By 12:30, I was in excruciating pain and I asked for the epidural.
12:58pm: My epidural was placed in my back. At this point the pain was unbearable and I was crying uncontrollably which just made the pain worse. Chase couldn't be in the room for about 15 minutes while the anesthesiologist finished putting in my epidural and that was torture. I had a wonderful nurse but I really just wanted Chase to be in there holding my hand.
1:30pm: The epidural was beginning to take effect. My nurse checked me and I was 5/6cm dilated.
2:00pm: I was finally feeling comfortable after getting the epidural. I could feel the pressure from the contractions but no pain.
2:26pm: My nurse checked me and I was fully dilated and Savannah's head was right there so it was time to get pushing. I was shocked at how quickly I had dilated. In 3 hours I had dilated from 4 to 10cm.
2:40pm: I pushed once for about 5 seconds and the nurse told me to stop because Savannah was so low in my pelvis. She crowned right away. The nurse went to call my doctor back down to the room. She came back to tell me that Dr. S was in a c-section so I would have to wait until she was done but she was coming to me as soon as she was finished.
3:15pm: Dr. S was there and it was time to start pushing. During that wait time, during every contraction I could feel Savannah's head about to pop out. I kept saying that if I sneezed I was going to have the baby. haha
3:20pm: I began to have a contraction and I started to push. During that contraction, I pushed 3 times and Savannah was born at 3:21pm. It was amazing!! I watched her be born and held her on my tummy right away. I noticed right away that she was smaller than BR was at birth.
After the nurse cleaned her off a bit she gave her back to me for some skin-to-skin time. I nursed her right away as well after getting a good look at her. She nursed like a champ! 20 minutes on each side. I was impressed!
Savannah weighed 6 pounds 10.5 ounces and was 20 inches long.
4:30pm: We were moved upstairs to our postpartum room. Our parents and Brantley got there around 5 to meet our new bundle of joy.
That day was a world wind and I couldn't believe it had happened so fast and I was actually holding my baby girl. I thought for sure she was going to stay put in my belly until we kicked her out on Saturday the 19th. I am so thankful that she came on her own and was/is healthy and happy.
So that is my labor and delivery story to end my pregnancy with Savannah Claire. I'm not sure that I'll ever experience any of this again because Chase and I are thinking we are done so I'm glad I'm ending on a good note. haha
