RAD Farms: It's time!

I had in my mind a vision of how I wanted my labor and delivery to go (which I think many woman do); however my little bundle of joy had other plans.

Thursday, March 28
6:00 pm - Eat dinner with the Welden's at AppleBee's in Dundee
7:00 pm - Shop at Cabella's
8:30 pm - Arrive home
8:31 pm - Water breaks as I step out of my car in the garage
8:40 pm - Call doctor and she says to come in
8:41 pm - Ryan and I frantically pack (because I wasn't quite packed since I was sure she was coming on 4/7)
8:45 pm - Ryan installs car seat
9:00 pm - Leave for hospital
9:30 pm - Arrive at hospital

11:00 pm – Arrive in my labor and delivery room

12:00 am – Get a cervix softener thing inserted to help get me going (totally closed and 0% effaced). Get an IV line started. Blood work taken. Pitocin started.

First night… try to sleep – didn’t happen. Nurse kept checking on me every hour. Ryan sleep on the pull out chair, not all that comfortably but got a little.

Friday, March 29

7:00 am – Still hanging out in L&D

8:00 am – Ryan goes home to shower and let the dogs out. We still haven’t told anyone that we are at the hospital

12:00 pm – Finally time to remove the cervix softener and see how far I’ve come. 2 cm dilated.

12:30 pm - They let me eat something (probably my last meal until after our baby arrives).

1:00 pm - the phone calls begin to let our family know we are at the hospital. And to get mom to come down and stay with the dogs. Lots of shock from the family. Mom thought it was an April Fool's joke.

Afternoon - Lots of walking and moving around trying to get things going. Starting to have some decent contractions. They don't want to check me very often for risk of infection since my water had broke.

8:00 pm - Decide to get an epidural to help me get some sleep that night. I have only progressed to a 4 by now so I have a long way to go.

9:00 pm - Anesthesiologist comes in to get me ready and give me the drugs. I'm quite afraid at this point to get it and really didn't want to get one this early in the labor but the pitocin was winning.

10:00 pm - I survived. And shortly after was sleeping - until the nurse came in to get my catheter started.

Saturday, March 30

5:00 am - Slept through the night which felt great. Contractions are getting stronger and I can still feel them through the epidural

9:00 am - Mom comes to visit us at the hospital. I'm feeling pretty good when she arrives.

All day - contractions get stronger and stronger. I try to dose as much as possible and drink as much water and apple juice as possible so when the time comes to push, I have the energy. Also getting many boosts of drugs.

2:00 pm - I have a fever and now an infection has developed. So antibiotics are started.

3:00 pm - Mary comes to the hospital to visit. My contractions are very strong now and I want to push or at least have the feeling (I wasn't any where close to being ready). I also get the shakes really bad. (Pretty sure Mary was freaking out).

5:00 pm - Doctor checks again and by now I've gotten to a 6. Woo hoo. That's progress for almost 48 hours after my water breaks.

7:00 pm - Try many different positions to get comfortable and work this baby down. On my knees. On a bean bag. On a balance ball. Something has to be working. Doctor checks again and at a 7. Still not progressing very quickly. Dr. Popps decides he will check again at 9:00 and decide what action we will do.

9:00 pm- No progress. Doctor suggests a C-Section as this baby has decided he or she doesn't want to come out yet and I was getting to the point where I couldn't take anymore. Pretty much crushed. A C-Section was not part of my plan at all and I finally have a breakdown.

9:15 pm - C-Section team starts prepping me for surgery. More drugs given. Procedure explained. Ryan gets a cool outfit to wear.

10:15 pm - Time to head in and get this baby out.

10:45 pm - Baby girl Greta is born! After I got to see her for a brief second, the NICU team (who was on hand because I had the infection) take her to check her out and Ryan goes along, while I get put back together. Then they bring her back and I get a few minutes of pure happiness, joy, and relief.

11:45 pm - Calls to the family start.

Sunday, March 31 - Easter

2:00 am - Greta, Ryan and I arrive in our new room in the Mother and Baby Center.

6:00 am- I am up and out of bed.

9:00 am - Family starts to arrive and it's a whirlwind of a day. Also got a nice visit from 2 of my favorite labor and delivery nurses. I was truly blessed with great nurses and doctors during my entire stay.

Realize I have huge swollen feet.