November 11 at 9:45, I left work to go to the doctor. I was always so excited to listen to Gracyn's sweet heartbeat. Dr. Addington said I was 1.5 cm dialated and 30% effaced. He also said that my blood pressure was a little high and that my feet were really swollen so he wanted me to stop working. He also said that if I didn't have her by my due date, Nov. 20, then we would induce the next day. So we went ahead and made an appointment for me to come in Nov. 21 at 7:00am. Part of me was excited to know that she would be here no less than ten days. The other part of me was praying that she would come on her own. I wanted the excitement of not knowing and to wake up in the middle of the night with contractions, or to say, "I think my water just broke!" Cliche, I know! I went back to work and told my boss that I would finish out the day, but that I wouldn't be back til after the new year. I got all of my leave paperwork started and could barely focus the rest of the day. I was just too excited to get out of there!
November 12-14 I was bored out of my mind!
Sunday, November 15, came around and Clint and I decided to get out of the house and go on one last date as just the two of us. We went to red lobster and had dinner. We had about two hours before the movie started so I suggested we go to the mall and walk around. We went to the late movie and saw, Law Abiding Citizen. During the movie, I was having a lot of Braxton Hick contractions. It was so neat to see my tummy harden then relax. They were happening more than usual, but I didn't think too much about it.
Monday, Nov 16 at about 1:30 in the morning my back started hurting. I got up to go to the bathroom then went back to bed. A few minutes later the pain came back. I got up to go to the bathroom, then went back to bed. A few minutes later they came back. Then I thought, "Could these be contractions?!" I layed in bed and timed them for about an hour. They were about 8 minutes apart. I woke Clint and told him I was hurting. So we layed in bed about another hour and timed them, about every 7 minutes apart. Clint jumped up and got in the shower...I put laundry in to wash. The pants and shirt I wanted to wear home from the hospital were dirty so I had to wash them. Meanwhile, my contractions got less and less frequent. About 5am we decided to go back to sleep. Well, Clint slept. I woke up about every 30 minutes with a contraction.
I had a feeling I would have more contractions that night so I went ahead and had my bags packed and had taken a shower. Clint was watching a Monday Night Football so I went to our bedroom to watch TV. About 10:30 pm the contractions started again. Clint ran in the bedroom and said, "Are they here?! Let's go!" I told him I wasn't ready to go just yet. We layed in bed for about an hour then got up and went to the living room. I sat on my exercise ball while Clint applied pressure to my back. The nurse in our baby classes said this is a great way to ease the pain and she was right! Clint was so ready to go, but I kept telling him to wait. I was scared the contractions would start to lessen and didn't see the point of driving all the way to the hospital in Rogers just to be turned away. At about 1:00 am I said I was ready to go. I really don't remember the car ride there. I was too busy focusing on whether or not that contraction really hurt. For some reason, I kept telling myself I wasn't really in labor. Dumb, I know!
We arrived to the hospital and checked in through the ER. I told the lady at the counter that I thought I was in labor, but not sure...but that they hurt. Within 5 minutes a nurse, Trinity, from labor and delv was there to get me. We got up to a room and she had me change into a gown. She checked me and I was already 5 cm dilated! I guess I'm glad Clint made me go! Trinity and another nurse were pushing around on my stomach and asked me if the doctor told me what I thought she weighed. I said no and they said, "well, she is a big one!" She then asked if I wanted an epidural and right away I said, "yes!" Clint said, "I thought you wanted to wait and see how you felt later on..." I said, "Oh yea, I don't want one right now." STUPID! About an hour later, she came in and checked me again...a 6! 2 contractions later I was saying, "I NEED ONE NOW!!!" The nurse said, "I already ordered it, it will be here in about 5 minutes." She was so great! Clint is terrified of needles. Not really shots, its the needles that go into your veins that creep him out. So when the anesthesiologist arrived Clint headed for the door. I was like, "Where are you going?!" He sat in front of me, holding my hands the whole time. I think I was actually there for him more than he was for me.
I had originally told the nurse that I didn't want more than two people in the room at once. My mom and entourage of siblings got to the hospital about 4:15 or so. They stuck to the 2 people rule at first. Then Clint's parents showed up about 4:30. Jeffie was already there. Eventually everyone was in the room! I didn't mind at all...I was on Cloud 9 and so was everyone else!
At about 6am I was dilated to a 7 and the doctor came in and broke my water. He suggested I take a little nap. So everyone left and I slept for about an hour. They came back in at 7am and said my contractions weren't getting any harder or lasting any longer like they should be so they wanted to put me on pitocin once I got to an 8. Four hours later I was finally dilated to a 10 and could start pushing!!!
Pushing was hard...much harder than I expected it to be. Gracyn hadn't really dropped much so I was having to push really hard. At one point, the doctor told the nurse to prepare an OR. He came back around the curtain and told me if I didn't make any progress in the next couple of pushed I was going to have a c-section. I DID NOT want a c-section so I gave it my all!
Gracyn Blair Thomas arrived
November 17, 2009, 12:29 pm
9 lbs 21 inches
Her umbilical cord was wrapped around her little neck twice so the doctor had to cut the cord so they could get her on oxygen. It was a scary moment, but they assured me she was going to be ok. I could see her lying across the room and I wanted to just pick her up and hold her and comfort her. After about 10 minutes she started to pinken up and Clint got to hold her. I had a 2.5 degree tear so the doctor had to give me stitches. This, honestly, was the worst part of my labor. I'm not sure if my epidural wore off or what, but I couldn't even let the doctor touch me without screaming in pain. He finally called the anesthesiologist to come up and give me something. Whatever he gave me worked, bc I just kinda dozed off. Meanwhile, Clint and the nurses were taking tons of pictures!
The very first picture of Gracyn!
Dad "cutting the umbilical cord"!
9 lbs! Big Baby!!!
Daddy loves his little girl!
Looking right at the camera!
First family picture!
Clint and I wanted to call our parents and announce that she was here, but bc I was in so much pain we waited til after the doctor was done. So about 1:45 pm we finally had them on speaker phone to announce the arrival of their first grand baby! Everyone was ecstatic! After feeding Gracyn they got me up and moved me to another room. Now it was the family's time to come in ohh and ahh over her!
Gracyn with her Nonna!
Gracyn with her Ma!
Gracyn and Aunt KK!
I ended up staying 2 nights in the hospital. I was just too sore to get up and move around the first day. By the second day, I was feeling much better. We were ready to be home and start our life with our little miracle!
Waiting to be released.
Home at last!
We definitely weren't planning to have a baby, but she is the best thing that has ever happened to us! We love her more than anything and couldn't imagine life without her. I can't wait to hold her in the morning and tell her Happy 1st Birthday!
So love this
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