Hayley's Birthday!

This might be too much information for some, but since this is my blog I wanted to document all of this (good and bad) so that when I want baby #2 I can refer back to this and know what I’m getting myself into. I was having some contractions for about 3-4 days, but nothing too serious and pretty irregular. On Friday my mucus plug broke…and well… no need to give you details on that (Google it if you want more info!). They say that that can or can’t be onset to labor. One thing I’ve learned throughout this pregnancy is that literally every pregnancy is different…even the Internet will tell you that. You search for labor signs and every sight says something different; yes your water breaking is the 1st sign, no your water breaking is not; yes you starting to dilate is the start, no you don’t have to be dilated to start; this is the start, this is not the start! Needless to say nobody or no Internet site is helpful, other than the fact that when labor starts…you’ll know! On Sat night, I was noticing some watery discharge. I just thought it was still the mucus falling out, but it was more watery than mucus. About an hour later I started to have contractions pretty regularly, but still not very severe. I called the OB on call at about 10:30pm to tell him I thought I was going into labor and what I should do. He said he’d most likely see me that night, but wanted me to wait until the contractions were pretty severe before I came in. So we went to bed, well at least Bill did. I was pretty anxious and in pain, so sleep was not really an option with those two. At about 2:45am, I woke Bill up and said we should go…worst case scenario is they send me home, right?

We got to the hospital and went straight to L&D. They hooked me up to the fetal monitor, tested the discharge, and then checked to see if I was dilated. That watery discharge turned out to be my amniotic fluid so, on came the sexy mesh underwear (those of you who’ve already given birth know what I’m talking about!) and to my room I went. Since I wasn’t dilated at all they started giving me Pitocin to induce my labor. About 2 hours later I was in the most excruciating pain that I have ever felt. I’m surprised that the bed rails are still attached to the hospital bed. They couldn’t get the epidural in quickly enough! It was then that I experienced heaven on earth! About 2 hours later I was completely dilated and it was time to push. I pushed for about 4 contractions and then took a little break because my blood pressure was dropping and they wanted to see how the baby would react. Once she was in the clear they had me push again. I pushed for about 4 more contractions, all which I didn’t feel! At 11:38am Hayley Paige Robers came into this world. The best part was that Bill and I were watching the Marquette basketball game the entire time! It went by so fast. I think I pushed for a total of 30 minutes and only experienced painful contractions for about an hour. And just to clear up all the rumors out there, I was not texting while I was being stitched up, but I might have been texting while I was pushing:) I needed to do something to keep my mind off it! All and all the birth itself was pretty amazing and thanks to the epidural very painless.

Bill watched the whole birth, and no, he didn’t feel queasy or faint. The nurses that helped me push told him they could see the head, so he wanted to watch the whole thing. All he said was “Wow!!! Look at all that dark hair!” I thought he was kidding…as you can see, he was not. We’ll be braiding her hair soon! I have to take advantage of it before it all falls out. Bill says he’ll be looking at every delivery man who comes to our house!