This day, one year ago, Chase and I became parents. I can’t say the birth story is very exciting or dramatic but it was just perfect. Here is our tale of how we became a family of 3!
The evening before, I had been experiencing some prelabor twinges, so we went for a walk in the park hoping to speed things along. I woke up at 3 in the morning and could tell it was the day! Chase and I timed the contractions at home for the next few hours- by 5 am, they were close enough and quick enough to go to the hospital- or so we thought! On our way to the hospital, we dropped our dog off with our inlaws and in just that extra half hour, I was so ready to get to the hospital- the pain was more intense and contractions were happening often.
We arrived to the hospital around 6 am. The nice thing about going this early was we didn’t have to wait at all in triage! Once I got hooked up to the machines and was checked, the nurse in her most chipper tone stated that I was dilated to a 3 so we could either go home or walk around the hospital for an hour. “What?! But my contractions… the timing…” That morning we got just a small glimpse of what being a parent is like- the books and classes may give you advice, but your child ultimately will have the end say!
So, we walked. And walked and walked and walked. After an hour of walking around the L&D floor, I was exhausted and I could tell Chase’s back was killing him (he had just had his first back surgery, the biopsy, about 4 weeks prior). We checked back in with our nurse and once again were told to take an hour walk and if nothing had changed, we would be sent home. I am not a violent person, but at this point I was ready to slap someone!
We didn’t walk much- just wandered the hospital and grabbed some breakfast. The contractions were worse but manageable and I was prepping to be sent home. At 10am we checked in with the nurse and found out things were progressing and we were given a golden ticket to stay! We moved into a labor room and made ourselves at home. At this point, I wanted an epidural right away- my hip, young nurse was cool with that so we were going to get that all going when another unexpected event happened. Shift change. My nice nurse who was doing whatever I wanted was changed with an older, battle ax nurse who had an opinion. She told me if I went ahead with an epidural, I would be stuck in bed, with a catheter, and labor would slow down. Like, it could slow WAY down. The mean nurse told me if I wanted to have the baby before the end of the day, it would benefit to hold off on the epidural as long as possible and labor just as I was, with walking and using other methods like the birth ball which I had been having relief with. This was NOT what I wanted to hear. But, I did want our girl out as soon as possible, so I went with her advice. And you know, it worked. Only a few hours later, I was progressed to a 7 at which my doctor broke my water and then shortly after I got my epidural. Unfortunately my epidural didn’t work quite like it was supposed to because Lucy was flipped and I was experiencing back labor- not fun. But before they even got a chance to put my catheter in I was pushing! Lucy Kaye was born at 4:00pm on the dot. She weighed 7 lbs 2 oz and was 19 inches long. Our baby girl was absolutely perfect, and still is- we can’t imaging life without our little Lulu! 
