Dear Colin,
I guess I got my point across in my last letter. That night (July 19th) labor began while driving to The Fish Market for dinner! I expected another fast labor but my contractions did not come hard and fast. Instead they started out mild and about 30 minutes apart. By 6:45pm my contractions picked up to be around 10-12 minutes apart. I thank Penelope for that since she breastfed before bed. My contractions stayed around 10 minutes apart for a couple of hours so we called Grammy. We thought that we would be heading to the hospital at some point during the night and thought Grammy would rather have a full nights sleep instead of being woken up in the middle of the night.
Unfortunately, my contractions started spacing out around 12:30am. By 1am my contractions slowed to every 30 minutes. Daddy and I started to get discouraged. We were both tired but too excited to sleep. By 2:30am I told Daddy to go to bed and he finally listened at 3am. I stayed on the couch and managed to get some rest between contractions. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep. Around 5am I had a few contractions about 10 - 20 minutes apart.
Your sisters woke up around 6am and I had Penelope breastfeed again. Thankfully, the breastfeeding worked again and my contractions started up again. I began to think that my body slowed contractions in the wee hours so I could rest. That gave me a little boost to think that things really were progressing. My contractions stayed around 10-20 minutes apart all morning.
After 18 hours of early labor Daddy called labor and delivery. I didn't want to call because I thought they would say that I was in early labor and not to come in until contractions were consistently 5 minutes apart. While they did say that it sounded like I was in early labor, they said that we could come and get checked out. I decided to wait to see how things progressed in the afternoon.
Once Daddy got off the phone, I had my breakdown. I blame lack of sleep (2 hours of interrupted sleep) for my breakdown. It was 1pm and I had been laboring since 5pm the night before. I was afraid that I could continue the same pattern for days. I felt exhausted, defeated, and discouraged.
Of course, Nana and Papi arrived at the start of my breakdown. What a way to say hello! Once I gained control of my emotions I was able to greet them.
After my breakdown my contractions started picking up again. Maybe I needed to release the emotions to get the show started? They were around 8 minutes apart for the next hour. Around 3pm I told daddy that it was time to head to the hospital. My contractions were coming every 5-7 minutes and I was having a hard time concentrating with Michela and Penelope playing loudly in the house. I said goodbye to your sisters and headed to the car.
When I reached the car I had another contraction. For some reason I lost it and cried through the contraction. I couldn't help myself. It hurt but I wasn't crying due to the pain. I was crying because I was tired and I had just said goodbye to your sisters. I knew I would be away from them for a couple of days. From that point on I cried with every contraction.
When we arrived at the hospital we tried to find a "mom in labor" parking spot but they were all filled. I had my eyes closed since I was having a contraction and it felt like daddy was driving in circles. Turns out he was - sort of. Finally daddy decided to drop me off in front of the ER so I wouldn't have to walk far. He drove off while I waddled over to the benches. While he was parking in the structure another contraction hit and I again started crying. I tried to control the sobs since I was in public but that didn't happen. Daddy arrived at the end of my contraction so I met him at the door. He tried to get a wheelchair but had a hard time because you have to pull a lever in order for it to work. Som eone working in the ER showed us how it worked and we were in our way. As we arrived at the elevator the person from the ER ran up to is with a delivery bag and stopped a man with an empty wheelchair from entering the elevator. "You need to wait, she's in labor." I was surprised to be escorted to labor and delivery! I must have really looked in pain! Once we got to labor and delivery we stopped at the registration desk to get checked in. I had another contraction at this point. Once my contraction was over I signed in and they put us in room 6; the same room where we delivered Michela. I really must have looked in pain because we bypassed triage and went straight to our room. Either that or they looked at my file that said I have a history of fast labors.
At this point my contractions seemed to be every 1.5 - 2 minutes apart. I stood at the edge of the bed and asked if I could stand up or bend over the bed to be monitored. I did not want to lie on that bed. They said no problem and they put the contraction monitor and baby monitor around me. The nurses were awesome and basically told me that it was my labor so I was the one to call the shots.
I needed to have an IV so they could give me antibiotics for the group B strep. Unfortunately, one nurse tried twice and failed to get the needle in the proper place. I'm sure I wasn't the easiest patient to stick a needle into since my contractions were coming so frequently. After the second failed attempt she called David. He was very meticulous and managed to find my vein. I believe before David found my vein the doctor had me get on the bed so she could check my progress. At 4pm I was 5 cm dilated. I was a little disappointed to hear that I was only 5cm since the contractions were coming so fast and hard. With that little bit of disappointment and pure exhaustion from not sleeping the night before I asked for an epidural. I really wanted a nap.
After the epidural was in place (around 4:30) my contractions slowed down to 5-8 minutes apart. I was told to sit up right on the bed for 30 minutes to help the medicine move down. Unfortunately I could still feel my contractions way down low. They didn't hurt as much but they were still painful. After about 45 minutes of sitting I was allowed to lie down to try to nap. As soon as I lied down I started to shake uncontrollably. My whole body shook violently and I couldn't make it stop. Apparently it's normal. In addition to the shaking the contraction pain I felt down low began to hurt a lot. It was a constant pain that felt like I was being punched in the crotch. I asked the nurse why I was feeling the pain and she said that she thought it was time for me to push. She called the doctor and I said farewell to any possible nap. I was at 10cm. While the medical staff got prepared I asked if I could touch your head as you crowned. The lead doctor said of course and asked if I wanted to pull you out after your shoulders passed. I said yes and after 10 minutes of pushing I reached down, pulled you out, and put you on my chest.
You were born on July 20, 2013 at 6:37pm. Weighing 6lbs 15.6oz and 19 inches long. Since we only had 2 hours of antibiotics instead of the recommended 4 hours we had to stay in the hospital 36 hours so they could keep an eye on you.
We couldn't be happier to have you in our family.
With all my love,
Mommy
.JPG)
