Lily Sophia's birth story

Even though everything did not go exactly the way I planned (what ever does?), my labor and delivery was an amazing experience.

My Dr. had stripped my membranes the Monday before my due date, hoping to get things moving since I was only 1 cm dialated.  I felt fine the rest of the day and all that night, and was a little disappointed because I didn't think it was working. The next day I went to work as usual. I was having very strong, frequent BH all through my shift, but I didn't think anything of it and continued about my normal activities. 

Later that evening, I began to have a little bit of bloody show, but still wasn't concerned. I went to my parent's house to help DH plant some peas in the garden, then we picked up one of our friends and went out to a Mexican resteraunt for dinner. I ordered the spiciest thing on the menu, hoping they would kickstart my labor. I just didn't expect things to happen as fast as they did! As we were walking out of the resteraunt, my water broke! I let DH and my friend know, and we began a flurry of activities to get ready to go to the hospital. Contractions started about 10 minutes later, but I was determined to come home to a clean house, so I actually did several loads of dishes before leaving for the hospital!

The Dr. checked me after DH and I had settled into the room, and I was 3 cm at midnight. I walked around for awhile, took a couple of showers, and used the birthing ball to try to get things moving. The next morning, I was still only dialated 4cm, and the Dr. said she wanted to start Pitocin to get things moving faster. They also had to put internal monitors on the baby's head because she was moving around so much, they couldn't monitor her heart beat with the external monitor. Unfortunately, that meant I couldn't get out of bed any more. I was having horrible back labor, and once the Pitocin started, my contractions began hitting hard and heavy. I asked for an epi, and was so relaxed once I got it, I went to sleep for about an hour and a half.

The Dr. came in about 2 hours after starting the pitocin, checked me, and said I was 10 cm and ready to go! She let me rest for a little while longer, and my parents arrived just as they were getting the room ready for delivery. I began pushing a little before 1pm, and Lily was born at 1:26, weighing 8lbs 3oz, 20 1/2 inches long. She began nursing immediately like a champ while the Dr. stitched me up. I ended up with a 2nd degree tear because the cord was around her neck and her hb was dropping, so they couldn't let me do controled pushing to get the shoulders through. I was just so happy to have a healthy, amazing baby. It was the best day of my life!