Eliana's Birth Story- Born 9/10/11

On Friday September 9th (39 weeks 6 days) around 6:30pm my hubby and I went for a walk to see if we could get my contractions closer together. They had been 15-20 min apart for days and 5 min apart all day on the 9th. That Thursday, the 8th, I had been 5 cm dilated and 100% effaced with baby sitting at 0 station. The walking seemed to help and my contractions were more like every 3-4 min, but still no pain, just like my contractions with my son. I called L&D and because I was 39 wks 6 days and already 5 cm dilated they definitely wanted me to come in and get checked out.

We arrived at the hospital around 10:15 pm, hooked me up and checked me again. I was still 5 cm and contractions were every 3-5 min but not lasting very long and still were not painful. Midwife said to walk the halls and if in an hour there was no change they would be sending me home   I was determined to get things going. So hubby and I walked up and down the halls, making a pee break every 5 mine. The pressure was so uncomfortable! After about an hour the nurse came in and we finished filling out all the paperwork and then she checked me again around midnight. I was almost 6 cm and my bag of waters was bulging, that was enough change  The midwife said she would be in to break my water in about an hour. We decided it would be best to get the epidural before she broke my water, to get me nice and comfy, I thought it was a bit weird but having no pain didn't sound bad at all, and I'm glad I got it then. My contractions started intensifying as I was getting the epi, they became about every min.

After breaking my water I was at 7 cm, so time to play the waiting game. Both Midwife and Nurse figured around 4 am I would be ready. Right around 4 am my nurse came in to check me again. I was 9.5 cm with just a little cervix left on one side so she had me turn to one side to give some room for it to finish dilating. Within 10 min I felt incredible pressure like I was going to poo myself. Nurse checked me and sure enough baby was right there, she said she could feel an ear. She ran into the hall and called for the midwife and said she needed her RIGHT NOW! I got into position and they got the mirror ready for me. I started a push and all the sudden her head was out! I would have had her out in that one little push but the cord was around her neck and they had me stop while they pulled it off, but as soon as they did they had me reach down and deliver her as I gave one more tiny push!

Miss Eliana Jolie was born at 4:24 am on 9/10/11. She weighed 7 lbs 8.9 oz and 18.5 inches, quite a bit smaller than I was expecting! Big brother was 8 lbs 2 oz and 20 inches and had 3 nasty tears with him. No tears at all this time. I was in active labor for 4 and a half hours and took one contraction to push her out. Thanks for reading my birth story!