And....she's here! Story inside...PIP

Thanks for all of your posts and congrats yesterday....not to mention the early morning advice when I was 'cramping'...having contractions! lol

Laci?s story

I?ll officially say that October 27, 2011 is the day that my world was forever changed.
I woke up at 5am and left for work at 5:30 as I do every other day of the week. I got to work and went down to the cafeteria for breakfast around 7:15. About 8:00 I was told that I would be entering charges all day as it is/was getting close to month end and they needed my help. Usually I swap over to AR about midday. About 8:30 I started feeling some very mild menstrual like cramps. I emailed my sister who informed me it could very well be early labor. Well these ?cramps? were consistent and coming about 4-5 minutes apart?umm?labor much? I figured I could deal with them and get through the day as I had an appt the next day. Well they became more intense and I feared I would be stuck in north Austin delivering the baby instead of Kyle so I quickly made arrangements to head south.
On my way home I called my doctor?s office and confirmed that they wanted me to come in to be checked- of course, they did. I should mention that the nurse?s voicemail states that one should not leave a message if they feel that they are in labor- yeah, I got her voicemail 3 times!! Finally I got the receptionist on the phone and she, again, told me the nurse was busy?I broke down- my nerves and fears overcame me and I just started crying. The poor receptionist asked if I was ok?my response ?I?m 39 weeks pregnant and I think I?m in labor- I don?t know what to do!?. Yep, I?m pathetic. She put me on hold and came back, very calmly, and told me to come in.
I got to their office and was met by Justin. They checked me and I was dilated to a 4. The doctor said I had 2 options- both ended with me being in the hospital within 24 hours. I could go then and she would break my water to help me or I could go walk around at Target and come back in a couple of hours to be rechecked. My contractions were bothersome at that point and I opted to go home to get my bags and come back to the hospital. About 45 minutes later we were back. I found that it helped the most to walk thru my contractions. This didn?t work well as they needed me to get into bed to monitor the baby?I had to agree. It wasn?t fun at all but I managed to breathe thru them as I knew she needed to get some labs drawn and hook up an IV before they could put my epidural in?I endured my contractions for about an hour or so. They came in 2?s by the way. My doctor came by before my epidural was done and she wanted to break my water. I asked/begged her to do so after the epidural if it was ok?I was not up for anymore discomfort at this point. She obliged! I sent Justin off to grab my stuff from the car when epidural was put it- it really wasn?t all that bad but it involved a needle so I knew it wouldn?t be a good situation for him. My right side went numb fairly quickly but my left side hung around for another contraction or two. It was great I tell ya!  Of course the doctor came back shortly to break my water?it wasn?t too bad pain wise but there was meconium in the fluid. So she gave me a heads up that when Laci was born she would need extra suctioning since she had probably ingested this. I was fine with that.
Well?Laci didn?t seem to take to well to my water being broken. He BP dropped to the 80?s and 90?s. They tried to bring it back up and keep it up by rocking my belly back and forth. They thought that maybe she was laying on her cod and this would help. It helped a little. Between that and flip flopping me from side to side it was ok for a little bit. Justin was such a trooped- he rocked my belly when their hands became busy. Even when they left the room?he continued. At one point he was rocking my belly and they were busy doing doctor/nurse things when another nurse popped into the room- she was older and seemed slightly panicked. She started telling me to breathe, arch my chin and other instructions. I had no idea who she was or what was going on?I just followed orders. Justin and I began to notice a panic in the room but we were both clueless as to what was going on. He had stepped back by now to let them do their work but he kept assuring me from across the room that I was doing great. We didn?t know what I was doing wrong or why the panic still. Once things calmed down and Nurse Panic left the room I tried talking to my doctor and let her know that the nurse had really scared me- Justin piped in quickly and agreed. She and the nurse both explained that the baby?s heart rate had gone down into the 50?s and they had to get it back up. Panic, RN had been able to see baby?s stats from the nurse desk and knew to come help. The doctor sat down on my bed at this point and said I had a few options. She didn?t like the heart rate drop even though it had since stabilized and we were looking at a c-section. I could see them bringing in extra medical stuff for the c-section behind her. She then asked how my legs were and if I could wiggle my toes. I could wiggle them and move my feet even though I couldn?t feel them. She said that our other option was for me to turn over and try laboring on my hands and feet. This didn?t sound too appealing but I was willing to try to avoid a c-section. They, with much effort, flopped me over and for the next 3-4 hours I was on my hands and knees rocking my belly back and forth. Oh how Laci loved this- we had a heart rate in the 150?s for much of the time. I was dilating very good as well- a 7 at 2, 8 at 2:45 and a 9 at 3:45. Around 4 the doctor didn?t like the heart rate again so she started moving me around to see what would help. Not much was helping so she checked me again at 4:30 only to discover I was at a 10 and able to push. So, push I did. I started pushing at 4:40. With the help of forceps my little bundle of joy was born at 5:10. She weighed 7 lbs and was 20 ? inches long. They suctioned her pretty well but she was still working to get air and gurgling. After an hour or so her breathing became better. She did visit NICU to make sure there was nothing to be concerned about but she is all well. She is a breastfeeding pro already and we could not be more in love with her.

Picture to come later today....