Sophie's Surprise Arrival

It has been a week and a half now since Sophie was born (time is flying by already) and I wanted to give a recap of the story of her arrival. On Monday night, Nov. 3rd, I stopped by Mom and Dad's for dinner and Chad met me there when he got off work. I was starving since I had spent my lunch break getting my oil changed, tires rotated and general maintenance check on my car (one more thing I could check off my list of "things to do" before Sophie's due date). Mom and Dad had cooked a big meal that included fried chicken, chicken casserole, mashed potatoes, green beans, cole slaw and deviled eggs (I think there was also a turtle cheesecake for dessert). Anyway, I ate a lot of food and joked with Mom that it would be something if I went into labor that night. Cousin David was in town working at Vanderbilt and we were joking about him being in town for my delivery (he was in town when Amber had Karlee). Chad and I didn't stay too long after dinner. The most comfortable position for me was to be laying on the couch so I was ready to get home and rest. We were watching our Monday night shows and I fell asleep around 8:30pm and then we moved to the bed around 10:45pm. I got up to go to the bathroom a couple of hours later (by this point I was getting up every hour or two during the night so this was normal). As soon as I got back in the bed my water broke (it was 12:45am). I knew that was what happened, but I still said to Chad..."Ummmm...I think my water just broke". I was pretty calm and Chad woke up quickly but was still kind of out of it. He told me to wait and he would help me get up. He came back from the bathroom with some toilet paper but quickly realized that was not going to help much. After calling my family and sending a few texts, I got in the shower (washed my hair and shaved) while Chad called Dr. Scott. She told us to go on to the hospital. Chad gathered Sophie's things that we had thought about taking and packed his bag. Chad had washed all her clothes on Sunday night and pulled out a bag to start packing for himself. I had thrown some things together in a bag, but neither of us were fully prepared. I took out the turtle neck sweater I had as an option to come home in since the weather for the end of the week was going to be in the 70's. We weren't in too much of a rush and were very calm considering the situation. I dried my hair and carried my makeup with me to put on in the car. I hadn't started having contractions and wasn't in pain...just some uncomfortable lower back pain. We headed to the hospital about an hour after my water broke. The next time we would come home we would have a baby with us. We realized that we forgot the car seat on our way (someone would be able to get it before we would leave the hospital). Another thing on my "to do" list was to get the base installed and figure out the car seat. We checked in at the hospital and they wheeled me up to the labor and delivery floor. Not a lot going on that night so it was pretty quiet up there. I got in the hospital gown and hooked up to monitors and IVs. Not too long after that Mom, Dad, Morgan and Brent came in and just behind them was Ginger, Don and Dustin. The two Aunts were staying home with their little ones and waiting to hear how things were going. When they came in to "check" me everyone went out to the waiting room and I went ahead and requested my epidural. I was at a loose 2 and 95% effaced. My contractions weren't that painful, but I could definitely tell when I was having one. I had already made up my mind that I would get the epidural as soon as they said I could. The process is a little uncomfortable and really more so because I didn't know what to expect. I thought the needle was in my back the entire time, but they just thread a tube in and take the needle out (might have known that if we had actually taken the birthing classes). They started me on a pitosin (sp?) drip to speed up my contractions since Dr. Scott was on call until 8am and wanted to be the one to deliver. I had the epidural in, but they didn't put the full dose of medicine in right away. I got concerned after they finally upped the dosage and I still felt the contractions (still not that bad) I just worried how much I would feel when it got to the end. It all worked out and I felt just enough to be able to push efficiently, but didn't hurt. Everyone came back in the room once I was finished with the epidural and Mom was surprised that I had gotten it already and didn't even have a chance to feel the pain. As the anesthesiologist said, you don't get any extra credit for feeling the pain. My blood pressure dropped several times during the morning making me feel very weird and nauseous. The nurses were quick to give me fluids and get it back up. They said I should rest some, but for once in my life I couldn't fall asleep. I started calling people around 6:30am to share the news that I was in labor. I don't remember the times, but after the epidural they checked me 3 more times and I was at a 4, 7 and 9 (the last time being around 8:30am I'm guessing). Dr. Scott had the day off and her kids were out of school (without a babysitter), but she came in with them to deliver Sophie. I started pushing around 9am and Sophie was born at 9:25am. I pushed through 9 contractions and didn't really feel any pain...just pressure. Chad was right there in all the action pushing one of my legs back while the nurse had the other. He even cut the umbilical cord. It wasn't as bad as I expected and seemed so natural. The sound of her crying was wonderful. They put her on me for a few minutes while Chad cut the cord and I was just shocked that she just came out of me. She was covered in the white film that goes away as the baby is full term. They took her over to wipe her down do the routine check. Chad was with her and just all smiles. I could tell he had a hard time going between the two of us. After they finished up, they brought Sophie to me and after a few pictures Chad and I were left alone with her and she nursed for the next 40 minutes. They came in to give her a bath (which is given in the room except after a c-section) and we asked if they could do it in the nursery with Chad in the room so that he could introduce her to group in the waiting room (I think there were over 20 people by that point). I stayed in the room and Amber came back to see me while everyone was watching Chad and Sophie. The rest of the day went by quickly as small groups of people rotated in and out to meet Sophie in person. We ended the night with the election results and went to sleep shortly after Obama's speech. It was a wonderful day!