Beatrice Cade Crockett

First, the "Cliff Notes" version:

First photo

Beatrice Cade Crockett

11/8/2013

12:07 a.m.

7 lbs 13 oz

20.5 inches 

St. Joseph Women's Hospital

Tampa, FL 

Now on to the details....

We got up around 4:30 a.m. on the morning of November 7th.  No, we did not need the alarm we so carefully set the night before. I showered and took care to pamper myself as much as my huge belly would allow. I knew I'd want to feel super clean and fresh for the potentially long day ahead.

We hugged my dad and heading out just as the color was coming into the sky. I was nervous - but a good kind of nervous. We were both pretty excited. Our bags were packed and we were ready.

I got in to the hospital front desk - gave my name and sat down.

Then things got weird. The security guard called my name and said, 

"Your induction was cancelled - they're coming out to talk to you. Did you not get their messages?" 

All I could do was open and close my mouth while staring at him. Somewhat like a fish.

Cancelled?! How? WHY??

I checked my phone and I had 2 messages. One at 4:30 a.m. and one at 5:45 a.m. Apparently, November 7th was a SUPER busy day for babies and they had no beds for me. I calmed down a bit when I listened to the messages, though. The charge nurse assured me on the 5:45 message that my induction was not cancelled, but postponed until room became available. 

So we picked up our bags, walked back up to the car - I admit I shed more than a few tears - and headed home. 

I was pretty bummed. I was really worried about getting notice that they were going to have to postpone me further and further back. Plus we were so hyped up for that morning it was hard to handle the delay. I sat on the porch swing for a while and watched the sun finish rising and then decided to take a nap. I was frustrated, but knew there was nothing the hospital could do about it. I was blessed that I WASN'T an emergency. Me and Bea were fine - which is why we could be placed on the back burner, unfortunately.

I had some apple juice and a few saltines. I read some bible verses and laid on the bed with Andrea and talked.

Finally around 9:45 a.m. my phone rang. They could take me at 11:30.

"Was that ok?"

OK?! It was great! I was so worried they'd have to push the induction back and delay the family who had made such an effort to be down here with us. I was relieved and immediately felt a weight lifted off my chest.

At 11:00 Matt and I hugged Andrea and Daddy and then headed back to the hospital.

We arrived at 11:30 - waited a bit and then just before 12 the nurse came back and took me to my L&D room. She showed me where to keep my street clothes, showed me my gown and told me she'd be back with my IV and the Pitocin.

Changing clothes.

I got ready and got up on the bed.

An INCREDIBLY flattering picture my husband sent out by text to family....
But I didn't really care - I was about to meet BB!

I got hooked up to the machines and settled in to wait for the Dr. to stop by. We probably got all the meds going about 12:45 p.m.

Reading on my Kindle.

For the most part I was comfy during labor. The first 4 hours were not bad at all. I could feel the Pitocin starting contractions, but they weren't very intense. It was almost like cramps from a period and I had actually experienced cramping that was worse. The Dr. checked me between 1 and 2 p.m. - I was still at 3 cm dilation and the baby was pretty high. She broke my water - which wasn't painful at all. Just gross feeling. She wanted to let the Pitocin do it's thing and then check again in 2 hours.

She was concerned that because of Bea's predicted size of over 8 lbs and with her being so high that we may not get her to move down for a regular birth. This put me on the list of potential c-sections.

After 2 hours she came to check again and I was between 4-5 cm dilated. So I was slowly making progress, but she joked that I looked very comfortable. I decided then I'd go ahead and get the epidural. I'd rather get it before the pain got more intense - even though at the time I still wasn't in a huge degree of pain.

The epidural folks came, put in the epidural and settled me back down. Andrea and Daddy came back to visit about that time. We were visiting and laughing and I was feeling good, but I could still feel some mild pain in my right side. It was almost like a pie piece cut into my side where I could still feel. I let the nurse know when she came  in to check me and she discovered the anesthesiologist hadn't turned on my "pain button"- so she had them come fix that immediately. I was still feeling pain and sensation in my right side, but I was informed that was normal and the epidural meds would work their way over. So they laid me tilted over to that side and I did a little sleeping while watching "Fantastic Mr. Fox" (Matt was super smart to pack DVDs for us.)

The Dr. came back to check and I was dilated to 7 which was good. Still very slow progression, though - and Bea was still high. My contractions weren't quite strong enough even with the Pitocin. They wanted to see 50-70 pressure readings on the contraction monitor and I was only showing 20-30. Which explains why I was relatively comfortable for most of the labor.

They were a bit concerned that the contractions monitor wasn't properly picking up my contractions so they inserted a device directly into my uterus that would be able to track them better. My numbers immediately improved.

The Dr. Checked me again and wanted to continue to let the Pitocin do it's job. She didn't want to jump straight to the C-section just yet as according to the labor/contraction readings - I wasn't quite in "Active" labor yet.

As the Pitocin increased, I was feeling more and more pain in my right side. I had hit the "pain button" for the additional epidural meds so many times that my left side was completely dead weight. I had told the nurse and doctors several times that it was still bothering me.

They had me laying on my side with a peanut shaped ball in between my knees in an effort to help the baby move down. It wasn't the most comfy of positions I can tell you. Especially with my legs being partially numb.

I was experiencing what I know must have been at least 2-3 contractions a minute. A few times I had some short time to try to relax my body in between them pains, but it wasn't long. Matt had turned on the Oregon-Stanford football game and I remember the entire first half was nothing but me being in pain and trying to work through it.

I hadn't prepared any measure for pain management as the epidural had been my plan all along. Of course I had read and heard about epidurals not taking or only working on half the person, but I decided/hoped I would be different.

I was trying to breathe carefully and even had Matt rubbing my side and back. The nurse had put in the request to redo my epidural so every time I heard someone outside the door I prayed SO hard that it was the anesthesiology team coming to help me.

Finally they came in - got the epidural redone and within minutes I was able to talk, smile and breathe. And that was only feeling pain in my right side! I can tell you I know for SURE natural childbirth is NOT for me.

After the epidural re-do I was able to relax for a few minutes. The nurse checked me and Bea had dropped right in to place! It was time to start pushing. I guess those super painful contractions combined with the relief and relaxation of the epidural did the trick. The nurse joked with Matt about turning off the game and we got ready to push.

I was a bit shocked as it went so fast after seemingly going so slow.

But I was ready and at just after 11:00 p.m. we started pushing. The Doctor came in about 11:30-ish and coached me through some more pushes. They told me how close I was getting and finally I felt the one push that changed everything. -

At 12:07 a.m. on November 8th - Bea was born. I heard her make a few cries - but I didn't see her immediately as the Dr. waited 1 minute before cutting the cord in order to give Bea time to get a full circle of oxygenated blood flowing.

Matt could see her the entire time and said she was born wide awake and looking around. In fact, I he said she was awake and looking around before her shoulders were even born.

Matt cut the cord. They placed her on my chest and wiped her down.

She was beautiful and perfect.

The hospital does skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth when they can.
It was really special to get this snuggling in.
And I admit a little surreal - A moment I had been waiting on for years.

I did it!

Checking out Momma in person - for the first time.

She's had this serious face from the very beginning. She was so alert!

Baby feet.

First Family photo.

I was able to snuggle, nurse and love on her while in the L&D room.

Andrea, Popi, and Mimi were all waiting in lobby for any news and got to come in while we were still in L&D to see her.

After about an hour - the nurse sent the family up to our room and got Matt, Bea and I ready to go up as well.

Although my labor hadn't been without a few rough moments - I am grateful for how easy it was - how I was able to avoid a C-section and for how healthy our little Bea is.

TO BE CONTINUED...