Labor and Delivery

Waking up Monday morning never did the thought cross my mind that I was going to have my baby any time soon. I still had just under two weeks. I hurried to get ready and soon was out the door to my doctor's appointment. Getting on the scale is never the best of the day but soon I was seated in the room and Misha was checking my blood pressue. My blood pressure is usually kind of low but this particular day it was high, like 130/9o. Misha was a bit surprised and had my lay down to see if resting would help bring it down. Ten minutes later, Misha came back in to check it again. It was still a bit high but manageable now.

Dr. Karrlson came in a few minutes later. We exchanged the usual pleasantries and got down to business. After a brief check the doctor announced that I was dilated to one and about 80 percent effaced. Good news I thought, maybe this little girl will come pretty soon. Hurray! Yet- Dr. Karrlson had other plans on her mind. Because my blood pressure was so high she was a bit worried about pre-eclampsia (seizures due to high blood pressure). I had two choices, I could either go to the hospital to be induced or I could go home and be on bedrest. I didn't spend too much time considering my options and soon decided to be induced. I was scared out of my mind and close to tears but excited at the same time. Luckily, it wasn't bad enough that I had to go the hospital right away but had the chance to go home, eat, and get my hospital bag. Saying good bye to the doctor I gathered my belongings and pulled out my phone. I was desperate for some company but of course Tim was with a patient and wouldn't answer his phone. In the mean time I called my mom almost in tears not knowing what would come next. Being the great mom that she is, she quickly called my dad, packed a bag, and was on the road within half an hour. It was such a relief to know she was on her way. Finally after about ten phone calls to Tim with no answer he finally called me back. Confused by my constant calls he never knew what was coming.

Tim had quite the experience getting to the hospital and loves to tell the story of how he was in the middle of a root canal when he got the call. Freaking out, he tried to figure out what he should do. Finish the root canal or jump on the next bus. We finally decided that since it was an emergency I was going to call Megan and see if she could meet me at the hospitla and stay until Tim could there.

It was funny how just the day before Megan had offered (as we picked them up from the hospital) to leave work if I ever needed anything and couldn't get ahold of Tim. The timing was great though and Megan left work just in time to meet me at the hospital at 11:00.

Arriving at the hospital was quite the experience. I followed the instructions of the nursing staff and soon was headed up through the purple elevators to the Labor and Delivery Department. The nurses were great and got me settled into my room. Hooked up to the monitors it was kind of fun to see my little girl's heartbeat all of the time.

I had heard horror stories from a lot of the girls around here about how bad the pitocin is. I silently hoped that this wasn't true as they hooked in my IV. By the time Tim got to the hospital around 1:00, I was settled in and the pitocin was dripping. I could see the contractions on the monitor but still they weren't very strong. We said good bye to Megan and settled in for the long haul, not really knowing what to expect.

Dr. Karrlson came to check in on me at the end of the day. Unfortunately, she wasn't the doctor on call that night but if I still haven't had this little one by the next morning she would be the one to delivery her. She reassured us that she would check in on us in the morning and said good night.

Around 7:00 the on-call doctor came in to check on us. As my contractions were progressing he decided that it was about time to break my water. Just after he broke my water, my mom walked through the door. It was another strong relief to see her.

Not too much later with my contractions progressing to the point where they were starting to get intense the anesthesiologist came in and started my on my epidural. The needle going in was the least of my worries as the contractions were closer together now.

The epidural was AMAZING. After a few minutes the pain had all subsided and the only way I knew what was going on was to look at the monitors and of course all of the wires surrounding us. The nurse also checked me for the first time since getting to the hospital and I was progressing nicely along at a four.

Not really expecting anything to happen in the next few hours, Tim settled down for a nap but I had a hard time sleeping. So, my mom and I had a nice little chat and tried to stay calm.

Around 10:00 the nurse came in to check on me and started me on oxygen. Gross! It was supposed to make sure that my blood pressure wasn't increasing again. Not too much later I felt like I was going to puck. Running around like crazy my mom tried to find something for me to lose my stomach in. Everything is gross coming up but at least all I had had during the day was tons and tons of cranberry juice. The pucking didn't really get better over the next two hours but around midnight all of a sudden the pressure started to increase. I didn't know what it was but thought that the nurse should check.

Surprised to see that I had progressed from a four to a ten in four hours the nurse hurried to get things ready and call the doctor. It took about half an hour for the doctor to come in and for them to get me ready to start pushing.

At 12:30 we started pushing. Although there was no pain the pressure was still great. Lucky for me, Macy Claire Schmidt was born at 12:48 on December 2, 2008 just 15 minutes after I had started pushing.

It was amazing to lay there and be able to hold my little girls in my arms. She was just a little girl at 7 pounds, 2 ounces and 20-1/2 inches long. but to me she was perfect with a full head of dark brown hair. Beautiful!

I didn't even notice when the doctor started stitching me up down there.

I would have to say that the worst part of the whole experience was the pucking as I went into transition. Overall, I would have to say I think I had one of the best experiences. The nursing staff was great, my epidural amazing, and luckily I didn't push very long. Hurray!