Alley Oops: Paige's Birth Story

Just like I did for Brooke and Miles, I decided to take Paige's first birthday as an opportunity to document her birth as I remember it. Paige was due on April 13, 2014 (although the doctor changed it to 4/14/14 for the "fun" of the date). Once again, due to progress in the weeks leading up to it, I'd gotten several assurances that I wasn't likely to go to my due date, but this time I didn't really believe them. Because I felt like Miles' delivery had gone much more quickly and smoothly than Brooke's (though I honestly can't complain about either), I really wanted to go into labor on my own if at all possible. Because I have no backbone, I agreed to an induction date of 4/16, but decided to change it to 4/21 (the latest they'd let me go) at Matt's prompting.

In the weeks leading up to Paige's delivery, I'd had a lot of physical signs that my body was getting ready for labor, but nothing consistent. I was also incredibly hormonal. I was OVER being pregnant, but at the same time feeling ill-prepared, I think largely because we didn't know her gender. I went into the weekend trying to mentally prepare myself to be induced while also remaining a little optimistic that I'd go into labor on my own.

At the Arboretum that Saturday, I was as physical as I could possibly be, pushing the stroller, climbing rocks, carrying Miles. We came home and when the kids went down for a nap, I decided to take one, too. I was woken up from my nap by a couple of strong contractions. Matt got back and I told him that it felt like something was happening, but they weren't yet time-able. I also alerted my family in St. Louis. I'd have them seven minutes apart for half an hour, then a couple closer together, then nothing for 15 minutes. This was not how I had envisioned it. I knew that labor was starting, but kept waiting for the contractions to become more predictable. In the meantime, Matt decided to pick up pizza for dinner. He made me eat a slice (which I would later regret). While he was gone to pick up the pizza, Brooke stayed with me (she had begged to). I was trying to play tic-tac-toe with her, but had a couple of contractions so strong that I had to walk into the other room. At this point, I'd had several five minutes apart. Matt got home and told me to page the doctor. She called back and I told her the situation, but that I wasn't sure this was "it." She asked which baby this was for me and when I told her my third, she said that I should go in.

At that point, Matt immediately called his parents and was ready to go to the hospital. But I had wanted to give the kids baths and put them to bed rather than leaving them in what felt like a chaotic situation. I took my time getting ready, and I think it was around 7:30 when we left for the hospital. On the way, I was arguing with Matt that we were going too soon. I actually made the statement, "I haven't even had a contraction since we've been in the car!" and as I was saying it, I had a big one. We got to the labor and delivery floor around 8. I think the nurses were skeptical because I had a contraction on our way up, but nothing at the desk, so I did not look like someone in the throes of labor. They took us back to triage and were getting my history and we were making small talk. We told them that we didn't know the gender and a couple of different nurses predicted a girl, as well as that she'd be around 7 pounds. Pretty impressive in retrospect.

I had another contraction while getting changed in the bathroom. There still didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to when I was having them. When she checked me and I was a "good" 3 cm, she said she didn't think I'd be leaving. She asked if I'd want an epidural and I reluctantly said yes. (After labor going so quickly with Miles, I think I had deep-down been hoping for a super-quick delivery without time for an epidural. Just to say I'd done it.)

The doctor agreed that I'd be having a baby that night and we got ready to head to our delivery room. Around that time, I had a succession of pretty close-together contractions and when I got to the room she checked me again and I was 5 cm. Bring on the drugs! I got the epidural, I'm thinking around 9 pm. It was the first of mine that I didn't feel was the perfect amount of numbness. It was WAY too strong. I especially felt it on one side more than the other and couldn't move that leg at all. I asked if it could be lowered and he came in a little later to lower it. When they came to check me at 10, I was only 8 cm, so they asked if I wanted pitocin. I said I wanted to see what I could get to without the drugs and they agreed to give it a little time. At around 11, I hadn't progressed much more, so they started the pitocin. The nurse also came in at one point to check the heart rate monitor because Paige's heart rate seemed to be dropping. We pushed her for details and she implied that the cord might be around her neck and it'd be better to get her out sooner rather than later. A little while later, I threw up (remember I said I'd regret that slice of pizza?) and sure enough, I was fully dilated. The doctor came in and as she was putting her stuff on, told me I could start pushing. I did and she turned around to look and said, "Stop!" Paige was ready to get out.

I pushed a few times. I started around 11:30 and she was born at 11:45. The cord was around her neck, but it wasn't anything too dramatic. Paige was my first night delivery and it was amazing how much more exhausted I was. As soon as I got the epidural, I just wanted to go to sleep. It was also a really odd feeling when they said she was a girl. Obviously we were elated and so happy that she was healthy, but I felt like it took a few days to get my head around the idea that this is what our family would look like now. We were pretty set on the name Paige for a girl and were positive about Audrey as her middle name.

It was around 2 am when we finally got to our room, and we had the chattiest nurses ever. I had mentioned how excited Brooke would be to have a sister and how much she loved Anna and Elsa, and they - no kidding- had a 20 minute discussion about Disney. Matt had gone into the bathroom to get ready for bed and had even gotten into his cot before they finally got the idea that we needed some rest. My amazing family made it up from St. Louis around that time, but we told them just to come in the morning.

The next morning was Easter. All of our family was there to meet Paige pretty early, but we didn't have as many friend visitors as we had in the past. I think that was due to a combination of her being born on Easter weekend and our leaving the hospital on Monday morning (Did I mention that I didn't recommend a late-night delivery? Especially if you're going to deliver before midnight.). Brooke was very excited to meet her and I think Miles was happy to meet her, but more happy to see me and Matt.

I think that for me, the moral of Paige's birth story is that although things didn't go exactly as I'd hoped, we came out with a beautiful, healthy baby girl, and that's all that matters.