Labor + Delivery + Meet Ella

What a difference this labor and delivery was. With Harper I had a 25 hour labor that started with my water breaking. With Ella, I woke up at 3am July 11th with horrible contractions and lots of pressure. At first I didn't believe I was in labor as I thought she would never come on her own. I was supposed to be induced the day before at 39 weeks 6 days - but never got called in as they were too busy. Well it didn't matter as she had plans of coming on her own anyways. Funny how things work out sometimes. When I woke up with contractions they were very painful and were coming every 7 mins but quickly went from 7 to 5 minutes apart. I still stuck it out at home until 7am before calling my mom to come over to look after Harper. Boy was that a mistake. At this point my contractions were 3 minutes apart and I was terrified I had waited too long and I was going to have the baby in the car! I was bursting into tears with every contraction, which made for an interesting car ride to the hospital. Let me tell you - riding in the car while experiencing painful contractions is by no means fun. 

We arrived to the hospital, Fraser wheeled me up in a wheel chair as I could barely walk. They immediately took me into a room as I was crying with every contraction. The nurse checked me out, I was 4cm dilated and she informed me they were admitting me - well duh. A nurse came in to give me my IV and boy was she terrible at that task. She couldn't get the needle in as there was a "vessel" in the way..she was literally digging around in my vein - I was screaming. Im normally really good with needles but holy Hannah. Fraser went white and almost passed out because he watched the entire thing. In the end I didn't end up with an IV in - but had a very green and sweaty hubby breathing heavily next to me in a chair. Another nurse came in and gave me an IV in the side of my arm. At first I was nervous as I never had one there before but it hardly hurt and she had zero issues. Thank goodness. Once that ordeal was over, they wheeled me to the delivery room and checked me again as I was having some of the worst pains I've experienced in my life - including Harpers labor. I was 6cm's dilated - went from 4 to 6 in a matter of 45 minutes. I felt like I was dying. I had the most intense urge to push. The nurses knew I wanted an epidural but had to wait until my bloodwork came back and for a clerk to ask me the standard questions. I was screaming for them to hurry up. The nurse left to see if my results had come back and I had several super strong contractions and was pushing - it was like I had no control over me body. It was terrifying. I stared to bleed and panicked. The nurse came running in and offered me gas while the anesthesiologist was on their way. What a trip. The room was spinning, I felt nauseous and at one point I thought I was going to pass out from the pain. Thankfully the anesthesiologist came in shortly after and saw the state I was in. She told the nurse to check me to make sure I wasn't fully dilated. I was 8cm's. I was dilating at a crazy rate. She asked me if I wanted to bother or of I wanted to just start pushing as it most likely wouldn't take much longer for me to be fully dilated. I believe I very assertive and slightly angry "NO" came out of me. I immediately had flash backs of Harpers delivery and pushing for 3 hours, needing forceps to get her out - and the damage she caused. There was no way I was risking feeling all of that. I got the epidural  which was a challenge as I had to stay perfectly still while experiencing my body being torn into two - or at least that's how it felt. A few minutes later and I started to feel some relief. The nurse checked the babies heartbeat and we heard a loud pop - my water broke. She checked me and I was fully dilated. I went from 4cm to 10cm in less than 3 hours. Luckily I was able to rest for an hour since I finally had no longer wanted to push - to labor down. The hour flew by and they were getting me ready to push. She came super fast - 10 pushes and she was out. Barely broke a sweat. Such a nice delivery compared to Harpers entrance into the world. 

What a difference when you labor super quickly - the contractions at least for me, were about 100 times worse. Yikes. I should have gone to the hospital sooner!

In the end we had a beautiful, healthy little girl. Weighing in at 8lbs 1 oz and 21" long. Dark hair, dark blue eyes. Just like when her sister was born. 

We got to leave at the 24 hour mark which was great. Came home for Harper to meet her little sister. She was not too sure about her but warmed up within the next few days. 

Now for lots of pictures:

Overdue + Induction

 

Well my due date has officially passed, I am now 4 days overdue with baby # 2. I didn't expect to make it this long in my pregnancy with health issues and past stresses, but here we are. Baby girl has until this Wednesday to make her debut or I am being induced sometime on Wednesday (6 days overdue). My OB wasn't going to make me wait until I was 41 weeks to book an induction date, probably because of the fact that I have been in pre-labor for the past two weeks (constant contractions) and I am 3 cm dilated and 80% effaced (as of last Thursday). I am really nervous about being induced, only because I never experienced that with Harper (my water broke when I was 5 days overdue). I'm hoping it won't be anything major being that my body has already started gearing up. I know a lot of women that had to be induced at 41 weeks due to no dilation or effacement - which makes the process a little more difficult. With me being dilated and my cervix thinning, they will break my water and hopefully my body will do the rest.

Surprisingly I have had a ton of energy and have been nesting like crazy. Fraser's officially home for the next three weeks which eases my mind being that he can chase after Harper while I clean and organize the house like a mad women. I usually feel really good in the morning and go down hill pretty quickly throughout the day.

We've been busy playing and entertaining Harper - making use of every last moment we have as a family of three. This past weekend was so beautiful, so we spent a lot of time with Harper outside - going for walks and playing in the backyard. Here's a bunch of random pictures from the weekend:

These were some cute shots I got of Fraser and Harper touching my big belly:

Also some quick picks of the nursery. I still have lots to do in her room, but I wanted some progress shots:

It's been a busy last week, getting any last minute things finished before the baby is here and now it seems we are at the end. If I don't go into labor tonight (which would be cool if I did because then both babies would have been 5 days overdue), we will spend tomorrow just relaxing with Harper and triple checking our hospital bags for Wednesday. We cannot wait until we meet this little lady and to finally see what it is going to be like to be a family of four.