Abbie Kathleen Monahan was born ON her due date, August 20, 2009 at 8:19PM. She weighed in at 7lb 11oz, is 18.5 in long, and had a NORMAL sized head (I managed to slip by the curse of the "Monahan" head!). From the time they broke my water until the moment she was born was about 7 hours.On the 19th, I was getting very frustrated with still being pregnant despite the fact we hadn't hit the due date yet. I started having contractions at around 35 weeks, so EVERYONE, including myself assumed she was going to come early. Therefore, at any point before the due date that I started have a twinge of what I thought might be impending labor, I began to get very excited. I would start timing contractions to see if there were any regularity to them, and began really nesting (ie: cleaning incessantly) in my house so I wouldn't have to come back to a huge mess after being in the hospital. Of course, nothing would ever result of these early labor contractions, they would fizzle and I would become a bit disheartened. It became very tempting to try all of those "natural" induction methods you read about and your mommy friends tell you about to get the baby out.
So, again, on the 19th, after having been up 3 nights in a row timing some fairly uncomfortable and somewhat regular contractions, only to wake up in the morning pain free with NO contractions, I was at my wits end. I walked my neighborhood a few times, and we went grocery shopping later that day, where I power walked the aisles. Again, the evening of the 19th, I began contracting, but I was trying very hard not to get my hopes up, as I knew these would likely fizzle out too. But, I hopped on Facebook and chatted with a friend into the wee hours of the morning as we sort of timed them together. Around 4 AM they were anywhere between 4-7 min apart, but were progressively getting stronger and longer. So, I decided I would hop in the bath tub and soak for a little bit...warm water will make them go away if they were not the real deal. I hopped into the tub and had 3 contractions, one on top of the other. So, I called my OB's nurseline and they instructed me to head to Labor and Delivery.
Waking Brett up proved to be more difficult than I had envisioned. He looked at me like I was crazy, like I maybe was believing the contractions into existence, just because he knew how badly I wanted to just have this baby. He slowly got up and got dressed, as I rushed around the house packing all of the last minute things you can't pack until it's time, making contingency plans for Bryce and ensuring my mom (who is staying with us), would have a way down to the hospital come morning. We took off and got to the hospital at around 5:30AM.
They took me into their little triage department first. I don't know if that's standard protocol, of if they did that just because I was able to walk in there on my own volition (I was not going to let the niceties such as a wheelchair ride into the hospital take away from the intensity of these contractions!). They hooked me up to the monitors, and confirmed that my contractions were now about 4-6 min apart, but my blood pressure was through the ROOF! They took it several times and though it came down slightly, it was still elevated. They figured I was likely in that phase between pre-labor and active labor, and would have sent me home had it not been for my high BP (I've never been so grateful for a high reading). I was admitted!
They set me up in a room, which apparently was the last and largest room on the floor (it was like staying in a SUITE!), and then my contractions began to fizzle. So, up walking we went. Contractions came back, would get more intense and regular, and then would fizzle out again. So, again, we would walk. We did this until about 12:30 in the afternoon, with no progress in the dilation/effacement arena. At which point, my OB made the call to have my water broken in order to speed the process along. And boy howdy, did it ever. My water was broken at 1PM.
The first hour of contractions were tolerable. Definitely needed to focus and breathe through them, but they were tolerable. Then out of nowhere, I got hit by a freight train. My mental mantra when they hit was "body like jello, body like jello, body like jello" until I was taken by surprise by the crazy wave of pain and inner wringing out that my body went through. Mom and Brett were quietly watching a movie as I was breathing through them when I began to moan, and breathe heavy. They looked at me, wondering what I needed of them (I had apparently been doing fine on my own and was trying to be Miss Independent prior to this). I grabbed Brett's hand and tried breaking his fingers off. When that didn't work, I said very loudly and insistently "EPIDURAL TIME, EPIDURAL TIME, EPIDURAL TIME" over and over again until the contraction finally eased up on me. Next thing I knew the anesthesiologist was there giving me sweet relief. This epidural's entrance was more painful than I remember it being the first time around, but as they say, it was well worth it to be able to enjoy my labor after that point. I made it a bit longer without pain meds than I did with Bryce, so I patted myself on the back and looked forward.
I was able to labor sitting up, and my epidural was perfect. I could feel pressure, but no pain, and I could still move my legs around. At some point, they had my lay on my left side, in order to help speed up the dilation process, I was almost 10 cm and they were looking for a little quicker way to get me there. Well, that did it. All of a sudden, I had this fear that my epidural had worn off, because I could feel a ton of pressure and though it didn't hurt per se, it was uncomfortable. I had Brett go get the nurse, and sure enough what I was feeling was the urge to push because I was at a 10!!!
The nurses then switched shifts and I had to wait for the new nurses to set up shop and get the resident doctor and my OB in the room. They had me do a couple "practice" pushes, just so I would know what it was I needed to do, and then they immediately stopped me, because she was COMING! The resident donned her mask and gown quickly and the OB finally came running into the room. 3 more good pushes and Abbie Kathleen made her grand entrance into the world. She was wriggling and crying loudly, very unimpressed with the bright lights and cold, but she was perfectly healthy and beautiful. :)
She eats like a champ, and despite a bit of jaundice that required some in-home bililights and a nurse stopping by daily for the first couple of days, all is well. Abbie is a very good-natured baby, actually sleeps at night in between feedings and likes to be cuddled up with anyone who will hold her (rest assured, she's rarely put down between all of us)!
