On Tuesday April 14th I woke up and wasn't feeling too good. I woke up with a headache and I knew something wasn't right. I went to work and stayed off of my feet as much as possible. When 6th period rolled around, I told my co teacher that I was going to go have my blood pressure checked in the office. We took it twice to make sure, and it was high. I went ahead and left school. William and I both agreed that I should go ahead and call the doctor just to be on the safe side.
When I talked to the nurse at the doctor's office, she told me to go ahead and go to labor and delivery to be monitored. As I was waiting for William to get home, I packed everything we needed just in case they decided to keep me. When we got there, Kelly Wood was on call and she came by to see me. I was 70% effaced and 1 cm (which is what I had been for a week prior), everything looked great, so she sent me home to do a 24 hr urine test and told me that I would go ahead and start my maternity leave. I was a little nervous about not going back to work because I didn't have everything completely ready.
I returned to the doctor on Friday to follow up on my urine test and everything looked great.
I had my 38 week check up on Monday, and even though I had went on Friday, they still wanted me to come in. I had a feeling that it would be the day for baby Wilbanks, so I went ahead an packed everything (toothbrushes, makeup, etc).William and I drove separate because he would have to go to work after the apt. Our ultra sound was scheduled at 8:30 to check on the baby and see how big she was measuring. Baby girl looked great, and they said that she had hair!!! I was so happy about that. When I went back to see the doctor, they checked my blood pressure with the manual cuff. I told the nurse that it is always low with that one, and she said that was ok. When Dr. Garlich can in the room to see me, I told her about my blood pressure always being low on the manual, so she decided to check it with the automatic (She said that the automatic machine was what mattered.)
My blood pressure was high on the automatic. She told me that she was going to send me to Labor and Delivery to be monitored just to make sure everything was ok. She said that it was more than likely that we would be induced. She went ahead and checked me, and I asked her if we could ahead and strip my membranes since they would probably induced me, and she was all for it. When she checked me I was still 1 cm and around 70% effaced. Stripping me wasn't as painful as I had read it might be. We checked out and went on over to L&D at 10am.
We called everyone and told them what was going on. We checked in and Kelly W was on call again! YAY!! The nurse got me all hooked up and everything was looking good. I was having small contractions but I couldn't feel them.
William and I discussed having to name our sweet girl, but I told him that I just couldn't decide. Everyone that knows me, knows that I am a planner, but this is one thing that I just could not decide on.
Kelly came in around 11. My blood pressure was staying elevated, but nothing to concerning. She went ahead and checked me to see what stripping the membranes did. I was 4cm!!! I went from 1 to 4 in 45 min! Wow!!!
At this point Kelly said that they would go ahead and induce me to avoid me having to keep coming back for blood pressure and since I was progressing pretty fast. We told everyone to go ahead and come to the hospital when they were able.
At 11:45 we were in a L&D room. At 12:05 Kelly came in and broke my water. It felt like I had wet the bed. I got my IV and they went ahead and started the pitocin. We talked about what I could to help with labor, and I was told them I would not be able to walk around because of my blood pressure.
My mom, sister, dad and Kathy were all there in a matter of time.
After everything was hooked up, I asked to sit on the ball. This was one of the things that I was given the ok to do. When I was looking at the screen, I could see that I was having contractions but I was not feeling anything. I sat there for a while and they kept having to readjust my monitors because they would move around. My sister was impressed that I wasn't feeling the contractions.
After an hour or so, I had to get back in bed for them to check my blood pressure. Everything was going good. I had walked to the bathroom several times. I was beginning to feel pressure with the contractions, so I knew that I was making progress.
Kelly didn't come into the room until around 3. Once they break your water, they don't want to check you too often to avoid infections. When she checked me at 3pm, I was still 4 cm and feeling good. I sat on the ball some more to see if it would help.
Around 4, I started feeling lots of pressure. I was back in bed and started breathing through contractions. William sat right by my side holding my hand telling me when contractions were coming on. The pressure was increasing and turning into pain. The nurse coached me through a few contractions when she was in the room increasing my pitocin. I wasn't able to get up and walk due to the pain. I remember closing my eyes and concentrating on what was going on and the outcome of that I would soon have...a baby. I could feel when a contraction was starting and William would tell em to breathe.
**There are about 2 hours that I can only remember laying there with my eyes closed concentrating. Later on I was informed that people came in to see me, and I do not remember them being there.
Sometime around 6, they checked me again to see the progress. The nurse knew that I was in pain and by this point I was beginning to feel sick. In 2 hours I had only made it to 5 cm. I felt defeated because I was in so much pain I thought I would have made more progress than that. She gave me some IV pain medicine and something for the nausea.
At this point I could hardly take the pain anymore. I had tears in my eyes. William was so encouraging and told me that it would be ok to get an epidural whenever I was ready. I remember saying that I wasn't sure if I could go on. I wanted to keep trying to wait for the fear of getting an epidural usually slows down labor. When the nurse can back in the room, I told her that it was time to get the epidural. She double checked with me that I was sure, and by this point, I was ready.When she told me that it might be a while because they would have to order it I almost cried. William never moved from my side.
At 7:15, they were there to give me my epidural. It took longer than expected because I was having such strong contractions. We would have to stop and let me breath through them. As she was finishing up, all I can remember them saying is it might take a few minutes to kick in, but I felt relief immediately. They helped me lay back down, and I had to roll over on my side (I can't remember why they made me do that.)
They were done at 7:30 and Mom, dad, Alicia, Kathy and Emily came back in the room. I told them that I was going to rest, so I closed my eyes and went to sleep. William left to get something to eat since I was finally able to rest. At this point wen didn't know how much longer it would be.
At 8pm the nurse came walking in the room with a peanut shaped bouncy ball and she said that were were going to try using it to help progress my labor. Right behind her Kelly walked in. Kelly wanted to go ahead an check me to see where I was. (they were checking me every 2 hours) I was feeling really good. I could feel anything and I was able to rest for 30 minutes.
As soon as Kelly checked me she goes "You're ready to push!" I think my heart sank..... William was gone eating and it was GO TIME. I asked her if I could wait for William and she immediately asked, "is he on campus?". He was and I turned to Emily and Kathy and said call him! He came running into the room in a panic. Everyone left, and we told Alicia to stay! :) I wanted her there to encourage me and to take pictures.
At 8:05 ish we starting the pushing process. Kelly would tell me when to push and I would push. She was so encouraging and a great labor coach. When baby girl was crowning, she said that she had a good bit of hair. I didn't believe her. William looked and we all thought that he was going to pass out. The offered him a stool to sit down, but he refused. We laughed (who laughs during labor...this girl). Of course she asked if I wanted to see it, and I said yes! They brought in a large rolling mirror. I could see everything. It was motivation to help me push.
I pushed through 6-8 contractions and our baby girl was born at 8:30.
They immediately put her on my chest and wiped her off right there. We still didn't have a name, and when I saw her, I knew that Lainey Claire was it!!!
She weighed 6lbs 6oz and was 19.5 inches long. We were in love. We did skin to skin for an hour and then the family was able to come in for a quick visit. We were sent to our room at 11:15, and everyone left around 12.
*I wish I would have written this post sooner because I feel like I am leaving some things out.
