Paisley Jane's Birth Story

Monday August 12th: I am officially full term! 37 and 1 to be exact.  I was working a 12 hour day shift and I had been having contractions off and on all morning, but I had a doctor appointment at 9:15 so I wasn't too concerned. I went to my appointment and everything looked fine. I was 1/2 cm dilated and 25% effaced - exactly what I was at my appointment the week before. She told me my contractions were most likely just Braxton hicks. She measured my fundal height and I was measuring 35 instead of 37, also exactly what I was the week before and the week before that. So she scheduled an ultrasound for 8:30 Tuesday morning to make sure baby girl was growing well and there were no problems. I went back to work and continued having contractions all day. Around 3:00pm I started keeping track of them and timing them. They were inconsistent and ranging from 5-15 minutes apart and lasting anywhere from 15-30 seconds. Everyone at work told me not to worry and I just needed to take a bath and relax when I got home and the contractions would stop. I finished my shift and went right home and got in the bath. Around 8:30 I noticed that my contractions were 5 minutes apart and lasting about 30-45 seconds. I started to panic and decided I better call Brad, he was rock climbing at this point. He told me he was on his way home and he was going to help his friend move some stuff but that he was going to pick me up on his way. I attempted to get ready, but I was really starting to get nervous. I did not feel ready to have a baby. He picked me up and we went to his friends house. I would squeeze his hand every time I had a contraction and he noticed that they were closer than 5 minutes apart. I called my friend Brooke who works on labor and delivery and she said I was probably in early labor but people can stay there for a few days. She suggested I drink plenty of water and take a bath, when I told her I already took a bath she told me I probably needed to head home and start getting ready for the hospital. I was not prepared for that news. I started crying and telling Brad, "I'm not ready, I'm not ready." He was so good and so calm during this whole process and knew exactly what to do. It was about 10:00pm when we got home and Brad showered and started packing the few things that weren't in our hospital bag already. By this point my contractions were lasting about a minute and they were 2 minutes apart. I showered and tried to get ready but it took me 30 minutes just to get dressed since my contractions were so close. We finally headed up to the hospital and got there at 11:00pm. They checked me in on OB Emergency and told me they needed to monitor me for 20 minutes and then I could walk around if I wanted to. They checked me and I was 2 cm dilated. My contractions started getting really bad at this point, I was throwing up and moving all over trying to get comfortable. Brad was so sweet and was rubbing my back and holding the throw up bucket, he even made jokes about what I had to eat that day since he could see it in my puke. (special moments, right??) I finally told him I needed something for the pain because I literally thought I was going to die. Our sweet nurse Shaye came in and told me we needed to monitor the baby before she could give me anything. They put another monitor on me and said we just need a 20 minute strip. Well 20 minutes turned into an hour because I was moving so much from the pain that the monitor kept coming off. Brad told me I was practically passing out in between each contraction from the pain and exhaustion. He went to go get the nurse because he knew that wasn't normal. She came back in and checked me at 12:00 am and I was a loose 3. You can't get admitted to L&D until you are 4 cm or your water breaks. So we waited another hour and finally around 1:00 am on Tuesday August 13 I was admitted to L&D. I got my epidural (thank you modern medicine for that miracle) and I was so happy! My anesthesiologist did an amazing job and I barely felt a thing! At 3:00am my water broke - that is the weirdest feeling, and I'm so happy that it happened on its own because I was so excited to experience what that felt like. They told me they would just let me rest and plan to deliver around 5:00 am so I could get 2 full rounds of antibiotics since I was gbs+. The resident came in about 3:30 and said my Dr. wanted an update to see if she had time to get here. The nurse said you can check her but it's her first baby and she got an epidural so I'm sure she won't be far. Well I was dilated to a 10, my cervix was completely thinned out and baby girl was coming down! They said they would wait until I started to feel pressure and then I could start pushing. 20 minutes later I felt a TON of pressure and so they checked me again and said we needed to start now because this baby wasn't going to wait for anything. I pushed for about 4 contractions and then my Dr. showed up, I was so so happy she made it! I pushed maybe 3 more times once she got there and at 4:17 am our little miracle was here! My Dr. was awesome and she let Brad put on a sterile gown and gloves and help deliver the baby! He helped guide her out and cut the cord. :) She came out and let out a cry to get her apgar points and then she didn't cry again. She scored 9 and 9 and is absolutely perfect! It was the best experience ever and exactly how I pictured it! I am so happy that she is finally here and we can't imagine life without her! We love you baby girl!

Paisley Jane Fortuna

August 13th, 2013

4:17 am. 5 pounds 12 ounces. 19 inches long