Hadley's Birth Story

On Monday, March 18th we checked into Keesler Medical Center to induce my labor.

It was such a weird feeling driving to the hospital knowing we would be leaving there with another person in our arms. I was 40 weeks & 6 days pregnant. We decided to induce b/c we were nervous to let this pregnancy go past 41 weeks after what happened with Shelby. {We had an emergent C-section at 41 weeks & 2 days due to a "non-reassuring fetal heart rate." You can read her birth story HERE.} We got to the hospital around 3:30 on Monday afternoon, got admitted, & settled into our room. Here are a couple shots of our room for my memory's sake. It was so weird walking into the room for the first time b/e even though it had been 2.5 years since we were there for Shelby, it somehow felt like it was just yesterday.

I was totally naive about the whole process--I knew Tuesday would be a hard day, but I didn't think there would be a lot of pain on Monday night. Boy, was I wrong! Around 5-5:30ish, they put in the foley balloon to induce labor. The process of putting in the foley was definitely uncomfortable, but it wasn't terrible by any means. The part that hurt was when they put tension on the foley, and that was not fun at all! My parents brought Shelby up to the hospital for a bit on Monday evening to visit us.

Around 9:30pm the foley fell out, and then the contractions kicked in. They gave me Nubain for the pain, but it didn't really do much at all for me. I felt the contractions all night and wasn't able to sleep. But by far, the worst part for me was the fact that I couldn't eat. I was initially told that I would be able to eat dinner on Monday evening, so I had already planned out in my head what I wanted Derek to pick up for me from Newk's. But the contractions picked up so quickly they told me they'd rather me not eat dinner just in case. This was the worst news ever for me! We had eaten an early lunch that day (around 10:45ish), so by the time dinner rolled around I was STARVING! It was a long night of pain--from hunger & the contractions!

The next morning, they started the Pitocin on me around 5am. I was about 4-5cm dilated at that point. Once the Pitocin kicked in, the contractions REALLY picked up. I was so uncomfortable at that point, and the Nubain wasn't doing anything for it. I finally got my Epidural around 7am, and I was beyond thankful for it! All of these women who choose to have their baby naturally...I'll just never understand it! They came to check me a couple hours later, and I was dilated to 6-7cm by then so they went ahead and broke my water. Around 12:00, they had me start pushing. It wasn't until they told me it was time to start pushing that I realized our VBAC was actually happening. Up until then, I think Derek & I both thought deep-down that there was a very good chance we end up in another C-section. So it was very surreal to hear them tell me to start pushing. I pushed for about 30 minutes at which point they told me in the nicest way possible that I wasn't doing so hot of a job in the pushing department. It was so discouraging to hear that. They told me to rest until 1:00 and we'd let the contractions try to push things further along in the meantime. When we started pushing again at 1ish, we finally found the method/technique of pushing that worked best for me and things really started moving. The hardest part of the pushing process for me {aside from the physical exhaustion} was the hunger/nausea. I think I threw up 3 times in the midst of pushing {and then again once more right after Hadley was born}. Let me tell you, that was not fun. But I can still remember when the doctor walked in {the same doctor who delivered Shelby also delivered Hadley!} as I was pushing, and I knew we must be nearing the end. So that gave me the motivation and strength to keep going. And at 2:05pm, Hadley Mae made her grand entrance into the world!

While they were getting Hadley cleaned up, the doctor was sewing me up a bit b/c Hadley was a big ole baby--8 pounds & 9 ounces! I ended up having a post-partum hemorrhage and lost about a third of my blood supply. I was on the verge of needing a blood transfusion, but thankfully I was fine without it.

Shortly after Hadley was born, my parents & Shelby came up to meet her. It was so fun to see Shelby meet her little sister for the very first time!

This was where Derek slept in the hospital.

On Wednesday, March 20th we were discharged from the hospital and got to start our life at home as a family of 4! Hadley wore the same sweet little dress home from the hospital that Shelby did.

 

We are so in love with these two sweet girls!!!