So, on October 4, around 7 a.m., Ken and I got up at 5:30 a.m. and prepared to head to the hospital for the induction. But just before we were ready to leave, the hospital called and said they were full and we'd have to wait. They said they'd call around 10 a.m., so we just relaxed for awhile -- at least as much relaxing as was possible. Then around 10 a.m., the other hospital in town (where my doctor's office was located) called and said they had room if we wanted to go up there. It turns out that the doctor's office was doing the jostling, not the hosptials, but we just wanted to have a baby that day so we didn't care. We left for the hospital at 9:30 a.m. The first hospital called at 10 a.m. and left a message that they were ready for us. Oh well, at least the doctor would be close by.
They hooked me up to the pitocin at 10:30 a.m., and I was 2 centimeters dilated and 70 percent effaced -- just as I had been for two weeks. The doctor broke my water at 11 a.m. and by 2 p.m., the contractions were so strong that I requested the epidural. I progressed about 1 centimeter an hour until 8 p.m. when I was complete and started pushing.
I pushed for nearly two hours, but she was coming so slowly that the nurses started talking about forceps or suction. Then all of the sudden, before the doctor had even been called to come from home, I pushed and her head popped out. They tried to wait for the doctor, but she wiggled her way out at 10:44 p.m. When the doctor arrived, she was already in the baby warmer.
She had a thick head of dark hair and long fingers and finger nails. She barely cried, and they even gave her oxygen because they thought she had something in her lungs. She weighed 7 lbs. 13 ounces and was 19 inches long. She was the most beautiful thing I ever saw!