She's here! She's finally here!

Well the Friday induction didn't work out. Turns out someone was bumped from getting their induction on Thursday and so she got to take my slot. They called me and set up induction on Sunday (my actual due date... 2 more days, so I thought). I was sooo disappointed. I just knew that I would wake up Sunday to another call saying sorry, no induction today either. Ugh! I have the worst luck ever.

I woke up Saturday 12/19 at around 8 am with some cramps. Big deal, I thought. I've had a lot of false labor cramping so this I just tried to ignore. Got up, got a shower and realised that these were not going away but instead were getting a little worse. I had been talking with my sister a lot (labor and delivery nurse at Waterman) and she said they didn't have anyone in labor and wanted me to go ahead and come in and see what was going on. On the way to the hospital I realised that my "cramping" was 3 minutes apart consistently. No way. I was beginning to believe that MAYBE I was in real labor.

We got to the hospital, Mark asked if he should take the bags up and I said no. I was still thinking that I wasn't in labor and we would just be sent home anyway. We made our way to the 4th floor and found Kim. She had me put on those super sexy hospital gowns and hooked me up to the computers. Sure enough, the cramps were contractions and they were coming on every 3 minutes. She checked and I was now dilated to 3cm. I was so happy to hear her say that she was calling down to check me in as an inpatient. We weren't being sent home, this was it. Finally, she was coming and it was all on her own just like I wanted.

I made some laps around the hospital, hoping to speed things up. At times it was a little difficult to walk through these contractions but, overall they were not that bad. Not the "can't talk through, can't concentrate" contractions like they say, not for me anyway. Finished my walk and headed back to the room. A few hours later, I was 4cm dilated, my water broke, and it was time to start the pitocin to help speed this labor up. I got the epidural first and I've got to say, those are amazing. After that I could not feel a thing! I couldn't move my legs, feet, or even toes. Totally numb from the lower abdomen down. Kim started the pitocin and said I would have the baby around 8-ish. Not long after that I found out that my OB-GYN doctor was not going to be available for deliveries from 6-10 and baby Leah would be delivered by a doctor that I had never met before. Ugh, this was not good news at all, I didn't like the idea of a stranger delivering my daughter but, I didn't have much of a choice. A few more hours went by and my doctor came in to check me. 6cm dilated. Moving right along!! Kim came in shortly after she left and informed me that Dr would come back and deliver my baby and my baby only. Music to my ears. ;) I'm so lucky that my dr is so nice.

Seems like no time at all went by and I was 8cm dilated. Unfortunatley my sis got off work at 7pm and was no longer my nurse. :( The new nurse was nice, she seemed like she didn't know as much as Kim though because she increased my pitocin and in 5 mins came back in and shut it off because she said it was working "too well" and I was having too many contractions.. Anyway, she asked me to tell her when I felt pressure and she would check me again. Yea right, I could not feel annnything, how was i supposed to feel pressure? She came back in and decided to check just incase. Good thing she did, I was 10+cm dilated and you could actually see my baby's head. They called the Dr and she was on her way. This was it!! Kim was right on the money too, because at 8pm exactly is when the Dr got there. I had Mark go get my Mom and Kim because I wanted them both to be a part of Leah's delivery. Mark held one leg and Kim held the other and it was time for me to push. 20 minutes and 11 pushes later and it was over. It was 8:26 pm and she was here. They put her on my chest and I just stared in amazement at this little life. It is so hard to believe that she came out of me. She is just perfect. They let me hold her for a little while then they took her to the warmer where they measured her. 6 lbs, 7.5 oz's and 19 1/4 inches long. She was sooo alert. They handed her back to me and we just stared at each other. She's beautiful. Looks just like daddy but she's got my hands and feet. The rest of the family came in to meet her and not long after that they took her to the nursery for her first bath (by her aunt Kim) and to be checked out. A few hours later she was back in our arms.

The first night wasn't too terribly bad. She slept pretty well but the 2nd night, oh dear. She was up the whole night it seemed. This was when we discovered that this girl HATES being put down. She wants to be held alllll the time. Even when she's sleeping, if you put her down, she will wake up and scream but the second you pick her up, she's completely happy. We finally got discharged on Monday around 1pm and we were homeward bound as a new happy family. Couldn't imagine my life without her.

Ugh, I made it to another Dr. visit

39 weeks, 3 days and I'm still pregnant. Will this child ever come out?

Dr's visit went well. She checked and I had some slight advancement, went from 2cm to 2-3cm. I am just so over being pregnant and so tired of hearing "any day now" for 3 weeks so, I asked about induction. She called the hospital and I am so excited to say that Leah Grace will be here on Friday! I'm scheduled to begin induction on Friday at 6 am and even more excited that my sister will be able to be my labor and delivery nurse. I'm so blessed. :) :) There is a chance that I could be bumped if people come in actual labor, water broken, or emergency situations so, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this works out but trying not to get my hopes up TOO much. I'm HOPING and praying that Leah will just decide that its time and come out all by her self. ;) We'll see!!

Docs visit

Okay well my 37 week checkup was today. Baby is doing good! Doctor thinks that baby is pretty average sized and said I will end up delivering a 7lb 5oz baby most likely. :) Leah dropped a bit more according to the measurements but everything else is the same. I'm still just 2 cm dilated. We'll see! Could still be a couple of weeks until she decides it's time but, could still be any day. I hope she comes soon, I can hardly stand it. :)

36 week prego belly. ;) Next doc's visit is 12/9 so, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some kind of progression.