Cecelia's Birth Story

Just a heads up....this is a very long post!

I had my 38 week appointment on Wednesday, July 13 and found out I was almost 2 cm dilated and 70% effaced.  I was making progress each week but didn't really feel like labor would be coming any time soon.  I was off work that Friday, July 15, as I always am, and Lucy & I spent about 3 hours at Zoombezi Bay.  That evening, I woke up in the middle of the night with some cramping that would come every 15-20 minutes.  I had a feeling this was the very early stages of labor and when I started this with Lucy, she ended up being born the following day.  I didn't sleep the greatest that evening because I kept waking up with the light contractions and in the morning, I noticed I had lost part of my mucus plug.  My brother, sister-in-law, and nephew had flown in from San Francisco on Friday and we had plans to hang out with them on Saturday.  I was 39 weeks on Saturday, July 16 and that morning, Todd, Lucy, and I went to the Worthington Farmers' Market and then went to the pool with my family in the afternoon followed by dinner at my parents' house.  The contractions were coming and going all day (about 10-15 min apart) and then they started to pick up in frequency and intensity as we were leaving my parents' house.  I warned my mom that she might potentially be getting a phone call that evening that we would be heading to the hospital and she might need to come over to watch Lucy.  

Hanging out at the pool on Saturday afternoon
 

Posing with our adorable nephew after dinner that evening 

After we got home and put Lucy to bed, we started timing the contractions.  They were coming about 7-8 min apart but were still pretty tolerable.  At this point, I felt like this was exactly how everything happened before Lucy was born and felt confident we'd be having another Sunday baby.  I spent the next couple hours pacing around the house to see if the contractions picked up and they did.  I called the on-call doctor and she suggested waiting a little bit longer before going to the hospital.  I hardly slept Saturday night as the contractions started to get stronger overnight.  I was exhausted by Sunday morning since I was going on 2 nights of very little sleep.  We went to the grocery store and by the time we got home, I was in some pain with all the contractions.  We decided to drop Lucy off at my parents' house and went to the hospital around 10:00 AM.  They checked me and I was 3 cm dilated & 80% effaced so I had made some progress since my appointment a few days earlier but since I was only 39 weeks + 2 days and my contractions were still spread out around 6-8 min, they wouldn't admit me right away.  They had me walk for an hour but when I was re-checked, there wasn't much progress so I was sent home.

 What I was hoping would've been my last bump picture on Sunday morning (July 17)

Hooked up in triage on Sunday morning

I had contractions the rest of the day but they really picked up again around 6:00 PM when they became closer together (5-6 min apart) and more intense.  I called the on-call doctor again to see what I should do and she suggested going back to the hospital so we packed up Lucy and dropped her off at my parents' to stay the night.  We got to the hospital around 9:00 PM and I had progressed to 4 cm but again, my contractions were only 5-6 min apart so they had me walk for another hour (I swear all I did on Sunday was walk!).  The contractions were just as intense as they ever were when I was in labor with Lucy so I was convinced I would be getting admitted.  They checked me again after that hour of walking and I was exactly the same.  Even though I had progressed from 3 cm to 4 cm from that morning to evening, apparently they wanted my contractions closer together.  I was told I could walk for another hour or go home; I was exhausted by this point and frustrated so we went home.

We got home around midnight and again, I had another sleepless night.  I was so glad that Lucy was at my parents' though because the contractions were very intense (worse than I ever experienced while in labor with Lucy) and unbearable.  I was either doubled over in pain or hunched over on the floor screaming in pain for most of the night and early morning.  At 6:30 AM on Monday, July 18, the contractions finally became closer together (3-4 min apart), were even more unbearable and I was starting to get side pains that were wrapping around my left side and made it so I could hardly walk.  I literally couldn't imagine another few hours of this pain and was so scared to go the hospital for a third time to get turned away.  I waited until the doctors' office opened at 8:30 AM to call and see if I could talk to my actual doctor.  She was out of the office that morning so Todd ended up talking to a nurse (I was in so much pain I couldn't even talk when a contraction would hit) and again, I was told to go to the hospital.  My parents still had Lucy so we got to the hospital around 9:30 AM and I was now at 5 cm dilated and they finally decided to admit me!  My doctor was out of the office that morning because she was actually at the same hospital for a c-section so when she heard one of her patients was in triage and was going to be admitted, she popped in to check on me.  She checked me and I was 5-6 cm and 90% effaced.

My official last bump picture

The nurse in triage could see how uncomfortable I was so they had the L&D nurse come into triage to start my IV and all that good stuff so I could get to my room and get an epidural as soon as possible.  I was in the L&D room right around 10:00 AM and the anesthesiologist came in around 10:30 AM so I could get the epidural.  The only little hiccup during this was when he told me the epidural might not work since I have had back surgery and they would have to go in above my scar.  Since there was some scar tissue there (and probably more than normal since I had surgery in the same place twice and they used the same incision site), there was a chance the epidural might not travel down through the scar tissue and if it did, there was the potential that it would only work on one side and not the other.  That was the only moment during my stay at the hospital that I was nervous for a few minutes.  Luckily, within just a few minutes, I could feel my legs going slightly numb and knew it had worked.  Epidurals are seriously the most amazing thing ever! My doctor came back in to check me right after I got the epidural and she was surprised I was already 7-8 cm.  My contractions were still only 5-6 minutes apart so she wasn't sure if I'd need to be put on a pitocin drip for a little bit to increase the frequency of contractions but when she checked me around 12:00 PM, she was surprised I was 8-9 cm.  She said that even though the contractions weren't super close together, they were still strong enough to do the trick.  I think hearing this kind of frustrated me though because I had been sent home the day before twice because my contractions were never close enough together and the thing is, they never got that close!  I think if we had known that, they definitely would've admitted me on Sunday night and I wouldn't have had to suffer through a third sleepless night with intense labor pains and contractions.  Anyways, my doctor decided to still put me on the smallest dose of pitocin so that when it came time to push, I wasn't having to wait 5 minutes for a contraction to come to push.  At 12:30 PM, I was 9.5 cm and then at 1:00 PM, I was 10 cm and it was time to start pushing.  I felt very relaxed and I was really glad that my doctor was actually going to be able to deliver our baby since she didn't deliver Lucy.

Todd & I around noon, just waiting to progress a little bit more

Hanging out

My doctor stating to get things ready for delivery

Right around 1:00 PM, they had me do a couple practice pushes and just like with Lucy, I pushed twice and her head was right there; however, her head was in a weird position so they had me flip over onto all fours for about 10 minutes to see if she would drop her head down.  It worked right away and I felt a ton of pressure and like I needed to push.  I flipped back over onto my back and the nurse and doctor called in a couple other nurses and got ready for delivery.  I pushed through just a few more contractions and Cecelia Ann Rodrick was born at 1:24 PM!  I was able to do skin-to-skin immediately for almost an hour and nursed her for the first time.  Around 2:30 PM, they took her to weigh and measure her.  She was 7 lbs. 3 oz. and 20.25 inches long.  She scored 8 and 9 on her Apgar.

She's here!

Meeting my second daughter!

Soaking in every moment with Cece

My amazing nurse, Angela, and doctor, Dr. Lindauer, who made my delivery such a smooth, relaxing process

Todd & I with Cece

Cecelia Ann Rodrick

Getting checked out

Todd holding Cece for the first time

Around 3:30 PM, I was ready to leave my L&D room and headed to recovery where we would stay for the next couple nights.  My parents, Lucy, sister-in-law, and nephew all came to visit us that evening and it was such a special moment to watch Lucy meet her little sister for the first time.

Ready to be wheeled down to recovery

Enjoying the newborn snuggles

Selfie!

Sleeping beauty

Lucy meeting Cece (and checking out her toes)

Family of 4

I'll be posting some more pictures in the next few days of the rest of our hospital stay as well as our first few days at home as a family of 4. We have actually been able to get out and do quite a bit!  I was surprised how good I felt after delivery and how much better I have felt than after having Lucy.