On Tuesday (Jan 20) I had an appointment with my midwife in Gallup, and everything looked good for our travel down to Arizona a few days later. I was barely 1cm.
We headed down to Scottsdale on Thurdsay (Jan 22) to be there for my Friday morning appointment with our doctor, Dr. Newman (who is an amazing doctor, I recommend him to anyone in the area!) I had stronger contractions than I'd been having, and we were surprised to find out I was dilated to a 3 and 85% effaced! Since I was 39 weeks, Dr. Newman said if the baby didn't come over the weekend, they'd induce me on Monday. I really wanted Sam to come naturally and was hoping we wouldn't make it to Monday so I didn't have to be induced. We also needed him to come soon since Kasey took time off work to go to Arizona. So Monday looked like the day we'd have our baby!
My contractions continued to be strong Friday afternoon, especially after running last minute errands to prepare for Baby Sam's arrival! My parents weren't planning on getting to town until Sunday night, but they changed their plans to get there Saturday night, just in case. They basically put me on bed rest on Saturday because they wanted to be there when the baby came. Saturday came and went! So did Sunday! Dr. Newman said the inductions start at 12am (Sunday night/Monday morning) and they do the medical inductions first, then the elective ones. I hardly slept that night because I was afraid I'd miss my call to head to the hospital. Finally around 2pm, and no call from the hospital, I called to ask what the schedule looked like. I was literally just sitting at the house waiting. (Well, we did take a long walk around the neighborhood.) They said they hadn't called any of the elective inductions in yet, and I was #3 on the list. So, that meant it didn't look good for us to have a baby on Monday unless he decided to come on his own. At this point, I was mentally ready to have this baby. The contractions came and went, but nothing consistent. Dr. Newman's office called me and asked if I'd like to come in to see if he could help get my process started naturally. Kasey and I jumped in the car and took off for the office. I was SO ready. Beyond ready.
Monday afternoon I was dilated to a definite 4cm. Dr. Newman stripped my membranes and said he'd hopefully see me later that night or the next day! HALLELUJAH! We headed to grab a bite to eat, and run a few more errands. Any excuse to walk and get moving. I'd still been having contractions, but nothing consistent. I went to bed Monday night hoping I'd be woken up in the night with intense contractions and we'd have to head to the hospital. After another restless night, Tuesday morning came and I wasn't in labor and I hadn't gotten a call from the hospital. I called again to see what their schedule looked like because I hated just waiting around. They were still behind, so Kasey and I left to Phoenix to pick up some things for work. Same thing happened, I was having stronger contractions but nothing consistent. SERIOUSLY?! DO YOU FEEL MY FRUSTRATION YET?!!!
Tuesday night I finally accepted the fact that I was going to be pregnant forever. My contractions continued to be strong that night, but I was used to this by now, so I wasn't getting my hopes up. Kasey and I watched TV until about 1am, and then he went to bed. I stayed on the couch and kept track of my contractions, hoping that this might be the night, just like every other night! I tried to sleep but woke up about 3am with contractions happening about every 20 minutes or so. They would wake me up, and started to last anywhere from 45 seconds to a minute. I started keeping track of my contractions whenever they'd wake me up. Finally around 6am I got up and showered, just in case this was it! My contractions became stronger and I would have to stop and breathe through the contraction, then keep on doing whatever I was doing. I woke up Kasey around 7am and told him to make a mental list of whatever he needed to take to the hospital (our bags were packed, but just in case there was anything else) and to start getting ready. He halfway believed me and wasn't too concerned about getting up right away. My contractions started coming closer together and I just kept hoping THIS was finally it. (Being induced with Emma, I wasn't sure what it felt like to go into labor naturally. My water didn't break, and I wasn't experiencing anything like the movies.) Finally my contractions were about 10 minutes apart and I wasn't sure how much longer we should wait before going to the hospital since they say baby #2 comes fast. During a contraction, I would have to bend over and breathe through it. They were lasting about a minute each but it felt like forever! We hurried and got Emma ready to go and left her with my parents while we headed to the hospital.
On our way to the hospital I had a couple contractions-at this point they were so intense that I was close to tears and every little bump in the road felt like an off-roading experience. We got to the hospital and checked in. As we were waiting to get checked, I didn't have any more contractions. WHAT?! Please don't tell me that I went through all of that and the second they get me back my contractions stop. They came in and said they would check me, but if I hadn't made any progress from a 4, they'd have to send me home because they were swamped. They seriously couldn't send me home! I'd been up all morning with contractions!! Surely I was at a 5. PLEASE LET ME BE AT A 5!!! They checked me and I was at a 7, almost 8! The nurse told me, "You're not going anywhere! You're having a baby today!" I cannot tell you how relieved I felt! My mom got to the hospital soon after and they got me set up in a room. Now it was just a waiting game until we got to a 10! My contractions weren't consistent and slowed down once we got to our new room. They asked if I wanted the epidural because they needed to get the anesthesiologist in there sooner than later. After my experience of having Emma, I didn't know what to expect, so I decided to get it. At this point I was dilated 8cm. SO CLOSE! My nurse came in shortly after and said my contractions were so inconsistent and so they started me on pitocin. This is when I was extra thankful for the epidural since that really strengthens the contractions! My contractions started coming back to back and next thing I knew I was dilated to a 10!
Dr, Newman came in and said it was time to push. The day had flown by and I couldn't believe we'd be meeting our little guy soon! Little did I know it'd be SO soon! 3 pushes later! Samuel Dow arrived at 2:45pm. What an incredibly special moment that was. I am so glad my mom was there to experience such a sweet moment with Kasey and I. My first thought when I saw him was, "LOOK AT ALL THAT HAIR!!" Where did the dark hair come from? Emma was bald when she was born! We were not expecting all that hair, but he was more handsome than we ever could imagine.
My dad and Emma headed over to the hospital, and Emma was immediately in love with her little brother! "Baby Sam" is her new favorite person. She is always worried about how he's doing, and trying to kiss him. Emma is the best big sister. It has been an easy transition bringing him home.
We stayed in the hospital 2 nights. Kasey stayed with me both nights and Emma stayed with my parents. They were so awesome to take care of Emma while we were in the hospital. We had great nurses the entire time we were there. My parents brought us food, and we finally had our sweet baby here.
Sam is such a good baby! These last 2 weeks have flown by. We are so blessed to have two healthy kids. My heart is so happy.
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