April 23, 2011

Milena Rose Fulton made her grand appearance into this world at 3:25pm. I was in complete shock and knew that there was no way I was really in labor. Here are the details beginning Friday, April 22, 2011. I had my weekly appointment on Friday the 22nd. My appointment was with the nurse practitioner in this clinic. I absolutely love her. Anyway, after checking my weight, blood pressure and giving my urine specimen, the nurse took me to my room, listened to Milena's heartbeat and then said, Laurie-the NP would be in. I looked at Stephen and said, I'm I not supposed to be checked on this appointment. Well, when Laurie came in and we talked a little bit we asked her and she said, yes of course she needed to check me since I was 38 weeks. So she asked me if I had any contractions up to this point, and I told her no, none. Stephen then jumped in and said, I don't know if she knows what they actually feel like. So when she checked me, she "gave" me a contraction...Okay, no, I hadn't had any contractions! That was my first. We left the clinic learning that I was dilated 1 and effaced 30-40%. Laurie said she expected to see me at my next weekly appointment. Well, as soon as I got to the parking lot I had another contraction. They were very quick, but they were contractions! We then went to Walgreens and I had another one.

Friday night, our church was having a very neat Good Friday event that Stephen had worked really hard on all week. So I went with him and waited on his turn to tour the events with me. Well, before we were even able to go in, they had to shut it down due to the tornadoes in the area. Our last night out to eat with out a baby and we spent it at Chili's with our good friends Jenni and Jeremy and Stephen sister Abby and her husband and his brother Caleb!

Stephen had stressed the importance of us getting a good nights sleep Friday night because he wanted to be well prepared for his Easter service on Saturday night. So when I started having more contractions at 2:30am I just dealt with them by myself. They were coming every 10-20 minutes. Well, at 5:30 am I went to the bathroom and found that I had lost my mucus plug and then yelled for Stephen. He came immediately and then we started timing them together. They were now 5-6 minutes apart. I told him I wanted to wait it out as long as I could so we were for sure in labor and wouldn't get sent home. I waited till 6:30am and told Stephen maybe I should call. I talked to the Dr. on call and he told me it was reasonable to come in and get checked. So Stephen showered and I laid in bed and contracted more.

Let me just add that during this entire time, all I could think of was how we were not ready! We still had shower gifts in our living room, the nursery was about 70 % done. I really needed one more week. =) But I was very ready to meet my baby girl.

We got some stuff together, just in case we stayed. We just didn't have anything for the baby or for me to wear home. Okay, so back to the delivery.

We arrived at the hospital around 7:45 am. It was pouring down rain at the time and made it tricky to get into the hospital. They had me give them a urinalysis and then change into a gown. As soon as I went to take my pants off and lifted one leg, my water broke. Praise the Lord! I didn't want them to break my water. So at this point I knew we were staying! At this point, I was dilated 2 and effaced 90%. They expected me to deliver around 6:30pm. This totally messed up things for Stephen and his Easter service. He called and let our parents know what was going on, his parents had just gone out of town and were 4.5 hours away. So they started heading back at this point, and my parent's were going to wait till a little closer to time. Then my mom called me not long after and said she just couldn't wait. Which was fine with me because they had the video camera and Stephen was on the phone trying to work out the details for his replacement. I progressed quicker than we thought I would. I labored on the big exercise ball several times for about 15-20mins at a time-I loved that thing. I couldn't believe that I was still pain med free! Around 3:00pm I was ready to push! Oh my goodness, that hurt so so bad! At that point, I kept saying I made a mistake and should have gotten an epidural. I finally pushed her head out and then remember two nurses hopping on my belly and pushing on it because they had problems getting her shoulder out. She had her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck once. She came out with some trouble breathing and they passed her by me real quickly and then took her to the nursery. At that point it was okay with me that they took her to the nursery because it was now time to deliver the placenta and stitch me up! That was also very painful and I cried during the suturing part! Then they brought my baby back and had me do kangaroo care and had me wait to pass her around or feed her. In the delivery room were, Stephen, both our mother's, and my 2 sister's and Stephen's 3 sisters. There is a funny story that goes with the sister's being in the room, I'll share it in another post. So at 3:25pm, Milena Rose Fulton was born weighing 7 lbs 14.5 oz and 21 in. long. After a little breathing scare, she is healthy and beautiful with long fingers and toes and a head full of dark golden hair! Blogger isn't allowing me to add photos right now, so I may just add a post with pictures!