She's here! And she's amazing!!!

A little over a week ago I brought Miss Mackenzie Paige into the world! At 5:52 am on September 24th!! It was a looong and painful 27 hour labor. We are all doing well, and adjusting. Not much time to do much of anything these days, but it's so worth it!!

Mackenzie's Birth Story~

September 22nd 2011

At 9 pm I got the call from FMH Labor and Delivery to come on in to start my induction! Even though I thought I was totally prepared, I was still running around the house like a chicken with my head cut off.

We arrived at the hospital and I was taken to my room where I got changed, got my IV's (They blew the first vein they tried...OUCH!) and got checked out. Still 0 cm and 0% effaced. Baby was up high.

They put in the cervidil at 11 pm, and from then on it was just the waiting game!

2 am the painful contractions started. At first, they weren't too bad. Painful, but tolerable. They checked me again and sure enough....0 cm 0 % effaced. I somehow managed to make it through the next few hours with these contractions

Towards Friday afternoon the contractions were more then I could bare. I thought for sure I had to be at least 4 cm. I was contracting HARD every 1-3 minutes. They checked me and Nope.... 0 cm 0% effaced...WTH?!?!? At that point I was BEGGING for a C-section. They then gave me Cytotec and told me I needed to walk for an hour. But I was so nauseous despite several doses of Zofran, and dizzy that I couldn't even get out of the bed.

About an hour later, I was screaming in pain. The Dr. came in and checked me..............HALLELUJAH! 2 cm dilated and 50 % effaced!! Progress!!!! The Dr. decided because of the amount of pain I was in, it would be best to get the epidural now and then break my water. So around 5 pm I got the epidural...Did not feel it AT ALL. It actually felt kind of cool when he was threading the catheter down my back! Almost instant, the pain from the contractions was GONE. I was in such good spirits!

He broke my water and there was Meconium in it.....Mackenzie definitley takes after her father! Then they started Pitocin....And here is where the fun begins.

I tried to sleep for a little while, but the epidural again was making me VERY nauseous. I didn't throw up though! And then....The pain returned. Only it was a different pain. A pressure like I had to go to the bathroom really badly. It got worse and worse and worse. Around 4 am, I was THRASHING around in pain. It looked like a scene from The Exorcist. I was grabbing onto the rails of the bed and just shaking them and screaming. The nurse checked me.... 4 cm! WOOHOO!! More pain, more thrashing, more screaming. 15 minutes later the nurse checked me again.... 6cm!! Repeat with the pain and screaming, only 10 x more intense then before, only about 20 minutes had gone by and the nurse checked me again....8-9 cm!!!! At this point, I could NOT stop myself from pushing, the pressure was so intense. The nurse was literally BEGGING me not to push. BEGGING. I tired but I couldn't help it. 5 minutes later she checked me again, and I was 10 cm and ready to go! The Dr. was nowhere to be found though. So tried calling him on the phone, and the phone wouldn't work right. Meanwhile, My epidural stopped working, I can't stop myself from pushing and I can feel Mackenzie coming out. The nurse literally had to HOLD her in. Finally, the Dr walked in and within 4 or 5 giant pushes, I brought my amazing little girl into this world!!! 6 lbs 14 oz and 20 inches long! Perfect!

All together from the time the painful contractions began, I was in labor for 27 hours. I suffered a 3rd degree tear, and I felt EVERY MOMENT of the Dr stitching me up afterwards. OWEY. But it was all so worth it!!!!