We go back to triage, they have me put on a gown and lay on the hospital bed, so they can monitor me for an hour. After an hour, the nurse looks at the printout of my contractions and says that they aren't regular, but they are strong. She checks to see how dilated I am and it turns out I'm 5cm. I couldn't believe I had been through all that pain and had only dilated one cm since my appointment earlier in the day. She decides to call the on call doctor and see what they want to do with me. All I could think in my head was that I WAS NOT going home. My doctor happened to be on call that night and she didn't at all seem surprised that I had shown up at the hospital. Finally, they decide to admit me, I look at Dustin and say, "as soon as we get to our room, I'm getting an epidural".
They tell me to grab my things and follow them to my room. The walk from triage to my room seemed like the longest walk of my life! The contractions while walking were quite intense and I was holding the bottom of my stomach because it felt like Charlotte was going to fall right out. We finally get settled, the nurse starts asking me all the necessary questions and Dustin goes out to the car to get all our things. By now, it's about 3am, I'm tired and just want to relax, but the contractions were so painful that I was almost to the point of throwing up. The nurse preps me for the epidural, but we have to wait for the anesthesiologist, who is busy with another patient. That forty-five minutes of waiting was definitely the worst part of the entire experience.
I finally get my epidural and am checked again for dilation, I'm at 8 cm. The nurse told me that she thought we'd have our baby before her shift was over at 7am. I think it was around 6am that I was 10cm. Unfortunately, the doctor was busy delivering other babies and dealing with emergency situations, so as long as I felt no immediate need to push, they were going to let me sit there for awhile.
My night nurse leaves and another comes in. I continue to rest and wait for the doctor to come in. Around 9am, Dr. Warner comes by to break my water, so we can get this baby out. Dr. Warner leaves again, and I begin pushing at 9:20am. It was the most relaxed environment. The tv was on and we were talking in between pushes. Finally, around 10:30am, I had her turn off my epidural because I wasn't feeling the contractions as much. Around that time, she called Dr. Warner back in the room. I couldn't believe I was getting so close to meeting my little girl. I think the most exciting part is when the doctor and other nurses enter the room because you know you're so close. And finally, at 11:01am, Charlotte Noelle entered our world. To push out your own child, without any help, is the most exciting experience (which I didn't get to experience with Elijah). The doctor and nurses said "she's a big one", but she didn't seem that big to me because Janke babies tend to be over 8lbs.
Charlotte weighed in at 8lbs, 10oz & was 21.5 inches long. We were & still are so in love with her. I couldn't have asked for a better birth experience than the one I had.
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| First picture we sent to family |
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| Mommy & her girl |
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| Daddy snuggles |
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| Glow worm...this was the night from hell! Those machines are terrible! |
