COBO: Avonlea - birth story

Avonlea Elizabeth

6 lbs. 14 oz.

21.5"

11-7-14

40 weeks - leaving for hospital

The last few weeks of my pregnancy found me anxious, excited, and waiting for labor to start at any time. Since Cohen was 5 days early, I was partially expecting our little girl to follow suit. It ended up being a blessing that we had plenty of time at home and work to get ready for her arrival. After several discussions with my doctor, we decided to schedule an induction for my due date, November 7. My mom came early that morning to get the boys ready for preschool and daycare and we left for the hospital shortly before 7am.

After checking in, I had to be monitored for an hour and we found that I was already having contractions, although they were 7-8 minutes apart and I couldn't feel them at all. It was nice to know my body was signalling that it was ready for labor! After seeing the Dr. and getting some medicine at 8:15, I had to wait another hour to see if contractions would pick up. They did. They quickly accelerated to every 2-3 minutes but still weren't intolerable. The nurse anesthetist then stopped by and we decided to get everything prepped/tested for an epidural since my last 2 labors went too fast to get it placed. The test dose seemed to go fine and made my left side a little numb, but I was still able to walk around for about 45 minutes, even stopping to see my friend and her new little guy who was born the night before!

At 10:45am, we saw the Dr. again and decided to start pushing fluids in preparation for the epidural medicine and also break my water. After getting about 30 minutes of fluid, they pushed the first bolus as well as starting the slow drip. I did not notice any decrease in pain and so they got the okay to push a second bolus. It was quickly obvious to me that this was not working. I was in as much pain during contractions as I had been with my last 2 medication-free labors, especially on the right side. Changing positions didn't help much and after consulting with the other anesthetist, they were given the okay to try a 3rd bolus. I pretty much knew that things were going too fast for any of this to make a difference, but I had mentally prepared to do this without an epidural and I'm glad I wasn't depending on it. Around noon, I knew I was nearing the end and she was finally born at 12:33pm.

Our little girl was 6 lbs. 14 oz (compared to Ryan- 8lbs. 3oz. and Cohen- 8 lbs.) and 21.5" long. I got to hold her for quite a while before they finished cleaning her up and doing the measurements. We noticed right away her nice dark hair and how she looked a lot like Ryan as a baby. Here are a few pictures of her first hour of life.