As of the morning of Monday November 4, I still hadn't heard from anyone to schedule my induction. I had another non-stress test that afternoon so I just planned on talking to my doctor when I got there. I did the test and Abby's heart rate was normal but my blood pressure had gone back up again. I was told that there still wasn't room for me to be induced Tuesday night but there was room for me THAT NIGHT! 6 hours later! I felt very overwhelmed as I was leaving the doctor's office. I thought I had at least another day to get some things together before giving birth. I stopped by Amanda's house because I was really nervous and wanted to ask her a few more questions before heading to the hospital. When I got home I told Anthony that we would be parents by the next afternoon! Or so I thought....
This is the last picture we took before leaving for the hospital!
That afternoon we went grocery shopping (so we didn't have to do it when we got home with the baby), we did some last minute cleaning, and finished packing our hospital bag. We decided to grab some dinner before heading to the hospital. On the way to the restaurant I started to feel really nervous, anxious, and a little nauseous. I tried to eat but couldn't finish even half of my dinner. After leaving the restaurant I started to feel worse! I told Anthony to pull over because I knew I was going to get sick. And I did! I puked all over the sidewalk near the hospital! It was awful but I felt A LOT better when it was over!
We got to the hospital around 6 p.m. and had to wait for about 30 minutes before we could register and get into a room. In the meantime, I got sick two more times..... When we finally got settled in our room and met our nurses, I was still getting sick about every 10 minutes and they gave me something to stop the puking. I still don't know if I was just nervous or had caught a stomach bug.
This is after I FINALLY stopped puking! Don't I look lovely?
They told me that the first thing they had to do was soften my cervix which would take about 12 hours. They hooked me up to a machine that constantly monitored the baby's heartbeat and my contractions (I wasn't having any yet) and another machine that measured my blood pressure every 30 minutes. I was supposed to try to get some sleep while all of this was going on. Yeah right! I didn't get a single minute of sleep that night. I had the worst back pain and terrible stomach cramps (I think this was due to the fact that I had NOTHING in my stomach). Poor Anthony had to sleep on the tiniest sofa bed but somehow he managed to get a little sleep.
The next morning at 7 a.m., a nurse checked my cervix and I hadn't dilated at all! They decided to go ahead with the pitocin anyway. My mom and my sister came up to the hospital to keep us company even though it looked like it was going to be hours before I was ready to push. We sat around all morning and afternoon watching Law & Order and reading magazines. Around noon I started to have really bad pains in my stomach and the nurse said that I was starting to have contractions. But when she checked my cervix, I had only dilated 1 cm. That didn't seem right to me because I was in a lot of pain. Even though she said I was having contractions, I think I was having stomach cramps because I hadn't eaten anything in almost a day and everything I had eaten the day before came up when I got sick. They gave me something for the pain because I was really uncomfortable but I didn't like the way it made me feel. I felt like I was on some kind of hallucinogen because when I closed my eyes I was seeing dancing colors and when I opened my eyes it looked like objects were floating. When it wore off I decided not to have anymore.
We were really disappointed that it was taking so long because we were ready to meet our little girl. We were even more disappointed when the doctor came in a few hours later to say that they were going to let me eat and shower and start all over again! I couldn't believe it! We had been in the hospital for 24 hours and expected to have a baby by then. The good news was that my doctor would be the one on call the next morning so she would be there to deliver the baby!
I showered and ate. Kristen came to visit. Then we started all over again. The second night ended up being a little easier. The stomach cramps were gone and I actually got some sleep. They checked my cervix the next morning and still no progress. They started the pitocin around 8 a.m. A couple hours later, Dr. Devanesan came in to check me but still no progress! She decided it was time to break my water. That was pretty painful but only lasted a few seconds. We were told it would probably still be a while before Abby would be here so I told my mom and sister not to worry about coming to the hospital yet. Well we were wrong because shortly after that the nurse checked my cervix and I was 10 cm. dilated! I called my mom and sister back and told them to get to the hospital. Soon after, I started to have really painful contractions but I had to wait for the epidural because my body hadn't taken in enough fluids. That was the most painful hour and a half of my life! They gave me another dose of what they had given me the day before but it didn't really stop the pain, it just made me tired. I was in so much pain! People always say that you forget how much pain you were in but there's no way I will ever forget that pain. I don't know how people deliver babies without getting anything for the pain.
After the epidural, I felt 100 times better. I was still having contractions but only felt a little pressure, no pain. By 1 pm. it was time to push! Anthony, my mom, my sister, a nurse, and Dr. Devanesan were the only people in the room. It was very peaceful. I was very happy to share that moment with my mom and my sister. At 1:38 p.m. on November 6, 2013, Abigail Rose Kniffin was born! She let out one tiny cry when she first came out and the doctor put her down on my chest. She was so beautiful and I was already so in love with her. The nursed wiped her down but left her on my chest for an hour so we could immediately bond.
Abigail Rose Kniffin ~ Born on 11/6/13 ~ 5 lbs. 13 oz.
After an hour, the nurse (her name was Angela and I will never forget her! She was such an amazing person and really helped me get through the labor and delivery) weighed and measured her and got her footprints.
Proud daddy!
We noticed pretty quickly that although all babies are tired, Abby was VERY tired. She was even too tired to eat. We tried to get her to eat but she was only interested in sleeping. She spent that night in the nursery so the nurses could keep an eye on her. Anthony and I got a little bit of sleep that night.
The next day, Thursday, we had a lot to do. Every ten minutes someone new was coming into our room for one reason or another.... a hearing test (she passed!), to register her birth certificate, just to visit.... but we were still having a problem getting her to eat. All she wanted to do was sleep and even when we could get her to eat 5 ml, she spit it back up. Also she hadn't yet peed which meant she was very dehydrated. We were starting to get a little nervous. The pediatrician came by our room and told us that because she had yet to pee, he was going to have someone come in to do an ultrasound to make sure she had all her organs and also to make sure she didn't have any kind of blockage. Anthony and I were very scared. Around midnight that night, the ultrasound tech came into our room to do the ultrasound and thankfully she had all her organs. Also, she finally peed! She didn't have to go to the nursery that night but we didn't get any sleep. Abby barely ate and still wasn't peeing.
Friday morning, the pediatrician came back to check on Abby and told us that she was still very dehydrated. He told us that she needed to go back to the nursery and they would put an IV in her to get her hydrated. We also found out that we would be discharged later that day but Abby would probably have to stay behind. We were devastated. We didn't want to leave without her. Around 5 p.m. the nurse came into our room to discharge us and we found out that Abby still hadn't peed except for the one time she did the night before so she was going to have to stay the night. We walked by the nursery on our way out and noticed that one of the nurses was changing Abby's diaper. I ran around to the door and she told me that Abby had peed again! I've never been to excited about pee! But Abby still had to stay over night.
Saturday morning we went back to the hospital to visit Abby. We spent a few hours there and left to get some food. We went back later that night to see if we could take her home with us. The nurse told us that although she was eating better and had started to pee regularly, they wanted to keep her one more night.
Poor baby had to have an IV in her head.
Abby's first smile!
Sunday morning we went back to the hospital and when we got to the nursery the pediatrician was there to greet us. He told us that if we could show them that we could get her to eat 35 ml then we could take her home. We got her to eat and were so excited to finally be able to take our baby home! It had been a very long week.
Abby is the best thing that has ever happened to me. She's such a blessing and I love her very much. She's the sweetest baby and makes me smile everyday. I'm a very lucky mommy!
