Look What The Stork Brought!

On Tuesday I had a doctors appointment and my Doc said I looked really close to going.  I was dilated to a two and 50% effaced so she thought it would be a good idea to strip my membranes the next morning.  Wednesday morning, went in, stripped my membranes and I didn't go into labor so I went in again this morning.  When she checked me I was a 2+, 60% effaced and she said I was really soft.  So she thought it would be a good idea to strip me again.  I had gone unmedicated with Drew, had an epidural with Brody, and was undecided what I wanted to do with this baby.  She warned me that if she stripped me again the pain might make me want an epidural.  I didn't care at this point if I got an epidural or not so I said go ahead and strip me.  I love my Doc.  She only wants what I want.  She won't pressure you one way or another.  So she stripped me again.  That was at 8 am.  At 12:15 pm my contractions started ALL OF A SUDDEN and were HARD and were two to three minutes apart.  We went to the hospital an hour later and when they checked me I was dilated to a 5+.  I told them I wanted an epidural and they took their time calling the anesthesiologist.  In the meantime my Doc came in to see how I was doing.  The girl next door to me was under the care of my same Doctor, and she was planning on going unmedicated.  Well I was put in a room with a big tub so my doctor asked if it was okay if we switched rooms so she could labor in the tub.  I did that with Drew and it cut the pain in half so I was all for switching rooms with her.  We switched rooms and as my doctor was about to leave she decided to check me one more time.  I was at a 9!  She looked at me and I knew I wasn't getting the epidural.  The Anesthesiologist came in right then, he said hi congratulations and left.  I started crying, "I wanted an epidural."  I knew I still had one more option and that was for a Pudendal Block where it's just a local anesthetic.  The only thing is that it doesn't always work.  She worked like crazy numbing me, and thank goodness it worked.  I felt the pain of the contractions, the ring of fire, but when I tore I didn't need to be numbed and I didn't feel being stitched up, which were the two worst things about Drew's delivery.  As soon as she was done numbing me I started pushing.  Three pushes and at 2:13 pm our baby was born.  

This picture was taken when first arrived at the hospital.

This picture says baby weighs 7 lbs 3.5 ozs but the nurse said 

7 lbs 4 ozs.  You decide.  And 19.5 inches long.

Oh yeah, it's a girl and her name is Alia Mae Reynolds.