Let me start off by saying this was basically my ideal birth experience. I had awesome nurses. My doctor was on call. The anesthesiologist was careful and professional. The epidural worked perfectly. The whole labor was pretty quick. Cosie was healthy and strong. Just a dream.
So, the story...
Thursday morning I woke up to contractions around 4:30am. They were anywhere from ten to two minutes apart for a couple of hours. Around 7:30am they stopped. I was disappointed because I was convinced we were having a baby that day! I chalked it up to Braxton Hicks and went about the day shopping and running errands with family.
Fast forward to that evening, we were home watching the Blazer game. I fell asleep on the couch but quickly awoke to my water breaking. I had zero contractions since that morning so I wasn't sure if it was the real thing, but I figured it out reaaaaaaal quick haha. My water didn't break on it's own with V, so this was my first time experiencing it. We called the hospital to ask if we should come in right away. They confirmed, so we quickly grabbed our things and headed to the hospital!
We got to the hospital around 9:45/10pm. They confirmed my water had broken and officially got us all checked in. I was dilated to a four. They got my IV in with no problems, which was a positive difference from
Vienna's birth. We turned the Blazer game back on while we waited for me to progress. (They won in OT against the Warriors. Woot woot!)
After an hour of little to no contractions they decided to start me on Pitocin. I opted to get my epidural soon after. I never felt a single debilitating contraction. Everything I felt was super mild. Remember what I was saying about my "ideal birth"? Yep.
I was pretty nervous to get the epidural though. When Vienna was born I was already in active labor and the pain was so bad the epidural seemed like nothing. This time around I was completely fine and had nothing but the epidural to focus on. The anesthesiologist was awesome though. He explained everything every step of the way and put my mind at ease. The epidural numbed my lower half, but I could still feel and move my feet, which was nice.
A little after my epidural was put in and the Pitocin was working, we had a slight scare. Cosette's heart rate dropped. They had to stop the Pitocin and put extra monitors on her and me to make sure everything was alright. Her heart rate came back up within a few minutes and everything was fine.
By then it was probably 11:30/12? We just had to wait for me to progress. I took a little nap. We watched some Netflix. Austin brought me ice chips, etc, etc. My nurse would come in and check me periodically. Around 2:15am she told me to call her if I felt the need to push, expecting it to be 30 minutes-an hour. Ten minutes later I was feeling pressure and knew it was time. I called the nurse and sure enough I was dilated to a 10.
My doctor came in and I got all set up to push. I pushed for 2.5 contractions (less than 5 minutes) and just like that Cosette Rain Cornilles was born - 7 lbs 7oz and 20 inches long. Quite a bit bigger than V! Austin cut the cord and I got to hold her. She was (is) perfect and we love her so very much.
