As I'm sure you've heard by now, this pregnancy we kept the gender a surprise. Despite how different the whole pregnancy felt, I was still not convinced we were expecting a girl. I'm sure I just didn't want to psych myself out when another boy arrived, but either way this pregnancy turned out to be the biggest surprise of them all.
It all started when I woke up the morning of Monday, February 4. At this point, I was 38 weeks and 1 day and was honestly surprised my blood pressure hadn't gone haywire yet. I did have an induction date scheduled for Feb 12 when I'd be 39 weeks, but I wasn't even sure I would make it that long.
Turns out, my blood pressure wouldn't be an issue at all. That Monday morning, I went to the bathroom and then stood up and my water broke. Callum was standing right there and sort of kept looking at my like I was crazy. Like, Mom, you're peeing all over. Hahaha. I told him that this meant the baby was coming! He still didn't believe me. (I later found out he announced to his whole class that I "broke my pee.")
When my water broke, it was about 6:45 in the morning. Matt would've been off to work shortly. But, thankfully he was there to help with all of it. We immediately called my mom to come and hang out with the boys. We also called Jill to come and be with them before my mom was able to get there.
After my water broke, there was soooo much fluid. Sorry for the TMI. I took a shower, but it was still coming. I soaked through like 5 pairs of pants before finally shoving a towel down there and getting on my way.
Once Jill came over and I was able to stop leaking through all my clothes, Matt and I left for the hospital. I still don't the boys believe the baby was actually coming that day.
Once we arrived at the hospital about 7:30, the nurses kept asking me if I was sure I broke my water. Obviously they weren't there and didn't see the large amount of fluid, but I told them I was super positive. Either way, they had to test the fluid just to be sure.
Quick side note: Matt just started his new job at Wantable like two weeks before. We were told out insurance coverage would end on Feb 3, so we weren't exactly sure what to expect when we checked into the hospital. But, it turned out we were covered to the 9th before switching to my insurance. Whew! I was still pretty anxious about making sure we were covered for the actual birth.
Once I was checked in, I actually logged onto traffic for work. I didn't want anyone to suspect anything yet and I still had a few things to finish up. So, I made it seem like I was still plugging along at work.
After we were getting settled for awhile, they decided to start me on some Pitocin because I wasn't having any contractions yet. They did check me and I was dilated about 3 cm and my cervix was still very thick. So, I had a feeling it was going to be a while.
Matt and I settled in with some HGTV. I think we watched about 6 episodes of Love It or List It during the day. They kept slowly amping up my Pitocin, too to try and get things moving. A little bit after lunch it sort of felt like it was going to be a while still.
There was also a woman on the floor giving birth without any pain relief while we were waiting. She was screaming, literally screaming, for a good hour while we were waiting for my labor to pick. Honestly, it was sort of freaking me out. I was getting a little anxious about how much pain I would be feeling, as I know the "fun stuff" was still ahead of me.
Around 2:00PM, my contractions really started to ramp up. I worked through them for awhile. But, it was getting to the point where HGTV was not helping to distract me. Haha. After a little bit, I asked for an epidural.
The anesthesiologist was the nicest one I've ever had. She was so sweet and helpful during the whole process. She really took the time to make sure I was settled in and I think it turned out to be the best epidural I had. It was not too strong so that I couldn't move my legs.
After the epidural, the resident checked me and I was just at 5 cm, but thinned out quite a bit. I was so, so, so bummed. It felt like my body was working so much harder at contracting to have just made it another 2 centimeters. I told Matt to head out and grab something to eat as we thought it would be a while still,
Just like with my other two epidurals, I started getting the shakes I little bit. It's almost like you're shivering, but you don't feel super cold and you can't really control it. It's the weirdest thing. The nurse was telling me that it is due to the hormones in your body and is generally a sign that you're progressing and labor is ramping up. I thought that was pretty interesting.
Anyways, not too long later, I told the nurse that I felt some pressure in my stomach. It didn't feel like pushing pressure, bu she thought she would check anyways. It was really only like 4:30 at this point. Well, sure enough, I was complete and ready to push!
I couldn't believe I moved that quickly. I guess it was all the shaking! After the fact, someone also told me that the epidural can actually help relax you and make the contractions go smoother,
Matt was actually still getting some food when we found out it was time to push. I must've called him like 6 times and he wasn't answering. I started freaking out just a bit. Thankfully, he was just in the elevator on his way back up. He basically walked in the room and we told him it was time to go!
The resident, med student, nurse and baby's nurse were all in the room and we were just waiting for Dr. Hoelzle to come so I could begin pushing. We were joking around about getting it over with so I could watch The Bachelor in my recovery room that night.
Right before 5:00 PM, Dr. Hoelzle made it over and it was time to start pushing. I started on the first push, Matt was watching and I could see his eyes light up. The head was already coming out. On the second push, I gave it all I got and just like that, our sweet baby girl was born. (Literally, two contractions and four minutes of pushing!)
Dr. Hoelzle held up the baby and everyone in the room just screamed. It was a girl!! I couldn't believe it. Matt couldn't believe it. And Dr. Hoelzle and the rest of the medical team was so excited. I was crying my eyes out. I really wish we would've videoed it, because it was just an unbelievable moment. Also, it made me so happy that we waited to find out the gender. I have never had a better surprise in my life.
They placed her right on my chest and I just started kissing her little head and looking at her little fingers. It was just unbelievable.
Because I bled for a little bit with Gus, they were really watching my bleeding with Vivi. Immediately after, everything was good. Dr. Hoelzle gave me one quick stitch, although she said she wish she didn't have to because it was barely a rip.
They did give me a little extra pitocin as I was still bleeding a little and the nurse was worried. Everything turned out to be just fine, I think she was just being cautious. Unfortunately, because of the extra Pitocin, I did need to have my IV in over night.
For whatever reason, I HATE having the IV in. Honestly, it is probably my least favorite part over the whole labor and delivery thing. I know, ridiculous, but it's just so annoying. We also had to stay in labor and delivery for a little bit longer because of this, so we wouldn't get to our mom and baby suite until after 7:00 PM. This was a big bummer for me, because I was hoping we would be able to have the boys meet Vivi that day. But, that was too late for them to meet their new sister and not be melting down. So, we had to wait until the next morning.
We didn't tell grandmas or Gus and Callum that it was a girl. So, they got to have such a fun surprise when they came to meet her the next day. Of course everyone was in shock that we had a girl!
It will go down as the best surprise of my life. We love you, Vivi Girl!
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