Edwards Haps and Mishaps

Since Janelle is currently feeding our little Ada, I will go ahead and tell the story. If Janelle disagrees with my version of the story, its probably because she hasn’t slept more than 5 hours in the last 3 days.

I woke up Tuesday morning (June 8th) at about 4am. Janelle was already up, which never happens, and so I knew something was going on. She told me that she had started contractions and so we should be prepared to have a a baby (I’m not really sure what I would have prepared though, I do very little when it comes to the actuall labor and delivery). Anyway, contractions all day, but no baby. Lame.

Janelle got some sleep Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, but probably not enough. The contractions woke her up again around 4am. Contractions all day, like clockwork, 7 minutes apart. Painful, but not close enough for us to go to the hospital. Lame.

Janelle got NO sleep Wednesday night/Thursday Morning. None. I got a little bit of sleep, but you don’t care because this story isn’t about me, and I didn’t deliver any babies this week. By early Thursday morning, Janelle was getting pretty frustrated with her 7-minute apart contractions.  By 5am she was walking outside. The contractions got closer while she was walking, but went back to 7 minutes apart when she stopped. Lame.

Finally, we decided we were going to cheat the system by driving to the hospital and walking all around the parking lot before when went up to tell them Janelle was in labor (we had been told not to bother coming in until contractions were less than 5 minutes apart). However, on the drive to the hospital, the contractions moved under the 5 minute mark, so we decided to just go in.

We arrived at the hospital just after 11am. At the first check, Janelle was dilated to a 3. We were just happy she wasn’t a 1 anymore. We were told that if she hadn’t changed in 2 hours they would send us home. Janelle had painful contractions the entire two hours ranging from 2 minutes to 7 minutes apart. 2 hours later, she was still a 3. Lame. However, we had a sweet nurse who could tell that we did not want to leave, and since they were having a slow day, they decided to keep us for another two hours to watch the baby’s heart rate. Awesome.

Around 2pm our nurse informed us that she was going to lunch, but since nothing was happening we shouldn’t need anything. Janelle asked about getting an epidural since she had now been in early labor for over 48 hours, and had only slept for about 5 hours. She was told that her doctor said it was still too early because she was only dilated to a 3. Not cool. Janelle’s mom showed up to help. Awesome.

Within an hour Janelle’s contractions had moved so close together and so intense, she decided she must be more than a 3 and she wanted to be checked. We called the covering nurse down and asked her to please check Janelle. She told us we should just wait 5-10 minutes until our nurse was back. Then she looked at Janelle’s contraction printout thingy and decided she would check her. Good idea.

She checked Janelle and said, “No epidural for you honey, she is on her way out. I’ll go call the doctor.” WHAT? It took 2 1/2 full days to go from a 1 to a 3, and 45 minutes to go from a 3 to a 10! I’m not sure how any of it all works anyway, but I was amazed. Janelle was angry. OK, maybe angry isn’t the best term. She was ready to deliver the baby and frustrated that she was having to wait for the doctor to arrive. The next 15 minutes were probably the longest 15 minutes of Janelle’s life as she waited for the doctor and tried not to push. I have no idea what that urge feels like, but man, did she just want to push.

Our doctor walked in around 3:15pm. She geared up, got Janelle in position, said “push” and Janelle pushed. The next thing I know my little Ada is crying. Yeah, she pushed once, and Ada came right out. 10 fingers, 10 toes… healthy and CRANKY. Well, she was only cranky for the first hour. After that, she pretty much just wanted to sleep. And that is what she is doing right now. Love it. Oh yeah, stats: 7 lbs 5 oz and 20 inches long. Officially born at 3:26pm on June 10th, 2010.

Janelle was a trooper. I am so proud of her. She is an awesome mom. The best. Ada is beautiful. Very Sweet. We are glad she is finally here, and we are excited to get to know her as she grows and develops her personality.

What was I doing through all of this? Oh, well I was a trooper too. I sat right there on my stool and didn’t pass out once. That’s right. I even cut the cord without getting too sick. Janelle sure is proud of me… or too nice to tell me how much of a sissy I am.

OK. I know most of you skipped my narrative anyway, but for those who actually read it… Bonus. I’m not sure what your bonus is, but you sure get one. Pictures: