My Labor and Delivery Story!

I can’t believe I’m finally writing this blog post! I have my baby girl right next to me snoozing being the cutest thing ever and I’m just in awe that this is my life now. We are so incredibly blessed <3

Let’s get right to it!

My due date was August 12th but my 40 week appointment wasn’t until the following day. I still felt pretty good- other than swollen feet which I had for a few weeks leading up to my due date. My dr wasn’t concerned before because swollen feet can happen and I didn’t have any other symptoms of preeclampsia (high blood pressure, dizzy spells, swelling in hands and face). However, that day I went in my blood pressure was 155/90 which was really high for me. I was always 120/80 almost exactly. I honestly just thought I was nervous because I was going to have to do a cervix check and had heard HORRIBLE things about them lol. She tested my blood pressure again right away and it was still about the same. I had my appt and learned I was 0 cm dilated and my cervix wasn’t thinning at all. I was actually surprised because I felt like she was going to fall out of me so I thought I was at least dilated 1 or 2 cm!

She took my BP again after the cervix check and it was still high. She said she wanted me to go to the hospital to get labs and check my BP there to see if it was any different. I also had protein in my urine which is another sign, however it can be common at the end of pregnancy. My Dr. said she was 80% sure they would induce me because she was pretty sure they were going to find the same things she did. She told me to go home first and get my stuff and head there.

I called Clay and told him so he could leave work (thank goodness he was only 45 min away and not gone training somewhere!). When I got to the hospital their machine was broken so they couldn’t get my lab results back right away, it took a few hours. My BP was much better but my Dr joked that it’s because I was laying down and more relaxed (probably true!).

They decided to go ahead and induce me before they got the labs back because I was full term and they were pretty certain my results were going to come back as having preeclampsia. (They did come back later and I was for sure preeclamptic!) YIKES. The nerves set in. If you know me you know I was terrified for labor lol. I have a low pain tolerance and had planned from the get go to have the epidural. To me, birth is birth and I never had any desire to have an un-medicated birth- EVER.

The next few hours I basically just hung out… I had the Cervidil which is a capsule they put in your cervix to thin/soften it. OMG that was horrible pain and I had it 3 times over the rest of the day/night. At one point my Dr actually stripped my membranes (not sure if it was an accident or what because I did NOT want that either) and I was bleeding everywhere and didn’t realize it until I got up to go walk around the hospital. Not fun.

The next day they just kept telling me to bounce on a yoga ball, go in the big bathtub thing they had, or walk around and I honestly didn’t want to do any of it. I got like 3 hours of sleep the night before and was so tired and did NOT feel good. Contractions were getting pretty horrible. I think this was actually before they gave me pitocin but I don’t remember now. They gave me a little amount because I was progressing on my own now. I went from 0-2cm pretty quick the night I went in and then 4cm that next morning. I asked for pain meds that morning because the pain was SO bad and I couldn’t sleep at all. They finally gave me something and it knocked me out almost immediately and I slept for 2 hours. It was glorious. Then it wore off though and they said it’s unlikely it would work again so I didn’t get anything else until it was go time.

Later that day they kept begging me to use a yoga ball, walk and do all those things that I didn’t want to do so finally I sat in a rocking chair and decided to labor in the tub for awhile. The tub was actually amazing and I didn’t feel ANY contractions while I was in there. However, I decided to get out after about 25 min because I was getting way too hot. As I had Clay help me out I got overheated and literally felt like I was going to pass out. That was such a scary feeling. I have had that before but I was scared because of the baby. The nurse came in and wanted to check the baby but I was not okay lol. I was able to sit in the rocking chair and slowly felt better after the nurse and Clay put cold wash cloths all over me. I couldn’t even walk back to the room to check the baby they had to wheel me in a wheel chair #dramatic. That whole ordeal probably lasted about 20 min and I was so glad when it was over lol.

Later that night the contractions were getting REALLLLY bad and I was at a 6 and decided to get the epidural. It took forever because there was something else going on (I knew that would happen to me lol). I was so stressed out and tired that when he tried to give me numbing solution ( I think?) I kept flinching and then I started crying because it hurt and I was mad that I couldn’t be still. UGH. Like I said, I’m not normally this emotional but I was losing it. I think it was just a combination of everything and the pain of contractions that I was DONE. I survived and immediately went totally numb. My legs felt SO heavy and that was weird. I couldn’t get comfortable because my legs felt like bricks lol. After a little bit I realized I could still feel contractions on my right side, which was weird. My right leg also wasn’t as numb as my left. They had me move positions 4924039 times and I still was in a lot of pain. Then came the back labor. OMG. I didn’t know this was any different but holy crap I really thought I was going to die during this. I could only feel it on my right side but I had to have Clay literally jam his fist into the bottom of my back and that’s the ONLY thing that remotely helped it go way.

They had the anesthesiologist come back and gave me Lidocaine which helped tremendously. I couldn’t feel anything and was so relieved to finally not feel the contractions.

Finally at about 11:55pm I started pushing. I pushed for about an hour. The pushing part was awesome because I literally felt NOTHING. I could feel pressure but it didn’t hurt at all and it was amazing. They kept telling me that she had a ton of hair but I didn’t really realize it until I first saw her.

Adeline Hadley Powell was born at 1:08 am and was 9lbs 1oz & 21 inches long!