Baby Page is FINALLY here! Eleanor Marie Page was born on December 27th, 2011 at 2:50 pm at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in The Woodlands. She was 7lbs 9oz, 20 inches long, and had a head full of beautiful black hair. Now that we are home and settling into our new life- here is the story of our little girl's birth.
Part 1: When am I going to go into labor!??!On December 22nd I went in for my 39 week appointment and was a little disappointed to find out that I was only 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced. For some reason I got it in my head that this baby was going to come early so when my 39 week appointment came and went with no signs of active labor I was super sad, but determined to have this baby before Christmas. I walked as much as possible, stretched, ate TONS of spicy food, and all around did EVERYTHING that anyone told me worked for them. Nothing. Christmas came and went and finally on Monday night (12/26/2011) I decided to go for my "last resort". My friend Kacy had given me a recipe for a "labor cocktail" consisting of champagne, almond butter, and castor oil and swore that she went into labor 4 hours after drinking it. After dinner with Casey's family and mine, I drank the nasty concoction and low and behold, 4 HOURS LATER, after some really painful contractions that were keeping me awake, Casey was driving me to the hospital.
Part 2: Am I in labor??We arrived at the hospital at 1:30 am and had to enter through the emergency room. The ER staff was really nice and got us up to Labor and Delivery really quick. We went into the Triage room to be monitored and to make sure that I was truly in labor. After my initial examination, it was found that was still only 3cm and 50% effaced. BOO! I was a little upset seeing as these contractions felt like they should be doing a LOT more. The nurse told us that she was probably going to send us home, but wanted to call my doctor first because my blood pressure was a little high. After an hour or so of waiting, Casey went to the nurse's station to ask what was going on and the nurse looked at him and said, "Oh... yeah you're staying.... sorry did I not tell you that?". We were a little irritated but glad to hear that Dr. DenHartog wanted to keep us and that we were FINALLY having this baby! Dr. D to the rescue! Yay! This was great news! The bad news: we were going to have to use Pitocin to get my contractions more regulated and help progress my labor. This was completely contradictory to my very detailed birth plan, but at this point it was worth it to get to meet our baby sooner than later. I cried a little as we went through my birth plan with the nurse and had to scratch several things off of my wish list (being able to walk around, not having an IV, getting to labor in water for a while, etc). I had to keep reminding myself that we trust our doctor COMPLETELY and if she thought this was the best option for us and our baby, we were going to do it. Bring on the Pitocin.
Part 3: Let's get it started!We were admitted and shown to our beautiful room overlooking the lake at around 4:30am and the nurse started my IV of Pitocin around 5am. As much as I wanted to sleep I couldn't seem to get comfortable so I laid in bed and tried to relax between contractions. At around 7am I started feeling the contractions a lot more intensely. They seemed to be coming back to back and were much stronger than before. I guess that was the Pitocin kicking in. I tried to keep quiet so Casey could sleep but the pain became so strong I needed to whimper a little to get through them. The nurse came in and told me she was upping the Pitocin so I would continue progressing. UPPING the Pitocin? OUCH! Casey got up around 8 and started watching the monitor to see how my contractions looked. Well... they were definitely regulating themselves. They were also SUPER strong and coming back to back without rest in between. I was in a lot of pain, but still wanted to go the no epidural route. I was INTENT on not getting an epidural, but I was starting to worry about how tired I was already. I hadn't slept and I do NOT do well on no sleep. What if I was too tired to push her out and I had to get a C section? I wanted nothing more than to not have a C section. I started to panic and the pain of the super strong, relentless contractions wasn't helping. The next time the nurse came in, she couldn't believe how strong my contractions were and how close together they were. She told us that my contractions were organized fine and turned off the Pitocin around 9am. The contractions kept coming and around 9:45 my water broke on it's own. It was such a cool, but weird feeling. As soon as I felt it, I looked at Casey and said... "Yeah.. my water just broke" in a completely calm voice. At first he didn't believe me but the nurse came in and confirmed that was exactly what had happened. And... GOOD NEWS! The amniotic fluid was completely clear with no signs of meconium. That was a really good thing because it meant no more Pitocin and probably no C section! YAY! The bad news: As soon as my water broke my crazy hard contractions were back. I honestly don't think it would have been as bad but I was SO tired and struggling because I had no time to rest or sleep between contractions. I was in a lot of pain and again, not able to rest between contractions. At around 10am I started throwing up from the pain and the nurse asked if she could give me some Phenergan for the nausea and some Demerol for the pain so I could rest. As I sat in my hospital bed throwing up into a bag I had a mini-meltdown. I needed rest. I would do anything to just get an hour or two of sleep so I would have the strength to push the baby out. After a minute of consideration, I decided to accept the anti-nausea medication and the pain relief. The nurse quickly got the meds and put them in my IV. Almost immediately the nausea went away and my pain from the contractions subsided enough for me to rest. The part I completely forgot about? I get CRAZY loopy on Phenergan. Like can't hold my head up, incoherent loopy. Oops. The next couple of hours I dozed and rested while friends and family began to arrive. My best friends Sara Baker and Leigh Anne arrived and were in the delivery room comforting me while Dr. D was checking me. I was so out of it that I honestly don't have much memory of those few hours. I just remember waking up, Casey being beside me, Sara taking pictures, and Leigh Anne cracking jokes to keep me sane. I remember my mom and dad coming in periodically to check on me. I remember the contractions being super strong for a while and me being in pain and Dr. D asking if I wanted an epidural because if I did, it needed to be soon. I knew I could do it without one so I declined and kept resting between contractions. Finally, after what seemed like two days, Dr. D said I was dilated to an 8 or 9 and getting close to being ready to push. Really?! Wow... that seemed like nothing! I was nervous, but super excited that we were finally going to meet our baby and find out if we had a son or a daughter.
Part 3: Time to Push!All of a sudden Dr. D stood up calmy and said, "Okay Sarah - are you ready to push??". WHAAAAT??? Really? Like now?? I was ready for anything at this point so I said "Sure" and off she went. Within 5 minutes there were three or four other nurses/hospital staff in the room and the lower part of my bed was removed. It was like a well oiled machine - this person went here and did this, this person went over there and did that. The stirrups were up and it was time. The first time pushing wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, but then again - it was the first of about 20 round of pushing. Casey held my hand and my right leg while our nurse Amy held my left leg and they coached me through each push. Casey was an AMAZING birth coach! He knew exactly what to say during and after each push to get me through. During birth class I remember them saying "You'll have the extreme urge to push" and I didn't understand that until the moment came. I couldn't help but push and luckily I could feel when my body wanted to do that. Finally, after about an hour of pushing it was time for my last push. Dr. D told me to make it count and I did. One last push and I could individually feel the head, shoulders, arms, and legs all come out. What an amazing feeling that was.
Part 4: It's a.......As soon as the baby was out I heard Dr. D ask Casey if he wanted to cut the cord - he said yes and cut the cord while the nurses were wiping the baby off a little. Then the baby was placed on my chest... but nobody had told me if it was a boy or a girl! (I must not have heard them because apparently they did say it out loud) I said "Well what is it?!?!" and Casey leaned down and told me that it was a little girl. I was immediately in shock.
A GIRL!? I swore it was a boy this entire pregnancy and now I found out that I had a daughter - amazing!!! I can't tell you how many times I went to Carter's, Babies 'R Us, or Target looking at baby clothes and strolled through the boy's section while longingly looking over at the girl's section. My dad had convinced me my whole life that I was going to have 2 boys. Well apparently the joke was on him - I had two boys! Riley & Zac! And now my first child was a girl! Ahhhh!!! I cannot tell you the elation I felt knowing this! The next few minutes Casey and I spent just staring at our new baby girl, Eleanor Marie Page. We were both in shock that we had created this perfect, beautiful little girl.
The next couple of hours were spent with family coming in to welcome Ellie and congratulate us. We are so thankful for all of the friends and family who were at the hospital to see our little girl being born. So without further ado, here is Eleanor Marie Page!
Eleanor being placed on my chest. Can you see the disbelief on my face? I have a daughter!?!
One day old in the hospital getting newborn photos taken
Our amazing doctor, Dr. D! I could not have had a better doc!
