Violet Elizabeth was born Saturday, October 19th at 9:08 am! She is sweet, adorable, and looks nothing like her sister. She is an eating machine, is nursing like a champ, and sleeping in 4-5 hour stretches at night.
I wanted to write down her birth story while it is still fresh in my mind. It's pretty long, so...sorry?
On Friday evening, I went in for a non-stress test because of my high fluid levels. Totally routine. The Hulse family had big plans for the weekend including homemade nachos for dinner, the pumpkin patch, and, most importantly, maternity pictures on Sunday, so I was not thinking I would be having a baby. Of course, as soon as the nurse hooked me up to the monitors, I began contracting 4 minutes apart. I don't know if it's the position they put you in for the non-stress test or if it's a psychological response, but every time I get hooked up to that machine, I start having regular contractions. I really thought nothing of it. They weren't painful, and I told the nurse that I couldn't have the baby this weekend because we were having maternity pictures taken.
The nurse decided to at least check my dilation and monitor me for an extra hour. I was at 4 cm, but I walked around at 4 cm with Kennedy for weeks before I finally got induced, and the contractions had slowed down, so she told me I could go home if I really wanted to have my pictures taken. I was totally at peace with not having the baby yet. I went home with a good attitude, not feeling at all that desperate, "I need this baby to come out of me feeling" that I had felt on other days leading up to my delivery. We had our delicious homemade nachos and said goodnight to Kennedy. After that, Doug and I lazed on the couch watching tv, and I don't think I had another contraction before we went to bed.
At 4 am on Saturday morning, I woke up to pee. As I crawled back in bed, I decided to stay awake for a few minutes to see if I felt any contractions. Not sure why I did that. Obviously my body was telling my brain that I wouldn't be able to fall back asleep. A few minutes later I had my first legit contraction. I was stunned! I never had any painful contractions with Kennedy, so I knew that this was something different. It was very uncomfortable! I waited a few minutes and felt another! I woke Doug up and told him I was in labor and that I was getting in the shower. He said, "Ok, let me know if you need anything," then rolled over and went back to sleep. I timed my contractions as I showered and did my makeup. They hurt! I would have to stop what I was doing to concentrate when a contraction came. They were 3-4 minutes apart, but I didn't have the thought that I could be having a very fast labor.
I called my mom and told her to head down, then I called my friend Renee to see if she was free to watch Kennedy until my mom got down. Thank you Renee for answering my 5 am phone call! I woke Doug up and told him that he could take a shower before we left if he wanted to. We had decided to wake up Kennedy and drop her off at Renee's house on our way to the hospital so that we could say goodbye and tell her what was happening. As I packed up our bags, the contractions started to be really intense. By the time Doug was out of the shower, I was desperate to get to the hospital. He had made a pot of coffee, and when he went to pour himself a cup, I think I almost killed him. "You made coffee?!?" I yelled indignantly. Haha, it was really time to leave. We dropped of Kennedy at Renee's house where, miraculously, she went back to sleep, then we made our way to the hospital.
At the hospital, I told Doug that he could park in the giant parking structure rather than the emergency parking. The elevator was taking too long, so we took the stairs. I obviously was not making this easy on myself. We finally got to labor and delivery, and they buzzed us into the nurses station. The nurse asked what was going on, and I giggled and said, "Um...I think I'm in labor?" I was so shocked that I was actually in labor that it made me laugh. The nurse must have taken this as "you're not that far into labor if you're still smiling." She informed me that it was a full moon and that there were no rooms available at the moment. She sent me out to the family waiting area. I wanted to strangle her. In the family waiting area, there was another very pregnant lady sitting primly next to her husband obviously waiting to be admitted as well. I was REALLY in labor by then. Contractions were no more than two minutes apart. I walked around the waiting room probably howling like a crazy person and rocking in all sorts of weird positions. I whispered to Doug at one point, apparently not so quietly, "If those nurses let that other lady in before me, I'm going to murder them." I waited for what seemed like an eternity until...
TO BE CONTINUED
