This has been long time coming. I feel so out of the loop since I haven't been blogging for the past month. Finally, I have a second to sit down and update everyone on the past three weeks. Here's the story of how Harper came into the world:
Thursday, 5/26/11, we packed Riley up and sent her home with Grandma Sheryl. Then we headed to Mercy West Lakes at 9. After getting settled into our room (we were the only people there at this time) I received my first dose of cytotec. Brett snored on the couch (which apparently was very comfy) while I tried get some sleep. At 2 am I received my second dose of cytotec. I was only 1 cm dilated. At 5 the nurse had me sit in the whirlpool for awhile just to relax. I never thought that I would ever use the whirlpool tub, but surprisingly found it very relaxing. By this time one woman had come in and delivered her baby. Unfortunately for them they had to be transported downtown. Around 6 am, the nurse started the pitocen. I believe that I received less than one dose of pitocen and the nurse shut it off since I began to contract regularly. Around 8:30 Dr. Fahnlander came to check me. At that time I had only progressed to 2 cm dilated and barely effaced ( I don't remember the specifics). She decided to break my water and see if it would speed things up. By 9:30 I was starting to feel uncomfortable with the contractions. By 10:30 I had my epidural. There were two other women that had come in during the morning and one of them had requested an epidural. I'm glad that the nurse recommended that I go ahead and get my epidural while the anesthesiologist was there (he had to come from downtown), because things went really fast from there. My blood pressure dropped really low after receiving the epidural and I needed two doses of some sort of medication to bring it back up to normal. Harper's heart rate dropped some so I was also given the oxygen mask. I was 4 cm dilated. Around 11 am things were a bit more stable and I suggested that Brett and my mom go get something to eat. Brett decided to get something from the cafeteria and my mom decided to take my car back to my house and get hers in case Brett's mom needed to go get Riley from Hedy's for us. Within an hour I started feeling the contractions through the epidural on my right side. The nurse had me roll to my right side which didn't seem to help and I started to feel them every where. At that time the uncontrollable tears started and Brett called the nurse back in. She checked me again and was surprised that I was complete and ready to push. Thankfully the doctor's office is attached the hospital and Dr. Fahnlander was there within minute. I had Brett call my mom and she barely made it back in time for the birth. I think I pushed through 2 or 3 contractions and Harper was here within 5-10 minutes. I'm not sure why, but this time around I seem to remember a lot more. I don't know if I had less nerves, or if it helped that we were prepared this time around.
We did have one slight scare. When Dr. Fahnlander came to check me at 8 am she asked us if there was a concern with Harper's kidneys. We had no idea what she was talking about. She then informed us that when we had our ultrasounds the tech had measured what she thought looked like a mass on one of her kidneys. Of course, we immediately started to worry. Thankfully, Dr. Fred had Harper taken down to radiology within a couple hours of birth to have an ultrasound. We were thankful to learn there wasn't a mass and Harper was as healthy as could be.
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