Bump to Baby: Callie Elise

Callie Elise
November 17 at 3:37pm
7lb 14oz, 20 inches

Life has been super busy since this little girl was born. Let's hope I can remember her birth story 3 weeks later and with very little sleep.
If there is anything I have learned from working Labor and Delivery it's that nothing ever goes how you plan. Thankfully for me everything went almost better than planned. So the plan was to be induced Sunday night with Cytotec then start Pitocin first thing Monday morning. I worked Saturday night, went to church Sunday morning then spent the afternoon cleaning the house and getting everything packed for me to take to the hospital and for Kinsley to take to the grandparents' houses. I obviously didn't learn my lesson from Kinsley and sleep when I had the chance. I was to excited and nervous to sleep anyway. I decided Burger Stand sounded like a pretty good last meal. I love their sweet potato fries. My parents met us there to pick up Kinsley. She was excited to go stay with Mimi and PopPop and not concerned at all about where I was going.

last picture as a family of three

We got checked in at the hospital and my nurse said she was going to start my IV, do some paperwork, yadda yadda, then check my cervix and call Kim to see what the plan was. I wasn't going to tell the nurses that I am a L&D nurse at "the other hospital". Some people get weird when they know you're a nurse especially doing the same thing they do at another hospital. I had been contracting off and on all week and knew if I made much change they would not be able to do the cytotec that night and probably wouldn't do anything until morning. In which case, I would rather just go home and sleep in my own bed and come back in the morning. So I asked the nurse, "Can you check my cervix first before you put the IV in?" She seemed a little irritated but was happy to do it that way. I'm sure most people just go along with the plan. :/ I was right! I had made change on my own! I was now 3 1/2 cm dilated and more thinned out. She asked what I was in the office and before I could think about it I said "I was 3 on the outer os but only 1 on the inner os". So much for not letting them no where I work. Pretty soon my nurse said "So, where do you work?" Ummmm. I just told her I worked in Health Connections at Stormont. :) She called Kim and gave me several options. 1. Go home and come back at 6am 2. walk around for 2 hours and see if I make anymore change-since she checked me I was contracting regularly but no pain. 3. Stay the night and start Pitocin in the morning. I'll take option number 1 thanks! We were home and I was in bed by 9pm. By this point I was exhausted and ready for one more night of sleep in my own bed.

Last bump pic!

430am came awfully early but I was ready to go. It was baby day! Since I went home for the night I got to eat breakfast! I made myself a nice PBJ. It was delicious. We got checked back in at the hospital and I had the same nurse and same room (they saved it for me!). As she's getting ready to put my IV in she says "so where ELSE do you work?" Shoot, she caught me. It was a little bit of a rough start, it took three times to put my IV in. By 7 o'clock the IV was in and antibiotics and Pitocin were going. So now we just sit and wait.
My day shift nurse walked in and I realized she was my preceptor for Capstone in nursing school. I didn't think it would bother her to know that I also worked at St. Francis L&D. So when she asked where I worked, I told her. And I'm glad I did. It was nice to be talked to in nursing terms. She had a new nurse with her too. Things were moving pretty slowly all morning. My contractions were stronger but not unbearable at all. Chris and I listened to some music, watched a terrible movie and I painted my finger nails.
Around noon the contractions started getting more intense. They had been pretty frequent but now they were hurting a little. I sent Chris to get some lunch around 1230 while I rocked on the birthing ball. My nurse came in to do some charting so I had her help me stand and rock. At this point the contractions were strong enough that I had to stop talking and just breathe through them. We chatted for a little bit then before she left the room she asked if I wanted my epidural. I told her they weren't that bad yet. Kim was supposed to be there sometime after lunch so anytime at this point and I really wanted to see how far I could get without the epidural. I was even considering not getting an epidural but wanted to talk to Chris about it first. My nurse left the room and no joke the next three contractions were TERRIBLE! I felt bad calling her 5 min after she left the room and telling her I wanted the epidural now so I decided to tough it out for 15 more min. Well, about 10 min later Kim and her student Kristen walk in to break my water. My nurse and Chris were right behind them. I told my nurse "um, you can go ahead and get that epidural coming!" They broke my water at 1:20 and I was 5cm dilated. I had meconium fluid so the NICU team was going to have to be at the delivery and they would try to suction out Callie's mouth after delivery as long as she didn't cry first. If I ever do this again I will get the epidural BEFORE they break my water. It was the most disgusting feeling ever! The CRNA came in shortly after they broke my water and had my epidural in by 1:40. He was fast! It was a good thing too because I couldn't handle much more. He had me lay on my right side to put it in and the contractions hurt so much worse like that. Chris sat it out this time. ;) Shortly after the epidural was placed Callie's heart rate dropped down for a couple minutes. She did better when I layed on my right side which was now completely numb from laying on it during the epidural and having the blood pressure cuff go off so frequently.
About 3:10 I started feeling a little more pressure so they checked me and I was an 8! They called Kim to update her and told her to "mosey" on over. We updated our family and told them to start heading to the hospital. My mom was already on her way with Kinsley. 10 minutes later I was feeling more and more pressure and starting to get shaky so they checked me again. I was completely dilated and her head was pretty far down (+2 station). Awesome! The nurses called Kim back and said don't mosey, come now! I didn't feel like I needed to push really just had quite a bit of pressure with each contraction.
I knew it was too late (once again) for my family to come in and see my so I sent my mom this picture.

Doin' good!

Everyone was in the room ready to go but because I had meconium fluid we had to wait for the NICU team to get there. Finally, it was push time! I started pushing at 3:30 and Callie was born at 3:37. She started crying right away so they didn't have to do much. I told Chris "That was easy. Let's do it again!" Ha. Callie's umbilical was really short; she barely reached my abdomen. Chris quickly cut the cord so I could put her on my chest and check her out!

So excited to meet this little girl!

Look at all that hair!
7lb 14oz

He forgot what it's like to hold a newborn.

Chris brought just Kinsley in first to meet Callie. I am so sad I did not video her first reaction. It was so cute! She had this giddy laugh and was so excited to meet her sister. She gave Callie a present (a blanket we made for her) and Callie gave her a present (a big sister necklace with their birthstones on it). Finally the rest of our family got to come in and snuggle on Callie. It's a good thing they are patient!

First family picture

Everything went so smoothly, I am so thankful I had such good help! Chris counted 10 hospital staff in our room during delivery. It must have been the day to train people, everyone had a trainee with them. Which meant Chris got to stand by my head instead of holding a leg.