Audrey's Story Chapter 3: The eve before her birthday

It was about 7:00 at night when I demanded to go to the hospital, at this time Drew had just made it back to my parent's house from running an errand, or a coaching meeting... one of the two... he was exhausted.

This time, no winter themed cute shirt or pictures in front of a tree... just a pink maternity shirt & black pajama bottoms with I kid you not, Green & Purple fireworks on them, My grandma bought them for me when she was alive... maybe circa 2008? Drew had the audacity (clearly amidst a soon to be dad out of body experience haze) to ask "Are you going to change your clothes? or wear your pajamas with pasta sauce on them to the hospital?"

now... I'll tell you this in chapter 1 when I said; "One nasty, dusty and dirty bathroom, old dirty scrubs, one sharp tongued triage nurse" I wasn't in true labor... and let me tell you why My doctor said, "Capri, when you're in labor... you will step over another woman's placenta to get to the hospital bed... and at that point, I could have.

I remember going to the bathroom, the temperature high that day was 56° and the low at night was 37° I was in the bathroom standing on the on the travertine floor of my parent's guest bathroom and the only thing that made me feel slightly better was putting my bare feet flat onto the ground... the shock did it for me.

After Drew got dressed, and I felt calm enough to walk, we got in the car and headed to the hospital.  we arrived around 8:00 pm and Drew and I arrived at Labor and Delivery of Summerlin Hospital. 

 

I remember the woman who buzzed us in making a snide comment about me being in a wheelchair, a hint as if I was being dramatic and would probably be sent home. Joke was on her, The triage nurse checks me and says "Not only are you 3-4 centimeters and in active labor, but you could have an epidural now if you're interested" well ma'm... Yes, Yes, & Yes... now at this point I had been in active labor for almost 3 hours and in the beginning of my pregnancy I wanted no drugs, no ultrasounds (or as few as possible) completely natural pregnancy... 30 ultrasounds, over 5 refilled prescriptions of Zofran and Diclegis & one friend who gave birth to a still angel at 34 weeks who told me "don't go in there and try to be the hero, get the drugs"

I did.

I had a nurse, Her name was Christin and she was sweet as pie... she sat me on the bed and talked with me about our goals for the day, Operation; get Audrey out, here, and pray she's healthy... AND then the contractions became more frequent... by this time it was about 9:30 and I'd told her... I was ready for my epidural and to contact the anesthesiologist... she said, cool... once we get your IV in, we can get him in here... so we begun, 8 needle pricks from her and about 30 contractions and the anesthesiologist's 5th attempt to get my IV in we were successful... by this time, it was about 11:30 at night...

 

Everything kind of slowed down at 11:45... Christin stood in front of me and held one hand, Drew stood beside her and coached me holding my other... you won't believe this... but compared to my pregnancy, my epidural was a dream. I remember them waiting for a contraction and then saying... it's out, you did great... I asked the anesthesiologist... are we done? and he said... are you serious?!... Christin, our nurse decided to check my water... and it broke, she let us know we were 6 centimeters dilated and it was time to call whoever was coming to the hospital and let them know.

 That's when I told Drew... call my mom and your mom.. 

At 12:17 my parent's got the call... Now, the original plan was for my Mom to come to the hospital, and my dad and sister arrive later in the day once she was here... My mother in law arrived first... and minutes later, to my surprise... at 1:00 in the morning my parents both arrived, with snacks, Coffee, Monster Energy and Redbull drinks.

I remember before we knew it it was 1:45 and they said I'd reached 10 Centimeters and the needed to contact Dr. Wilkes, I wasn't nervous at all. To be honest, I didn't feel anything. After my terrible pregnancy and the week long of strong contractions especially the ones within the past 3 hours, the best feeling in the world was feeling nothing but a quiet and serene feeling waiting on our little one... The time had come, we had to get prepped, she was coming... it was time to push.