Jalilah's Amazing Delivery

Being induced is no joke!

I will try to sum it up the best I can but I was in labor for about 17 hours & there's a lot I don't want to miss

The morning I was being induced I could hardly sleep. I woke up at 3:00am and wasn't able to go back into a full sleep. My alarm was set for 5:55am and I was going to call L&D at 6:00am to see when I could come in for my delivery. I called at 6:10am after doing numerous squats, walking back and forth, and even some jumping jacks and anything that could possibly induce my labor instead of going in. It didn't work. The lady who answered put me on hold to check the schedule, got back on and told me to take a shower and have something to eat then come in at 8:00am. The next two hours couldn't have went any slower. I immediately took a shower to get ready. Frantically I went over and over the different things that were coming to the hospital, Bri'elles bag that was packed, and making sure daddy was getting up (I let him sleep in). 

Since I was craving a bagel and cream cheese we went to Noah's Bagels for breakfast. I ordered a sesame seed bagel and regular cream cheese. We sat and ate there. After we dropped off some Pampered Chef stuff of to a customers house (yes, I was working this morning). Then back home to drop off milk for when Bri'elle woke up. My sister Jojo stayed the night so Bri'elle could wake up in her own bed and have a nice morning at home. The house was our last stop. To the hospital we go....

On the way to the hospital Jay was playing lil Jon and the Eastside boys... this is usually my workout music. Not for the lyrics but because its hype music, lol. I told Jay he needed to turn it off otherwise I might get too crunk in L&D, it was a good laugh.

I arrived in L&D at about 8:30 - after doing all the paperwork and getting the necessary information on paper we headed to our room. We passed by the room where I had Bri'elle and I started to get nervous remembering the excitement I was soon going to have holding my baby girl in my arms. To our surprise the room they were going to put us in had just been mopped so they had us go back the way we came and next thing you know we were being put in the very same room I delivered Bri'elle in. Now both of my girls were delivered in the same room. How cool is that????

Next I was getting my IV started and the heart monitor. They checked to see if I was dilated which I was at only a 2 so we had a long way to go. The doctor then discussed some of our options and what she would like to do. There was so many different ways to induce someone it is absolutely crazy. Since I wasn't dilated too much they needed my cervix to open just a bit more so they could try to get my body to naturally start the delivery process. The option we had was a cervical balloon. This is where they place a balloon between your cervix and sac. They fill it with saline and then tie a string to your leg. Every once in awhile you give it a tug to try to stretch your cervix open. Eventually you want it to fall it out which means your dilated to the next level (a 3!). I was also put on pitocin. Now with Bri'elle I was given pitocin by accident and it scared the living daylights out of me because it literally sped my delivery so much I couldn't bare it. My nurse saw my concern and worry and promised me she would go a very slow pace. Also she said she would go by my comfort. I was relieved! The process had now begun. 

From the moment I was told when to come in to now, I was keeping everyone updated the best I could. My main concern was to not alarm anyone since who knew how long it would take. Jay's family arrived (dad, stepmom, sister), my family had arrived (mom & sister), and my besties came (Sherin & Laura). All to be the audience and well they kept me entertained. My other sister, brother, and dad came throughout the day as well. A couple hours went by and my balloon fell out with some of the mucous plug, YAY! I remember feeling like it was taking forever. But it finally came out - it is actually funny the way it came out. Sherin was helping me to the bathroom and was in the room. We were talking (I forget about what) but we were in there for a long time. I kept telling her how I was scared to pull on it but was feeling uncomfortable. So she tells me well just pull on it and see what happens. I gave it a little tug and nothing happened then all of a sudden I felt a pop and heard something fall into the tiolet. Viola, it was there! Sherin and I had our fun bathroom experiences. Once it came out I was put on a higher dose of pitocin which was bearable. Now I was at a 3 and the waiting really begins. They wanted my water to break on its own so I just needed to sit there to see what happens. 

Hours upon hours went by with no action just ALOT of contractions. We were working my contractions up to be every 2 minutes apart and needed it to be in a series. Every time I would get a good streak going it they would break off for a couple minutes and start over. Oh boy, here we go into the night!

Luckily my besties were there to keep me company. I don't know what I would have done without them there. They touched up my makeup, we talked about girl stuff, even watched a few movies. My family (extended in laws as well) did a great job being there as well. We had good conversation and the anticipation was growing more and more. Now probably the funniest thing while we were there happened. All of us played a game well I should say I was part of a race. haha! The monitor me and the baby are hooked up to has a little tv screen that shows my nurse my information as well as all her other rooms. This way she could see how her patients are doing while in other rooms in case an emergency happened. Well we all understood what the monitoring was and decided that I (and baby) were in a race against the others on who was going to have their baby. What was really funny is seeing the others have theirs and then mines still going or seeing the same person being hooked up and unhooked because she wasn't making any progress. It kept us very entertained. Who won you asked? Well obviously a few delivered but we were the first delivery of the day (stay tuned). We were growing  more and more into the night. I had lasted this whole time without pain meds.

As the night progressed I felt myself beginning to get extremely tired. Between contractions I would start to fall asleep and was yawning so much. It was scaring me since we didn't have a clue how much I had progressed. They didn't want to keep checking me because that could pose a risk for infection. Finally at 11:30 I decided I needed an epidural to help get me through the night so I can sleep and let my body get some rest. The epidural worked magically like it did with Bri'elle. I didn't feel a thing. I almost think it worked too good. Actually, after they gave me my epidural and were getting ready to put in my catheter I felt a little pop and then all of a sudden my bed was soaking wet, my water had broke. This was a good sign. That means my body was starting the process, finally! When my nurse checked me I was a 5, so I still had a while to go.

The epidural allowed me to get about an 1 1/2 of sleep. Of course, it wasn't the full sleep because of the nurses coming in to check on me. And my epidural was linked to a push button so anytime I wanted more of the medicine, I just pushed a button. It was so nice, I didn't have this with Bri'elle. With Bri'elle it was just the IV medicine. As time went by for about an hour I kept getting this weird feeling in that area. I told everyone that I was having a kind of pressure but I couldn't really feel it so I wasn't sure what it was. After a little bit of time of feeling this I decided to tell my nurse when she came in. She told me to give her a couple minutes and she would come back to check if I had dilated anymore. Sure enough when she checked she saw a head. Immediately she went to go get the doctor. My body was naturally pushing her out and I couldn't control it. Once the doctor arrived it was all downhill from there. The doctor came in at 3:15 and started to prep everything... We even had to wake up Jay who took awhile to get awake but he said once he was standing there with my leg in his arm and noticed the head that was starting to show he knew he wasn't having a dream. Then I heard the famous words from the doctor, "when you feel a contraction go ahead and start pushing". It was funny because I said okay and sat there for a minute and realized I couldn't really feel my contractions to know when to push. The nurse helped me and I just started to go for it. All of a sudden as I pushed I heard the room "awh" and then "look at all that hair". The nurse led my hand so I could feel her head coming out (we had forgot about the mirror). That was a strange feeling itself to feel something come out of your body, a little too strange I had to pull my hand back quickly. A few more pushes and she was out at 3:33am. Her and Bri'elle were in the same position when they came out, had the cord around there neck once, and didn't really cry. 

It was so emotional for me. My little girl was here!

(Pictures will be in a separate posting)