Evelyn's birth was very different from Nathan's. I don't know what I'll expect next time around since they were completely different experiences. Even though it was such a different experience, the end result of finally being able to hold my baby made it all worth it.
With Nathan, he came the day before his due date. We wanted my mom to be here to take care of Nathan when I went into labor so that he could be at home and with someone he is very comfortable with. We decided that we would have my mom come a few days before my due date so we could get her settled in and familiar with Nathan's schedule before we would likely be gone at the hospital. My mom arrived late Sunday night and Nathan was so excited to see grandma on Monday morning. My mom was such an amazing help after Nathan arrived that I was so happy that she could come be with us again.
On Tuesday I woke up feeling a bit nauseous and having contractions. They were pretty far apart, about every 8 or so minutes. We had our special instructor come work with Nathan that morning, but as the morning progressed and my contractions kept coming I decided to cancel our ABA therapy. I'm glad I did because my contractions continued to get closer and more intense. They weren't super painful yet. Before Brad had left for school that day he knew I had been having contractions so he had his phone close to him all morning for updates. Around 11:30 my contractions hit 5 minutes apart. I let Brad know so he could make other arrangements for his patients. We both thought we'd have a baby that day with how things were progressing.
I had to wait an hour before calling my OB once they hit 5 minutes apart and by the end of the hour they were 4 minutes apart and getting more painful and intense. I called and my OB told me to come on in, especially since this was my second baby. My mom drove me in to the hospital and Brad met me there since he was only 8 blocks away at the dental school. Once at the hospital, Brad took me upstairs to the PEC and we got checked in. They set me up on the monitors and by this time I was contracting at 3 minutes apart and they were going off the monitoring chart. They checked me and I was only at a 2. I was really bummed. I had been a 2 at my previous week's OB appointment. While the nurse was out of the room, Brad took the time to give me a priesthood blessing. I remember in the blessing that she would be healthy when she came and that my labor would be as Heavenly Father wanted it to be.
Since they could see I was having contractions they had me walk for an hour around labor and delivery. I was starting to get in quite a bit of pain so I was really hoping I would dilate. After an hour they checked me again and I was still at a 2. I was very disappointed. They decided to discharge me to labor at home for awhile. Since I was already contracting at 3 minutes apart they told me to come back in when the pain was unbearable or my water broke.
We got home about 5 and my mom had dinner for us (I was starving.) I continued to walk and also spend some time on our exercise ball. After another 5 hours of contractions at 3 minutes apart I was in a lot of pain. I decided it was time to go back in to be checked. We drove in to the hospital and were checked in at 11. They gave me another exam. The monitors showed my contractions were slowing down. They checked me and I was still at a 2. I was so close to crying right then and there. I waited until we got to the car before I started crying. I was so frustrated and embarrassed and sad I wasn't going to be having my baby. I had been contracting for 18 hours and it did no good. I had every hope of my body being able to put itself into labor and delivering a baby and it felt like I wasn't able to do that. We went home and went to bed.
The next day was Wednesday, my due date. Nothing happened. No contractions. Nothing.
By Thursday I was pretty miserable. I just wanted my baby to come and I was starting to stress that my mom would have to leave before baby girl had made her entrance. I wasn't too hopeful of any great change when I went to my weekly appointment with my OB that day. I was able to see one of my favorite OBs at the practice. We talked about an induction date right off. The soonest available she had for an induction was February 14th, Valentine's Day. I wasn't opposed to a Valentine's baby and the baby would share my grandfather's birthday. I just wanted her here as soon as possible. Brad wasn't so convinced, but he wasn't about to tell me to wait even longer for this baby. I was checked and my midwife was surprised with how low the baby was and I was at a 3! At least that was progress! The midwife decided to strip my membranes and once she was done I was at a 4. If I could start contracting I would be far enough along to get admitted! It gave me just a little bit of hope that I might not need an induction and be able to go into labor by myself. For the rest of the day I had inconsistent contractions. I tried walking to help things along, but every time I sat down they would stop.
On Friday I started to have some contractions mid morning. They stayed about 7-8 minutes apart all morning. After lunch my contractions started to get closer together and get more intense. By 2 they had hit 4-5 minutes apart, but I wanted to be sure that these were very consistent and more intense before I went to get checked again. By 3:30 they had been 3 minutes apart for awhile so I called my OB to let them know we were coming in. We took our time getting out to the car and getting things ready to go. I really didn't want to be sent home again so I wanted to make sure I was far enough along that they wouldn't. We got to the PEC at 5 and I was checked. I was a little surprised when the nurse said I was a 3.5. They wanted to watch me for an hour and have me rechecked. I was a little frustrated because the monitor wasn't picking up my contractions (but they were there! and hurt too!) I didn't want them thinking I was "faking" labor again (but I had been faking before, the monitors had shown on Tuesday I had been contracting every 3 minutes.) Brad and I didn't say anything then, but we thought there was a good chance they would send us home. We were both so excited when they checked me again and I was a 4.5! I could stay! We were definitely going to have this baby!
We headed over to our labor and delivery room. It was the room right next to where we had Nathan and it has a phenomenal view of downtown Philly. We got settled in and the nurse came in and did a whole history on me while we were waiting for the anesthesiologist. My goal was to get the epidural before I got in so much pain that I started throwing up like I did with Nathan. The anesthesiologist made it to our room about 8:30 and got me set up. I was so glad they let Brad stay this time. With Nathan they had told us they had a rule that they wouldn't let dad's stay during the epidural because too many of them would pass out. No one was worried that Brad would faint. He's seen far worse than an epidural at dental school. The epidural worked great. I could still move my legs on my own and it took away the pain.
About 15 minutes after they had the epidural in the doctor came in for a check. I was at a 5.5 and so we decided to break my water to get things moving along faster. I started to feel like I was going to pass out almost immediately after they did this. I'm very familiar with how my body reacts when it's going to pass out so I noticed the signs that I might. I got really nauseous. Then my hearing started to go. When my hearing started going the nurse told me to start some deep breathing to prevent me from passing out. After a few minutes of this I started to get better and the feeling I was going to pass out went away.
Brad and I knew it was going to be a long night so we decided to get as much sleep as we could. We both napped when there wasn't nurses or doctors coming in to check on me. They did another check right around midnight. I was at a 7. Around 1 am, I started to have a lot of pain. My perfect epidural wasn't enough for the painful contractions of transition. We had the anesthesiologist come in and give me some more medication. It worked great, but I couldn't move my legs at all. I was getting pretty worried that my epidural was going to stop working and I was going to have to go through all the pain of childbirth so the trade off of not being able to move my legs was a good one.
My team came in at 2 since baby's heart rate was dipping with my contractions. They did a check and I was at a 10! It was time to get this baby here. It was nice not having such a full house this time. Nathan's delivery included 11 people. This time we just had 6. I could feel more of the pressure of the contractions this time versus last time which was helpful with the pushing. I pushed for about 20 minutes. Brad was phenomenal at coaching me through and giving me encouragement. It always helps me so much to have his excitement to help me through that last little bit. Just as she was crowning the doctor remarked that he saw a lot of hair on baby's head. I was wanting her to have some hair so it only made me even more excited to meet this little girl. At 2:32 am, Evelyn Claire Packer arrived in the world and let everyone know. She wouldn't stop screaming for the longest time. We got to do skin to skin right away and just look at sweet Evelyn.
They did have a problem with the placenta not removing. It didn't detach on it's own and so the doctor had to go in to manually remove it. The placenta was located at the very top of my uterus and the doctor couldn't pull it off. They brought in an ultrasound machine to help the doctor with the removal, but they were still having a hard time getting it to detach. Brad said it was crazy watching the ultrasound because he could see the doctor's whole hand trying to yank out the placenta. Brad and I both were pretty worried that I would end up in the OR to get it out. With a switch of doctors trying they finally got it out. Thank goodness for the epidural because they were doing a lot of pulling to get the placenta out.
Recovery has been a lot easier this time. I only had one small tear. With Nathan I had a couple and they were worse tears. I'm feeling pretty good all things considered. I'm able to get around a lot easier which I'm so grateful for with a toddler to run after.
We're so happy that she's here. She's a sweet little baby and has tolerated her brother antics wonderfully. Nathan has been pretty sweet with baby Evy. If she's crying he'll tell her, "It's ok Evy." He really likes giving her hi 5s and will sometimes kiss her head. I love those moments when she's awake and just taking everything in and we just stare at each other. She had one night while we were in the hospital were I seriously wondered if I would every sleep again. I think I got an hour of sleep the whole night. Luckily she's starting to get this whole day and night thing figured out and is sleeping longer stretches at night. Brad is so in love with her. I love seeing how he takes such good care of her. All in all, we're just so happy that she's here and joined our family. We're very blessed.
