August 18, 2008 around 10:30 pm I ate a banana. It was the last thing I got to eat before midnight that night. And actually it was the last thing I ate before 4:37 p.m. the next day. I tried settling down to sleep after my snack. I got about 3 hours total sleep. It was a mix of anxiousness, nervousness and the lady who lives upstairs jumping around her apartment all night long that kept me awake.
The next morning, I got up around 6 or 6:30 am to take a shower and get all of my stuff out the door. My little Anna Brooke was still snoozing away when Brooks and I left, so I didn't really get to say goodbye. Nana was staying with her all day.
Brooks and I got to UAB hospital on Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. We had a great nurse, Jennifer. I changed into my gown and got all hooked up with an IV, blood pressure cuff, and got all my vital signs checked. We had several doctors come in and talk with us about what would happen after birth, including a pediatrician and a couple of cardiologists. Another doctor came in to be sure that Emma Kate was head down. She estimated her weighing around 7 lbs at birth. She also checked me and I was 3cm dilated. I was very surprised, considering the last time I was checked I was dilated zero! Exciting!
Then I was hooked up to a pitocin drip. I was having a few contractions on my own, but nothing too strong. I wanted to go ahead and get my epidural just in case. That took forever. UAB is a teaching hospital, so apparently a "new guy" did my epidural. I surprised myself and wasn't really that nervous. After that, a pediatric cardiologist came in and talked to us again and a few other doctors came in too, off and on, just to check on me. I appreciated that :).
I was feeling really good until around 1 p.m. My mother and father-in-law, cousin Marti and Brooks were all in the room with me when I started to feel contractions on my left side. They didn't really hurt-hurt. It was just uncomfortable. About an hour later, they became more intense and I had to breathe my way through each one. All I was thinking was "this is not right." I ended up having only Brooks in the room because it was getting more painful. Jennifer, our nurse ended up paging anesthesia a few times during the course of the afternoon to give me a bolus of more pain meds. NONE of them helped and I was in a LOT of pain! (Thankfully only on my left side.) Brooks was great. He held my hand (if I felt like it) and helped me through each contraction over about a 3 hour period.
At 4 p.m. Jennifer checked me again as well as another nurse (totally forgot her name). I was 10 cm and ready to push!! I have to say that at that point, I was actually glad that I could feel my contractions. When I was delivering Anna Brooke, I was completely numb and couldn't feel anything at all. I pushed for 2 hours with her. Very exhausting. Pain made it a whole lot easier for me this time around. :) I only pushed for about 30 minutes and there she was. My little Emma Kate. So beautiful. She looked so healthy and her color was great. She even had the sweetest little cry. We took about 15 million pictures before she was whisked away to the NICU. In my mind I knew that she was being taken care of, but all I wanted to do was hold her.
The next morning, I got up around 6 or 6:30 am to take a shower and get all of my stuff out the door. My little Anna Brooke was still snoozing away when Brooks and I left, so I didn't really get to say goodbye. Nana was staying with her all day.
Brooks and I got to UAB hospital on Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. We had a great nurse, Jennifer. I changed into my gown and got all hooked up with an IV, blood pressure cuff, and got all my vital signs checked. We had several doctors come in and talk with us about what would happen after birth, including a pediatrician and a couple of cardiologists. Another doctor came in to be sure that Emma Kate was head down. She estimated her weighing around 7 lbs at birth. She also checked me and I was 3cm dilated. I was very surprised, considering the last time I was checked I was dilated zero! Exciting!
Then I was hooked up to a pitocin drip. I was having a few contractions on my own, but nothing too strong. I wanted to go ahead and get my epidural just in case. That took forever. UAB is a teaching hospital, so apparently a "new guy" did my epidural. I surprised myself and wasn't really that nervous. After that, a pediatric cardiologist came in and talked to us again and a few other doctors came in too, off and on, just to check on me. I appreciated that :).
I was feeling really good until around 1 p.m. My mother and father-in-law, cousin Marti and Brooks were all in the room with me when I started to feel contractions on my left side. They didn't really hurt-hurt. It was just uncomfortable. About an hour later, they became more intense and I had to breathe my way through each one. All I was thinking was "this is not right." I ended up having only Brooks in the room because it was getting more painful. Jennifer, our nurse ended up paging anesthesia a few times during the course of the afternoon to give me a bolus of more pain meds. NONE of them helped and I was in a LOT of pain! (Thankfully only on my left side.) Brooks was great. He held my hand (if I felt like it) and helped me through each contraction over about a 3 hour period.
At 4 p.m. Jennifer checked me again as well as another nurse (totally forgot her name). I was 10 cm and ready to push!! I have to say that at that point, I was actually glad that I could feel my contractions. When I was delivering Anna Brooke, I was completely numb and couldn't feel anything at all. I pushed for 2 hours with her. Very exhausting. Pain made it a whole lot easier for me this time around. :) I only pushed for about 30 minutes and there she was. My little Emma Kate. So beautiful. She looked so healthy and her color was great. She even had the sweetest little cry. We took about 15 million pictures before she was whisked away to the NICU. In my mind I knew that she was being taken care of, but all I wanted to do was hold her.
Emma Kate Keisler
August 19, 2008
4:37 p.m.
5 lbs 13 oz, 19 1/4 inches
Beautiful story! Thanks for sharing! I am so proud of you! You are the best mom!
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