The Fifth Wheelers: November 19th

On Tuesday morning, November 19th, the boys and I finally put our pumpkins out on our front porch. I didn't buy any pumpkins this year. We were given a big family pumpkin and a couple of little pumpkins by some friends who grew their own pumpkin patch. We got another big pumpkin from the side of the road- I noticed an orphaned pumpkin plant it was in between a neighborhood and an office building in an area that no one had landscaped. It grew several pumpkins and we claimed one for ourselves, since we watched over the plant several times a week when we ran/walked by. Aunt Donna and Uncle Weldon gave us 3 pumpkins too. We ended up with 9 pumpkins and I didn't have the heart to carve any of them. So on Monday night we painted them- They are now our front porch fall/thanksgiving decor! I think they are awesome.

Tuesday afternoon I had a doctors appointment. At the appointment we scheduled an induction date- Thursday November 21st. But my doctor also stripped my membranes. He told us that he was on call that night and if stripping my membranes happened to help get contractions started (any contractions at all) that I should come on in to the hospital. Well, contractions did start, they were not the most consistent, sometimes they were 5 or 6 minutes apart and lasting a minute, sometimes they were only 3 minutes apart. I texted the doctor to ask what he thought and he said to come to the hospital. I worried that they would just send me home especially since the contractions had slowed way down by the time we got to the hospital. But after being monitored for a half hour or so the nurse sent us on a walk while we waited for the doctor.

We found the doctor while we were on our walk and we all headed back to the labor and delivery room and a decision was made, we would stay, Dr. Barton would break my water and we would see what happens. that was 9:30 PM. With my water broken, Ken and I embarked on another walk around L&D. Contractions most definitely started again, in fact I had Ken time them and they were 2 minutes apart and lasting for about 45 seconds. I was doing pretty well. I had planned to go without medication again for this birth and so I was trying hard to breath with the contraction and think positive thoughts and remember that I HAD done this before. They had put me in a room that didn't have a tub but they were trying to find a room that had a tub available, that tub was what I wanted next. By this point I was experiencing something I've never felt before- Back Labor- It hurt......a lot. I'm good at smiling through pain- as you can see from the picture below :)

It was time to be monitored again- the pain I was experiences from the back labor was intense. I decided that I would ask the nurse to check me when I laid down for the 20 minutes of monitoring. She said I was at a 5. I felt like I needed to use the bathroom and since I was only at a 5 I figured it was safe. While in the bathroom the pain got even more intense, I wished, wished, WISHED that I was in the tub, but they hadn't moved me to the new room yet. I decided that there was no reason for me to have to deal with the intensity of the pain I was feeling for another hour or two or more. I yelled to Ken, "VOLDEMORT, VOLDEMORT, VOLDEMORT!!!!!" Ken ran out the door to the nurses station and told them that I wanted an epidural. I started grunting and groaning. The nurse walked in and said "I know what that means, I'll get the doctor" she left and then came quickly back and told me that she knew I was in a lot of pain and that I wanted an epidural but that this was going to happen really fast. It would take 20 minutes or more before the anesthesiologist could give me an epidural and in her opinion, I would be delivering the baby by that point. She was right- I went from a 5 to a 10 in 30 minutes and even though I said my safe word "Voldemort" (I've told several people that having "Voldemort" as our safe word was perfect because I'm pretty sure back labor and the Cruciatus Curse are the same thing. but back to the story) and asked for that epidural, I ended up going without pain medication. I screamed a lot- apparently "Crap" is my favorite swear word, and I used it profusely. I didn't have to push at all with little B, but I sure had to push with this little baby. Push and scream and try to bite things, that's what I did. Ken said he didn't notice me trying to bite things- for me it felt like a very primal need.

And here she is- sweet little Elodie Ann Wheeler. Born on November 19th at 11 PM. Just 90 minutes after Dr. Barton broke my water. WOW, that was fast! She's quite a sweet little lady. 6 pounds 11 ounces and 20 & 1/2 inches long. The nurses have a rotation at 11 PM, so we had 2 nurses in the delivery room with us, the new nurse heard Elodie's name and told us how amazing that was, she has a 7 month old granddaughter named Elodie. We explained that Ken chose that name a long time ago when he was a missionary in France- the nurse said her daughter had also been a missionary in France. I thought it was quite the fun coincidence.

I got to hold her for quite a few minutes before they finished cleaning and wrapping her up. Then it was Ken, the Proud Papa's turn.

Getting ready to head up to the Maternity floor. I must say, I look pretty good for someone who just survived the cruciatus curse....I mean, gave birth. And that baby girl, she just kept getting cuter and cuter!