Last April I was due with my fifth baby, and third daughter.  I was scheduled to be induced on March 24, 2004.  The day before, I snuck off of bedrest and got my hair cut and my husband and I had a nice dinner thinking it would be our last dinner out for a while.

I did not sleep much that night.  I think I got 3 hours before waking to get going to the hospital. We arrived right at 6:30am and I was in Labor & Delivery by 7 am. The nurses got me all set up, started the IVs of penicillan and pitocin. Rita-Marie came in a little after 8am and checked me. She tried to break my water but only hooked the bag, not breaking it. I labored until sometime between 9am and 10am, getting up to use the bathroom when I had to. Around 10am I called the nurses to let them know that my water broke, rather the outer bag popped. It was now that I had the epidural started.

This was the first time I had an epidural not work right and I had a couple of areas on my left side that I could really feel. The worst was an area about the size of my hand right at my pelvis. It wasn't too bad at first. At 11am I got the second dose of antibiotics. I was heading into transition so they were rapidly running it into my arm. My arm was in so much pain from it. The nurse had to come in twice to stop it and let just IV fluid go through. It was a little after 11am that Rita came in to ask if we could break my other bag and put an internal monitor on Meagan. Instead I rolled to the other side (and just bore the pain from the spot the epidural wasn't covering) and got Meagan out of that. By this point I also had a foley catheter because my bladder was keeping her from dropping and they thought it might be what was causing the pain.

I don't remember what came first next. I know the epidural was boosted twice and it worked until I was pushing and that spot became painful again (and I would find out why after she was born). Rita also broke the second bag and found that Meagan had passed meconium and had apparently done that a while ago.  She started an amniotic wash to try to clear some of the fluid and upped the pitocin hoping to get her out soon. She also alerted the pediatric team to be ready.

I was very upset at this point. Yes it was a very good thing that we induced, but all I had was images in my head from when I had my first baby, Brad, going through this and being whisked to the NICU, not holding him for almost a day, and going home without him. The nurses and the pediatric doctor reassured me that what they were doing now would hopefully prevent a repeat of that.

By noon I was almost complete. We tried to push through to ten but I went right back to a nine. So we hung out and waited until I could feel the pressure. It was almost 1pm before that happened. But I was finally fully dilated and back in pain from the epidural. We got me set up to push and tried to get my husband Chris to help me. I couldn't get my upper body to curl up so I needed him to help push me up. It usually only takes me a couple pushes but this time I had to go through 5 contractions to get her out. I also had to stop pushing as soon as her head was out so Rita could suction her before she took her first breath and drew all that gunk down into her lungs. I ended up practically pulling my legs behind me to get her pushed out. It turns out that she never got into position for delivery. She wasn't quite facing up but she came out facing my thigh so she may as well have been looking up. Rita was able to suction her fairly well but Meagan didn't give her much time. She was ready to take that breath and was sliding out. They took her right over to the warming table and finshed clearing the fluid and checked her out. The pediatrician told me that he was pretty confident that she would be fine but she had a bad odor so they would have to do some blood tests later. Now I was just waiting for the nurse to get the ID bracelets on her to have her brought to me. I know a mom's pride is biased but she was just beyond beautiful.  She was 7lbs 6.5 oz and 19.25 inches and every ounce of gorgeous.

Everyone cleared out and I got to hold her for almost an hour. She needed some help getting the hang of nursing but by the time I offered her the other side she had it down and was very content. The nurse came to take her to the nursery around 2pm. They also brought me a boxed lunch because I was starving. Chris left to make phone calls and get some food for himself.

*I wrote this a few days after I brought her home.  I'm glad I wrote this because I wouldn't have remembered all of it.  I know it wasn't an easy delivery but I was so grateful to be going through it with a midwife who let me try to manage what little I could.  It's amazing that it's now been almost a year.  Meagan is cruising, babbling, and into everything.  I keep trying to convince her that she isn't in a hurry to catch up to her brothers and sisters but she isn't listening.  She's got her own opinions and has become very independent. 

Meagan finishes off our family.  I don't think any of us want to try to see me through another pregnancy.