Nora Kay's Arrival~Dramatic like her Sister!

Well, in true Layman-girl fashion, Nora's arrival was certainly dramatic...but not at all in the same way as Elyse.  For those of you not interested in all the birth details, sorry...but this is pretty much my only baby book or journal, so if I don't put it here it won't get written down at all!

Monday morning, December 1, I was quickly given permission by my mother-in-law that baby could come anytime.  Her other grandkids were born in the same month, and so of course, she thought we needed to follow suit with two December girls!  We had a dr's appointment first thing...and of course, basically no progress from the week before.  My doctor did ask if I wanted her to sweep my membranes, and I figured what the heck?  Might as well.  Just a note...I didn't experience any pain with this process like some women, really nothing much different than my weekly checks had been.

Because of my lack of progress, my doctor went ahead and scheduled a simple induction for Thursday, December 4.  Basically I would check in, they would break my water, and hopefully things would just start moving on their own.  However, I'm convinced that my OB never really thought I'd make it until Thursday!

After our drs appt, Hubby & I headed back to work for a regular day...all the while, hoping something exciting would happen.  To be completely honest I just felt crappy the whole day...but being 39w2d pregnant will make anyone feel that way!  My mom invited us to stay for dinner, and since leftovers were on the menu at our house we decided to have a quick dinner before coming home.

Maybe my most bittersweet picture...My Grandpa, holding Nora Kay.  The baby who was named after my grandma who passed away in September.  Needless to say it was a teary first meeting for all of us.  

And then...at 4:45ish, before we headed home from work...the contractions started.  Which for anyone who's curious, my contractions with Elyse started on a Monday.  @ 4:45.  @ work.  Talk about deja vu!

We went to my parents house for dinner, where I felt like doing anything but eating...but I ate a little bit of soup only to have my stomach get upset and for the contractions to start getting a little more consistent at about 15 minutes apart.  I told my mom what was going on, but we really didn't know if this was real or not.

Elyse brought two presents for Nora and she was thrilled to give them to her...

First official family photo...

And the real-life photo with a 3 year old in a hospital room!  ha!  

Nora also brought Elyse a couple of presents...a Snow Glow Elsa and Anna doll!  

We headed home, and the contractions were starting to last a little longer and got gradually closer together...around 7-8 minutes apart.  By the time we had driven the 20 minutes home, I was seriously trying to decide if we needed to call my mother-in-law to come get Elyse according to plan.  I decided to lay down for a bit and try to relax to see how that affected my contractions.  They stayed consistent, unless I got up...which meant they moved to closer to 3-4 minutes apart.  Definitely not something to ignore!

Of course my bestie managed to make it to the hospital before I even had a room ready!  

To make a long story shorter, we eventually called Hubby's parents to come pick up Elyse and I fought through each contraction as Hubby packed the car and got Elyse ready to go.  30 minutes later, my in-laws showed up, I gave Elyse a tear-filled goodbye hug & kiss...and then it was time.  We loaded in the car, and the contractions started to be consistently 4-5 minutes apart, lasting for over a minute, and this had been going on for much longer than an hour!  So...of course I'm incredibly optimistic about how this process is moving along.

We checked in at Labor & Delivery around 8:30pm and I'm fighting through each subsequent contraction.  The pain was INTENSE this time and by the time I get changed and into the triage bed...I'm starting to get nauseous after each contraction because the pain is so bad.

Baby Harper isn't such a Baby anymore!  She LOVES the new baby, and reminds me so much of how Elyse was when Cousin Harper was born!  

Hubby's sister & our two nephews came as well!  

Imagine my HORROR when the triage nurse checks me and informs me that I'm not any further than I was earlier that morning...a measly 2 centimeters dilated!!!!  UGHHHHH!!!!!  Thankfully my nurse promises to watch me for an hour and also calls the Dr. on call to get his opinion....I'm not sure if she lied for me or if she truly believed everything was real, but the on-call Dr. agreed to admit me.  There are NO WORDS for how happy I was when I saw the nurse who was going to take me to the delivery room!

I was still feeling so nauseous after each contraction because of the intense pain, and since I'm an epidural girl all the way...the L&D nurses quickly started my IV fluids and also gave me some Zofran for the nausea.  The Zofran provided some sweet relief and I was finally able to not feel so incredibly awful after the pain of the contractions.  I still hadn't progressed any, but they agreed to give me my epidural quickly...and by 11:30 pm, I had received my epidural and was feeling pretty dang good!

All dressed up and ready to go home!  

Words honestly can't describe how much better I feel this time around...VBAC FOR THE WIN!  

The rest of the night consisted of some AMAZING nurses coming in and out to monitor my progress, to rotate my body in ways that I don't even want to describe and at least a little bit of rest (or as much as I could get with my blood pressure cuff going off every 15 minutes!)

Sweet photo....

And more real life!  ha!  

Progress was fairly slow, but consistent and about 8:30 or so my actual OB stopped in to check on me...even though she wasn't on call that day.  The pressure I was experiencing was undeniable so I requested to have her check me while she was there...and boy was I thrilled when she proceeded to tell me I was at 9cm!!!  The rest of the timing is all a little bit of a blur...but after some "practice" pushing, and then an hour of real pushing, and a cry from me of "I CAN'T!"...Nora Kay arrived.

But then comes the dramatic part.  As soon as she was out, I remember saying..."Come on baby girl, cry!"  But she didn't.  And even after Hubby cut the cord...she didn't.  I had been prepared for them to quickly lay her on me for skin-to-skin without even a bath.  But that didn't happen.  Instead they rushed her to the side of the delivery room to the infant bassinet, and within 3 minutes the NRT (Neonatal Resuscitation Team) nurses were flooding into the room.

Basically Nora wasn't breathing.  Or doing anything.  She had a pulse.  And that was the extent of it.  For those of you how understand the APGAR scoring, when Nora was born she had a score of 1.  And she only had that because she still had a pulse.  The nurses were amazing and kept reassuring this sobbing momma that my baby was going to be ok...but until I heard that first cry, I wasn't so sure.  IT.  WAS.  TERRIFYING.  In my exhaustion and hormonal reaction, all I could think of was the worst...but then she cried.  And I've never heard a sweeter sound.  By 5 minutes after birth, her APGAR was at 8, and then up to 9 by 10 minutes....however, the little stinker definitely gave her momma & daddy a scare!

The rest of our hospital stay was really completely uneventful...and NOTHING like my stay with Elyse.  I was actually lucid and feeling great within a few hours of being in my room.  Nora took to nursing quickly, just like her sister...but also had an aversion to my right side...just like her sister.  We had plenty of visitors, but nothing crazy. Elyse came to visit several times and was always incredibly interested in her baby sister.  Thankfully her love for Nora seems to run almost as deep as Hubby & mine!

Bedtime our first night at home...a sweet precious photo of Daddy with his TWO girls!  

On December 4, the day of my scheduled induction and 2 days before my due date...we left the hospital with our entourage and drove away as a family of 4.  Oh how sweet my life is right now!  Praise God from whom all blessings flow!