It was a beautiful sunny morning, and I had officially hit my 40 week mark. Tyler and I were waiting for Grandma to come over so she could babysit Addy while Tyler and I headed to my 40 week appt. We finally arrived and my obgyn requested a nonstress test to monitor Ella's heart rate. While waiting, I could feel my contractions starting to get more intense and uncomfortable. I was anxious to see my obgyn because I was curious to know how dilated I was. An hour went by and it was finally time to see my obgyn, I had mentioned to her that I had seen a little liquid come out of me that morning but I wasn't sure if my water had broke or not. She then did a test to see if had broken and sure enough my water was slowly leaking and she said to go to the hospital immediately after the appointment. Tyler and I looked at each other in complete shock. It was time to meet our sweet baby girl!!!! She had mentioned that I would most likely have Ella before midnight so to be prepared.
I texted my mom and told her "it was time" and to head to San Diego ASAP! My parents are the best...they drove 4 hours to be with me while I delivered Ella. Tyler and I made it to the hospital and were finally settled in. The nurse wanted to monitor my contractions before giving me pitocin... they figured all I needed was a small dose and I would most likely go into labor shortly thereafter. That made me so nervous! I felt like everything was happening so fast and I needed to experience some type of painful contractions before getting epidural. It's weird... I asked to hold off on epidural until contractions got worse and the nurse had mentioned if we waited too long I might not be able to get it. Looking back, I have no idea why I wanted to wait haha! Well, I eventually was given the epidural and it was a completely different experience compared to when I got epidural while in labor with Addy! With Addy, it was a complete nightmare! I was shaking so bad and the anesthesiologist hit a nerve and my leg flew up! It was horrible!! Everything was so smooth during this labor I honestly felt like it was a dream... or too good to be true. It really is true when they say the second time around is so much easier.
After I was given the epidural, it was a smooth ride from that point. My parents had finally arrived and I was completely out of it ha! I was so happy they made it before it was time to deliver. By this time, I had Pitocin and epidural already so I felt like it was going to be time to push very very soon! Tyler was a champ and hadn't eaten since we first got to the hospital. He did this with Addy and I thought it was the sweetest thing. He said "if you can't eat, I won't eat." But with this labor I recommended that he eat especially since my parents were there and they could leave to go get him food. Plus, I knew labor wasn't going to be much longer.
The midwife was checking on me quite a bit and I had mentioned I felt pressure so she checked to see how dilated I was and I was dilated 4cm! At that point, the waiting game began.... waiting was not fun. I had a ton of thoughts running through my head. A lot of "what ifs" and lots and lots of praying! Mainly praying for the health of our baby girl. If you aren't familiar with my daughter, Adalynn's story you can read that here. The fear of that happening again struck through my mind over and over again and I couldn't help but worry. These thoughts occurred throughout my pregnancy and I tried extremely hard to stay positive and hope for the best.
I felt an insane amount of pressure so I told the nurse that I think it was time to "push" she then went to get the midwife and she checked to see how dilated I was and I was at 10 cm! It was time!! I started freaking out so Tyler and I prayed together before it was time to push. I started pushing and I kept looking at my mom and Tyler's face as baby girl was making her way out...they had mentioned they could see her head and they kept staring with these blank stares! I thought something was wrong for sure. I kept pushing and pushing and I could almost feel the whole thing! I felt Ella's head stuck and it hurt so bad! 12 hours and 17 minutes later our baby girl was here. She didn't start crying at first because the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck so the nurse unwrapped it immediately before handing her to me and all I could say was "why isn't she crying!" They examined her shortly after and I couldn't take my eyes off her. I looked at my mom and she looked at me with watery filled eyes and said "Nicole, Ella is fine." I started crying and leaned my head back and said, "Thank you God!" I couldn't believe she was healthy! I was so relieved that God blessed us with a beatiful healthy baby. She weighed 8pds 3oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. I had 1st degree tears which was a lot worse compared to Addy. What a huge difference they both were! Addy weighed 5 pds 7 oz. So giving birth to an 8 pound baby was quite the adventure.
I had prayed my entire pregnancy that I would be able breastfeed Ella since I wasn't able to with Addy. It was finally time to feed Ella and I was so amazed that she knew exactly what to do. She latched on like a champ and it was so beautiful. It took me some time to figure out how to position her, but we eventually figured out what worked best for us and it has been such a God blessing being able to breastfeed her. I still can't believe she is here and how perfect she is. She is such a blessing to our family and I couldn't imagine life without her. It's like she's been apart of our family this whole time. I thank God so much for blessing us with a beautiful healthy baby girl.
God is so good!!
After I was given the epidural, it was a smooth ride from that point. My parents had finally arrived and I was completely out of it ha! I was so happy they made it before it was time to deliver. By this time, I had Pitocin and epidural already so I felt like it was going to be time to push very very soon! Tyler was a champ and hadn't eaten since we first got to the hospital. He did this with Addy and I thought it was the sweetest thing. He said "if you can't eat, I won't eat." But with this labor I recommended that he eat especially since my parents were there and they could leave to go get him food. Plus, I knew labor wasn't going to be much longer.
The midwife was checking on me quite a bit and I had mentioned I felt pressure so she checked to see how dilated I was and I was dilated 4cm! At that point, the waiting game began.... waiting was not fun. I had a ton of thoughts running through my head. A lot of "what ifs" and lots and lots of praying! Mainly praying for the health of our baby girl. If you aren't familiar with my daughter, Adalynn's story you can read that here. The fear of that happening again struck through my mind over and over again and I couldn't help but worry. These thoughts occurred throughout my pregnancy and I tried extremely hard to stay positive and hope for the best.
I felt an insane amount of pressure so I told the nurse that I think it was time to "push" she then went to get the midwife and she checked to see how dilated I was and I was at 10 cm! It was time!! I started freaking out so Tyler and I prayed together before it was time to push. I started pushing and I kept looking at my mom and Tyler's face as baby girl was making her way out...they had mentioned they could see her head and they kept staring with these blank stares! I thought something was wrong for sure. I kept pushing and pushing and I could almost feel the whole thing! I felt Ella's head stuck and it hurt so bad! 12 hours and 17 minutes later our baby girl was here. She didn't start crying at first because the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck so the nurse unwrapped it immediately before handing her to me and all I could say was "why isn't she crying!" They examined her shortly after and I couldn't take my eyes off her. I looked at my mom and she looked at me with watery filled eyes and said "Nicole, Ella is fine." I started crying and leaned my head back and said, "Thank you God!" I couldn't believe she was healthy! I was so relieved that God blessed us with a beatiful healthy baby. She weighed 8pds 3oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. I had 1st degree tears which was a lot worse compared to Addy. What a huge difference they both were! Addy weighed 5 pds 7 oz. So giving birth to an 8 pound baby was quite the adventure.
I had prayed my entire pregnancy that I would be able breastfeed Ella since I wasn't able to with Addy. It was finally time to feed Ella and I was so amazed that she knew exactly what to do. She latched on like a champ and it was so beautiful. It took me some time to figure out how to position her, but we eventually figured out what worked best for us and it has been such a God blessing being able to breastfeed her. I still can't believe she is here and how perfect she is. She is such a blessing to our family and I couldn't imagine life without her. It's like she's been apart of our family this whole time. I thank God so much for blessing us with a beautiful healthy baby girl.
God is so good!!
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