Since she was due July 19, we had to go in for an ultrasound and non-stress test on Monday the 27th to make sure she was still ok in there. She looked great!! Nice strong heartbeat, plenty of fluids, etc. The only concern was her size, the ultrasound estimated her weight at 9 pounds 14 ounces... Let me tell you this was shocking to hear. I have to admit, the thought of a baby that size coming out of me freaked me out a bit. The doctor checked me and I had progressed to 2.5 cm but still was not in labor. She didn't want the baby getting any bigger and since I had no labor pains or sign of anything happening on it's own, they scheduled an induction for the next morning.
We sent Charlotte to Mimi and Boppy's Monday night and Lainey went to daycare where the woman offered to take her overnight for us, and tried to get one last full night sleep. Not really possible when you're THAT pregnant. There was just no getting comfortable enough to sleep. Pair that with the excitement and nervousness for the next morning and I maybe slept a couple hours. Stephe didn't sleep well either and hadn't really slept in a few weeks. The anticipation of everything was getting to him as well. Needless to say we were all just ready to meet our new little one. Oh, and heading to the hospital, we still hadn't decided on a name. Just one more thing to add to the stress and excitement.
The doctor checked me when we got there and I was actually 3 cm dilated but still wasn't having contractions that I knew of. The monitor showed I was having some but I certainly didn't feel them. So, at 9 am, they hooked me up to IV fluids and pitocin. I half-jokingly asked if I could get the epidural at the same time. I figured why feel the pain if I didn't have to, I had been through this before and wasn't really looking forward it again. The doctor wouldn't allow it though. She wanted to see how my labor was going to go and once they hook you up to the epidural, you're stuck in bed. (Sometimes they like you to walk around to let gravity help out.) Oh well, I figured it couldn't hurt to ask. We did walk the halls a little but the monitor wasn't working well and they kept losing the baby's heartbeat at the nurse's desk so they asked us to go back to our room. I could watch the contractions on the monitor which were very regular but I still wasn't really feeling much.
The doctor came back to check me around 12:30 and said I was 4 cm and asked if she could break my water. I was all for it at this point, I really just wanted to get things moving. Well, that did the trick for sure. The very next contraction KILLED and I knew things were progressing!! I started seriously asking for the epidural. They wanted to wait just a bit to check me again and then they would get the anesthesiologist. In the next 30 minutes, I jumped from 4 to 8 cm! That explains that pain. Through all this, Stephe did great. Got me ice chips and cracked a few jokes that made me chuckle a little, he even offered the nurses $20 to get the epidural man up there faster... I have to say with the pitocin, the contractions were VERY close together. I was nervous to have pitocin because a lot of women say it makes labor more painful. I wouldn't say the pitocin made it more painful, just didn't give me much of a break in between the contractions so it does seem a little worse. The anesthesiologist finally got to my room and got me the epidural around 1:30. I was so happy to see him only to find it didn't take, again (this happened with Charlotte too). He went next door to get another women hooked up hoping that in a few minutes, it would kick in. Nope, it didn't. At 1:55 he was back giving me a second dose and at the same time Dr. Damour showed up for me to start pushing. We sat around for 5 minutes waiting for the epi to take effect. I was having the urge to push. So at 2:00 we decided to give it a try. 17 minutes later, she was out. After that, the epidural finally worked!!! My legs went numb... I mean dead body floppy numb. At least I didn't feel the stitches, lucky me. :)
The dr held the baby up and I think my first words were wow, she looks big! LOL They wiped her up a little and put her on me. Even though I had done this once before, I couldn't believe she was mine. And we made her. Amazing. I felt so proud of us. And instantly loved her. How does that happen???
We had a doula in the room with us named Kebby. She was great, a nice calm presence in the room. She told us she had witnessed tons of birth but this was the first one to make tear up a little. She wasn't sure why but said it was a beautiful delivery. YAY for us!
Stephe watched Baby Girl Landry (that's right, that's still her name at this point) have her first bath while the doc finished things up with me. He said "Sarah, I know you don't want to hear this, but she looks like an Agatha". He was right, I didn't want to hear it. LOL I told him I really didn't like that name and he told me he wasn't crazy about Amelia (one of my choices). So she was still Baby Landry. They brought her back to me to nurse and she latched right on. She ate for about 30 minutes, I was so excited!!!
We were finally ready to move to from the labor room to our room we'd be staying in. I had to get in a wheel chair since my legs were still N-U-M-B. Stephe and 2 nurses had to lift me into bed. Talk about a weird sensation. A bit later, I finally got feeling back. Jim and Hunter came to meet Baby Landry. Then Brookie and Aunt Jan and my mother. Of course their first question was what was her name? Stephe and I just looked at each other. Should we go with the name we both like but hadn't mentioned to anyone??? We agree!! I can't believe after 9 months, we finally agreed on a name. So Stephe got up and wrote it on the white board. Everyone in the room said awww, I love it! It felt so good to finally give our baby a name. A name we both love.
Eleanor Jeanette Landry was born July 28, 2009 at 2:17 pm. She weighed 9 pounds, 8 ounces and was 21.5 inches long. She's so gorgeous with dark blue eyes and a full head of dark brown hair.
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