sevigny stories: LS2 Has Arrived.... It's a GIRL!!!

Let's rewind to yesterday morning: I woke up feeling a bit off - a little bit of crampiness, a little bit of additional moisture in the nether region, etc...so much so that I had texted my sister right after waking up and told her that I thought today was the day LS2 would be arriving!! I got showered and dressed and got AJ all ready for Grandma and Grandpa to watch him while I went to work, but my body had a different plan in mind. Instead of going to work, I went in for a check-up at the OB office because I thought maybe my water had broke. I won't go into details, but it was cause for concern so I had the nurses check me. Unfortunately, it was a no go - I wasn't dilated at all so they sent me (and Michael since I made him come home from work) back home to just wait.

Since I had nothing else to do that day, I figured I might as well go into work rather than stay at home waiting around for LS2 to decide whether he/she wanted to make an appearance. (Gotta make money before going out on unpaid maternity leave!) So Michael dropped me off at the Town Hall for a few hours around 10am and he went home to get some rest knowing that if today was the day, it would be a long one (he needs his rest or else he's a crank-pot!!). A couple hours later around 12pm the crampiness ramped up a little bit and was starting to fall into a pattern. I knew for sure that these were the beginnings of contractions so I got my iPhone out and started to record each one on an app that I had downloaded (yes..there's an app for that!). By the time they were about 3-4 minutes apart at 3pm, I decided it was time to call it quits at work and had Michael pick me up. We went home, I changed and called the doctor's office and off to the hospital I went! LS2 was definitely going to be coming soon!!

We made our return trip to the OB office in the Medical Office Building at Backus around 4pm-ish and a mid-wife checked me out. Yup.. LS2 was indeed coming - I was 2-3cm dilated!! We called our parents to let them know I would be admitted and off to a room we went. Michael's parents stayed at our house with AJ and the animals, while my parents came to the hospital as my mom was going to be one of my 'coaches' for the birth. My poor Dad, he again had to sit out in the waiting room just like he did for AJ! (Luckily, this time around is wasn't for as long as it was with AJ - phew!). Let me mention also - today was my parents 35th wedding anniversary - how cool would it be for LS2 to be born on their anniversary?! I'm sure the last thing they wanted to do on their anniversary was to sit in a hospital and wait around, but alas LS2 made them do it anyway! ;)

Fast forward a few hours to about 6/6:30pm-ish and I was already 5cm dilated and definitely ready for the epidural! The contractions were beginning to become unbearable and I had gone drug-free as long as I could. I ordered the epidural, but unfortunately there was only one anesthesiologist on so I had to wait it out and hope for the best that I wouldn't be too far dilated before he/she got there to give me the epidural. (Why, oh why do they only have one on?! Don't they know anesthesiologists are like God to a pregnant woman who is in labor?!) Thank God - about an hour and a half later (one of the longest periods of my life!!), Dr. Campbell the anesthesiologist showed up and worked her magic and I was pain-free! [There were also no itchy leg incidents this time around.. good thing Michael, good thing!!] At this point, we also called Kimmy to come in because she was going to be my third coach, aka my photographer! [A huge kudos to Cioci Sue who was able to come over and watch the girls as they slept so she could come to the hospital because Jason was out of town on business - thanks Cioci!!!] After everyone was there, Dr. Belcher had come in a short time after I received the epidural to check me again and I was already 7/8cm dilated so I was moving along pretty quickly.

By about 10pm I was fully dilated, but LS2 was still pretty high up. The plan was to have me sit/lay down in different positions that would hopefully open up the pelvic region for him/her to move down. I tried the peanut ball on my left side, then my right side. And then sitting straight up in hopes he/she would come down with gravity, but nothing was working. It was now past midnight and the hope of having LS2 on my parents 35th wedding anniversary was now gone. After a couple hours of different positions, Dr. Belcher came in again and suggested I just try to push the baby down. They weren't sure why he/she was so high up but they figured maybe I could just try pushing to get him/her down. So it was time to push. I pushed through almost 2 full contractions and on the 6th push (3 pushes per contraction), Renee my nurse told me to stop because the baby had come down and he/she was gonna come out if I pushed anymore! It was time to get the room ready.. LS2 was coming!!!

The room was ready, Dr. Belcher was in position and I started pushing. After about only 10 minutes and 3 contractions, LS2 was here! At 3:41am, our daughter, Chloe Kathleen arrived! 8lbs 13oz and 21 inches long. She is perfect!! [My intuition was right... it was a girl!!]