The Belly Jiggle

(again with the random, highlighted text... I don't know why it's there)

June 22,

exactly one week to the day before I was due,

I was sitting on the bathroom floor 

lotioning Hazel down after her bath.

My mom was spending the weekend with us 

because my dad was out of town.

She was sitting next to me

and made the comment 

"Crystal, wouldn't it be awesome if your water broke right now!?"

I quickly dismissed that thought,

and reminded her that I was still a week out,

I was only dilated to a 1,

not having any contractions,

and Hazel was a week late.

Then I stood up and went in to the other room 

to make Hazel a bed on the floor.

Taylor came in to see how I was doing.

He walked over to me,

reached out with both hands,

grabbed my stomach,

and gave it a big jiggle...

... and suddenly my water broke.

It didn't come all at once,

so I initially didn't want to get too excited;

but after a few minutes of a steady "flow" (sorry, TMI?),

I walked in to the room where my mom was reading Hazel a bedtime story

and told her that my water was breaking.

Hazel immediately jumped out of bed and came to feel my stomach.

Somehow she knew what was going on and was so excited.

Because I wasn't having contractions,

we weren't sure what to do.

We knew that we had to have the baby within 24 hours of my water breaking,

but I didn't want to go to the hospital because

1) I didn't want to get sent home for having no "progress"

2) I was so tired and just wanted to go to bed

3) I was totally nervous AND unprepared for this sudden turn of events.

But after showering,

haphazardly packing my bags,

and 15 minute apart contractions,

we decided to bite the bullet.

(it's a good thing this babe came early.  

This was my biggest maternity shirt and you can see how well it fit...)

We got to the hospital around 11:30 pm

and by midnight I was dilated to a whopping 1.5.

I wasn't interested in getting the pitocin

because of a heinous experience with Hazel.

I really just wanted to have my own, natural contractions,

but because things weren't really moving along

and we were in a time constraint,

the doctor decided it was the best thing to do...

Cue the extremely intense, 

crazy contractions.

By 4 a.m. 

and after some coaxing from the nurse

I finally got an epidural.

(I wanted to wait a little longer because I was expecting the 24 hour labor/delivery that I had with Hazel and I DID NOT want to be numb, flat on my back, and in bed for that long)

About 5 minutes later 

my arm, eyelid, and chest all started to go numb

along with my legs.

I couldn't keep my eyes open,

couldn't breath very well,

and couldn't explain what was wrong,

They immediately stopped the epidural

and let it wear off.

The doctor seemed baffled by my situation 

and told the nurse that I might just have bad reactions to epidurals

(the epidural with Hazel didn't work and I ended up feeling the whole delivery).

He told me that he would replace the epidural higher on my back,

and lower my dosage, 

but if that didn't work, 

then I might have to do this birth without anything...

HELLO! 

I was one second away from asking for a C-section 

because I was not about to experience another natural delivery like Hazel's.

But, miracle of miracles,

the second time worked like a champ!

And I realized why people like epidurals.

by 7:40 am I was dilated to a 6+.

The nurse anticipated another 3 hours of labor

so I called my mom and told her that we were sending over reinforcements for Hazel,

so that she could be with us during the delivery.

I got off the phone and had the nurse turn me over on my side,

and then I started feeling the "pressure".

I told Taylor,

he told me it was probably nothing to worry about,

I called the nurse anyway.

After a quick check, 

she announced that I was complete 

and not to push because the doctor wasn't there.

She said that turning me onto my side 

took me from a 6 to a 10 immediately.

I called my mom, 

and told her to get there as fast as she could.

The doctor came in, 

gowned up,

and told me to start pushing.

Two contractions later,

Nora was here!

It was a dream delivery!

After I had Hazel,

I told Taylor we weren't going to have any more kids.

After having Nora,

I told him that I wanted to have 10 more babies!

This is the point where my mom walked in.

She said she could hear the baby crying as she was running down the hall.

Sorry mom!

The rest of our hospital stay 

was a whirlwind of 

nurse checks,

sleeping,

baths, 

snuggles,

naps,

feedings,

diaper changes,

and visitors

So,

if any of you pregnant girls 

need a kick-start to your labor,

give Taylor a call for his patented,

labor-inducing,

Belly Jiggle.