Baby Kipfer's Big Entrance

I was really excited that Drew made it home from the cruise just in time to be there for the birth of our little girl. We got a week together before I went into labor. My labor started late Saturday night/early Sunday morning. My contractions were light and I could sleep through them. Sunday they were a little stronger, but nothing I couldn't make it through. We watched the Colts game with Drew's family. Everyone thought it was really funny that I would have a contraction every time the Colts did something good. I just got too excited I guess. That night was not the most fun night I've ever had. There was no rhyme or reason to my contractions. Sometimes they would come 2 minutes apart, other times they would come 15 minutes apart. They would be so bad that I couldn't move through them, while others I could talk through. Around 2:30 am I essentially started one long contraction that lasted for an hour. I was laying on the floor of my room because it was the only place that I could get comfortable. A contraction would start and I would get into a position that was comfortable and I would make it through. When I laid back down another contraction would start again within 30 seconds of the last one. Not a good time!! Drew had to go get my mom so we could all decide what was the best course of action would be. We decided that it would be best if I went to the hospital to get checked. We got to the hospital and I was only 2 centimeters dilated. The doctor decided it would be best if I walked around for awhile, so Drew and I walked the halls of the hospital for 2 hours. Sadly, this didn't help as much as the doctor had wanted. This is the point when I decided that some pain meds would probably be best. I was given something for the pain and was able to sleep in between the contractions. After a few hours of lying in triage we were admitted and moved into a labor and delivery room. About two more hours of contractions passed and then we talked to the nurse about all of our options. We decided because my labor wasn't progressing the way we wanted it to that it was probably the best idea for me to have an epidural so I could relax enough for everything to move along. With the pain meds on board and the epidural done, my labor became a very fun experience. We watched 4 movies and listened to an entire CD. I was able to laugh and joke around with my mom and Drew. I was also able to sleep through some of my worst contractions, which just shocked my mom. The doctor thought that by giving me an epidural my labor would begin to pick up. This just wasn't the case. They decided to give me some pitocin to speed up my labor. I didn't really mind this at all since I couldn't feel any of the contractions. Julia, Will and Pam had arrived by this point in my labor. It was nice being able to visit with everyone and enjoy it. A few hours later it was time to push and everyone besides my mom and Drew had to leave the delivery room. Lola was face up, not the right way for a baby to be born, which increased the amount of time it took me to push. It was my mom and Drew's job to hold my legs since they were numb from the epidural and I couldn't hold them up on my own. There were more than a few times that my mom got distracted by the monitors. After about an hour-ish of pushing the doctor started talking to me about the possibility of having to use suction on Lola's head to pull her out. Having a serious problem with suction (I know that plenty of babies have been born using suction that are perfectly fine but I did NOT want this to be used on my baby) I politely said to the doctor that if it was medically necessary that we could go ahead with it. At the same time I'm sitting there thinking that if they came near my baby's head with a suction I was most likely going to kill someone. My mom said that she saw the look of determination come across my face and as my mom will tell anyone, when I get to that point it's gonna take a major miracle to get me out of it. So I started to push a heck of a lot harder than I had before. While this was good for my labor, it wasn't necessarily good for me. My nail beds started to turn blue, which promptly put my mom in RN mode instead of mom mode. I had to remind her that while she is a nurse at that particular moment she was a mom and grandma and not a nurse. This got her in check very quickly. After 2 hours of hard labor and pushing like a crazy person, Lola Jean Kipfer was born at 12:42 am on January 26th, 2010. She was 6 pounds 12 ounces measuring 20 inches long. That is probably the happiest moment of my entire life. I thank God every day for the amazing little miracle that He has brought into our lives. She continues to amaze me every day with everything that she does.