January 5, 2011
I needed to be at the hospital at 7:30AM for a scheduled induction on Thursday, January 6th; three days after her estimated due date. {sidenote: I have no idea what it feels like to go into labor naturally. Lucas was also induced 13 days after his due date.} I cried when we dropped Lucas off at daycare. We were so excited to add this baby to our family, but I was a huge mess of worry/hormones! Dr. Beer arrived at 8:30AM to break my water; I was 2 cm dilated. At 9AM, the nurse started me on Pitocin and antibiotic for Group B Strep. About 12:45PM, I encouraged Brent to go to lunch so that he wasn’t starving. He went to the hospital cafeteria and while he was gone, my contractions really started to intensify; I really wanted to have something to cut the pain. At 2pm the nurse checked me and I was 3cm dilated. She called Dr. Beer to see what the plan was and Dr. Beer wanted me to be farther along before getting an epidural. The nurse administered Nubane. Very quickly I was feeling extra warm, very sleepy and almost intoxicated. I was trying to tell Brent that the Nubane was not helping and making me feel ill, but I couldn’t form the words. This drug was really having some side effects, but not cutting the pain. Nurse Emily came on shift at 3PM and Brent told her I was in a lot of pain. She offered to check me to see if I was far enough for the epidural. At 3:30PM I was 5cm. Woohoo! I could get the epidural. The anesthesiologist arrived at 4:20PM to administer the epidural. Brent had to leave the room so he didn’t see the needle. Thankfully, Nurse Emily held my hands while I got it. Within minutes I felt amazing. Relief! The next hour was no big deal. We visited with Nurse Emily, Brent called his parents to tell them to come to Ames for dinner so they could be in town with Lucas to visit when the baby arrived. Dr. Beer came by at 5:45PM,checked me and said “Let’s push!” She had me do a couple of “practice pushes” and said this isn’t going to take long. Emily called to have a baby nurse in the room and told her to come quickly. Dr. Beer stepped out of the room and Emily had me telling her when I was having a contraction. Brent must have been able to see that the baby was definitely coming, because he started asking questions about nurses delivering babies because he was worried Dr. Beer wasn’t going to be back in the room in time. Dr. Beer came back into the room and put her gown and booties on. I pushed through three contractions and at 6:11pm on 1-6-11, our beautiful baby girl was born. Dr. Beer, the baby nurse and Emily all commented about what a beautiful baby she was. She wasn’t in the birth canal long because she had a perfectly round head. She weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces and was 20 inches long. She was healthy and perfect. We knew the baby would be named Hannah if it was a girl. Her middle name, Marie, has a lot of connections: Grandma Lehmeier's middle name was Marie; my mom is Mary; my sister is Ann Maria; and a special great aunt of mine was Cecelia Marie. Brent called his parents to tell them the baby had arrived We had asked them not to tell Lucas anything because we wanted to tell him if it was a baby sister or baby brother when he got to the hospital. Brent’s parents decided they didn’t want to know until they arrived, either. Then Brent called my parents and all of our siblings to tell them the wonderful news and Hannah ate for the first time. Steve, Connie, Lucas and Brian arrived at the hospital and we introduced them to Hannah Marie; they loved her and the name.
We've all been in love with her since the day she arrived. We can't imagine our life any different!
I love birth stories! Can't believe she's already one! Happy Birthday, Hannah!
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