Lily Suzanne Hopkins

I'm not sure how many people actually want to read this post it's more for my records, but I wanted to write about Lily's labor/birth before I forget all the details. I will put pictures at the end. Adam and I had the kids go to Kevin and Holly's last night so that we could have a good sleep and be ready for the big day. My induction was scheduled for 7:30 yesterday morning and we got to the hospital at about 7:15. I was nervous, but not as nervous as I was with the other kids, and not as nervous as I thought I'd be. It came more in waves and most of the time I felt okay. It took until about 8:00 to get checked in and get everything started. They checked me sometime after 8 and I wasn't even dilated to a 2 yet. I started getting worried that either the induction wouldn't work or that they wouldn't even try and they'd just send me home. They decided to give me a medicine that would start things progressing without actually using pitocin. They gave that to me at 9:00 and not long after I started having pretty regular contractions. The contractions weren't painful but at least they were every 3 min and so I was hoping they were doing their job. When I got checked at 1:00 I had dilated to a 3 so they decided to start the pitocin. That got the contractions stronger, but they still weren't too painful. They hurt, but it wasn't too bad. The worst part was just how long it was taking to get things moving and how sick I was of being tethered to monitors. By 5:15 I hadn't made any progress (still at a 3) but they decided to go ahead and break my water. With Samantha and Paul that got things moving much more quickly and I was hopeful that it would be the same this time. Almost immediately the contractions became much more painful and I quickly asked for the eipdural. I got the epidural around 6:15 or so. My blood pressure dropped so I was feeling pretty sick for a few minutes. Right at 7:00 I started feeling better and the nurse checked to see if I'd made any progress. I was at a 4. I was starting to get discouraged since I had been in labor for about 10 hours and had only made 2 cm of progress. Granted, most of the time the contractions weren't painful but I was still worried about how long things were taking. Right after 7 a new nurse came on shift and was checking my vitals. I was worried because I was starting to feel the contractions and a little pain on my left side and I didn't want the epidural to not work when it came time to push (that happened with Paul, I felt EVERYTHING). After pushing the booster and having the pain only get more intense the nurse decided to check me and then call the anesthesiologist to get the epidural working. When she checked it was 7:50 and I was at a 10 and ready to push. I decided to go ahead and try to wait for the anesthesiologist to give me a little booster before pushing, which also gave my doctor time to get to the hospital. All of that happened in about 15-20 min and I was ready to go.

One push later and Lily was born! I couldn't believe that I went from a 4 at 7:00 to a baby at 8:16. Since I only pushed through one contraction Lily was born looking perfect, the nurses keep saying she looks like a c-section baby since her head isn't misshapen at all.  She got a 9 Apgar (both times) and has been an absolute angel. I have been feeling pretty good and have recovered fairly quickly. It took a couple hours for the epidural to completely wear off, but right after that I've been able to move around pretty well and am not in terrible pain. I certainly hurt, but it's not unbearable and I am hopeful that the recovery won't be too bad.

Lily Suzanne Hopkins
Born Aug. 19, 2011 at 8:16 pm
6 lbs 13 oz
20 in