Evelyn
Evelyn Rae Coughlin was born Sunday October 19th at 7:23 in the morning at 6 lbs. 11 1/2 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long.
Because some of you have been curious, and who's to blame, I decided I would tell about the experience of bring Evelyn into the world. On the night of Thursday, October 16th I started having contractions that I knew were not Braxton Hicks contractions. They weren't painful, just uncomfortable. They were coming about every 15 minutes and I was able to sleep inbetween them, but I didn't get the most restful nights sleep, I knew the baby would be coming pretty soon. Friday morning, October 17th... the contractions stopped. Friday was a normal uneventful day and I thought that the previous night was just a false alarm, my body preping me for what was ahead... my due date was still 5 days away. However, Friday night having dinner at Chili's with the family the contractions started again. Now they were almost a steady 10 minutes apart and it lasted all night long! The doctor said not to come in until contractions were 5 minutes apart, so I waited. Needless to say I did not get much sleep. Saturday morning, October 18th contractions stopped for about 3 hours and I was able to take a much needed nap. So Mom said to go shopping to help progress the labor... that's what I did all Saturday with the family; needing to stop about every 8 minutes because of a contraction. At about 5 o'clock I was very tired and ready to go... but I decided not to go home to Silver Springs 45 minutes from the Hospital. I had a feeling it would be soon so I went to my parents house 5 minutes from the hospital. Mike and my little brother had to finish up some shopping and go home to put some food we had away, my parents had plans to go to a party they were invited to. So that left me home with just my little sister. Around 7 o'clock the evening of October 18th, about 10 minutes after my parents left... my water broke. I called my parents and they came home to take me to the hospital. I called Mike and when I told him my water broke he was like "Really?"... he meet us at the hospital shortly after we got there.
I guess the first thing the hospital wants to do is check that I'm actually in labor and that my water did actually break. So tests done... Confirmed - Water did break and I was 5cm dialated. To the hospital room! My Mom and Mike were my labor coaches :) I was dialating perfectly about 1cm an hour... until about 12 o' clock. I was 9cm... needing to make it to 10; at that time the nurses explained to me that my water had broke at the top and so as the baby moved down it created a 'bubble' and that bubble was making it hard for my cervix to dialate all the way. They gave me pitocin to increase the strength and frequency of my contractions to try to get me fully dialated. Pitocin obviously makes contractions a bit more painful. 2 hours later and I'm still only at 9 1/2cm....2 hours later still the same... 1 hour later around 5 o'clock they finally say the are calling the doctor in to come break the 'bubble' and that she should be here at 6. At this point contractions are strong and coming almost every 30-60 seconds. They are pushing contractions and your body wants to push with them, but the nurses are telling me not to push because I'm not fully dialted and I can tear my cervix. One thing I would like to say here... pushing contractions don't hurt when you are pushing, but not pushing they are the worst ever! At this point I'm watching the clock...6:00 comes, 6:15, 6:30, 6:45... and all this time Mike is doing a great job getting me through, but now I'm struggling with the whole breathing exercise thing and they have given me oxygen.Around 7 the doctor finally arrived she pops the bag and 20 minutes later Evelyn is here. The actual delivery I found very easy. Hard work, but it felt great to feel like I was actually doing something rather than just laying there through the contractions. So about 12 hours in the hospital before she was born... not to bad :) A perfect healthy little girl with 10 fingers and 10 toes.
Evelyn Rae Coughlin was born Sunday October 19th at 7:23 in the morning at 6 lbs. 11 1/2 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long.
Because some of you have been curious, and who's to blame, I decided I would tell about the experience of bring Evelyn into the world. On the night of Thursday, October 16th I started having contractions that I knew were not Braxton Hicks contractions. They weren't painful, just uncomfortable. They were coming about every 15 minutes and I was able to sleep inbetween them, but I didn't get the most restful nights sleep, I knew the baby would be coming pretty soon. Friday morning, October 17th... the contractions stopped. Friday was a normal uneventful day and I thought that the previous night was just a false alarm, my body preping me for what was ahead... my due date was still 5 days away. However, Friday night having dinner at Chili's with the family the contractions started again. Now they were almost a steady 10 minutes apart and it lasted all night long! The doctor said not to come in until contractions were 5 minutes apart, so I waited. Needless to say I did not get much sleep. Saturday morning, October 18th contractions stopped for about 3 hours and I was able to take a much needed nap. So Mom said to go shopping to help progress the labor... that's what I did all Saturday with the family; needing to stop about every 8 minutes because of a contraction. At about 5 o'clock I was very tired and ready to go... but I decided not to go home to Silver Springs 45 minutes from the Hospital. I had a feeling it would be soon so I went to my parents house 5 minutes from the hospital. Mike and my little brother had to finish up some shopping and go home to put some food we had away, my parents had plans to go to a party they were invited to. So that left me home with just my little sister. Around 7 o'clock the evening of October 18th, about 10 minutes after my parents left... my water broke. I called my parents and they came home to take me to the hospital. I called Mike and when I told him my water broke he was like "Really?"... he meet us at the hospital shortly after we got there.
I guess the first thing the hospital wants to do is check that I'm actually in labor and that my water did actually break. So tests done... Confirmed - Water did break and I was 5cm dialated. To the hospital room! My Mom and Mike were my labor coaches :) I was dialating perfectly about 1cm an hour... until about 12 o' clock. I was 9cm... needing to make it to 10; at that time the nurses explained to me that my water had broke at the top and so as the baby moved down it created a 'bubble' and that bubble was making it hard for my cervix to dialate all the way. They gave me pitocin to increase the strength and frequency of my contractions to try to get me fully dialated. Pitocin obviously makes contractions a bit more painful. 2 hours later and I'm still only at 9 1/2cm....2 hours later still the same... 1 hour later around 5 o'clock they finally say the are calling the doctor in to come break the 'bubble' and that she should be here at 6. At this point contractions are strong and coming almost every 30-60 seconds. They are pushing contractions and your body wants to push with them, but the nurses are telling me not to push because I'm not fully dialted and I can tear my cervix. One thing I would like to say here... pushing contractions don't hurt when you are pushing, but not pushing they are the worst ever! At this point I'm watching the clock...6:00 comes, 6:15, 6:30, 6:45... and all this time Mike is doing a great job getting me through, but now I'm struggling with the whole breathing exercise thing and they have given me oxygen.Around 7 the doctor finally arrived she pops the bag and 20 minutes later Evelyn is here. The actual delivery I found very easy. Hard work, but it felt great to feel like I was actually doing something rather than just laying there through the contractions. So about 12 hours in the hospital before she was born... not to bad :) A perfect healthy little girl with 10 fingers and 10 toes.
