The Waldeck Family: The big day

Justin and I took Aubrie for a long walk around Roscoe Village in the hopes of "getting things moving." After a day full of contractions being 7-10 minutes apart they finally started to stop me in my tracks. When we got home, I called my doctor to see what she wanted me to do since I had my 40 appointment scheduled for the morning (yes....40 weeks, 9 months my foot, you are REALLY pregnant for 10 months). She told me to page her at 7am and she will move my appointment up and she will see me in Labor & Delivery since she was on call, but for me to come in sooner if I went into labor. Knowing I may go into labor over night, or that I at least had an early appointment, Tracy came and spent the night at our house in case we had to leave quickly so she can stay with Aubrie.

I woke up at 4am with very strong contractions every 9 minutes. I tried to go back to sleep, but they continued to wake me. I showered, ate some cereal, and took care of a few last minute things. I paged my doctor and she gave me the option of coming in early or waiting until my appointment at 9am. She said if I was not in active labor at that time they could only keep me if I was going to be induced. That was a decision I had to make before I got there. We decided to take our time and see if labor progressed on its own...and it did.

Before we left for the hospital the contractions were about 5 minutes apart and as the doctor predicted I could no longer talk through them. We arrived at the hospital at 9am and went straight to Labor & Delivery instead of to my appointment since my doctor was on call. Dr. Thorpe sent us right to be admitted in a room before she even checked me in triage. My mom showed up with snacks and something to knit to pass the time since Aubrie's birth day lasted over a whole day! By noon I had an epidural, which much to my surprise only worked on one side again. While this wasn't fun, I know many people give birth without any medication so it could have been much worse. While my mom and sister went to get something to eat, Dr. Thorpe came in and broke my water and I was dilated to 5cm. Within the hour I was not having fun anymore...I dilated to 9cm very quickly and by the time Dr. Thorpe was paged to come back it was "go time."

Lydia June Waldeck was born at 3:12pm. I am blessed to say she is perfect.