A few days later, on Friday, June 29th, I was completely over being pregnant, yet still found myself dreading the induction. At that point I was basically drinking Sriracha sauce out of the bottle and bouncing up and down the stairs at work hoping to induce labor naturally. The VP of Operations found humor in me guzzling hot sauce so he took his wife, assistant and me out to lunch that Friday and chose a half dozen hot sauces from the bar at Tijuana Flats for me to try. By the time we got back to the office I felt weird, not bad, just not right.
Friday, June 29, 2012: Last Day of Work Before Baby
That weekend my best friend/sister, Amie, and mom came to visit. On Saturday I showed them the route to the hospital, where to park and which entrance to use. After, we went downtown St. Pete to have lunch and walk the pier. All day that "weird" feeling never left me. I went to the bathroom several times just to look at myself and make sure I wasn't pale. Sunday morning (officially 39 weeks pregnant) my mom left early and Amie and I did some shopping. Amie didn't leave until that evening, which is very unlike her. She doesn't like driving the highway, especially at night. Right after Amie left I found myself in bed, still feeling strange and wanting to get a good night's rest after all the activity of the weekend.
Saturday, June 30, 2012: Amie and I on the St. Pete Pier after lunch
I woke up around 4AM, like I normally did while pregnant, to pee. It was Monday, July 2nd, and I felt so off I couldn't stand it. The only way to explain it is to say, I wanted out of my own skin. Rarely being one to call out of work, I laid back down and tried to get some more sleep. I couldn't. I tossed and turned for about an hour before I really started to feel the contractions. At first they only happened sporadically and I thought maybe I was in false labor. By 6AM I knew I had to wake Ryan and tell him what was going on. He immediately got up and started timing my contractions. In our Prepared Childbirth class they said not to go to the hospital until contractions happened every five minutes for at least 45 minutes.
The next 45 minutes were a blur. I hadn't packed a hospital bag, although I had set things aside that I knew I wanted to take. Ryan ran around the house collecting the little piles I had made all while timing my contractions, keeping me comfortable, playing with the dog and making us breakfast (they also told us not to come to the hospital hungry at our childbirth class--GREAT advise). At 6:30 Ryan came into our bedroom and said, "if you want to take a shower, do it now," which I did. By 7AM Ryan had the car packed up, the dog in his crate, and breakfast bagels wrapped perfectly in foil for traveling and eating. He helped me into the car and I made the first call of the day, to my boss. My boss had just returned from vacation, this would be his first day back at the office. I could tell that I woke him when I called. His wife must have known it was me because I could hear her yelling in the background, she snatched the phone from her husband and was all but hysterical while she told me how proud of us she was and that if we needed anything to call.
As Ryan drove (and eventually got us lost in the hood) I made calls to our families and sent texts to our friends. When I got Amie on the phone she said, "but I just left a few hours ago!" It was like she knew and was hanging around St. Pete waiting for it to happen. She told me that as she was driving home she thought, "now that I'm gone, Alli is going to go into labor." She was right, she always is (yes, Aim, I just admitted that you're always right on a public forum).
Between contractions, I ate my bagel and used the Maps app to get Ryan and I back on track to the hospital. As we passed a jobs recruiting center on a road I'd never been down before, I text the VP of Ops to ask if he knew about it. He kindly reminded me to STOP WORKING and to go have my baby.
We arrived at Bayfront Baby Place and quickly made it through the sign in process, as I had already filled out all the pre-admittance paperwork. It was quiet in the hospital. There was only one other family there when we arrived. A nurse met us in the admittance room and looked me over. I was already seven centimeters dilated. She told me she couldn't believe I made it that far at home and that if we would have waited any longer, Ryan would have been delivering the baby in our bed. I was in good spirits, despite the pain from the contractions. She asked on a scale from one to ten, ten being getting hit by a bus, how bad was my pain. I gave some smart ass response about how getting hit by a bus probably doesn't hurt all that bad because you're likely to immediately black out. After some laughs and light banter, I eventually settled on a "4," she was shocked that I didn't say "10" like everyone else.
She moved us into our labor room around 8:15 and assigned me another nurse who didn't think I was as funny. I don't remember her name but I remember Ryan and I made fun of her every time she left the room. I wanted to wait until the last possible second to get my epidural because I had a big, beautiful labor room that I wanted to use to my benefit, not just be stuck in bed. They took my blood to the lab and started me on an IV drip so when I was mentally ready for an epidural, my body would be physically ready too (more great advice from the childbirth class). The next couple hours were mostly spent in the bathroom, thats where I felt most comfortable. Ryan played DJ and reminisced on funny stories to keep my mind off the contractions; he only left my side to fill my Seminole Tervis with "ice chips" (I say "ice chips" because I didn't want that shit, although thats all they would let me have, Ryan kept sneaking me water because he's a rebel). In hind sight, he was the greatest labor partner of all times. I am so grateful to have him in my life, then and now.
There is part of child labor that even our class didn't prepare me for. A couple hours before the baby comes your hips move apart, let me repeat that YOUR HIPS MOVE APART! This was a game changer. It was the most terrible pain, ever. I would have much rather been hit by a bus at that point. I kept squeezing my hips together hoping to find some relief. Ryan couldn't stand watching this anymore so he got the nurse and she gave me some pain meds. This helped me calm down, let me take a short nap and turned me into an even bigger comedian--which Nurse Ratched really appreciated. Around 11AM it wore off and I could feel the pain in my hips again, by then I was ready for my epidural. Ryan told Ratched and she went to check with the lab to see if I was good to go.
Ratched came back with bad news, they still weren't done with my blood work. What the hell were they doing down there?! My blood sample was taken before 9AM and we had only seen one other preggo around! This was the moment when the longest 30 minutes of my life started. I cried, threw up from the pain, begged Ratched for relief and paced from my bed to the bathroom and back until I couldn't walk anymore. Eventually, Ratched got me to lay on my side, facing her while she held my hand. She told me I didn't need an epidural, that I was strong like her and that she had all four of her babies without one. She told me about her three sons and her daughter, which kept my mind off the pain for a little while. Finally, she told me if I really wanted an epidural, she was going to go make it happen, and she did.
Accompanied by a small army, Ratched returned to my labor room and introduced me to the woman who would give me the epidual. I had been crying--or trying to since Ratched left--no tears were left so I simply made a sobbing sound as they lifted me up and Ryan helped me move to the edge of the bed. Ryan kissed me and said the pain would be over soon. I didn't want him to leave but he was suppose to for the 15 minutes it took to administer the epidural. Ratched turned her head and let him stay. Soon I was laying back in the bed with no feeling from my waist down.
Around noon Ratched came into my room with a petite blonde nurse, Bobby, who would now be taking care of me. I couldn't believe that I was actually sad to see Ratched go, but she had grown on me. Fortunately, as soon as Bobby opened her mouth, I fell in love with her and forgot all about Ratched. Doctor Gilby (my second favorite of the four doctors at my OBGYN practice) came in and checked on me and told me she was here to deliver the baby. She told me "soon" we'd be pushing. After her and Bobby left the room, Ryan and I calmly held hands, listened to Coldplay and even took a couple of pictures.
Right before 1PM the "Dream Team," my nickname for Dr. Gilby and Bobby, returned and checked on my progress. Gilby said we were ready so Bobby sprang to action pulling lights out of the ceiling, rolling over a table covered with drawers and tools, pulling the privacy curtain closed and suiting herself and Gilby up into disposible clothes covers. Gilby gave me some instructions for pushing and just as I took a breath in to make my first attempt, we heard two pairs of feet running towards us. My dad and step mom flew through the curtains with flowers panting in unison, "did we miss it?!" Awkward. I never wanted my father to see me in any position even remotely close to that one. They quickly rushed back out of the room, as I had made it clear before I even went into labor that I only wanted Ryan by my side.
A few pushes, an "I can't do this" and a "Ryan, look!" later, I felt relief from all the strain on my body and immediately felt exhausted. At that very moment, everything went dark. I could hear, but not see for a few seconds, maybe even a whole minute. I didn't hear them declare the gender so I mustered up all my might and asked "a boy or a girl?" I heard Gilby say "it's a girl," and regained my sight just in time for Baby Girl Cox to be dropped into my arms. I remember the exact moment I saw her, partly because I reached over to the night stand without breaking my line of sight and grabbed my phone to snap a picture of her so I could never forget.
Born at 1:07 PM on Monday, July 2, 2012
Baby Girl Cox weighing in at 7 pounds, 2 ounces and measuring 19 inches in length
What felt like minutes later, but was realistically another hour or so, they moved Baby Girl Cox, Ryan and me to the room we'd stay in until we were discharged. Once we were comfortably settled in our room, family came in and out to visit. Later that evening, after everyone left and a tired Ryan had fallen to sleep in the chair next to me, I held Baby Girl Cox, just staring at her while she slept. I never took my eyes off her, all night I watched her sleep, never once putting her down until Ryan woke up the next morning and I realized I hadn't slept at all.
Ryan and I left the hospital with Mila Joan Cox on Wednesday, July 4, 2012.
♥A
*Kourtney Kardashian ended up naming her daughter Penelope.
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