Thursday, January 8th in the afternoon I went to the doctor for my weekly exam. My OB/GYN told me that I was 4cm dilated and 50% effaced, and that baby girl could arrive at anytime. She particularly warned Greg and I to be prepared that she could even come that evening! As we were all anticipating a huge blizzard that night, she warned us to be sure to pack blankets, towels, and string in the car in case we got caught in the snow! On the way home that afternoon the snow began to fall. At around 7:30pm the contractions began, but for hours they were inconsistent 5 minutes apart, 15 minutes apart, 10 minutes apart, so around 10pm we called the OB/GYN and she advised us to wait until they were consistently 10 minutes apart. At 11pm the contractions were slightly more consistent so we decided to head to the hospital. There was already around 6 inches of snow on the ground and the visibility was low, so Greg was feeling very nervous as he packed blankets, towels, string, and laboring me into the minivan. He drove carefully and we arrived at the hospital around midnight.
After a few hours I was able to get an epidural to help with the intense pain, but unfortunately it was spotty so I still felt a lot of pain with each contraction. Around 3:15am I told the nurses I felt like I needed to push, but I was only 8cm dilated and my water hadn’t completely broken. The doctors quickly decided to break my water because I was in so much pain, so they pulled back the sheet to discover that Hannah was nearly crowning! They were shocked that in a matter of minutes I was now 10cm dilated, water broken, and ready to push baby girl out. I pushed through just two contractions which were just a few minutes apart, and Hannah arrived at 3:27am on Friday, January 9th weighing 7lbs 14oz and 19.5in long.
After a few hours I was able to get an epidural to help with the intense pain, but unfortunately it was spotty so I still felt a lot of pain with each contraction. Around 3:15am I told the nurses I felt like I needed to push, but I was only 8cm dilated and my water hadn’t completely broken. The doctors quickly decided to break my water because I was in so much pain, so they pulled back the sheet to discover that Hannah was nearly crowning! They were shocked that in a matter of minutes I was now 10cm dilated, water broken, and ready to push baby girl out. I pushed through just two contractions which were just a few minutes apart, and Hannah arrived at 3:27am on Friday, January 9th weighing 7lbs 14oz and 19.5in long.