It was the morning after my due date, Friday, September 14, 2018. Nicolina had dropped about 2 weeks ago, & I had already lost my mucus plug. I woke up at 3 am, feeling as though I had peed me pants slightly (not surprising in these last weeks). So I waddled downstairs to the restroom, where I found nothing too out of the ordinary for a 9 month pregnant gal, so back up the steps I waddled. 5:45 am rolled around, the time Joe gets up for work and I felt as though I REALLY peed my pants this time.... let me just leave it at "discharge". Again, I had already lost my mucus plug 2 weeks prior, so I knew it couldn't be that. So we headed to the hospital. Joe snapped the above photo of me walking into Magee Women's Hospital, with a gorgeous sun rise in the background, just in case this was the last time we'd be out in the world, just us two.
We sat in triage, patiently waiting to be seen. We didn't get our hopes up too much that she was coming, but I was suspicious, & surprisingly calm as a cucumber & in no discomfort besides the typical 9 month pregnant discomforts.
Weeks earlier I tested positive for GBS (Group B streptococcus, a bacterial infection). My doctor instructed me that this was nothing to get worked up about, that I would simply be put on antibiotics while in labor. She did mention that if my water broke, to go in, instead of waiting around until my contractions got stronger and closer together.
In triage we learned that my water did in fact break, that her head was so far down that it was blocking the fluid from completely rushing out. The triage nurse told us we would be leaving the hospital with our baby!
Shortly after getting settled in our birthing suite, they started my Pitocin. I asked for my epidural about an hour or two later when I started to feel uncomfortable. Unfortunately after waiting another hour for it to kick in, I had to get a second epidural! The epidurals didn't hurt, they were just terrifying knowing what was happening in your back. The second was horrible because I was contracting fairly frequently & STRONG, but trying to sit still in an upright position wasn't easy, or comfortable!
Once the second epidural kicked in, I was able to relax. We had a full house of family and friends anxiously awaiting our baby girl's arrival! They made this time pass quickly for me, however, it couldn't have felt longer for Joe! He was stress eating MAJOR!
The party continued through the night, until about 1 am, when my nurse suggested for Joe & I to get some sleep! At about 4:45 am, I got checked. I was feeling lots of pressure, none that was too much though, because she had woken me up to check my progress. She said, "her head is right there, it's time to push!" The nurse woke Joe up & it was the quickest and happiest I have ever witnessed him awake!
As I started my practice pushes, my mother-in-law and Joe's cousin strolled in the room to check the progress on everything, because no one had told them it was baby time! So we shooed them out of the room! I was so embarrassed! LOL
I pushed for about a half hour, as the news station broadcasted Hurricane Florence, and at 5:28 am Nicolina Rae was here!
During the last pushes, the nurse had taken my temperature and I heard a phone call being made. I didn't know what was said but I had a bad feeling. I had to stay calm. I knew this same exact scenario happened to Maiya, I knew Naomi had to spend time in the NICU, but I knew everything had been okay with them. This kept me calm, with an idea of what was happening. They placed Nicolina on my chest for a short moment, took her back and cleaned her up. Getting the mucus out of her throat was a terrifying thing to watch, I was laying legs spread open, helplessly watching. They had wheeled in an incubator, and a few extra nurses were in the room. They told us she was going down to the NICU for observation. It was so hard to process this all after just giving birth. I asked if Joe could hold her for a second, as he anxiously awaited this moment his whole life! I've never seen my husband cry, except for in this moment. My heart couldn't have been any fuller.
Joe got to immediately go down to the NICU to see our daughter after she was examined and omitted. I stayed up in my birthing suite for the longest 3 hours recovering. Not the way I pictured the hours after welcoming our sweet baby girl, alone in a room, cell phone dead with not even a photo to look at of my daughter, with my family able to lay eyes on my daughter longer than I had. Yet, there was still a peacefulness as the sun shined through the window & I finally closed my eyes for some rest.
After the epidural wore off, they wheeled me down to the NICU on the way to my room to see Nicolina. When I laid my eyes on her, laying there, adorable as can be, it finally hit me that she was here.
She spent a week in the NICU getting a full dose of preventative antibiotics. Leaving the hospital without our daughter was the hardest thing. We felt empty, going home to our dogs with no baby and no belly. I can tell you, I'm not sure how I would have been so strong if it weren't for Joe and for Maiya. We were best friends, but this really made us so much closer experiencing something like this. I didn't even have to speak words, I just knew Maiya knew what I was going through and I questioned a million times in my head "how in the world did she do this 4 months earlier?"
The day we got to pick Nicolina up, I don't think Joe and I slept a wink! We knew we would regret that, but we didn't care! We went to a very early breakfast at Ritter's Diner, our last date as just Joe and Lydia, we were so excited to bring home our nug!
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