Finley Family: The Birth.

I'm going to try my hardest to get as much detail in this as possible but because it was our first baby and I was so nervous and not really sure what to expect I

didn't keep very good track of times or anything like that. So bear with me!

So a little pre-birth information.. At Ali's 20 week ultrasound she was only in the 6th percentile so we were a litle worried. The doctor was talking about potentially delivering early if she didn't start growing faster. We had to get an ultrasound once a month and eventually she started growing better and got to a good percentage :-) I was referred to Dr. Woods by my sister in law Amy, he's LDS and he was awesome! His office was in CDA so we had to travel about an hour for every

appointment but it was SO worth it because he was amazing and everyone there was awesome. Unfortunately he was taking is whole family two Hawaii for three weeks at the end of November so he told me he wouldn't be able to deliver. I was bummed at first and after meeting a couple of the other doctors in the same office we fell in love with Dr. Meltzer! She was SO nice and took her time in every appointment. She let me call the shots and was very supportive. And we will definitly be going back to her from now on :-) Ok... now on to the birth :-)

Alice's due date was November 28th, 2010. About a week before the 28th I noticed that I wasn't feeling her move as much as usual. She was normally a VERY active baby.So at my next checkup I mentioned it to the doctor and she listened to her heartbeat and we did another non-stress test (which I had been getting at every appointment) She seemed to be fine and was kicking for the doctor so she wasn't too worried. But she let us know that we had the option of inducing if we wanted because it was only a week before the due date. We opted to get induced that Monday the 26th. Those next days went by SO SLOW! And I was still noticing Ali wasn't kicking as much as usual. I packed and repacked my hospital bag and the diaper bag multiple times and drove Alex crazy by repeating my special instructions on who I wanted and didn't want in the room, when I wanted them there and when I wanted them out. I was very specific! :-) We had instructions to call the hospital on the 26th to make sure they had a room open before we drove all the way there. At 8pm they were completely full and they asked if we wanted them to call us when they had room. So finally around 12am (neither of us had slept) we got a call saying there was room and if we wanted we could go check in, OR we could wait till the morning. But the head nurse said if we waited till morning we might be fighting for rooms again because there was quite a few scheduled C-sections and not a whole lot of rooms for unscheduled births. So I jumped in the shower real quick, we got dressed, loaded
the car and headed for the hospital! We were so tired but so excited! When we got to the hospital it was so quite and empty! We checked in and went up to the birthing center. All the nurses were kind of confused about why we were there at 1:30 in the morning to check in but we got put into a very nice room! It was like a hotel not a hospital. I changed into my gown, got my IV and me and baby got hooked up to the monitors. Because Dr. Meltzer wasn't there, there was some confusion about
how I was getting induced. After the nurses called the Doctor they decided to give me some medicine to soften my cervix before giving me the Pitocin. I believe they were going to use Cervidil but they were out.... ha-ha. So I'm pretty sure they used Prepidil. By the time I had gotten to the hospital I had started to get contractions so technically I had gone into labor by myself but we still wanted to get things going faster. They gave the Prepidil at about 5:30 I believe... My contractions
weren't super strong at that point and I still was depending on the monitor to know when I was getting the contractions. They checked my cervix about every hour and that was the WORST part of the WHOLE birth. It hurt SO bad! I knew I wanted the epidural for sure after the first time they checked me. My contractions started getting pretty strong and I started trying different positions to lessen the pain. The thing that helped most was sitting in the rocking chair with my feet up rocking back and forth. My nurse was AMAZING and kept me very informed and comfortable. Later that morning they told me I could order breakfast and I was thrilled! I was starving. So I ordered eggs, bacons, toast and other yummy stuff. Sometime in there (I can't remember if it was before or after I ordered) they broke my water (OUCH!!) weirdest feeling ever. Immediately after they broke my water I knew something was wrong. The feeling in the room just changed. I think my mom said something like "Is it supposed to be that color?" and I immediately started thinking about everything I read about the baby having a bowel movement in the womb and the complications it caused. The doctor said that Ali not only had one bowel movement but she probably had more than that because of the color of the fluid or it had just been a while since the bowel movement. It's supposed to be clear and it was very brown. I asked what this all meant and she told me it would be ok and that we were going to have to have a few more doctors in the room when she was born and that I wasn't going to get to hold her right away. They had to have like 4 more doctors in there to clean out her throat and make sure she didn't swallow anything. I was kind of freaking out at that point but the nurse did a good job of comforting me. I REALLY only wanted Alex, my mom and the nurse and doctor in the room when I delivered so I was feeling a little off put by the fact my well thought out and discussed plans were being altered. But I knew that it was for Ali's safety so I started calming down. They put my catheter
in... and got me ready to get the epidural. When my food came they informed me I couldn't eat it (WHAT?!) because I was getting the epidural. So Alex got my bacon...lame. They prepped me for the epidural and the doctor came in and walked me through what he was going to be doing. I sat up in the bed and leaned forward sticking my spine out as far as possible. I stupidly turned around
and saw the needled he was going to use... stupid! And immediately starting shaking uncontrollably. Alex had to hold my legs down so they'd stop shaking. And of course while I was supposed to be holding super still so the guy wouldn't paralyze me I got a bad contraction... that was the 2nd worse thing about my whole labor experience.Getting the epidural. But then again the BEST thing about the labor was getting the epidural. Best decision EVER! I think I told the Doctor he was 'My Favorite'
after I got it ha-ha :-) It didn't make me groggy at all like people say, just kept the pain away. I still felt the pressure from the contractions, just no pain! Awesome. After the epidural I was able to sleep and just take it easy. Alex's parents came and visited for a while. It seemed like every time I fell asleep the nurse would come in and check me or have to adjust my monitors. I was getting more and more tired and all I wanted to do was sleep! The day went by soooo sloooow. I wasn't dilating very fast and I was getting anxious. Later that afternoon Ali's heart rate starting dropping a TON every time I had a contraction and the doctor said that there was a very good chance that the cord was wrapped around her neck.. more bad news?! Seriously!? That didn't help my nerves AT ALL. Around 6:30-ish they had me start pushing. They pushed a button on the wall and the huge piece of the ceiling came down and revealed a ton of bright lighted shining right-on me. Awkward. My mom had one leg and Alex had the other. I started pushing and after several pushes the nurse told me I needed to stop pushing because the Doctor was delivering another baby and Ali was coming fast. Then she said that they might have to have the mid wife come in and deliver because they thought Ali was coming before the Doctor could get back. LUCKILY the doctor got there just in time. I pushed like twice with the doctor and she told the nurse to go get all the other doctors in the room. They put an oxygen mask on me because Alice's heart rate was going waaaay down. I kept taking the mask off because they didn't tell me how low her heart rate was getting with every contraction. Finally they told me and that just made me push harder so I could get her out and to the doctors.As soon as my mom said she saw the hair I pushed harder than ever! I wanted to see my baby! I pushed and pushed and was able to see Ali's head!! Pushed again and Dr. Meltzer unwrapped the cord from around Ali's neck, Alex cut the cord and one of the doctors came and took her over to the table to suction out her
little lungs. I was SOBBING and so was Alex. I don't think I've ever cried so hard in my life. I was scared and excited all at once. They told me she was fine and Alex and a nurse washed her off and then brought her to me. I couldn't believe she was all mine!! I had waited so long for her to get here and she was perfect. I held her skin to skin for a while as instructed by the doctors before the family could come in and see her. I felt awesome until the epidural wore off and then I started hurting
bad! Let me tell you, the gift of life is a wonderful thing but its also a nasty thing. But I can't wait to do it again! We were moved into another very comfy room and we spent the night and the whole next day there and left the night of the 28th.

I can't even express how much joy Alice Ann brings into our lives!! We love her SO much ands he couldn't be any more perfect!