Monday morning, I called the doctors office to schedule a follow up appointment for the week. The doctor told me to schedule one for a week from the Friday prior so I was going to do that. But they wanted me to come in sooner, like that day. So I went in at around 11AM and it turned out that I had a fever of 101.5. The doctor told me that I was headed back to the hospital and that after everything I have been through, I would most likely have the baby that day. So I called Ralph to tell him what the doctor said and he came home to take me to the hospital.
When we arrived at the hospital at around 1:30 PM, the doctor on call came in to see me and after evaluating me, told me that I was going to have the baby that day. She said that they were going to induce me with Pitocin so they were ordering my epidural right away. Boy, was that scary. The worst part of the epidural was the fear of not knowing what they were doing. It didn't hurt really at all.
After the epidural was set, I was feeling nothing except a little pressure when the contractions would peak. It was definitely easier than I thought it was going to be. I was only allowed ice chips and I should have learned from prior experience that I should have eaten something before we went. Time went by and each time they checked me, I still had not progressed any further than 2 centimeters. Also, when the contractions became really strong, Isabella's heartrate would drop so they would take me off of the Pitocin for a while and then start it back up slowly. This went on for hours. By about 10 PM, I had finally progressed to about 7 centimeters. But after that, she wasn't tolerating the contractions. They took me off of the pitocin for good and by about midnight, they decided that she was not going to be able to come via natural delivery so we were going to have to have a cesarean section. They prepared me for the c-section and Ralph as well (mentally) and by about 1:30am, we were off to the operating room.
Ralph was by my side the entire time. They asked me if I could feel them tickle my feet. I could not feel a thing from my belly down. I couldn't move at all. So they started the c-section. It was weird being alert the entire time. Ralph watched the whole thing. He asked me at one point if I felt what they were doing. All I felt was my body being rocked back and forth. It was them manuveuring everything in order to get her out. Then I heard "1, 2, 3" and then them say that we had a girl. That was at 2:35 AM on March 30. It seemed like forever to hear her cry but she did. She definitely had strong lungs on her (just like her mom). Ralph got to hold her as soon as they wrapped her up and I got my first glance at my beautiful little Bella.
I didn't get to hold her until about 5 AM that morning. But once I did, it was all over for me. She had my heart when they told me that I was pregnant. And she always will.