All Natural For the Price of an Epidural: Camille's Arrival

So.....Camille Christine Nielson joined our family on April 29th. I chose to be induced the day I was 39 weeks. I was dilated to 4 cm and more than ready to be done with pregnancy. On April 28th I got a call from the hospital letting me know I was up to 1st on the induction list due to other women having their babies, so I should arrive at the hospital at 7 AM. Inductions are kind of funny. It's weird choosing potential birthdays for your kid. I resisted the induction with Elise, but finally gave in at the end and then I kind of liked it. No stress of wondering when the baby will come- shower, pack everything, have babysitters all ready, and go to the hospital all calm and orderly. I may have waited longer on the induction this time if Elise's birthday wasn't on May 7th. I wanted to keep Elise and this baby's birthdays as far apart as possible. Is that dumb? Probably.

Anyway, back to Camille's birth. I decided I was going to try waiting to get an epidural and see how it went, but I wasn't very committed to it.  I got hooked up to monitors/IV's/pitocin with my water broken by 8:20 AM. My nurse spent the next 1/2 hour trying to get the right balance of pitocin because my body is really sensitive to it and the baby's heart rate was dropping with the stronger contractions. An hour after the pitocin started I began to feel uncomfortable. Around 9:50 I had my nurse check my progress and I was just at 5.5 cm. I told her I wanted to get an epidural. The pain wasn't unbearable but I knew if the contractions were close together I would be struggling. I figured I had a while until the baby came since I had only progressed 1.5 cm in an hour. From that point on I was done with any pain and wanted it over. Well during the 20 minutes that the anesthesiologist took to arrive I struggled through more and more painful contractions. I was at just over 6 cm before he attempted to place the needle. It took 10 or 15 minutes, but it felt like forever trying to sit still through contractions. I was so anxious to get the relief of the epidural. When I laid back down I was at 7 cm. At that point I was completely checked out mentally. I was bracing against each contraction and holding my breath. I had no control over the yelling/moaning coming out of my mouth. A couple minutes later I had what I call a super-contraction, during which I yelled super loud and a nurse came running in from the hall. I knew at that point I looked like a crazy lady but I didn't really care. My nurse checked me and I was at 10 cm. So I went from 5.5 cm to 10 cm in a little over a 1/2 hour. It took another 10 minutes for my doctor to arrive. Two contractions and 5 pushes later Camille arrived at 10:38 AM. She was smaller than I expected at just 7 pounds, 7 ounces and 19.5 inches. And I did it without an epidural because it didn't have time to kick in, but I still get to pay for the epidural since everything was in place if we'd had another 10 minutes to wait. 

Held by mom and dad shortly after birth

Looking exactly like newborn Daniel in this picture

After a bath
Camille was immediately calm. Barely cried. She and I had a calm stay in the hospital. She slept well and we got lots of mother-baby bonding. My recovery was the fastest and least painful I've had. Daniel didn't stay in the hospital with us, which he has done with our other kids. I was feeling good enough that I could easily get up and around. Daniel did come and visit with us a lot while Hillary and Ben watched the girls- thanks Salazars!

Day 1                                          Day 2
The most frenzied times were when Daniel brought the older girls to visit. Sadie was SO excited about all things baby. She wanted to know everything about everything. She wanted to hold Camille as much as possible. The first day Hillary came with the girls and Sadie lectured her about being careful with Camille. Elise was a little sick so we tried to keep her away.



We headed home Wednesday night after the big girls were in bed. The time in the hospital was so calm that I almost stayed there for the full 48 hours but that dang hospital bed is so uncomfortable I wanted my own bed.