Baby Rouse is Here!!!!

I should have known from my urgent nesting/baking extravaganza and recent position change! On Wednesday night about twenty minutes after laying down for bed my water broke. I wasn't exactly sure that my water had broke so I got up and called my mom and the midwife. Of course, my mom decided that it was time for her to start making the commute to Illinois (at 10:30pm). The midwife suggested that I lay back down and go to bed since I was not having any contractions and call her when they started or by 8am if they had not. Of course, I could not fall asleep at all and laid in bed the entire night wide awake. We called the midwife back at 6am and she suggested starting to drive into the city since I was not contracting at all and statistics show that if you don't start contracting six hours after your water has broke, it is not going to happen on its own. We made it to triage around 9:30am and verified that my water had broke. At 11:00am (14 hours after rupture) I was induced with Pitocin and contractions started shortly after. I soon realized how important sleeping the night prior would have been!! Rocking back and forth really helped with the contractions and when I reached 5 centimeters, I was allowed to hop in the tub. I was not a huge fan and only stayed in for about 30 minutes. The water wasn't warm enough and I was soon freezing and shaking. Unfortunately it also didn't help with progressing and I only dilated one centimeter in about four hours. After not sleeping for around 30 hours and not being allowed to eat all day, I requested an epidural around 9:00pm on Thursday night. The midwife agreed that it was probably a good idea since I had been in induced labor for about nine hours and only progressed to six centimeters. The also really want to see you deliver within 24 hours of your water breaking in order to prevent infection. Oh man, that epidural was AMAZING!!! I was finally able to relax and just lay there instead of swaying back and forth in a coma-like state. I quickly progressed to being 100% effaced and 10 centimeters dilated and was able to start pushing around 1:30am. At 3:42 am, Baby Rouse was welcomed into the world, 30 hours after my water breaking!!!

Introducing...

LAUREN PAIGE ROUSE
6 lbs. 15 oz, 2o.5 inches long
Born at 3:42am on Sept. 4th, 2009 at 37 weeks, 6 days
More pictures, my thoughts on labor, and being a mommy later!!