Maribel Jane Bruns is here!

So before I forget Maribel's birth story, I want to write it down (although this one might be hard to forget!).

I called in early Wednesday morning for my scheduled induction as I was 5 days past due. The hospital said they didn't have room yet and would call me when I could come in. It was nice because I could spend some time with Lily before heading off to the hospital. They called about 10:30 and said to make my way in. So we dropped Lily of at Nana's house to play/spend the night there, said goodbye very tearfully, and headed to the hospital. We got to the hospital about 11:30, got registered and all hooked up in the room.

Dr. Wilkes (my OB) came in at 12:30 and broke my water. During that process the baby's heartrate dropped so I had to lay on my side, have oxygen, get extra iv fluids to bring it back up. Then I waited for about an hour to make sure the heartrate was good and after that they let me get up to walk to try and get contractions going.

By 3:30 I hadn't had many so we made the call to go ahead and start pitocin. I started having contractions at that point and at 6:00pm I knew I needed an epidural. I was in unbearable extreme pain. At that point I was 6 cm dilated. And of course the anesthesiologist was in the OR at the moment so it took a half hour before he got there. They were getting me all set up on the side of the bed to do the epidural but right before he gave it to me the baby's heartrate dropped drastically again and it wasn't coming back up with just laying on my side. At that point there was a bunch of people in the room and it was chaotic and scary! A nurse had me get on all 4's in the bed (while in extreme pain!), was stimulating the baby's head with her hand, oxygen, and more fluids. Then I was already at 8cm. They finally got the heartrate up but because my blood pressure runs so low and was even lower at that point they were concerned about doing an epidural. So the doctor checked me again and I was already 10cm and ready to push - AHH! I just kept saying/screaming "I can't do this without an epidural!" The anesthesiologist was able to quickly give me a shot in the spinal fluid for the pain (I think it's called a spinal block) but because I immediately started having to push the pain medicine really didn't have that much time to kick in. Thankfully it only took about 4 contractions of pushing and she was out at 7:09pm! I still can't even believe I did childbirth with no epidural. And let me tell you if we have another one at some point, I will be asking sooner for the epidural.

They told me after the birth that Maribel's heartrate dropped so much at the end because I probably had a rapid descent. That meant that the baby came down really quickly and I dilated really quickly (thus the quick jump from 6cm to 10cm). No one can describe that awful pain that you have near the end of labor. I didn't think I was going to be able to push - the pain and extreme pressure seemed unbearable.

When they laid her up on my chest after she came out it felt so incredibly wonderful. That feeling of seeing your new little baby for the first time is so beautiful. And knowing that I had just pushed her out with no epidural made it even more incredible I guess because of the relief I felt!

Maribel Jane Bruns weighed in at 6 pounds 13 ounces on July 14th at 7:09 pm. She was 20 inches long and so beautiful with wonderful dark hair just like her sister's. We're so happy that she is a part of our family!