My next weekly appointment was scheduled for August 8th, but the morning of August 7th I woke up and things felt a little off. I hadn't felt her moving around much the night before and didn't feel a thing that morning... Her two favorite times to work out (or whatever she was doing in there). So I called the office and they had me come in for a nonstress test.
I have to admit, the NST was great. I sat there for 15 minutes just listening to baby girls heartbeat (which was totally fine) and feeling her kick me in the ribs to let me know how crazy I had been. Dr. W came in to check me out (in lieu of my Friday appt, since I was already there) and offered to do a membrane sweep when I asked about ways to edge things along. I agreed, and he completed that (rather uncomfortable) procedure and sent me back to work.
Around 1:00 I started feeling pretty regular contractions. These were different than the 'tightening' feeling from the Braxton hicks I had been getting all week. These ones ached in my back and wrapped around my front, especially lower. I started timing them, and they were lasting around 30 sec each, 5-10 minutes apart. I gave Brad a heads up that things might be happening, and I got back to work.
By 3:00, contractions were 30-45 seconds long and closer to 5 minutes apart consistently, so we called it the real deal and headed home. There, we waited out the next 8 1/2 hours of contractions by walking, talking, cleaning, resting, and watching Friends, Pitch Perfect, and NFL preseason football. The contractions got longer and closer together until around 11:30 when they were just 3 minutes apart and lasting a minute each (and getting pretty painful!) it was time to hit the road to the hospital!
We got to the hospital right around midnight and they checked us in right away. Our nurse, Andrea, was fantastic. We told her we were hoping to make it without an epidural and she thought I could do it. I got checked out and Dr. W said I was 4, maybe 5 cm dilated. He broke my water, which he said would help speed things along.
Once my water was broken, things started moving much faster and much more painful. I tried moving around as much as possible, but the contractions were so painful! Eventually I caved (and convinced Brad that I was serious) and got a dose of fentanyl to help mellow the pain for 30 min. It was much needed and gave me the little rest that I needed to keep going.
After the 30 minutes, the pain medicine wore off and I was back to feeling horrible pain. I begged for the epidural and out of nowhere felt the need to push. brad told me not to (like we learned in class), but the urge was so overwhelming I couldn't help it. He grabbed the nurse and they checked me again and it was time! The next thing I remember, she said to someone 'go get Dr. W... Quickly.'
Pushing was hard, but only lasted 20 minutes (yeaaaa. I'm lucky and my body was pretty much made for this). Brad said it was hard seeing how close I was so many times to popping her out before I would back off, but before I knew it I heard her cry! The whole experience was so surreal and still doesn't feel completely real.
They put her on my chest and it all hit me. She was mine and we made her and get to keep her forever and watch her grow. We were a family of three, and my heart was so full of love and disbelief that I still can't completely comprehend.
So yeah, Emily Lucia Costella joined us at 3:29am on August 8. She weighed a whopping 8 lb 11 oz and was 20.25" long and absolutely perfect in every way. Hopefully later today or tomorrow I'll actually write up what having her in our lives has looked like, but for now just know that our little angel baby is the best thing that ever happened to me and Brad. We are so in love.
Our first family portrait
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