Friday, November 03, 2006

Ariel's Birth Story

I had a doctors appointment on Tuesday Oct.3. Dr. Martinelli checked me and I was dilated to a 2 and was 70% effaced. We had set an induction date for the 12th but we both kinda thought that I wouldn't make it until then. On Wednesday (the 4th) Dan and I went out to dinner to celebrate my birthday and I had ordered the eggplant parmasan because I had heard that it was supposed to ripen your cervix and get you prepared for labor. Well I guess it worked because right after dinner Dan and I went shopping and as we were walking around, I felt Ariel drop. I had labor pains until 3:00 in the morning on Thursday and was just VERY uncomfortable. On Thursday during the day I decided that I would take Caleb to the new mall that they had just built in Rogers and just try to walk Ariel out of me...fortunatley my labor progressed more!

On Friday the 6th I ended up going to see Dr. Martinelli again to see that I had indeed progressed more. They hooked me up to a Non-Stress Test and I was in early stages of labor and was dilated to a 3. She gave me the option to either go to the hospital and be induced right away, go home and come to the hospital later that evening or just wait it out until it came on its own. Well I chose to go home and then be induced that night.

Dan and I got to the hospital at 8:30 Friday night. We had to go through the emergency doors because it was after hours and get checked in. At 9:30 they had me all hooked up and then they broke my water. At that time I was a 4 centimeter. At 12:30 a.m. I got my epidural and they started pitocin. At 2:30 they came in and checked me and I was at a 6. They had me turn to my right side and when they did that Ariel's heart rate dropped. So, they had me get on my back and then they turned down the epidural and the pitocin...and never turned it back up!!

Thirty minutes later I was starting to feel nausous and was feeling a lot of pressure so the nurse came in and checked me and in thirty minutes I had gone from a 6 to a 10!! I started pushing and about 45 minutes later she was born. I felt pretty much everything but the worst part was really the feeling like I was going to puke while I was pushing. The experience was incredible and I wouldn't have changed it for anything. My labor only lasted 6 hours compared to 17 with Caleb.

Ariel was born on October 7th at 3:39 am. She was 7 lbs 10 oz and was 20 and a half inches long. This was taken right after they broke my water. I was meaning to get a picture of me in the beautiful hospital gown before they sat me in bed but it didn't happen. Just minutes after she was born...she was just wailing poor thing!


This is when Dan brought her to me after they had gotten her all cleaned up.

Ariel was born on the night of a full moon and there were 14 babies born that night. If you look in the background you can see all the babies that were in the nursery. Ariel is the one in the front.

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