Madelyn's birth

Well, since I have a few minutes I thought I would write about her birth, in case anyone is still reading this and wants to know.
I was induced at 3am on Tuesday, June 30. I went in to the hospital and they hooked up the pitocin and started the IV's around 4am. At 7:30 am, my doctor came in and checked me and I was still 3-4 cm. My contractions finally started at that time and then I just layed in bed and waited. Around 9:30-10:00, one of the residents came in and broke my water and checked me again - still 3-4 cm. Matt and I just hung out in our room, playing cards for awhile until the contractions got stronger. Around 11, I decided to get some pain medicine so the nurse gave me some stadol, and IV med. It made me a little dizzy and really hot so I decided to try to sleep before it wore off. My best friend, Sam, came to the hospital after her class and just hung out with Matt and I. Then, at 2:30pm, I decided enough was enough and got the epidural. That made everything better, at least for awhile. My mom and dad and grandma came to see us around 4 that afternoon and just hung out.
At 5:30, my nurse checked me and I was 5-6 cm! Yay for change! I was getting nervous that I would have to have a c-section since I hadn't made any progress throughout the day. My nurse was excited about that too (she was the nurse that trained me for my job there - she was awesome!) Then at 6 pm, the resident came back in to insert an IUPC (intrauterine pressure catheter) to get an accurate meaurement of my contractions. I was 6 cm for sure at that time, but my contractions were barely anything, which is why it took so long to dilate.
7pm rolled around and that meant shift change. I had the same nurse that night that I had when I was admitted and she was great! Mom and dad and grandma left to get dinner and Matt's mom came to sit with us. The nurse kept having me change positions to see if that would help and at some point, she checked me and I was 7-8cm. I was still getting the pitocin and of course the contractions still weren't that strong. However, around 9pm, I was feeling the contractions more and having a lot of pain. I pressed the button for the epidural and after 10 minutes, I had to press it again. I told my nurse and she called anesthesia to come give me some extra medicine. When the anesthesia nurse came in, she realized that my epidural had become disconnected so that's why I was in pain! She fixed that and then at 10:30, I was 10 cm! My doctor wanted to wait another hour just to let the baby get lower so at 11:50pm, I started pushing. I pushed for 50 minutes and at 12:40 am, on Wednesday July 1, Madelyn Grace Douglass was born! She weighed in at 8lbs, 11 oz and 19 inches long. It was the most painful thing I have ever felt but she was so worth it! Matt was the most amazing dad ever. He held my hand as we waited for things to happen, he gave me ice chips when I was pushing, and he constantly was giving me kisses and telling me how good I was doing. I don't think I would have been able to get through it without him.
I had some bleeding issues so Madelyn was taken to the scale and weighed and given her shots. Matt was with her as I wasbeing worked on. I think that hurt more than the delivery. The dr. had to get the bleeding to slow down and eventually it did, after about another 20 minutes or so.
Once I was cleaned up, parents were allowed back in the room and I have never seen someone so happy as my dad was that night. He could only stay a few minutes since he had to get to work at 6 that morning but he was excited. My mom and Matt's mom stayed a little longer and then left around 2am. Matt and I spent time alone with our new baby and I was able to feed her and then get something to eat my self. We moved to the post partum room around 3am and both fell asleep right away.
The next couple days were busy with visitors and learning about our new daughter but I wouldn't trade any of it. We had an amazing experience and now have a beautiful daughter!