Clare Elizabeth Duran

Labor Story: (Yes it's LONG, it wont hurt my feelings if you just skip down to the pictures! :) )
I woke up the morning of January 19th in labor.  I had been having back pain all night and when I woke up contractions were coming every 5-7 minutes apart.  It hurt.  We spent the morning getting ourselves ready to have a baby.  I wasn't completely convinced that it was time for a few hours because I had started going into labor a couple times with Bella and it had always stopped.  I made sure Bella and I were packed up and ready to go, got myself showered and ready,  put away some laundry, and did some cleaning, all the while in lots of pain.  Thomas finished up some projects he was working on (including putting the cradle together) and I think he even started working on our taxes.  We called my mom and dad in Utah around 11 and told them it was time.  They started getting ready to leave and I think left about 2.  We called Jennifer, who so kindly volunteered to take care of Bella while we were in the hospital, and she came to get her around 1.  I cried when she left.  While I was so excited for this baby to come, I was sad at the loss of our family of 3.  Is that normal?  Anyway,  I had these contractions ALL DAY LONG.  Once we had everything set Thomas and I started walking.  We walked around and around our neighborhood stopping at home to use the restroom.  No change.  Then we walked down the road to McDonalds (so I could use the restroom) and back home.  I was ready to get things moving and they weren't!  On our way home we called the hospital and told them I had been having contractions 5-7 minutes apart all day.  They told me to come in and get checked, especially since I hadn't felt the baby move for a few hours. 

Big Belly At the hospital 1/19/11

We got there about 7pm and I got settled in Triage.  The baby was fine and the Dr came in to check me.  He said I was dilated to a ONE. Oh the disappointment!  After laboring that whole day I was still where I was at my Drs appointment a couple days before.  Ugg.  So they sent me home with a shot of Demerol (which did nothing but made me sleepy in between contractions) and told me to come back when contractions were 3-5 minutes apart, lasting for 1 minute, for an hour.  After the exam, the contractions started getting closer together- 3 to 5 minutes apart.  Since I live 25 minutes from the hospital, we took our time getting home.  We stopped at Jamba juice and walked around Target.  I must have been quite the sight with my big pregnant belly and having contractions every few minutes.  Every time one would start I would find an aisle to hide in and hold on to Thomas for dear life.  We got home and stayed there for about 20 minutes.  By that time my contractions were right about 2 minutes apart and I was past ready for my epidural.  We got back to the hospital around 11:30pm (I know because we were charged for that DAY...a whole half hour of it) and got checked in.  They checked me for the second time that night and told me I was just a little more than a one still-they could maybe call it a 2.  I could not believe it.  Because of my lack in progress they would not give me an epidural.  They got me set up in a room and told me they'd check me again in 2 hours.  I honestly couldn't even fathom doing this for that much longer!  Fast forward about 2 hours and a lot of pain later...Thomas told me "when the next person comes in tell her you have to have an epidural right now!"  So a nurse walked in to check my monitor and Thomas started whispering "Say it! Say it!"  haha They had told me no epidural so many times I guess I just didn't think it was going to happen.  So, I told the nurse I needed an epidural right now, and that I just could not do it any more! She told me the anesthesiologist would come in in 10 minutes.  Hallelujah!  It was about time.  I made it through the last 10 minutes, through the long needle, and got my epidural.  AS SOON as I got the epidural, the nurse came back in to check on me.  I was at a 9!  In the last two hours I had dilated from "maybe a 2" to a 9!  Crazy.  The problem was, though, that Clare was not dropping.  We waited a couple more hours to see if the contractions would help her make her down into my pelvis, but it wasn't working.  The Dr came back in and said we have two options. 1- Break my water with a pin-prick size hole.  In this case there was a 50/50 chance that she would drop.  If she didn't, the umbilical cord would, which would be very dangerous for me and especially for the baby.  We would have to rush to the OR for an emergency C-section.  or 2- Have a controlled C-section right now.  We opted for #2.  This birth was an attempt at a Vbac (Vaginal birth after cesarean) so I was really hoping to have this baby naturally for a number of reasons.  However the pros outweighed the cons and we felt good about this choice, although disappointed.  Especially after going through 21 hours of hard labor.  We got ready for the operation and our sweet little girl was born at 6:09am.  Oh how we love her!  Introducing our beautiful girl, Clare Elizabeth Duran:

8 pounds, 20.5 inches long

Meeting Mommy

Clare and her delivering Doctor

Grandma Elizabeth, Mica and Clare, and Grammie

Grandma Elizabeth and Clare

Ready to go home after 4 days in the hospital