After almost ten months of waiting and preparation, Laken Annabelle Hansen finally arrived on October 6, 2010 at 5:05pm.
My labor started late at night on the 5th. I knew something was up when I decided I absolutely had to re-pack our hospital bag because it wasn't organized enough. "Repacking" consisted of taking out all of the baby's clothes, ironing them (including ironing a couple of little hats), and placing them in little packing cubes before retuning them to our hospital bag. Then I repacked and reorganized all of our stuff as well. About the time I finished this "reorganization", I started to get some early contractions. At first they were not very strong and were about 15 minutes apart so I didn't think too much about them.
Pretty soon the contractions started getting stronger and closer together, so I asked Stephen to start timing them. We had learned in our birthing class that we had to time the contractions from the start of one to the start of the next and when they were 4 minutes apart for more than an hour we were supposed to head to the hospital. To accomplish his task, Stephen - in his tired, nervous, over-zealous state - decided to make an excel spreadsheet to time the contractions. He spent an annoying amount of time working on a formula that would calculate exactly how much time was between the contractions. Well, apparently he was focused so much on the spreadsheet that he forget to pay attention to the "when" we should head out for the hospital.
As I was struggling through a pretty painful contraction I said to Stephen: "these contractions feel really close together ... how much time between each one?" In response, Stephen diligently looked at his carefully laid out spreadsheet and matter-of-factly told me that they were one minute apart. "WHAT?!?!" was my response (possibly accompanied by some colorful language). "We have to go to the hospital NOW!" ... I believe I may have also said something like ... "Did you learn ANYTHING in our birthing class!"
Considering how much pain I was in, I don't think Stephen took anything I said too personally .... We jumped into the car and sped off to the hospital. When we got there I was admitted into triage and checked to see how far along I was dilated. I was between 3 and 4 centimeters dilated and 90% effaced which meant ... I got to stay! Pretty soon after that they got me checked into my room and we were ready to go.
After a little bit, the anesthesiologist came to administer my epidural. He was a very nice doctor, but he had a little bit of trouble getting me hooked up. He worked on me for an entire hour and he kept apologizing for how long it was taking. It was clear he was having a hard time and I was terrified he wouldn't be able to get it done. It was so painful and I was shaking the whole time. Apparently, he hit my bone with the needle a few times (thank goodness I didn't end up with a spinal tap headache!). In the end, though, he DID get it done and slowly my contractions subsided and I was able to relax a little bit.
As all this was going on, our families were starting to trickle in. We had quite the cheering squad there to wait it out with us. These guys (plus our moms) were there for almost the entire 18 hour ordeal...
All in all, my labor went pretty well. It was long, but - for the most part - I was comfortable and able to rest as I prepared for the big push. However, as I got closer to full dilation I started really feeling my contractions. At first the nurse just thought I was feeling the natural pressure because the baby's head was so low, but when I rolled over I was soaking wet - the epidural was leaking! Thankfully, we discovered it early enough that they were able to fix it before it was time to push, but I did have to struggle through some difficult contractions in the meantime.
Stephen was my rock through the whole thing and was so wonderful. I loved having him by my side. With him there, I felt like I could do anything.
When it was finally time to push, we had everyone leave except our moms. I pushed for two hours - although it certainly didn't feel like it took that long! Apparently, my tailbone was in the way and making it difficult to get the baby's head out. The doctor wanted to use the vacuum to pull her out but I asked him to give me a little more time to get her out myself. It was the most exhausting thing I have ever done, but FINALLY she made her big debut ... she came out screaming and it was absolute music to my ears.
Tears of joy - I can't believe she's here!
"Baby Girl" Hansen (no name at this point) was 7 lbs 14 ounces and 20.5 inches long
It was love at first sight
Our family of three
Our very patient families getting to meet Laken for the first time
We didn't actually choose her name until the next day. We had about four possible selections, but I knew Laken was her name as soon as I saw her. I wasn't ready to vocalize it without talking to Stephen, but she was my little Laken Belle right from the start. She was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen and I knew she had to have a unique, beautiful name.
Laken Annabelle Hansen - Only minutes old
