Hazel was born on May 14! Her due date was May 29, but with Harvey coming 13 days early we were ready for Hazel anytime around then. The only thing I didn't want was for her to have a birthday that could fall on Mother's Day. I guess I said that out loud too many times because that's exactly what happened haha.
Labor started for me the way it always seems to - contractions at night for a while that fizzle out by morning. I will say that this time I had less than I did with the boys, which was nice. But the night before I was having them, and stayed up for a bit timing them. I woke up the next morning and was still having contractions. Not super strong, but consistent. I was hesitant to sound the alarm but Tyler wisely stayed home from work. Max had a fun preschool carnival that morning so Tyler took the boys to that while I stayed home to continue laboring, take a shower, and get things ready to go. Gigi met them there and took the boys home with her. Once Tyler got home, we finished packing and got on our way! The car ride to the hospital is always my least favorite part, but I opted to run an errand on our way there to drop off some library books that were due. I wanted to put off going in as long as possible because I was afraid things would die down or we'd be sent home! You'd think by baby #4 there would be no mistaking it. And certainly during a contraction I wasn't, but in between I would just question everything haha. I was also starving, so we drove thru Whataburger for a last little lunch date. Best burger and shake ever. I'm also realizing now that we went to Whataburger after the ultrasound where we found out we were having a girl! So apparently that was the official meal of Hazel's pregnancy.
We finished eating in the parking lot and made our way in. Oh, let me back up a bit here. When I was pregnant with both Max and Harvey, I was dilated to 3-4cm before even going into labor. I was only checked once before going into labor this time but I was barely dilated at all, the doctor said "maybe 1cm." So that was different.
When we got checked in about 1pm and the nurses got us in pretty quickly after hearing that this was my 4th baby. I changed and they asked lots of questions. Labor stalled in a major way every time the nurse (or anyone) was in the room. I didn't have nearly as many contractions and they were weak sauce comparatively. I felt embarrassed and joked about having a "shy uterus" and was pretty annoyed actually. The nurse checked me and I was at 4cm. Some progress but definitely not what I was hoping for or expecting.
So we settled in and played some Nertz while the nurse called my doctor and then started some Pitocin. My actual OB had a baby herself a few weeks before me, so I ended up with someone else in the practice. Luckily I met her once before the birth, but it was definitely a different experience.
The nurse increased the Pitocin quite a bit and honestly I didn't feel like it did very much. I was trying to roll around on my ball and go to the bathroom a lot (something I didn't do much at all with Harvey and heard it could help speed things along). The doctor came after she was done with patients in the office for the day and broke my water, at about 5:30. She checked me then and said I was about 6cm dilated. She asked about my previous labors, and I told her that last time once my water was broken it went pretty quickly. She decided to hang around and everyone was just basically waiting on me to feel pressure. Breaking my water definitely upped the intensity. There was no card playing anymore haha. I wanted to go without an epidural if I could. About 7:00 the doctor came back in to see how I was doing and to ask if I wanted an epidural. I asked her to check me and then I would decide. She said I hadn't made any real progress, was still at about 6cm. So epidural it was!
The anesthesiologist came pretty quickly and did a fantastic job placing the epidural. I had relief for a good... 3 contractions, and then felt tons of pressure. The nurse was there waiting until the meds took full effect before she put in a catheter, but when I said how much pressure I felt she hurried and did the catheter. She watched me through a contraction and said she'd check me, even though it'd only been 20 minutes before that the doctor had checked me. Sure enough, I was completely dilated and baby girl was making her way down! Apparently I can't relax enough to dilate on my own, so I was grateful for the help. The poor OB had decided she'd go home, thinking she had time since I was only at a 6 and about to get an epidural. The nurse called her and she turned around and came back.
Pushing was harder than I remember with the others. It just took a lot of work to get her out! Luckily it wasn't a long time. I also think the epidural wasn't totally effective everywhere. I remember kind of yelling, "That feels SO much better" once her head was out. She was finally born at 8:27pm!
She weight 8 lbs even, our smallest (and earliest) baby. 19.75 inches long. Covered in vernix and had more hair than all the other kids combined!
We noticed right away that she has very long and dainty fingers and toes. Her pinky toes kind of curl under the others and it's so cute!
I just could not stop crying once she was in my arms. I was emotional with the others, but for some reason this time I really lost it. We did skin to skin for a while and I just cried happy tears for a long time. One of the best moments of my life.
We eventually moved over to the mother and baby ward and got to sleep maybe about midnight. That first night is never restful, with the nurses coming to check on us so often. They gave Hazel a bath sometime in the night and it was nice to sleep while she was gone. We got her back around 6am and just oohed and aahed over her. Can't believe our baby girl is here!
Hazel's name was first suggested to us by Millie actually. She'd seen a movie (Dolphin Tale, for memory's sake) and liked the character named Hazel in that. She also thought we needed a name that started with H because Harvey needed a "name buddy." She and Max have each other, and now Harvey and Hazel do too! Rae was my great-grandmother's middle name, and we thought it went well with Hazel, as well as Millie's middle name (Mae). We love our Hazel Rae and are so glad she's here and healthy!
