After 33 hours.......

Julie's contractions continued throughout the day on Friday. However, the contractions did not become much closer than 10 to 15 minutes then would shift back to 20 to 30 minute intervals. We spoke with a nurse Friday morning who said we wouldn't go to the hospital until contractions were 5 minutes apart for two hours. However, by 11 pm Friday night other symptoms began to emerge - slight bleeding and full body shakes. Julie's mom, Daune, spoke with the nurse on call. By 11:45, we were packing up to head to the hospital. When we arrived, Julie was placed in a triage unit to assess if she was in true labor. Turns out she was and we were moved into suite #1. The nurse was amazed that Julie had dilated to 5-6 cm given such irregular contractions over 33 hours.

Once we moved to our private suite, three nurses efficiently hooked Julie up to various machines. One of our main concerns was, of course, the epidural. Thirty three hours of painful and intense contractions had left her mentally and physically exhausted. Julie enjoyed a jacuzzi bath while waiting for a platelet count result that was "above 100,000." Julie decided we should pray for positive test results. Within moments of finishing our prayer, the nurse arrived to tell us that an epidural would be possible. Around, 2:00 am, the anesthesiologist and nurse began the epidural procedure. Within 30 minutes Julie was experiencing contractions without any pain. This allowed her to sleep for several hours as her body continued to make progress.

By 7:00 am, Julie had dilated to 9 cm. The plan is to allow Julie to "labor down" as much as possible. Due to her POTS diagnosis, this will limit the amount of pushing and therefore the risk of dropping blood pressure. We are so excited to be this close to the birth of our daughter because today is also the birthday of Julie's grandmother, Nana Bernie. Who would have guessed our baby would be due on Nana Lou's birthday and born on Nana Bernie's birthday. What a blessing. We'll post another update after the birth. Stay tuned. Love to all! Julie, Michael and Soon-to-Be Savannah.