My little Layla Grey is finally here! She was born Sunday 1/8/12 at 2:08pm. She is 7 lb. 11 oz. and 20.75 inches long and has a full head of long black hair and huge dark brown eyes:)
The short and sweet story? I slept through the last half of my 11 hour labor and pushed 3 times:) The long story....
After a week of contractions and no progress and thoughts of inducing the day after her due date, she decided to surprise me and came on her own! At my appointment on Friday I finally dilated to a 1 but my cervix was not effaced at all and she was a -3 station. The contractions had been so consistent all week that I stopped paying attention to them. I went to lay down to go to bed about 2:45 am Saturday night and immediately had a very strong contraction. I had 2 more unlike any I have felt before and decided to get up. Over 45 minutes I had a few 10 minutes apart, then I would have 3 back to back, a few different times. They made me feel like I had to go poop and they were so intense I started to cry. I realized that I definitely was in labor...no wondering this time. I woke my husband up and said we had to go to the hospital even though they were irregular. The pain was too much too fast.
We arrived at 4:15am, where I was only about 1.5 cm but 90% effaced. Once there, I was able to somewhat relax and start breathing through the contractions which were coming about 3-4 minutes apart. I could not speak through them at all. They admitted me about 6am and I went to the L&D room. I had thought about going natural, like I did with my first, only if the labor progressed very quickly. She was a 7 hour labor and I had thought this may be a 3-4 hour labor. At 8am I was only 3 cm and completely exhausted. I had not slept since Friday night since the contractions started right when I went to bed Saturday. I could not get the epidural until I was 4cm, so I got a half dose of dilaudid. I still felt all of the contraction but I was able to relax in between and doze between contractions. I was high, but didn't feel out of control and it helped me tremendously, especially to relax during the epidural which terrified me. At 10am, they gave me the epidural even though I was not quite a 4 yet. I barely felt the numbing shot and all I felt was the cold sensation he told me to expect. It was nothing, and I am a huge chicken. (Again, the dilaudid really helped with that.) The contractions let up pretty quickly and I went super numb. I could not feel anything and couldn't even wiggle my toes. At one point I guess I had my legs in an extremely awkward position and didn't even realize it. They had to offer to fix my legs for me.
About 10 minutes after the epi, my blood pressure plummeted to 50-something over something, and I almost passed out and was losing consciousness. I was given oxygen at one point and they discovered I could only lay on my right side. Anything else and my BP would drop. Through it all, the baby's vitals stayed very stable and never followed mine. My water started to leak at 10:30 and they fully broke them at 10:50. At this point I was about a 4.5. I layed on my right side and pretty much went to sleep...just dozing in and out to greet visitors. They started me on Pitocin at 11:30 to speed up the contractions, which had slowed down. An hour and half later I was still at a 6cm and not progressing. (And they were able to see her head of long hair!) At one they rolled me to my left side, saying it may help me progress and told me to call them if I felt an increase in pressure.
At 1:45, I told my husband to tell the nurses that I was able to feel pressure in my last contraction, just to check. They came in and were like...whoa!!! You are at a 10 plus 2, and it was time to push. I immediately burst into tears of excitement. Then they informed us that her head was so low in my birth canal that her hair was sticking out of my vagina!! Of course, my husband has to run and look. Unfortunately my doctor was not there because they were not expecting me to progress that quickly. They called him immediately and he said he was on his way. They quickly prepped the room and had me roll back on my side and told me not to push until he got there. I felt about 4 more contractions and had to breathe through them, while the 2 nurses sat there calmly chatting with my husband about sports. I think they were trying to keep calm for me, haha. He got there within 15 minutes and quickly put his scrubs on and the next thing I knew they were having me push. All the rules I had about husband not looking went out the window. He stayed by my head but got a good look. He was fascinated and I don't think I would have been able to keep him away. After 3 pushes, she was out!
I started sobbing. They laid her on my chest and dried her off and did her assessment. It was so surreal, I just couldn't believe she was actually here. Her hair is about 1.5 inches long and she has hairy shoulders, back and ears, haha...so cute!! My husband has no hair on his chest, so not sure where all the hair came from. She has huge dark brown eyes and thick eyebrows. She is so beautiful!!!!!
The recovery hasn't been too bad. I only had a couple surface tears, like papercuts. The worst pain was my back and tailbone. I don't know if it was the epi or how quickly she came out but I just feel like I need a chiropractor visit.
Breastfeeding problems: I had 2 really rough days at home with her, where she cried almost constantly. I was getting really depressed and thinking she had colic. My milk came in and she seemed to be having trouble getting it. I pumped finally and realized that barely any milk was coming out. After 2 days of barely any sleep and crying about it and bleeding nipples, I decided to supplement with formula. She is a completely different baby. She is so happy and content now. She has slight jaundice and I was told that she needed to eat as often as possible so it doesn't get worse, and in this case, the formula was necessary for her, as the jaundice was getting worse as well. I think I am having supply issues due to my breast implants. I have had them done twice, the second time because I had severe scar tissue build up with my first set. So I think that may be part of the problem. I am pumping to get through this excruciating engorgement and the sore nipples, then I plan to breastfeed as much as possible, but supplement with formula. I am going to continue to try, but it has by far been the hardest thing to deal with so far.
So, besides the miserable BF experiences, I am happy to say I had a relatively easy L&D, and I am so happy with my beautiful, hairy little munchkin!! For the other mom's out there who are almost due and have had no progress, don't worry...it could just happen as suddenly as mine did! I am so happy she came on her own and I didn't have to make the decision whether or not to induce:)
Layla 01.08.12
Chloe and Vivian 07.23.13
My Gang. Halloween 2013
Re: Layla is here!!
Married my best friend 5/2/2008
TTC our first miracle since November 2010
BFP 3/16/2011 Chemical Pregnancy 3/20/2011
Awww thank you so much!!! Yeah, I saw your post as soon as I posted mine. I was thinking about all of you who were in the same situation as me, and I couldn't wait to get on here and say that labor can really just sneak up on you out of the blue! I really, really hope your little one decides to surprise you, and SOON!!!
Layla 01.08.12
Chloe and Vivian 07.23.13
My Gang. Halloween 2013
I knew your baby had come when we hadn't see you around here for a few days! She is so adorable! So glad everything went so well for you. Good luck withe BFing issues, I almost expect to have issues from everything I've read too.
Wooohoo!
I've been wondering if your LO came since I hadn't seen you around. Congrats mama!!! She is indeed beautiful! So glad you had a good delivery- I know you were worried for a bit.
Was your older daughter there, too?
Yes....I'm so happy Layla came in the middle of her trip so she gets to spend lots of time with her. She was in the labor room the whole time, but I wanted just me and my husband for the actual delivery...which she was more than happy about. I think she was traumatized by everything she had to see and hear this week anyways, haha. She has been such a huge help to have home right now and she is madly in love with her too:) It all worked out!
I will post some more pics either tonight or tomorrow....baby is calling
Thank you all so much for the congrats:)
Layla 01.08.12
Chloe and Vivian 07.23.13
My Gang. Halloween 2013
I was hoping you were giving birth to a happy new baby!! I am so happy for you, Sasha - she is beautiful
And I am soooo happy your daughter was able to be there, too.
yay!!!! congratulations, she's beautiful! i am almost never on these days, just too busy with my babe, but i'm so glad i logged on tonight and saw this!
good luck with the breastfeeding issues! so frustrating (i can relate, minus the complications of scar tissue) but hopefully you will be able to get it all under control!
Congratulations!!! I am so excited for you and your family!