Pinkgrl84 Birth Story: Long Version

pinkgrl84 · January 2014

So I posted originally the headed to L&D post and a brief synopsis of our birth story but now that we are home and beginning to get settled I have time to write out her birth story now that she is napping. So basically here ya go!

I went to bed Sunday night and woke up about an hour after going to bed to let our cat out since he got trapped in our spare room. I only got about 3 steps and then I felt a "gush" and well like others described it, felt like I had wet my pants. I woke DH up and we finished getting the last minute stuff packed in our bags after calling L&D and getting the ok to take our time to get to the hospital. I ate a quick snack (like anyone can really think of eating right then!) and then about 2 hours later we were at the hospital. I wasn't having very regular or strong contractions at this point so they just got me set up on the monitors and decided to give it a few hours to see what my body would do. They checked me out and I was about 70% effaced and 2cm dilated so not much for labor to really get started. They decided to give me my first round of pitocin to get things moving.

Fast forward about 8-9 hours or so my contractions were getting stronger and closer together to the point where I was ready to ask for the epidural. They checked me again and I was still the same, 70% and 2cm. It was so frustrating to hear! I was in such much pain that they decided to give me a narcotic for pain instead of the epi since that would be too early. It did take the edge off...for about 20 min but then baby moved around so she was digging into my side which felt like the worst side ache ever and then contractions would hit on top. After about an hour of this horrible pain the nurses decided it was epi time so I could get some rest since at this point I had already been laboring all day. About 20 min later I had my epi and everything was good in the world. I couldn't feel my contractions at all and had to look at the charts to see when they were happening. It also luckily sped things up for my body. Next thing we knew I was at a 6 and then not much longer and I was at a 9. I was so close but they thought baby was sunny side up still since I was still feeling pressure in my back so they put me in odd poses which must have helped me gain that last cm because the pressure became so horrible I told them I really had to try hard not to push because the urge was so bad. They finally checked me again because I kept telling them it was time and sure enough it was time to push! After 1.5 hours of pushing our little baby girl Scarlett Abigail was born. The actually delivery was smooth for me, I only had 1 small tear and 1 stitch so that was good but Scarlett had a little rougher time. Instead of immediately being put on my chest, she was whisked under the lights since she had swallowed a small amount of maconium (spelling?). They gave her some air and then I heard the best sound ever of her first cry. Because of this they wanted her to go to the NICU for an hour to monitor her oxygen levels. That felt like the longest hour of my life but she was ok and soon back up to our room with us! She is a tiny girl at 5lbs 15oz and 19 inches but so adorable! Born at 9:35pm - 22.5 hours after my water broke!

Sorry this ended up so long but I wanted to get all the details! For those of you who will be delivering soon, it may get tough (I told the dr's I just couldn't push anymore about 3 pushes before she arrived) but keep at it, they are so worth it! Good luck to all the other new mommies and soon to be mommies!