May 2017 Moms
starphish18
member
Juniper Caroline was welcomed into our lives the evening of 5/27! Labor was not quite what I expected, and there were a few hiccups, but overall I feel that I had a very positive experience. I'm writing a novel below, because I personally love hearing all the details. There's a short version in the last paragraph.
On 5/25 at 4 PM, I started having regular contractions for the first time. They were about 8-12 minutes apart and started with general abdominal pain and a LOT of lower back pain. At first, I had a hard time knowing for sure when a contraction was unless my hand was on my stomach. The feelings just kind of blended together. I thought, here we go! Not so much. This went on for 30 hours...oye. The intensity of the contractions themselves did pick up during this time, so I could tell when I was having one. However, the rest of the pain lingered between. The worst of it was the lower back pain. It made it really difficult to get comfortable (I spent a lot of time on my yoga ball), and I could barely sleep that night. On 5/26 at 10 PM, the contractions finally started getting closer together, about every 6-9 minutes. Since I was at 30 hours of this at that point, I figured I'd have some time to go. We tried to go to sleep (fruitless for me). Low and behold, at 12 PM, I had 3 contractions one on top of the other that were immensely painful. I tried to make my way to the bathroom, because I felt like I was going to be sick, but I couldn't even move. I woke my H up and told him I thought we needed to get to the hospital right away. I was honestly terrified I was about to push out that baby. The contractions resumed more of a 6 min apart pattern as we grabbed our bags and got ready to head out. On the drive over, they'd picked up to 4-5 min apart.
We got to the hospital at 1 AM, where I shrugged to the admitting nurse and told her I thought I was in labor. They checked me, I was 4 cm, 80% effaced. At the check-up the day before, I was 3 cm, 60%, so progress. They checked me after another hour, and I was close to 5 cm. The resident doctor was hesitant to admit me, because she said I didn't look like I was in enough pain. Um...ok, sorry my defense mechanism is to smile and laugh in front of people when I'm dying on the inside. I really don't like showing pain in front of people, but it was already bad at that point. Even having to lay flat on my back for that hour caused my back to stay in spasm. They did admit me at 2:30 AM and I labored for about 3 hours on a yoga ball. Thank god for that thing, it was the BEST. Honestly, I felt like if I wasn't having so much back pain, the pre-epidural part wouldn't have been nearly as bad. As it was, my back pain was at a 9 at this point. They checked me 3ish hours later at about 5:30 AM and I was already at 7 cm. I requested the epidural and got that at 6 PM.
The epidural itself deserves a mention. The first time she tried placing it, she wet tapped me (went too far and hit a nerve). My leg shot up. I was pretty alarmed at this point. She remained fairly calm, but I could tell by her voice she wasn't happy about it. She placed it correctly the second time, but told me there was a chance I'd have spinal headaches, and she went over a lot of details about managing them that I don't remember now. I was kind of freaked out, but put it out of mind during the labor. Later on, in recovery, they checked on me frequently for any signs of headache or other complications. Luckily, I haven't had any yet, so I should be in the clear at this point.
Ok, back to the labor. The sweet bliss of the epidural kicked in, and for the first time in over 48 hours, my back was relaxed (oh joy). I was shaking quite a bit, so they gave me meds for my blood pressure, which helped. A few hours later at 8 AM, I was checked and was a little further along (7.5), but not much. They did a catheter and gave me Zofran, because I was getting queasy. I'm pretty sure my stomach was just upset from not having eaten in a long time. The Zofran definitely helped. During this period of time after my epidural, there was one point where it started wearing off my left side. They had me flip over to the left and I used my button to have more medicine delivered. I had to do it about 6 times in a row, every 10-15 minutes, for it to get back up to full effect. Eventually, it worked, but I started having a lot of back pain again during that time, which wasn't fun. Also, after having to boost the epidural that much, my legs went completely dead. Previously, they were tingly, but I still had good range of motion and could swing myself around, push my legs up with my feet, move my toes, etc. After the increased epidural meds, my legs were completely dead weight, which was a felling I was really not a fan of. Moving onward.
At 12 PM, about 6 hours after the epidural, the nurse checked me again and I hadn't progressed passed the .5 cm from my last check. She suspected my contraction monitor wasn't reading correctly, which ended up being the case. The hospital had just received new wireless monitors. They only had 2 and had only been using them for a couple days. I was the "lucky" recipient of one. It was really nice at first when I was still moving around. As it turned out, these monitors had two sensitivities. Mine was on high and was reading every little thing as a contraction, which is why they thought I should have been progressing well on my own. When the nurse turned the sensitivity down to low, they realized I wasn't having nearly as many contractions as they thought. So, they started me on pitocin. That did the trick. By 2 PM, 2 hours later, I had some bloody show and was at 8-9 cm. Contractions were looking better. I started getting queasy again, so they gave me more Zofran. I also started to loose the epidural in my left side again, so we went through the same process of bumping that up. However, I caught it much quicker the second time around when I realized I was regaining movement in my left foot.
An hour later, at 3 PM, my water broke and I was getting a lot of rectal pressure during contractions. I labored down for about an hour when the nurse checked me. I was pretty much ready to go and the baby was low, but the nurse had me labor down a bit longer so pushing wouldn't take as long. I ended up getting a good nap in at this point. Weirdly enough, it was the calmest hour of my labor. A little before 5 PM, the nurse had me do a practice push during a contraction, and the baby's head was right there. She called in everyone (doctor, resident, 2nd nurse, someone to check over the baby, etc). We were ready to go, but realized the computer mouse was broken. Since I was on the epidural, they let me "hang out" while it was fixed (otherwise they would have logged everything by hand). All the extra staff left until we were ready. 20 minutes later (why so long?!), the mouse was fixed and we were ready to go again. First contraction confirmed that the baby was ready to come out. I pushed for about 20 minutes (not bad at all, really). I expected there to be some uncomfortableness associated with this step (not sure why), but there wasn't at all. I could feel the pressure of the contractions, the doctors' hands as they stretched me, and the baby as she came through, but there was no pain whatsoever. At one point, the doctor did comment that my perineum was incredibly tight. He said there was a good chance I'd have a decent tear there, or he could do an episiotomy. I asked if he thought one or the other would heal better, and he thought the episiotomy would. He told me to think about it. I was thiiiiis close to just saying go for it, but I'm glad I held off. Two contractions later, baby's head came through. One more push and her shoulders were out. I had 3 very small tears. One didn't need stitches, the other two only needed 1 a piece. So, in summary:
TLDR: Juniper was born at 5:32 PM on Saturday, May 27th. She was 8 lbs 5 oz, and 20.5 inches long. Early labor at home started at 4 PM on the 25th and lasted over 30 hours...a very long, very exhausting process. I got to the hospital at 1 AM on the 27th. Once I was admitted at the hospital, I labored for a total of about 15 hours... Naturally for the first 3 hours, which brought me to 7 cm. I got the epidural, and labor slowed down. It took about 6 hours before they started me on pitocin. Labor sped up over the next 3 hours and I labored down for almost 2 hours before pushing for 20 minutes. Even though labor at the hospital before I got the epidural was immensely painful, I feel like the 30+ hours at home were more mentally/physically exhausting for me. Biggest hiccup was the wet tap when she placed the epidural. Luckily, I seem to be in the clear from spinal headaches. Juniper is now being treated for slightly elevated bilirubin with a bili blanket at home. Hopefully we can get her off that soon and get more cuddles in. We're so in love!
Juniper Caroline 5/27
starphish18
member
Juniper Caroline was welcomed into our lives the evening of 5/27! Labor was not quite what I expected, and there were a few hiccups, but overall I feel that I had a very positive experience. I'm writing a novel below, because I personally love hearing all the details. There's a short version in the last paragraph.
On 5/25 at 4 PM, I started having regular contractions for the first time. They were about 8-12 minutes apart and started with general abdominal pain and a LOT of lower back pain. At first, I had a hard time knowing for sure when a contraction was unless my hand was on my stomach. The feelings just kind of blended together. I thought, here we go! Not so much. This went on for 30 hours...oye. The intensity of the contractions themselves did pick up during this time, so I could tell when I was having one. However, the rest of the pain lingered between. The worst of it was the lower back pain. It made it really difficult to get comfortable (I spent a lot of time on my yoga ball), and I could barely sleep that night. On 5/26 at 10 PM, the contractions finally started getting closer together, about every 6-9 minutes. Since I was at 30 hours of this at that point, I figured I'd have some time to go. We tried to go to sleep (fruitless for me). Low and behold, at 12 PM, I had 3 contractions one on top of the other that were immensely painful. I tried to make my way to the bathroom, because I felt like I was going to be sick, but I couldn't even move. I woke my H up and told him I thought we needed to get to the hospital right away. I was honestly terrified I was about to push out that baby. The contractions resumed more of a 6 min apart pattern as we grabbed our bags and got ready to head out. On the drive over, they'd picked up to 4-5 min apart.
We got to the hospital at 1 AM, where I shrugged to the admitting nurse and told her I thought I was in labor. They checked me, I was 4 cm, 80% effaced. At the check-up the day before, I was 3 cm, 60%, so progress. They checked me after another hour, and I was close to 5 cm. The resident doctor was hesitant to admit me, because she said I didn't look like I was in enough pain. Um...ok, sorry my defense mechanism is to smile and laugh in front of people when I'm dying on the inside. I really don't like showing pain in front of people, but it was already bad at that point. Even having to lay flat on my back for that hour caused my back to stay in spasm. They did admit me at 2:30 AM and I labored for about 3 hours on a yoga ball. Thank god for that thing, it was the BEST. Honestly, I felt like if I wasn't having so much back pain, the pre-epidural part wouldn't have been nearly as bad. As it was, my back pain was at a 9 at this point. They checked me 3ish hours later at about 5:30 AM and I was already at 7 cm. I requested the epidural and got that at 6 PM.
The epidural itself deserves a mention. The first time she tried placing it, she wet tapped me (went too far and hit a nerve). My leg shot up. I was pretty alarmed at this point. She remained fairly calm, but I could tell by her voice she wasn't happy about it. She placed it correctly the second time, but told me there was a chance I'd have spinal headaches, and she went over a lot of details about managing them that I don't remember now. I was kind of freaked out, but put it out of mind during the labor. Later on, in recovery, they checked on me frequently for any signs of headache or other complications. Luckily, I haven't had any yet, so I should be in the clear at this point.
Ok, back to the labor. The sweet bliss of the epidural kicked in, and for the first time in over 48 hours, my back was relaxed (oh joy). I was shaking quite a bit, so they gave me meds for my blood pressure, which helped. A few hours later at 8 AM, I was checked and was a little further along (7.5), but not much. They did a catheter and gave me Zofran, because I was getting queasy. I'm pretty sure my stomach was just upset from not having eaten in a long time. The Zofran definitely helped. During this period of time after my epidural, there was one point where it started wearing off my left side. They had me flip over to the left and I used my button to have more medicine delivered. I had to do it about 6 times in a row, every 10-15 minutes, for it to get back up to full effect. Eventually, it worked, but I started having a lot of back pain again during that time, which wasn't fun. Also, after having to boost the epidural that much, my legs went completely dead. Previously, they were tingly, but I still had good range of motion and could swing myself around, push my legs up with my feet, move my toes, etc. After the increased epidural meds, my legs were completely dead weight, which was a felling I was really not a fan of. Moving onward.
At 12 PM, about 6 hours after the epidural, the nurse checked me again and I hadn't progressed passed the .5 cm from my last check. She suspected my contraction monitor wasn't reading correctly, which ended up being the case. The hospital had just received new wireless monitors. They only had 2 and had only been using them for a couple days. I was the "lucky" recipient of one. It was really nice at first when I was still moving around. As it turned out, these monitors had two sensitivities. Mine was on high and was reading every little thing as a contraction, which is why they thought I should have been progressing well on my own. When the nurse turned the sensitivity down to low, they realized I wasn't having nearly as many contractions as they thought. So, they started me on pitocin. That did the trick. By 2 PM, 2 hours later, I had some bloody show and was at 8-9 cm. Contractions were looking better. I started getting queasy again, so they gave me more Zofran. I also started to loose the epidural in my left side again, so we went through the same process of bumping that up. However, I caught it much quicker the second time around when I realized I was regaining movement in my left foot.
An hour later, at 3 PM, my water broke and I was getting a lot of rectal pressure during contractions. I labored down for about an hour when the nurse checked me. I was pretty much ready to go and the baby was low, but the nurse had me labor down a bit longer so pushing wouldn't take as long. I ended up getting a good nap in at this point. Weirdly enough, it was the calmest hour of my labor. A little before 5 PM, the nurse had me do a practice push during a contraction, and the baby's head was right there. She called in everyone (doctor, resident, 2nd nurse, someone to check over the baby, etc). We were ready to go, but realized the computer mouse was broken. Since I was on the epidural, they let me "hang out" while it was fixed (otherwise they would have logged everything by hand). All the extra staff left until we were ready. 20 minutes later (why so long?!), the mouse was fixed and we were ready to go again. First contraction confirmed that the baby was ready to come out. I pushed for about 20 minutes (not bad at all, really). I expected there to be some uncomfortableness associated with this step (not sure why), but there wasn't at all. I could feel the pressure of the contractions, the doctors' hands as they stretched me, and the baby as she came through, but there was no pain whatsoever. At one point, the doctor did comment that my perineum was incredibly tight. He said there was a good chance I'd have a decent tear there, or he could do an episiotomy. I asked if he thought one or the other would heal better, and he thought the episiotomy would. He told me to think about it. I was thiiiiis close to just saying go for it, but I'm glad I held off. Two contractions later, baby's head came through. One more push and her shoulders were out. I had 3 very small tears. One didn't need stitches, the other two only needed 1 a piece. So, in summary:
TLDR: Juniper was born at 5:32 PM on Saturday, May 27th. She was 8 lbs 5 oz, and 20.5 inches long. Early labor at home started at 4 PM on the 25th and lasted over 30 hours...a very long, very exhausting process. I got to the hospital at 1 AM on the 27th. Once I was admitted at the hospital, I labored for a total of about 15 hours... Naturally for the first 3 hours, which brought me to 7 cm. I got the epidural, and labor slowed down. It took about 6 hours before they started me on pitocin. Labor sped up over the next 3 hours and I labored down for almost 2 hours before pushing for 20 minutes. Even though labor at the hospital before I got the epidural was immensely painful, I feel like the 30+ hours at home were more mentally/physically exhausting for me. Biggest hiccup was the wet tap when she placed the epidural. Luckily, I seem to be in the clear from spinal headaches. Juniper is now being treated for slightly elevated bilirubin with a bili blanket at home. Hopefully we can get her off that soon and get more cuddles in. We're so in love!
Re: Juniper Caroline 5/27
11.2011 - DS1
02.2013 - loss at 6 wks
06.2014 - DS2
10.2015 - loss at 12 wks
03.2017 - DD
DS1 7/24/15
DS2 5/7/17
Married: October 2014
Began TTC: April 2015
BFP #1: 9/18/15. EDD 5/18/16. MC 10/26/15. (9w)
BFP #2: 2/27/16. EDD 11/7/16. MC/D&E 4/20/16 (11w)
BFP #3: 9/22/16. EDD 5/29/17. DS born 4/24/17
BFP #4: 5/20/18. EDD 1/23/19.
DS2 5/17
#3 Due 9/20
So glad you didn't end up with a spinal headache. The wet tap was my biggest fear of the epidural!
Sweet Baby H 12.21.11
Sassy Baby P 03.26.14
Little Brother Due 05.22.17
Married 8/27/2011
BFP #1 9/28/2011 DS born 5/22/2012
BFP #2 4/24/2013 m/c 4/25/2013 at 4w
BFP #3 1/31/2014 DD born 10/14/2014
BFP #4 1/20/2016 m/c 2/12/2014 at 7w2d
BFP #5 8/19/2016 DS2 born 4/29/2017
BFP #6 3/7/2018 EDD 11/18/2018