Adelyn is here after 28 hrs of Labor (and no c-sect)!

jeffrae

XP from SAL:  Okay....here is Adelyn's birth story!  :-)  Forewarning...it is long!

On Tuesday 8/25 I had my normal doc appt.  I was still 1 cm and 50% effaced but my NST showed that I was having contractions, but I could not feel them.  That night and into the next day the contractions were stronger, but did not seem to be regular by any means.  On wednesday night we were at a friend's b-day party and I had to sit to chat with people because my contractions were uncomfortable.

Wednesday morning around 4:30 am, I woke up to a contraction....just felt like mild menstral cramping...went to the bathroom and wiped some mucus stuff.  This was definately part of the mucus plug.  But I knew labor could be that day, or the following week.  

I just had a feeling and told DH "I don't think we are going to have our september baby".  Then I got up around 6:30 to take a shower.  Luckily DH was heading to work later then normal for some meetings.  Right before he was going to take a shower, I noticed that I kept having a disharge...but much more then normal.  So I put a towel down and shifted my hips left to right and sure enough there was a steady trickle and it was pink.  I called down to DH "I think my water broke!".

I called the OBs office around 7:45 and we were packed and ready to go by 8:30.  This is when I started having noticable contractions, still not painful....just able to time them.  We got to OB's office at 9 am and ctx were 4 minutes apart for 30 seconds each.  9:30 we saw the on-call OB (mine was on vacay) and she said "we don't need to check to see that you ruptured your membranes, that puddle you are sitting in tells all".  She checked me and I was 3 cm and she called to triage so they were expecting me.

This is kind of funny....up until this point, my water was a trickle.  After the exam, I was literally gushing.  I had no idea what to do because I needed to walk to triage.  I just stood there with DH helping me with 5 pads and then the nurse gave me two towels to stuff in my undies.  Luckily I had gaucho pants on.  ha-ha.  What a sight to see me waddling I am sure.

We get to triage and they put me on the monitor.  They ask how my pain level is...it is fine at this point.  I ask to go walking, which they allow for two hours.  The ctx keep getting stronger from walking.  I did not like sitting, laying, etc.  And when a contraction came on....I wanted to walk through it (I think this is the runner in me and how I deal with pain).  We went back to triage, on the monitor....ctx much stronger and getting closer.  I ask to walk again....do so for another hour until the ctx are right on top of each other and my water gushes again.  I am walking in downtown seattle, so at this point, I figure being inside the hospital is better.  

Now it is 4 pm and I am officially admitted into the birthing suite.  The nurse checks me and I am at just over 3 cm (STILL!!!) and 70% effaced.  I am so upset about this because I have been in so much pain and have walked nonstop all day.  She has me lay down and puts me on the monitor.  My contractions now decrease to every 15 minutes and are as intense as they were at 10 am.  She allows us to go walking outside for an hour....that helps get them going again...but not nearly as much.  When we get back, we finally get to eat (I figured I would have had my baby by then) at 6 pm.  

There is a new doctor that I am seeing now as the on-call doctor had too long of a day.  She is a doc that is not part of my OB's practice but does patient sharing as needed.  She checks me, says "your a 3.  at this point I am not happy with how labor is progressing and I want to start pitocin".  I am about to cry and am feeling like a failure as I have labored on my own for about 12 hours.  It is now 7 pm and I get my first dose of pitocin.  She also does an u/s because she feels something "squishy", not like a head.  But the baby is thankfully head down.  They allow me to use the portable monitor and I still walk up and down the halls. I just did not want to be confined to bed just yet.  I labored through horrible contractions using the birthing ball, walking, and rocking chair for the rest of the night.  At 10:30 the doc checked me and I was a 4 to 5.  It was going to be a LONG night.  

DH told the nurse that I would most likely get an Epi so she had already put me on the list (there were 9 girls who wanted them that night).  I got my epidural at 11:30 and settled into bed.  It worked great for ctx.  My left leg was completely dead and my right side was lazy.  Unfortunately for most of the night I was up because I could still feel the contractions in my right hip....just enough to not allow me to sleep.  It finally went completely numb at 5 am and I crashed.

Doc came in at 6 am to check me.  She got a huge smile on her face and said "I did not think we would get here.  you are at an 8!".  They let me labor for another two hours, checked me and she said "your there!".  The baby just needed to descend more.  But I was told she was getting quite the conehead.  Then the oncall doc is back on and she comes in and talks to me.  She says "we need to decide when enough is enough and just take the baby out".  (meaning c-sect, which I am terrified of and I start bawling).  The nurse calms me down and tells me exactly what to expect.  She also delays having me push so that the pitocin does it job and I do not wear myself out.

At 9:45 am on Friday it is finally time to push.  DH asks what music I want and at this point, I need motivation.  He suggests my half marathon music....so I start pushing to a hillary duff song.  HA-HA-HA.  Nice.  Pushing was strange as you can't feel pain, but I felt when the contraction was coming on because I felt the need to push.  It was a very relaxed environment with DH, nurse, and me.  The nurse and DH were joking which was annoying since I was focused on pushing correctly but also calming at the same time.   I pushed for 1 hour (with 5 minutes rest or so between ctx) and then the nurse paged the doc twice.  She had to have me stop pushing, which was so hard!  She had the scrubs held out and ready for the doctor to dive into.  Then two more pushes and Adelyn was out....with zero tearing!  :-)

(I spoke with the doc the following day....they think that Adelyn's head was not in the right position to allow dilation to progress and at some point during the night, she turned.  They think that "squishy" feeling the doc felt had been her cheek)

She was put on my chest right away while they cleaned her up.  then they needed to give her an iv in her right hand.  Since my water had broken for more then 24 hours and I spiked a slight fever, we both needed to be on antibiotics and monitored an extra day.  We also had a bit of a shock when the pediatrician detected a heart murmur. 

A pediatric cardiologist checked in on Addy the next few days and right before we were discharged they did an echo and found that she has congenital heart disease.  Three holes in her heart that are very small, and two other things that the doc considers minor.  We have to have those monitored to see if they fix themselves or what our next steps will be.  The doc said to be cautiously optimistic and treat her the same as we had planned to (such as tossing her up in the air, when she is older of course).

So all in all, the experience was good....but definately emotionally and physically draining.  We had 12 people come visit us in the hospital and if I were to do it again, I would have asked for people to wait since I had been up for two days due to labor and cluster feeding and all of the doctors visiting due to fever and murmur.

I recommend bringing a robe with you, extra pillows, a boppy, and we brought a blowup air bed for DH (their cots were horrible).  Also find out if your hosptial does newborn pictures....ours did but they came when we found out about Addy's heart so we did not get them done there.   Oh....and bring your baby book and ask to get feet/hand prints.

Next time around I will be getting the epidural again.  For me, it made the experience so much better (for me AND DH) then when I was in pain during my stalled labor.

Good luck ladies!   :-)  Rae & Adelyn

lilbit923

Oh my Gosh she is so pretty! How much did she weigh when she was born?

My Dad was born with a heart murmur and he is an avid runner, former Marine, runs the PT program at the police academy...so I wouldn't worry about Addy's heart. She is in great hands with the technology that is available now.

I am so nervous about having a daughter. I learned 8 weeks ago we are having a girl and I got scared. What am I going to do? I'm used to boys, my brother's sons, they are easier to deal with...what am I going to do? I am going to feel like a fish out of water. But I cannot wait to see her. I'm so excited to see who she looks like, to hear her first cry and to hold her.

Congratulations on a beautiful little sweet pea.