Birth Story and a few pips (long, sorry!).

cmm8311 · April 2011

Hey Girls!

Melanie is napping in her swing so I finally get a chance to get my birth story up. Last Wednesday I started to have contractions, but I never realized it because they were in my back and I thought I was just not feeling good still from my cold. They were off and on and not timeable until around 3:00. I still was in denial I was in labor and went about doing things around the house. At 6:00 they got worse so I laid on the couch for the rest of the day. We went to bed around 10 and they kept getting closer and closer together. I called the on-call doctor around 12:30ish and he said to wait until they were 5 minuts apart (at this time they were between 6 and 8 minutes apart they were never consistent). At 2:15 I got up to go to the bathroom and I had my bloody show. I woke DH up and we quickly got our things and were out of the house in 15 minutes.

We checked in to the ER at 2:40 and were in L&D triage until about 4. At 4 I was 3 cm and they finally moved me into an L&D room. I was progressing very, very quickly according to the nurses. DH wasn't a big help because he decided it was a good time to get a stomach bug and was puking in the bathroom between contractions. I originally didn't want anyone else in the room, but I had to call my mom so she could come help since DH was sick. My mom got there around 6 and my contractions (all in my back) were getting unbearable. They finally came to give me my epidural around 7. The epidural didn't take on my left side (figures). The pain was ridiculous. My back felt like it was being drilled into. They were going to redo my epidural, but by 8 I was at 8.5 cm and almost completely effaced (I don't remember the percentage).

10:00 comes around and I was fully dilated, but not completely effaced. I had the pressure to push and that's all I wanted to do. MY amazing L&D nurse let me push while she pushed my cervix back. I pushed two more times after that and she ran out of the room and yelled to the others that she needed a baby catcher. My doctor wasn't the oncall doctor, but I had an appointment that day and he knew I was there so he came across the parking lot to deliver me. He walked in, took one look at me and threw his mask and gown on. I pushed again and out flew my baby girl like a football. Melanie Anna was born at 10:24 a.m weighing 6 lbs 5 oz.

After my placenta was delivered, the doctor had to stitch me up, which took forever. I tore up and down (1st degree up and 2nd degree down). It hurt like h-e-l-l!! I think the stitches were worse than the delivery. They finally put Melanie on my chest and we got to cuddle and she tried to nurse for a few minutes. She is so amazing and I am in utter awe of her.

We had to stay in the hospital an extra day because Melanie had jaundice so she had to stay under the lights. I was discharged, but since it wasn't busy they let us board in my room so I could go nurse her. Nursing has been a challenge since my milk is not coming in. We are supplementing with formula and I'm pumping and trying to get her to latch on, but I only pump out a few drops. It's also been difficult because she's spent a total of 2 days under the lights because of her jaundice. She is doing a lot better now and hangs out in the sunlight most of the day so we don't have another scare and have to go to the ER again.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures: