Earlier than Expected... Lillian's story (long)
So, the last few weeks of my pregnancy was pretty hectic. At 36 weeks, my doctor felt as though Lillian was pretty small. My fundal height measurements were off so she decided to do an ultrasound right then to check everything out and she was measuring 3rd percentile for size and she sent me straight to L&D that day to see a MFM doctor and he did his own ultrasound and measured her 10th percentile, so borderline for diagnosis of IUGR. He gave me the option to be induced that day with knowing that she would need to spend time in the NICU, or I could go home with twice a week NST's and weekly u/s because my AF levels were also on the low side.
At 38 weeks, I had another growth scan, and LO was still measuring small, so my doctor talked to me about induction at 39 weeks, we decided on 8-8-11 as our induction day, putting me at 39w3d gestation. This was all decided on a Friday afternoon.
That next Monday, I had another NST, I was hooked up to the monitor for 25 min and during that time, it recorded 4 contractions, none of which I was feeling. Maybe a little back pain, but nothing terrible. My doctor and nurse both made the comment 'See you on Friday if you are still pregnant.' I called my mom and DH on my way home from this appt and told them what they had told me. My appointment was at 1:30, I was home by 2:30 and we had decided to go to the mall to look for an outfit for DD#1 to wear for DD#2's newborn photo shoot that I had just finalized with a co-worker of mine who has a photography business on the side. We headed to the mall, this was about 3:30, shopped, and by 4:30 we were ready to leave. We were going to go out to eat for dinner, but DD#1 was grouchy and needed a nap desperately, so we decided to just get McDonalds drive-thru and then go out to eat later in the evening.
DD#1 fell asleep in the car on the way home, so once we got home I decided to lay on the couch and take a nap myself, DH went down to his 'man cave' to play video games. Around 6:30pm, I woke up and felt something wet in my pants, my underwear were soaked and my pants were wet also. I ran to the bathroom and more fluid leaked out, I knew it wasn't urine. I opened the basement door and told DH 'I think its time' and he thought I was joking, he came upstairs and saw me and was like OK its time to go.
I had to call my mom, she lives about 2.5 hours away because we needed someone to be here with DD. Luckily, she was still at work and her work is only a 1.5 hour drive to our house. I wasn't having contractions (that I could feel) at this point, we spent the time cuddling with DD and making sure we had everything we needed for the hospital. My mom got here around 8:30pm and we left for the hospital around 9pm.
We got to the hospital around 9:45, we stopped and got some Taco Bell on our way. We got to L&D and got back to a triage room right away. Our nurse came in and hooked me up to the monitor and got my vitals. Shortly after, a med student came in and talked to me, and then the resident on call came in and did a sterile speculum exam to confirm rupture of membranes, did an internal exam to find that I was 3-4 cm dilated, 70% effaced. At my last appointment, I was 1cm and less than 50% effaced. She also did a quick u/s to confirm that DD was still head down (and she was). All this was done within the first hour of our arrival.
We found out we were staying at around 11pm. There weren't any beds available in L&D, so my nurse came over to triage to at least get my IV started and draw some labs to get the ball rolling. She assured me that they were in the process of cleaning a room for me. At this point, I was having contractions, but not terribly painful.
Around midnight, my nurse came back and told me that there was going to be a delay in getting to a room because a 26week gestation mother just came in with confirmed rupture of membranes, and she needed a bed before me, very understandable and I wasn't too terribly uncomfortable at this point. Finally, at around 2:30am, I was moved to a LDR room, and things progressed pretty quickly from here on out. I was starting to have contractions one on top of another, pain was getting worse, and they wanted to start Pitocin. I asked for my epi before Pitocin.
Around 3am, the anesthesiologist came in and did my epidural, I was still feeling contractions on my left side, so I had to change positions to distribute the meds better, and then I started shaking uncontrollably, but those ended once my nurse gave me some warm blankets. Pitocin was started around 3:45, my nurse did an internal exam and I was 5cm. The resident came in and placed an internal monitor because my contractions weren't showing up very well on the monitor. I tried to rest for a few minutes, my nurse was in there getting the delivery sterile supplies ready.
Around 4:45, my nurse put in a catheter to drain my urine. Shortly after this, I started to feel some intense pressure, so I told her I think I'm almost completly dilated, I remember the feeling from DD#1's delivery. Sure enough, I was 10cm dilated. My nurse put a call in to my doctor and I asked for a repeat bolus of epidural meds.
In the meantime, I started to feel the urge to push, the pressure was so intense, I told my nurse this and she got the resident to come to the room to be on standby just in case. We did some breathing techniques that helped me relax and the Anesthesiologist came and rebolused my epi, I was feeling alot better. My doctor got there around 5:30, got suited up, and we were ready to start pushing around 5:45, I remeber looking at the clock and it was 5:45. I literally pushed 6 times and Lillian was born at 5:50am. The doctor said that she had her hand on top of her head during delivery, she had never seen this before.
Lillian June was born August 2nd, 2011 at 38w4d gestation, 6 days before her scheduled induction. She weighed 5lb15oz and 18inches long. We are absolutely in love. Recovery has been a breeze. Its only been 1 week and I'm hardly bleeding anymore. I did have a little tear that required repair from where her hand was on her head, but I have no pain, like night and day from when DD#1 was born. We are absolutely in love. Still adjusting to being a family of 4, but loving every minute!
Re: Earlier than Expected... Lillian's story (long)