XP: Evie's Birth Story (Really long and PsIP)

Evie is napping now, so I figured I'd write out my birth story and post some pics.]

Monday, 11/9, was my EDD. I went to my 40 week appointment completely prepared to hear bad news. I had been 0 cm and 80% effaced for 3 weeks, and I just knew there would be no change. Now, I knew that progress didn't have any indication of when I would go into labor, but that didn't stop my crazy pregnant self from crying when I left the appointment being told there was no change. I called FI and my mom and bawled like a baby because I just knew this baby was never going to come and I would need to be induced.

I got home, indulged myself in some chocolate chip cookies, and took a nap. We had planned to go over to FI's parent's house for the Steelers game, so I got up around 5:00 pm and took a shower. FI got home around 5:45 and I was getting dressed. I thought I felt some discharge leaking so I went to the bathroom to wipe and there was quite a bit, but figured it was normal. I was finishing getting dressed when I felt a big gush and then a trickle down my leg! I looked at FI and said, "Uh...I think my water just broke!" This was actually it! We both looked at each other in disbelief for a minute and then started getting ready to go to the hospital. I was GBS positive, so I had to go in right away to start my antibiotics. We packed everything we would need and headed out the door.

When we got to the hospital I was 1 cm and 25% effaced. How in the world my OB thought I was 80% and the nurse thought I was 25% is beyond me. My OB wasn't going to be the one delivering me since he doesn't deliver at the hospital where I wanted to deliver. Anyway, I called my mom to come up. She got there around 9 pm and we walked around the hospital for a couple hours trying to get labor going. At this point, I hadn't felt a real contraction. After 2 hours of walking around, I had only progressed to 1.5 cm. The OB wanted to go ahead and start me on pitocin. She asked if I wanted to go ahead and get the epidural since pitocin contractions are "about 5x stronger than regular contractions" in her words. I really didn't want to find out what that felt like, and I was planning to get the epi anyway, so I said to go ahead and give it to me.

I got my epi and it was great! I could still feel and move my legs, but felt no pain. I sent my mom home because it was looking like I was going to be in this for the long haul. I laid on my left side for awhile. I could feel my stomach tensing up, but felt no pain. After awhile my left side started to feel more numb than my right, so I turned over. As soon as I turned over, the contractions stopped for some reason, so the nurse came in about 30 minutes later and upped my pitocin. Shortly after that, I started to feel really sick, so I asked FI if he could get me some ice chips. He handed me the cup and I said, "Sh*t! I'm gonna puke, can you get the trash can?" He didn't make it back in time, so I had to throw up in my cup...yuck! 

Around 1:30 am, the nurse came back in, gave me a barf bag, and checked me. I was 3 cm.  FML. I had been on the pitocin since about 10 pm and I had only progressed to 3 cm! So they upped it again and I threw up again. I hadn't eaten since 12:30 in the afternoon, so it was just stomach acid that was coming up and it effing sucked! 2 hours later, the nurse came back in to check me. I was 4 cm. UGH! They had me turn over to my left side and that's when Evie's heart rate started to drop, so they put me on oxygen and turned me back over to my right side and she was fine. 

Not too long after that I started to feel pressure with every contraction. Pressure like I had to poop. It would get worse with every contraction. The nurse came in at 5 am and I said, "Is it normal to be feeling this much pressure?" She said, "Are you feeling a lot of pressure?" I said, "Um...yeah and it doesn't get feel good!" So she checked me and said, "Well, you may want to call your mom and tell her to come back up here. You're 8 cm!" I went from 4 to 8 in an hour and a half! So I called my mom and told her to head back up.

Around 9 cm, the pressure was starting to get really bad. I wouldn't say it was extremely painful, but it was just so intense that it felt painful, so I had them top my epi off. This honestly didn't help one bit and I got sick again. This time I had no barf bag or trash can, so I had to throw up on the floor. Isn't labor glamorous?

At 6:30 am, I was 10 cm and ready to push. That's when it started to get really bad. I can't imagine what it would have felt like without the epi! Pushing was the hardest thing I've ever done! They wanted me to push 3 times for 10 seconds, and it felt impossible. Her heart rate started to drop again, so the oxygen mask went back on. They said her head was right there about 20 times, which pissed me off because I felt like I had been pushing forever!

After an hour and 15 minutes of pushing, Evelyn Rose made her grand entrance into this world at 7:43 am. She weighed 6 lbs. 15 oz. and was 20 inches long. She also had a full head of hair, which I was really worried about since I was bald for the first year of my life lol. I fell in love with her instantly! 

Since I was GBS positive, they had to monitor her for 48 hours after birth, so we didn't get to leave until Thursday. Being in the hospital sucked! It was impossible to sleep because they had to come in every 4 hours to check her vitals.  If it wasn't a nurse coming in, it was an unexpected guest, or the lactation consultant, or the birth certificate lady. Both nights we sent her to the nursery for 3 hours just to get a little sleep, since she was really fussy at night.

She breastfed right after birth and was latching on great the whole time we were in the hospital. As soon as we got home, which was Thursday, she stopped latching and would scream every time I tried to put her on the breast. We went through 2 nights of this. I tried every possible solution and she still refused to latch. On Saturday, when she had only eaten twice and it was 10 pm, I started to worry about dehydration. I broke down and gave her the bottle. She took it instantly and was an absolute angel after that. I have no idea why she stopped latching, but my pedi recommended trying a nipple shield, so I'm going to pick some of those up this weekend.

Other than the BF problems, she is a great baby! She pretty much eats and sleeps, like most newborns. She does have an issue with only wanting to be held though. She really on likes to sleep on my or FI's chest, but she's so adorable, how could that upset me?

With the lack of sleep and BF issues, it was a rough first week, but it's all worth it. She is my world now. I love her so much! Anyway, good luck to you soon to be moms. I'll see some of you over on 0-3 soon! If you have any questions or would like some advice just ask! 

Here are some newborn pics we had taken yesterday.