Kara Annelise's birth story....PIP

JuneNC2008 · February 2011

Kara was born on January 28th, at 2:49am in the morning; one day before her due date.

I had been having contractions on and off all week, but they were not strong enough to admit me to the hospital. Finally, on Thursday night, I was exhausted from not being able to sleep, so I called for reinforcements. My aunt is a neonatal nurse practioner where I was delivering, so I called her. She told us to head to the hospital and she would meet me there. We met my dad and dropped off our dog and headed to the hospital. Luckily, my doctor was on call.

We arrived at the hospital at 9:00pm. My aunt knows all the doctor's really well, so she actually spoke to him before he come to see me and told him to please not send me home. I had already been to the hospital on the 23rd and was sent home. I was only 1cm and had to walk for 2 hours and I didn't progress. This time the doctor checked me at 10:00pm and I was 3cm, so I was making progress. He told me he was going to keep me, but he wanted me to walk again. So I got admitted and all hooked up to the monitors and we set out to walk the halls around 10:30. After 30 minutes of walking, the contractions were getting rough. We had to stop in the halls and let me focus through them. I decided to head back to my room and eat my chicken broth before things started to get hectic. By 11:30pm, I was crying through my contractions. So the nurse and my aunt called for the doctor to check me.

At 11:55pm, the doctor came back to check me and I was 4.5cm. He ordered my epidural and broke my water to get things going. As soon as, he broke my water the contractions were unbearable. I was crying and I was trying to breath through them. My husband was so worried about me and my mom was too. Finally, the Bob, or "Jesus" came to administered my epidural at 12:15pm. I know it was only 15 minutes, but the pain was unbelievable and something I was not prepared for in the least. By 12:30, my pain was gone and I was a happy camper.

Around 2:00pm, I began having very achy thighs. It was uncomfortable not painful, and I was told this was normal. Around 2:15pm, the uncomfort was turning into pain. I was scared my epidural was wearing off. My aunt begged me to let the doctor check me before they turned up my epidural, because she thought I could be ready to push. I was in denial, because I had prepared myself for a long labor. I told her I could manage through the contractions. They were painful, but not like before. My doctor was in a c-section, so it was taking a little time to get there, so the Jamie my nurse decided to check me. And sure enough, I was 10cm and Kara was +2, instead of -1. My nurse laughed and said well she had delivered 3 babies by herself before, so she might be delivering a 4th.

However, around 2:25pm the doctor came in and checked me; and concluded I was ready to push. We did a few practice pushes that were very effective. They began to break down my bed and prepare the labor table. After 24 minutes of pushing, Kara Annelise was born weighing 7lbs 8.64oz and 21.5 inches long. She came out with her hand by her head and immediately started crying.

She had to be looked over my the neontal practioner on-call because there was merconium in my fluid. But, she passed all of her tests with flying colors. The doctor had a little problem getting my uterus to contract to stop the bleeding, so I had to have pitocin, after the birth. Finally, I was stable and only have one stitch. I must say, the birth went smoother than I anticipated. The only rough part was the 15 minutes of intense pain that felt like 3 hours.

Kara is a great baby and we are very excited and grateful!