She?s here! (birth story)

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;}

 

Hi ladies!  Our daughter arrived on Sat, 2/5/11.  I?m finally feeling better and awake enough to write her birth story.  Here is a basic timeline of her birth:

 

On Fri, 2/4 at 39w + 5d I had an OB appt where I was told that I was 2cm and 40% effaced.  I had made great progress considering that a week prior I was closed up like a clam.  I came home excited and went straight for my birthing ball which I bounced on before walking around the house like a mad woman hoping to keep things moving.  Around 8pm that evening DH and I went out to dinner and I was feeling very crampy throughout.  I had not experienced any cramps during the pregnancy so it was an odd sensation.  I thought it meant that labor could be soon, as in a couple of days, but I was wrong.

 

3am ? I got up to use the bathroom barely awake as usual and returned to bed trying to get comfortable.  As I was falling asleep I felt a soft kick from the baby, then a sensation like a bubble popping before feeling a flow of fluid.  I got up did a funny walk to the bathroom to prevent leakage and sure enough I was soaked.  I yelled to DH that my water broke.  I called the Dr who told us to go to L&D and we got our things ready.  That whole experience felt so surreal because I?m one of the 15% of women who had no contractions first!

 

4am ? Checked into L&D, calm and smiling as I got situated.  My mom arrived and it was all fun and games at this point because though the contractions had started, I was not feeling any pain.  The nurses checked the monitor and kept asking me whether I was in pain and I felt like a weirdo saying no considering the large spikes on the screen next to me.  At that point I was 2-3 cm and 60% effaced and was allowed to labor on my own for the next 5 hours.

 

9am ? I started feeling the contractions by this point but was able to breathe through them easily.  I was practicing a method called hypnobabies which is basically just relaxation and visualization techniques. It kept me calm and relatively pain free.  DH coached me along with relaxation cues and I chatted him and my mom up between contractions.  But they were slowing down and I was only 4cm so the Dr started me on the Pitocin.  (uh oh, so here we go?.)

 

12pm ? I am crying through every contraction.  I dread each contraction with every fiber of my body.  The pain is insane like I?m being stunned, tazed and tortured for 30 seconds and then released before it happens again a minute later.  Now the hypnobabies relaxation cues are pissing me off.  I want my DH to stop saying it is just ?pressure waves?.  So I snap at him saying ?It?s not pressure, it?s pain!!!?.   Dr comes in and says I can get the epidural.

 

12:30p ? Epi is in place (bless that epi man) and the nurse asks me how that last contraction felt.  I respond, ?what contraction??.  She smiles and says that?s a good sign.  I rest and sleep (kinda) for the next few hours.

 

5pm ? Nurses and doctors rush in as DD?s heart rate has dropped into the 70s so they turn me from side to side until is raises back up into the 130s.  I?m told to stay on my side.  I?m now 7cm/80% effaced.  DD is at -2 station.  Dr inserts an internal heart rate monitor on DD?s head.

 

6:30pm ? Dr checks me and I?m at 9cm with an anterior lip.  But DD is still high at 0 station and I can see my Dr getting antsy.  When your water breaks you are on the clock to deliver.  But still, I?m feeling optimistic that I will be pushing shortly.

 

7:45pm ? I?m awakened by my Dr and several nurses who rush into the room and pull me to my side.  DD?s heart rate is down again but this time after rotating me several times they cannot get it back up. Dr mentions the dreaded ?c? word to my DH and mom.  This is where things get blurry.  Literally just a moment after a c-section being a possibility my Dr tells the nurse to get the OR ready.  I seriously feel like I am in the middle of a nightmare.  I am being pulled by several people at once, told to drink this, move there.  DH is given consents to sign and orders are being yelled across me as I?m wheeled into a cold OR and strapped down.  I?m so disoriented and the epi is so high that I cannot even move my hands on the table.

 

8:05pm ? I hear the anesthesiologist say ?baby?s out?.  A moment later I hear a cry.  It all feels really far away because I was hyper-ventilating the entire time from the shock of it all and the fact that the epi was so high I could only move my face.

 

The next hour I spent in recovery cold, shaking violently as the epi wore off and in pain while DH held my hand.  It was all pretty traumatic for me so I did not see DD until the next morning after I had slept and had some pain meds.  I was sad about not having the vaginal birth I wanted but it felt so good to see my DD happy and healthy that morning.  I?ve come to terms with having an emergency c-section because it gave me my DD and her safe delivery was most important.  I?m now 6 days post partum and feeling much better.  I love the FP rock and play sleeper, my abdominal binder and my breast pump more than my droid, kindle and laptop and that?s saying a lot! 

I want to post a pic but cannot figure out how to resize it (when I upload it is huge).