I had my baby girl! (birth story)

Hi everyone! Baby Rome was born Tuesday, March 22nd at 11:32 am. She is just beautiful and DH and I are completely smitten. It's been a good week at home but we are, of course, exhausted. But she is a good baby so far. She doesn't cry that often. I've had some trouble breastfeeding thanks to her being an eager feeder but a poor latcher. She shredded my nipples over the first 5 days of breastfeeding and I've had to switch to pumping so they can heal. I'm going to see a lactation consultant tomorrow and I'm hoping she can help correct her latch and I can continue breastfeeding. I enjoyed it until it got too painful to continue. Anyway, below is my birth story if you're interested.

On Monday, 4 days before my due date, I was having pretty regular Braxton Hicks contractions at work. They weren't painful but they were coming in a pretty regular pattern, about 10-15 minutes apart. I went to my prenatal water aerobics class that night and I could tell that I was still contracting in the pool but I wasn't in any pain yet. I went home and DH made me some spicy enchiladas for dinner. About 9:00pm the real contractions started. They were pretty mild but they were coming about 5-10 minutes apart. I wasn't sure I was in real labor yet but certainly thought it was possible. I went to bed around 11:00 and the contractions started getting stronger. A couple woke me up and after one particularly strong contraction, my water broke at 2:40am. I bolted to the bathroom just in time to not make a mess of our bed.

I was diagnosed with GBS and was told I would have to go to L&D if my water broke so I called my doctor. I had to put in a phone number for the pager and I was so out of it, I accidentally put in my husband's cell phone number and he was downstairs getting the automatic feeder together for the cat and packing up some last minute stuff for the hospital. I jumped in the shower and DH came in saying the doctor was on the phone and I was so confused. We got in the car just after 3am and I thought to bring towels for the seat but I forgot to put in a pad and I was still leaking water so I was kind of a mess by the time we got to the hospital. We got checked in at triage and I told the nurses that my water looked a little green and they said that was meconium and the baby had had a bowel movement in the womb. They said she would probably have to be checked by the NICU staff when she was delivered but she would most likely be fine.

The contractions were getting stronger but I could manage them. When they checked me I was only 1cm dilated. I wasn't surprised so I just settled in for a long night and day. I was taken to the delivery room and I refused an epidural for the time being since the contractions weren't that bad. When my doctor came in around 6:30 am I was only 2 cm and the baby was still really high in my pelvis. She put me on high dose pitocin. My contractions started getting really intense before she ordered the pitocin so I said I wanted the epi ASAP since I knew they were only going to get worse. Oh boy. The contractions went from manageable to unbearable within minutes. I was vomiting and in agony. When I got the epi it was pure bliss. DH and I napped for a little while and the nurse checked me again at 10 am and I was fully dilated. That's when it got crazy. Everyone was shocked that I went from 2 cm to 10 cm in less than 4 hours and started prepping the room so I could push. My doctor was in a c-section so they just told me to relax. I started feeling more pressure but I still felt no pain. Around 11 am I started pushing. The doctor said it would probably take a couple hours since the baby was still higher, but when she checked me the head was already crowning. DH looked down and said he saw her head and I asked if she had hair and he said, "Oh yeah. Lots of brown hair." That was enough incentive for me. I pushed for 1/2 hour and she was out! She came shooting out so fast the doctor had to hold her back in. She came out screaming so they didn't have to suction her due to the meconium. They placed her immediately on my belly and that was the first sign I had that I had actually given birth. No one warned me that she was coming out. Everyone just kept saying how great I was doing and next thing I knew she was in my arms. I didn't really feel her coming out. It took me a while to figure out what was going on and why this slippery little thing was writhing around on me. It was amazing.

I ended up with a 2nd degree tear but overall I've been feeling pretty good, except for some incontinence issues and the breastfeeding has been emotional for me since it's not going as smoothly as I'd like. But when I see her little face and just think about how lucky I am to have her here, I know it's all worth it.