Riley Harper's Birth Story

madhatterxo · June 2012

On June 12, 2012 (Riley's due date) I had my 40 weeks doctor's appointment. Everything looked great with Riley. I was 2 cm dilated. I was so uncomfortable at this point. I couldn't sleep, and the nauseousness was coming back pretty bad. I was also having a lot of vaginal pressure. I asked my doctor what we could do, and he had me come in the following day (June 13, 2012) to do a membrane stripping/sweeping. That morning and all throughout that day, I was so sick. TMI, but I had so much diarrhea, I was lucky I made it from my house to the doctor's office for my appointment. I thought it was just nerves. When we got to the office I was still 2 cm dilated, but I was also 80% effaced now. He did the stripping which I would NEVER do again. It was the worst pain I have ever felt. I had to make him stop several times. The pain was so bad that I told the doctor that I was going to throw up on him if he didn't stop. He said that I have a very sensitive cervix. I think the stripping was worse than labor and delivery.

After the stripping, he told me to go to the hospital to get admitted. I didn't have a lot of pain at this point. I had pressure and bleeding. We got to the hospital at around 4:30pm, and they admitted me. I was having contractions 5 minutes apart which I really didn't feel. I just felt pressure. They did a few cervical checks which hurt so bad, but I was barely progressing. Around 8pm, they hooked me up to pitocin on the lowest dose. Over the course of a few hours, they upped it to a 3 or 4. I started feeling the contractions at that point. They felt like really bad menstrual cramps. I requested an epidural at that point. It took them about an hour to get the anesthesiologist to me. The epidural was scary. The needle going in was a piece of cake, but the anesthesiologist hit a nerve, and I started to get shooting pain in my right leg. My leg also started to shake a little. It was scary especially because you can't move. I also got a big contraction at the point. Finally, the anesthesiologist fixed the epidural, and my right leg was completely numb. It's such a weird feeling. My left leg eventually caught up, but was never as numb as my right. Once I got the epidural, I felt better, but I started to shake. I couldn't even hold my cup of ice chips because I was shaking so much. I think it was from all the drugs and nerves.

I forgot to say that through all of this my mom and my husband, Matt, were with me. They didn't leave my side. They were awesome. They both tried to sleep on chairs and they kept my spirits up and goofed around with me. It was such a great experience. Finally, around 11:30pm, we all tried to sleep. I think I dozed off here and there, but it's hard to sleep when you're in labor and hooked up to all kinds of machines, and shaking.

At 1:30am, my doctor came in to do another check. At this point, I was 4 cm and my doctor broke my water. This didn't hurt at all, and I just felt warm water flow out. After that, the contractions got intense even with the epidural. They went from bad menstrual cramps to very intense pressure. It wasn't pain that I couldn't handle, but it was painful nonetheless. Around 3:30am, my epidural wore off. The pain was pretty bad and I started to shake a lot and cry. They couldn't get an anesthesiologist to me for about an hour and a half because she was in an emergency c section. Apparently they only had one anesthesiologist on staff. My mom started complaining to all the nurses and nursing students. Looking back now, it was really funny. She was such an advocate for me. She was yelling at whoever would listen. Finally, the anesthesiologist came in and gave me more. My legs went numb again and I felt much better.

I fell asleep and around 5:30am, I woke up with intense pressure again and the urge to push. I paged my nurse who paged my doctor, and again I had another check. I was 9 cm and 100% effaced. I told them that I needed to push, but they said I couldn't. It was so hard to not push. My body just wanted it so bad. I had to really focus to fight back. An hour later at 6:30am, the urge was overwhelming and I paged my doctor again. He came in and checked me for the last time. I was 10cm! It was time to push. The pushing felt so good! The epidural had worn off a little, but enough to keep the pain at bay. I really liked actually giving birth. Matt had one leg, and my mom had the other, and we were all in it together. They kept telling me to pretend I had to go to the bathroom (#2). Then the doctor said get really mad, but I said that I didn't have anything to get mad about. I was so happy that I was pushing my little girl out. Then my mom started to annoy me by being boisterous and she kept touching my head. I started to yell at her, and that's when I got my good pushes in. Riley was out within 30 minutes from the first push to the last. She was perfect from the second she was born at 7:10am. They cleaned her up, and put her on my chest, and she breastfed immediately. She was so beautiful and tiny. I started crying. Matt was crying. My mom was crying. It was just something else.

After she finished breastfeeding, they took her downstairs to the nursery. She was 7 pounds, 10 ounces and 19 inches long. She had the chubbiest little cheeks and the softest cry. They wouldn't bring her back to me until I was recovered which really meant until I could feel my legs and move them. My recovery was long. Normally, after a vaginal birth, the nurses said that I should have been fine after 1 hour, but it took me close to 5 hours just to barely be able to move my legs a little bit again. My right leg took forever to not be numb. I started to get scared that I would never be able to feel my leg again. I also learned that I had indeed been cut. Episiotomies suck! The pain from that was and still is terrible. I really couldn't do anything until this weekend. It still hurts. I can't sit on anything without my inflatable ring shaped device. I'm still taking 1-2 motrins a day to keep the pain away. Everything is getting much better now.

As far as breastfeeding goes, I feel like a failure It's something I really had my heart set on, but every time I tried, she didn't latch on correctly and I would up with cracked, bleeding nipples and a screaming baby. Pumping has been good, but my supply seems to be getting low. At least she got some breastmilk and colostrum so far. She also eats like a champ. She is starving ALL THE TIME! She eats so much. At her last dr visit which was 5 days after she was born, she had already gained 4 ounces. I'm pretty sure she weighs over 8 pounds now.

She is just amazing. I didn't even know it was possible to love this much.

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madhatterxo · June 2012

I have no idea why my pictures won't resize and keep adding twice.

pb_bride · June 2012

Your birth story is bringing tears to my eyes! What an ordeal you had to go thru when there was no anesthesiologists available! You did a great job and Riley is absolutely beautiful. Hope you recover soon. And please do not be so hard on yourself regarding breastfeeding. Hope that gets easier/better soon.

Whales124 · June 2012

OMG she is absolutely adorable! Congratulations and thanks for sharing your heartfelt story. Take care of yourself and your little love!

TJ1979 · June 2012

Congrats again on your little girl (LOVE her name!) It sounds like you were a real trooper, way to go! Like PP said, don't be hard on yourself. Breastfeeding is really hard. You're doing the best you can, and that's all you can be expected to do. You have to do what is best for Riley. Congrats again!