Chloe Jane's Birth Story (AandJ28)

AandJ28 · June 2014

Chloe Jane was born on Friday, June 20 at 11:53pm. She weighed 8lbs 6oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. H and I are so in love!!

The long version:

On 6/18 (due date), I had an appointment and ultrasound. Baby girl looked great (u/s tech guessed she was 8lbs 14oz) and dr scheduled an NST for the following day. Thursday, 6/19 I went to my 2pm NST. The nurse didn't like the baby's heart beat pattern and sent me to the hospital for a longer test. I called H (who was on his way home from work) and he met me there. After being on the monitors for 45 minutes, dr came in and said that while the test results weren't alarming, she decided to admit me and start and induction since I was past my due date and results weren't perfect.

At 6pm I was all settled into my room and the dr was about to start the induction. She chose a "cook balloon" to get thing started. (I was 1cm dilated when admitted) She explained that it would be a 12-24 hour process and to buckle down and get some rest, so H and I settled in for the night.

On Friday morning, H went to work and said he'd check in on me. I continued to have contractions and was given IV pain meds. My mom came to stay with me for the day until H was out of work. At 2pm, during a very strong contraction, my water broke. It was the most intense pain I've ever experienced. The anesthesiologist came in and placed the epidural followed by the dr who removed the balloon and said I had dilated to 7cm. He said he would be back in a couple of hours to check progress. (H arrived at 3:30pm) At 8pm, dr came back to check progress and said that I had only dilated another cm and was at an 8.

At about 9pm, my epidural was starting to fail and I had spiked a 101.5 fever. The dr came in and checked and said that I was still at an 8, had a high fever and a swollen cervix and was bleeding. He ordered a change in pain meds through the epidural as I had started having very intense back labor. They continued to monitor me and baby and finally at 10:45pm, the dr said that both of us had high blood pressure and he was very concerned about infection.

It was such a whirlwind from this point on... Dr discussed c-section, H and I agreed to it, and before I knew it we were in the operating room getting ready to meet Chloe. It all went so fast and when they announced that she was here, I started bawling. H was snapping pictures like crazy and while she didn't let out a blood-curdling scream like you see in the movies, she let out a couple of super cute squeaks. She was handed to H who brought her over to me and I kissed her as I was stitched up. We were brought to recovery and eventually to our room. Recovery has been ok so far, not nearly as bad as I imagined but it's been hard being limited in what I can do. Chloe has been an angel and is the sweetest baby ever. Towards the end of my pregnancy I had a gut feeling that she would make a dramatic entrance into the world (thought of my water breaking in a huge gush in the middle of Target or something) and she did not disappoint.

It is truly the most amazing feeling, being a mom, and I cannot imagine my life without her. Thanks so much for reading.

Will post pics soon...