October 2014 Moms

Dani0329 birth story-Lorelei made it!

Dani0329Dani0329 member
edited October 2014 in October 2014 Moms
Better late than never, sorry it took so long!!  This is super long because I wrote it for me more than anyone, sorry!

TTDR: Lorelei Isabel arrived on 10/21/14 at 12:30am weighing 7 lbs 7 ounces; measuring 19 3/4 inches. 

                All of the action began on 10/19/14 (two days after my estimated due date) at 4 am with the start of contractions.  The contractions were painful enough to keep me awake, and I was always told if you are unable to sleep through contractions, it is likely the real deal.  Contractions came every 11-13 minutes until 5:30 am and then died down enough for me to fall asleep.  At 8:30 they began again with enough pain to wake me.  The contractions continued 13-20 minutes apart until 5:00 pm, and then from 5 pm until 8 pm the contractions ranged from 3-6 minutes apart with increasing pain.  I called the doctor around 6 pm and he said if they continued at the same level for an hour to go to the hospital.  We decided to hold off as long as possible and arrived at the hospital a little before 9 pm.
                Jared and I arrived to the hospital and we decided to walk from the parking garage to the hospital because it felt better than to be sitting. We walked into the emergency department and they checked us in and called up to labor and delivery to come get us.  We were asked about 1,000 times if my water had broken (it hadn’t).  Once we were up in labor and delivery we got hooked up to the monitors.  I asked if I could walk around, and they said once we were checked in and the doctor said it was okay.  Everything looked perfect on the monitor.  The triage nurse came into check and see how much progress had been made.  On 10/17/14 at the doctor there was no dilation or effacement.  Right before the nurse checked, I said I am going to cry if I haven’t made any progress.  The nurse checked and said I was 1 cm dilated, and saying 1 was generous.  I wanted to scream and cry because I knew despite the pain I was getting sent home.  The on-call doctor came in and said it may be early labor and I may be back later that day, the upcoming days, or it could be a week.  On the way home, I made Jared stop and buy a chocolate frosty to cheer me up.
                The contractions continued throughout the night and following day, with some increase in intensity. I refused to time the contractions since I knew that even though they were 3-5 minutes apart, I was not in labor.  Jared got up and got ready for work, he said he was going to start his paternity leave that day and would be home early.  I tried to talk him out of it, letting him know that it could still be a week before the baby arrived and that he would blow his leave time and they would not let him take paternity leave until the baby actually arrived.  Around 9:30 am, I was bouncing on the birthing ball and the dogs went crazy, Jared walked in the door.  He said he took leave and would be off until the baby arrived, and that he thought she would be here very soon. 
                Around 10 am, I got into the bath to try and offset some of the contractions and back pain, it helped some.  I was able to eat lunch, but not dinner because of the pain.  Jared made me eat a smoothie around 5pm.  All day, Jared kept asking if I was timing the contractions.  I said no, there was no point because they have continued at the same times they were the previous day. Throughout the day I took another bath, rocked on the bouncing ball and had Jared massaging my back during the contractions.  At 6:30 on 10/20/14, Jared made me begin timing the contractions.  They were lasting well over a minute and occurring every 4-6 minutes until 7:30, with enough intensity that I was no longer able to talk through them.  I went and got into the shower because of the pain, Jared came with me to time the contractions. At this point the contractions were coming 2-3 minutes apart and last 1-2 minutes while in the shower and I was screaming.  I could no longer stand up straight during them.  Jared came into the bathroom and said you really need to call your doctor when you get out of the shower now. 
                I called the doctor and she said to come on in and we would check it out and see how things are progressing.  We got our dogs situated, loaded final things in the car and headed out.  Our neighborhood had Halloween floats going around the neighborhood and made getting out slightly difficult.  I could tell things were different than the day before, every bump was torture and I was screaming.  I told Jared I was not going to be able to walk today and to drop me off in front of the emergency department.  I walked in and got sent up to labor and delivery again.  Everyone asked a million times if my water broke (it hadn’t).  Before they ever checked me, they could see how strong the contractions were on the machine and helped talk me through each one.  I was still sure we were going to be sent home, I am not sure why.  When they finally checked me they said I was a little more than 6 cm dilated.  At this point, I felt like the Icky Woods commercial saying “Yes, I did it”.  I told Jared to call our parents and text our siblings to let them know.
                They transferred me to a labor and delivery room and asked about pain management.  I had planned on trying to go natural, but left the option open for an epidural.  Once we were in the labor and delivery room, I decided I would wait for the doctor to get there and check me to see where I was before I decided.  Jared massaged my hands and had my Dave Matthews Pandora channel on to keep me calm.  When the doctor arrived, she said she would check me to help me decide about the epidural but if she saw my bag of waters she would want to break it and the pain would get more intense.  I decided to not have her check me and get the epidural because I was already exhausted.  The anesthesiologist was in with someone having a C-section, so when the back-up arrived it was 2 hours later.  He was an ass; you could tell pissed off to have to come in.   I did not say a word, just did what he said and nodded my head. After he left, my husband came back in and 10 minutes later the pain was muted, but not gone.  Not long after the epidural, my blood pressure dropped and the baby’s heart rate dropped.  They placed me on oxygen and had me lay on my side. I could feel the pressure still on the right side. 
                The on-call doctor for my practice came in to break my water afterward and said I was at 8 cm, almost 9 cm.  I was a little sad that I was so close to making it med-free.  I was not able to pee after the epidural, so the nurse had to use a catheter to clear my bladder. At midnight the doctor came in and said I was complete and ready to push.  The nurse told her I had complained about pressure.  The doctor said that was because the baby was right there and when I felt the pressure it was okay to go ahead and push.  The bed was being broken down, but I didn’t try to push because I was scared.  When she came back she said have you pushed, I said no I was scared.  I asked them to help me know when to push.  I would tell them when I felt the pressure building and they would check the machine to make sure it was a contraction and then would talk me through the contraction.  My husband said it took about 6 contractions (30 minutes) to push her out, I was thankful the epidural didn’t complete take away feeling to help with pushing.  Jared likes to tell people that I yelled “Come on baby” and “She is never coming out, she keeps going back in” (apparently her head was already out).  At 12:30 am on 10/21/14, Lorelei Isabel arrived weighing 7 lbs. 7 oz. and measuring 19 ¾ inches.  We had immediate skin to skin while we waited for the cord to stop pulsing and she pooped on me twice!
                She is perfect and we are so in love.  Both of our parents live 3 hours away and arrived not long after she was born.  We all spent a couple hours talking and watching Lorelei get her APGAR scores/bath and other essential things done.  Breastfeeding was an immediate success with some guidance from nurses and two awesome lactation consultants.


 
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