Elena’s Birthday
Since you got the stats from my sis, I’ll give you the gory details.
Woke up feeling like today was the day. I don’t know why - I don’t recall any contractions through the 10 mg. Ambien I took last night. *big, happy smile*
Contractions started at 6.15 a.m. or so. There was much foot rubbing (by AJ) and massaging (by me) taking place to kind of kick start things.
I told everyone staying at hour house that I wouldn’t be surprised if we had a baby today, but that we’d go about our day as usual until I was sure.
So, we went to KM and had a great time. (AJ went along to help me with L.) My contractions actually slowed down a little bit until we started crawling around on the floor.
I had been doing pretty well managing Liam, but after we got home from KM, I was trying to fix him lunch and it just wasn’t working for me. I finally just gave up around noon and let everyone else do everything.
I ate some lunch, threw it all up, and decided to remake Liam’s bed to get the bedskirt on. (And, by the way, I STILL don’t have a comforter for him.) My contractions still weren’t very close together - about 10 minutes or so - but I had hit the irritable stage, so I called the doctor’s office at about 12.30. I was on hold for almost 15 minutes.
Hello, you DO NOT do that to a woman in labor. They, of all people, should know that.
The nurse told me that they usually wait until the contractions are 5 minutes apart to send you to the hospital - which I KNEW - but since I was a second-time mom, I could go if I felt like I really needed to. She said she’d call the hospital to let them know that I’d be coming eventually and I told her I’d try to wait it out a little longer.
Um, that lasted about 10 minutes.
Everyone had already loaded the car with the stuff I had packed earlier in the day, so we headed to the hospital.
There was a lot of traffic
and we were supposed to stop and get some speakers for the mp3 player, but AJ decided that he would be more comfortable if we just went directly to the hospital.
Shortly after, my contractions went from 10 minutes apart to three minutes apart. I wasn’t worried, but AJ was concerned that we’d waited too long to go and that it would be too late to get my epidural. I told him that we had plenty of time.
He was not impressed.
To get out of the traffic, we took surface roads. He drove like a manic in the Taxi, which is manual transmission and not very comfortable for the laboring passenger being jerked around as the driver shifts gears, and got us to the hospital in record time.
We hauled everything in, and waited to get a room. Of COURSE the contractions slowed down when we got into the room. But we had our little pow wow with the nurse and she said that they’d monitor me to determine whether or not I was really in labor. Guh…I did not want to get sent home. But lucky me, right as I was walking into the bathroom to change into my sexy ties-in-the-back gown, I peed myself.
Only it came from the wrong place.
It took me a minute to realize that my water might have broken. I stood in the bathroom and yelled at Aaron to tell him that I thought that was the case - but I wasn’t sure - until I had another contraction.
Hell yes, my water had broken. (There’s really no other sensation similar to that of a broken water bag during a contraction.)
I’m not certain, but I got the feeling that the nurse didn’t believe me when I told her after she got back. She kept asking me, “Just now?,” and I kept saying “Yes,” but she was definitely skeptical. (I think she thought I was making it up so that they wouldn’t send me home. Why would anyone do that? The minute they check you, you’d be busted.) She said they’d monitor me and see how it was going. She hooked me up to all of the fun equipment and when she checked me, I was dilated 4 cm. - and my water WAS broken.
As she was putting in my IV at about 1.45 or so, we discussed how I wanted to labor. I told her that I wanted to walk if I could. She said that probably wasn’t the best idea since this was my second baby. Instead, she recommended getting the IV fluid in as quickly as we could, rushing everything through the lab, and ordering the epidural so that it would be ready once the IV bag emptied.
That sounded reasonable, so I went with it.
Aaron kept me occupied as we discussed the financial logistics of buying a new car. He had laughed when I packed the Budget folder, but he had to stifle his laughter after we determined that we could afford the car (and the aftermarket crap) using the budget.
Funny…he didn’t laugh when I packed the print outs of the different grilles he was considering.
He also surprised me with candy. Interestingly enough, I surprised him with candy. There was a lot of candy.
By the time Mom, Ang, and Heather arrived,
we were done doing the “fun” stuff and I was deep breathing through some not-so-nice contractions.
I was making everyone be quiet - and yes, I was a little bitchy about it (I CAN hear you whispering.) - when I was concentrating, and a few minutes later when my Dad arrived and wasn’t taking me seriously, I shushed him.
They all shut up and got quiet when I asked them to from that point on.
Fortunately, my lab work came back and even though there was still a bit of fluid left in my IV, my fabulous nurse called the anesthesiologist. (I have never been so happy to have taken anyone’s advice. By the time we got to this point, I had a sore neck from craning it around the bed rail trying to see how much fluid was left in the IV bag.) However, I wasn’t sure if he was on his way to my room at THAT VERY moment or if he was just now leisurely leaving his office to make an appearance in the next 15 minutes, so I asked for some IV meds to “take the edge off” of the contractions, which were kind of past the point of painful - definitely taking my breath away and making me contract every other muscle along with Utie as they came on…and in between. He happened to down the hall on the way to my room, so we decided against the IV meds. (I really wanted to be lucid this time, which was why I was avoiding narcotics. Last time I had Stadol and was in a daze.) Somehow, between contractions, I noticed that my nurse had discretely disposed of the not-empty bag and was hanging a new one in place just as the anesthesiologist walked in.
God bless you a thousand times, Chris.
At the point I was being poked in the back during a contraction in a seated position over the side of the bed - which is absolutely the WORST position in which to have contractions, in my opinion - I thanked AJ for getting me to the hospital when he did. It took about an hour to get the fluid in and half hour to get the epidural in place. It was around 2.45 or so or so when the anesthesiologist came in and it took a while to get the pain management right - at first it only worked on my left side. Now THAT’S an interesting contraction. We managed to get it under control, but I was still having pain in one tiny spot and I was feeling a lot of pressure…almost like I needed to push.
The nurse checked me and at 3.15 and I was dilated to 7 cm.
So…I went from 5-7 in half an hour, without medication. No freaking wonder I wanted to push. And HO-LY shit, I don’t know how you amazing women have natural child birth.
Fifteen minutes later, I was an 8; thirty minutes after that, I was complete. Thank god I got the epidural when I did.
I started pushing at 4.20. My contractions slowed down to 10 minutes apart, so it was taking a while. Evidently Elena wasn’t positioned quite properly. After about two contractions that far apart and the Dr. getting her turned the right way (during which time she had a conversation with her husband on her cell to let him know that she’d be late to their son’s school orientation) they gave me some pitocin to get things back on track and I started really pushing. The staff kept telling me what a great job I was doing, but the nurse kept telling me to “push down the middle,” after each contraction. After a few contractions, I noticed them giving each other looks that I KNOW meant I wasn’t pushing properly. But we got the job done regardless.
Aside from that, it was a picture-perfect delivery. I watched her being born in the mirror. It was amazing. (I’m told that with just her head out, she opened her eyes and looked around.) And when they gave her to me, she was alert and already trying to nurse. (Because L was a difficult delivery and he wasn’t born pink, I didn’t get to have the mirror or have him on my belly before they whisked him away to the warmer.)
AJ managed to cut the cord and squirted blood everywhere. The doctor and nurses about shit their pants. None of us could believe how they jumped. As soon as they could, they were throwing everything (including my pillow) into hazardous materials bags.
Eventually, they took E to the warmer, gave her a little oxygen and got her weight,
and wrapped her up and gave her to me.
And I got to nurse my newborn baby right then. (Another new experience for me - L was taken shortly after birth for tests.)
When she was done, I handed her off to my dad
because I thought he was going to leave and later realized that AJ hadn’t seen her yet. (I was a little out of it from the narcotic they had given me to help with the epidural, so I’ll blame that. I’m SO sorry, AJ.)
Jen, who missed the delivery but arrived just shortly after Elena,
and Meg, who JUST made it to the delivery in time,
had a little QT before they whisked E off to have her bath.
Auntie Jenni (who also barely made it to witness her birth) got her after her bath, and
Grandma and Grandpa managed a visit as well.
Unlike last time when I was numb until the following day at noon, I was nearly back to normal by the time we moved to our other room. And I wasn’t in NEARLY as much pain - no stitches and not too much swelling. The bruise on my back from the epidural hurt the worst. Also, so far I’ve managed to get by on non-narcotic pain meds as well. (If you can do it, I highly recommend it - that Tylenol 3 caused me some bowel issues last time. And who the hell wants to birth another baby three days after you go home?)
Neal
and Ang
brought AJ Mickey D’s and picked up some rice chex and rice milk for me, and we all enjoyed a quiet dinner together.
So, it turned out to be a fantastic day: I got to go into labor on my own; I had a relatively easy and short labor compared to that of L’s; and I have a daughter with a beautifully shaped head to prove it.
Elena
Liam
I am so grateful that I got to experience it this way - although the end result is worth it either way, cone head or no. The swelling of pure joy that I felt when I held Miss E for the first time was amazing.
I know it’s gushy, and I’m not usually this way, but I feel so lucky to have two wonderful children who fill my heart so full that it aches. I love both of them more than I ever imagined I could.
