On Monday, March 9th I went in to the OB for them to re-check my blood pressure because it was really high the previous thursday (I was put on bed rest for a few days over the weekend). Well it went up more to around 150/90. So my doc came in and was like, you are going to be admitted to the hospital this evening to be induced. Yikes! At that moment everything seemed so real! So we had to be at the hospital at 5pm that evening, so I spent the day TRYING to relax and get myself in the mindset of birthing a baby! Talk about a strange feeling! So we went to the hospital, got settled into our labor and delivery room, and they hooked me up to an IV. That night they gave me Cervidil which is a suppository that is supposed to ripen the cervix and begin the labor process (I went into the hospital with no dilation or effacement at all). After a restful sleep (with the help of an ambien) the following morning they started me on Pitocin, the labor inducing drug that gets contractions going. Dr. Stamm came in that morning and checked my cervix and I was dilated to about 1cm...not enough to break my water unfortunately. So I began contracting...and did so all day. The contractions were not too bad though, quite manageable. At 5:30pm Dr. Stamm came back to check me and found that I hadn't really progressed at all...bummer! So he proposed that we do a 2-day induction. So that night I was put on another different cervix softening drug, cytotec. I slept well again and the following morning they started pitocin again. Dr. D came and checked me and I had progressed to 2cm! So she was able to break my water. After that, my labor REALLY got going! Holy moly, it was the most horribly painful thing I've ever experienced! I'm still pretty fuzzy on remembering all the details of the day, but I think around 11am they had to give me some IV narcotics for pain...this helped for about 30 minutes and made me REALLY out of it. The pain just continued to get worse and worse so they finally decided to give me the epidural even though I was still only at 2cm. Honestly getting it was probably the biggest relief I'd ever felt in my life and the procedure wasn't bad at all. After that though things began to get a little hairy. The baby's heart rate started to have sporatic decelerations...it was really scary because every few minutes the nurses would come rushing in and make me change positions to see if it would help...it usually would but I could tell there was growing concern. They had to lower my pitocin as they figured that's what was causing the drops in her heart rate. They finally had lowered it so much that I wasn't having contractions nearly frequent enough. By that time, Dr. CR came to check on me and found that I was still just over 2cm dilated and poor little Lila Grace had a little nob conehead! Dr. CR determined that the reason I hadn't been progressing, the decelerations of the baby's heart rate, and the extreme pain I'd been experiencing were all as a result of my "tiny" pelvis. I guess they had no way of knowing this until trying labor. After that she immediately told me I would be having a c-section right away. I apparently kinda freaked out because my epidural had worn off and I was in a ton of pain again and I was concerned that I would feel the whole operation! Obviously the nurses told me I wouldn't feel a thing!
On to the operation...this was actually such a wonderful experience! I was wheeled into the operating room. Laurin had to wait until I was completely prepped before he could join me, so it was a little scary having to face that room all by myself with a bunch of strangers. Fortunately Dr. CR (my doc for the last 7 years) ended up the one to do the operation, so once she was in the room I felt better. They gave me another epidural dose and a spinal block through the epidural line. It was a very strange sensation when they administered the drugs...it felt like ice cubes running up and down my spine. The only really uncomfortable thing about the whole operation was how frigid the drugs made me. I was shivering harder than ever and they kept having to put warm blankets all over me! Finally I was prepped and Laurin was able to join me...he looked pretty funny in his scrubs and mask! Once the drugs had taken effect they poked me a bit to make sure I couldn't feel anything. The nurse anesthetist was really cool and made me feel at ease. He asked me if I felt a poke, and I said no...a minute later when I asked if they had started, he was like, "she's already half way to the baby...when I said did you feel that poke, she was cutting you open!" So at that point I really relaxed because I knew I would feel no pain. I could feel pressure and pulling...and I could feel them pull her out of me. She came out and cried immediately. I know it sounds weird but it was the most beautiful cry ever...not ugly-sounding like lots of babies. They held her up for a second and then took her over to the warmer to clean her off...at that point Laurin was with her and I just remember hearing him saying over and over, "Mel, she has your lips!" She had apgar scores of 9 and 9...perfect! Then they weighed her and she was only 5lbs 12oz! A few more moments went by and they brought her over to my head all wrapped up...she was the most perfect, beautiful thing I'd ever seen! She was then wisked away to the nursery with Daddy in tow. They spent about 1/2 an hour tending to me and stitching me up and then I was taken to recovery. Laurin met me there and stayed with me until I could go to our room. Almost immediately after I got to recovery, the epidural wore off and the pain set in. They started giving me shots of morphine in my thighs at that point which were very helpful! After what seemed like FOREVER, they finally took us to our room and our entire family was there waiting and greeted me with applause and so much love! It was hard for me because I had barely seen Lila Grace and they had all gotten to watch her get a bath in the nursery...not fair! Finally they brought her to me and I was able to nurse and see this beautiful creature! Needless to say I was exhausted and woozy after 2 days of labor and a major surgery! After 3 more nights in the hospital we were sent home! The recovery process for me was better than I expected. It was HORRIBLE the first day but got MUCH better with each day. The hardest thing the first week home was just getting up and down. But I certainly can tell you that looking at my beautiful little girl dulled the pain!
So there's the birth story in a nutshell and here are some pics of the birth and our first few weeks at home!
1 comment:
I am so glad to see pictures of your beautiful girl! I'm sorry your labor was so eventful, but it was obviously completely worth it!
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