So here's the labor story. It's REALLY LONG and detail heavy for my own posterity since I'm not a journal writer yet, but nothing too gruesome, so if you're a detail person, here they are... if not, you can skim!... or just skip to the end!
...so let's see...
It all began on a Saturday morning. I thought that my water might have broken. I wasn't going to run off to the hospital just because of that though, I had plans for a natural childbirth, laboring at home for as long as possible, using all of the techniques I had learned in my childbirth classes and showing up at the hospital already at 7 centimeters, too late for an epidural (to limit temptation) and staying a scant 48 hours in that germ-infested place...
As the day wore on I became increasingly certain that my water HADN'T broken, that it was nothing and the signs that I had seen meant that labor was on its way, but not here quite yet. Of course, I'm incredibly paranoid as a human being, so even though I was pretty sure I was fine, there was slight worry. As I drifted off towards peaceful slumber that night, I received a text message from one of my besties, Cally. It's unlike Cally to text me late at night. She couldn't sleep until she told me that she thought I should call triage and ask them about whether my water might have broken. It's also unlike Cally to sit up worrying about me late into the night. So she got me worried. Sometimes the Lord works through other people, so I got up and called triage. After a long time trying to speak to a human being, a nurse finally told me that I could come in and do a quick check to see if my water had broken.
Fine, I thought.
I'll be home in two hours feeling silly, but whatever.
So at 12:45AM Sunday morning we drove to the hospital, leaving the bags in the car, sure we wouldn't need them!
They took me back quickly and hooked me up to a monitor. They checked me and I was at 5 centimeters. That was only somewhat suprising, since at my last appointment I was a 3 and a half. But I wasn't in active labor, only having random, irregular contractions. "they'll still let me go home I thought, it'll be fine"
Then they took my vitals. As I felt the blood pressure cuff tighten a second time around my arm, a feeling of dread settled in my giant belly... I looked over at the screen 126 over 101. Crap. Next reading 128 over 99. I wasn't going home. I knew the story. Two days before my due date they weren't going to send me home with blood pressure like that.
Sure enough, Dr. McKinney seemed quite offended that A.) I was not excited to be held there until my baby came and B.) that I was ballsy enough to even question her almighty word.
So that night I lay in a hospital bed on constant monitoring (very anxiety provoking by the way... can you imagine hearing your baby's steady heartbeat slip into silence over and over again as the receivers slip and slide around on your basketball shaped belly? Then trying to move the receiver millimeter by millimeter trying to find her again to reassure yourself? Very annoying!) Shift change came and Dr. Rosenberg came on and we discussed my options which were A.) Be induced, which I didn't want because of the increased intensity of contractions and increased risk of c-sections, etc.... B.) Sit in the hospital on monitors and bedrest until I went into labor naturally or they decided that my blood pressure was too high, or C.) Leave against medical advice..
I decided for me and Rosalie, that A. was the best option, I guess we'll never really know though! So they started Pitocin and ran it all day producing such pansy conntractions that I kept trying to get the nurse to turn it up so I wouldn't be there forever! No luck. I was still at 5 centimeters. They took me off of it and we started again the next day after a good nights rest.
Shift change again. Awesome. MY doctor is here! (I love Dr. Franz and he knows that I do my research and know my stuff and has stopped raising his eyebrows when I tell him things like "no, I don't want the Swine Flu vaccine" because he knows I know the risks and benefits and accepts that I am making an informed decision) Anyway. More pitocin and contractions get a little stronger, but still not as bad as false labor that I had had before... still 5 centimeters. Franzy was going to come in around 12 Noon and break my water if it hadn't broken. I had been having a lot of contractions, and been on the drugs for quite a while and needed to get things on the road. But as docs are known to do, Dr. Franz got tied up, so 12:00 came and went and he wasn't there. Around 12:50 my nurse came in and talked to me and before she left she suggested I roll over on my side and she helped me to reposition the ever-present monitors. I immediately had two much stronger contractions! "That's more like it!" I thought... "now I have to pee..."
So at 1:00 I'm in the bathroom (I promise this isn't going THERE!) and Baby Girl gives a mighty KICK, and I pee some more... oh... no, wait... THAT'S what it feels like when your water breaks!
I tell mom and David that my water is broken and excitement ensues, but hey? What's that - OUCH! ... The contractions REALLY start cranking now! The nurse turns down the pitocin a bit, since I've got 5 centimeters to go still. I struggle with very intense contractions for about an hour or so. No speaking, no touching, no staring or standing to close to me... The contractions are 2 minutes apart and about a minute long, but in between, when I'm supposed to be getting a breather, I'm having such a stabbing pain in my back that I. Cannot. Breathe. This is the only time I thought "I can't do this, I want drugs" But when the nurse asked me (again) when she came back I clenched my teeth and shook my head. I did have to pee however and I couldn't walk. So she helped me and as we walked to the bathroom, she said "you don't feel like you have to go number 2, do you?" I reassured her "no, I know that means the baby is coming!" On the way back to the bed I took that comment back... I DO have the urge to push! After helping me into the bed the nurse said she needed to check me, it couldn't wait for the doctor.
9, maybe 10 centimeters and she was ON. HER. WAY!
Everything was suddenly a blur as there are suddenly three nurses in my room in surgical gowns, reassuring me that if Dr Franz doesn't make it in time, that they were perfectly capable of handling things... I didn't care. I was unsuccessfully trying NOT to push yet, she was coming no matter who was in the catchers box!
Dr Franz flies in and sits in the place of great honor and says "alright, let's go!" After one or two pushes he says 'it won't be long' 'HOW LONG?' I asked... 15 minutes... okay. I can do it. This pushing thing feels much better than those stupid contractions!
A few moments later he says "you're going to make a liar out of me, it's only going to be about 5 minutes"
Sweet.
Then, at 2:45, after about 10 minutes of pushing, there she was.
I couldn't believe that the baby that had been inside of me was now lying on my chest covered in gross stuff crying with her perfect little voice. Ten fingers, ten toes (on two really big feet) and just a little fuzz on the top of her pretty, almost round head! How amazing!
She was doing pretty well, but coming through the birth canal so fast left her with a little congestion, so the nurses took her from me after a few minutes and spent some time keeping her angry and crying to clear out her lungs, while I was stuck with the OTHER aftermath of her coming so fast... a second degree tear and a lot of blood loss.
After some stitches and passing out a couple of times I was better and I had time to fall in love with my baby some more (she and her daddy had already watched part of a football game together, so it was my turn!)
That's about it! All in all, I'd rather relive that painful hour and forty-five minutes again than this past weeks recovery between the tear and anemia, neither of which are 100% better! But I would do it all a million times for this:
My Angel Girl.
Can you even believe that face?
It all began on a Saturday morning. I thought that my water might have broken. I wasn't going to run off to the hospital just because of that though, I had plans for a natural childbirth, laboring at home for as long as possible, using all of the techniques I had learned in my childbirth classes and showing up at the hospital already at 7 centimeters, too late for an epidural (to limit temptation) and staying a scant 48 hours in that germ-infested place...
As the day wore on I became increasingly certain that my water HADN'T broken, that it was nothing and the signs that I had seen meant that labor was on its way, but not here quite yet. Of course, I'm incredibly paranoid as a human being, so even though I was pretty sure I was fine, there was slight worry. As I drifted off towards peaceful slumber that night, I received a text message from one of my besties, Cally. It's unlike Cally to text me late at night. She couldn't sleep until she told me that she thought I should call triage and ask them about whether my water might have broken. It's also unlike Cally to sit up worrying about me late into the night. So she got me worried. Sometimes the Lord works through other people, so I got up and called triage. After a long time trying to speak to a human being, a nurse finally told me that I could come in and do a quick check to see if my water had broken.
Fine, I thought.
I'll be home in two hours feeling silly, but whatever.
So at 12:45AM Sunday morning we drove to the hospital, leaving the bags in the car, sure we wouldn't need them!
They took me back quickly and hooked me up to a monitor. They checked me and I was at 5 centimeters. That was only somewhat suprising, since at my last appointment I was a 3 and a half. But I wasn't in active labor, only having random, irregular contractions. "they'll still let me go home I thought, it'll be fine"
Then they took my vitals. As I felt the blood pressure cuff tighten a second time around my arm, a feeling of dread settled in my giant belly... I looked over at the screen 126 over 101. Crap. Next reading 128 over 99. I wasn't going home. I knew the story. Two days before my due date they weren't going to send me home with blood pressure like that.
Sure enough, Dr. McKinney seemed quite offended that A.) I was not excited to be held there until my baby came and B.) that I was ballsy enough to even question her almighty word.
So that night I lay in a hospital bed on constant monitoring (very anxiety provoking by the way... can you imagine hearing your baby's steady heartbeat slip into silence over and over again as the receivers slip and slide around on your basketball shaped belly? Then trying to move the receiver millimeter by millimeter trying to find her again to reassure yourself? Very annoying!) Shift change came and Dr. Rosenberg came on and we discussed my options which were A.) Be induced, which I didn't want because of the increased intensity of contractions and increased risk of c-sections, etc.... B.) Sit in the hospital on monitors and bedrest until I went into labor naturally or they decided that my blood pressure was too high, or C.) Leave against medical advice..
I decided for me and Rosalie, that A. was the best option, I guess we'll never really know though! So they started Pitocin and ran it all day producing such pansy conntractions that I kept trying to get the nurse to turn it up so I wouldn't be there forever! No luck. I was still at 5 centimeters. They took me off of it and we started again the next day after a good nights rest.
Shift change again. Awesome. MY doctor is here! (I love Dr. Franz and he knows that I do my research and know my stuff and has stopped raising his eyebrows when I tell him things like "no, I don't want the Swine Flu vaccine" because he knows I know the risks and benefits and accepts that I am making an informed decision) Anyway. More pitocin and contractions get a little stronger, but still not as bad as false labor that I had had before... still 5 centimeters. Franzy was going to come in around 12 Noon and break my water if it hadn't broken. I had been having a lot of contractions, and been on the drugs for quite a while and needed to get things on the road. But as docs are known to do, Dr. Franz got tied up, so 12:00 came and went and he wasn't there. Around 12:50 my nurse came in and talked to me and before she left she suggested I roll over on my side and she helped me to reposition the ever-present monitors. I immediately had two much stronger contractions! "That's more like it!" I thought... "now I have to pee..."
So at 1:00 I'm in the bathroom (I promise this isn't going THERE!) and Baby Girl gives a mighty KICK, and I pee some more... oh... no, wait... THAT'S what it feels like when your water breaks!
I tell mom and David that my water is broken and excitement ensues, but hey? What's that - OUCH! ... The contractions REALLY start cranking now! The nurse turns down the pitocin a bit, since I've got 5 centimeters to go still. I struggle with very intense contractions for about an hour or so. No speaking, no touching, no staring or standing to close to me... The contractions are 2 minutes apart and about a minute long, but in between, when I'm supposed to be getting a breather, I'm having such a stabbing pain in my back that I. Cannot. Breathe. This is the only time I thought "I can't do this, I want drugs" But when the nurse asked me (again) when she came back I clenched my teeth and shook my head. I did have to pee however and I couldn't walk. So she helped me and as we walked to the bathroom, she said "you don't feel like you have to go number 2, do you?" I reassured her "no, I know that means the baby is coming!" On the way back to the bed I took that comment back... I DO have the urge to push! After helping me into the bed the nurse said she needed to check me, it couldn't wait for the doctor.
9, maybe 10 centimeters and she was ON. HER. WAY!
Everything was suddenly a blur as there are suddenly three nurses in my room in surgical gowns, reassuring me that if Dr Franz doesn't make it in time, that they were perfectly capable of handling things... I didn't care. I was unsuccessfully trying NOT to push yet, she was coming no matter who was in the catchers box!
Dr Franz flies in and sits in the place of great honor and says "alright, let's go!" After one or two pushes he says 'it won't be long' 'HOW LONG?' I asked... 15 minutes... okay. I can do it. This pushing thing feels much better than those stupid contractions!
A few moments later he says "you're going to make a liar out of me, it's only going to be about 5 minutes"
Sweet.
Then, at 2:45, after about 10 minutes of pushing, there she was.
I couldn't believe that the baby that had been inside of me was now lying on my chest covered in gross stuff crying with her perfect little voice. Ten fingers, ten toes (on two really big feet) and just a little fuzz on the top of her pretty, almost round head! How amazing!
She was doing pretty well, but coming through the birth canal so fast left her with a little congestion, so the nurses took her from me after a few minutes and spent some time keeping her angry and crying to clear out her lungs, while I was stuck with the OTHER aftermath of her coming so fast... a second degree tear and a lot of blood loss.
After some stitches and passing out a couple of times I was better and I had time to fall in love with my baby some more (she and her daddy had already watched part of a football game together, so it was my turn!)
That's about it! All in all, I'd rather relive that painful hour and forty-five minutes again than this past weeks recovery between the tear and anemia, neither of which are 100% better! But I would do it all a million times for this:
My Angel Girl.
Can you even believe that face?
5 comments:
Loved reading your story! Thanks for sharing!! You go girl!
Ugh I am such a wimp to have gotten the drugs! But they were fabulous!
Yay for new babies! She is so cute!
Although I had already heard the story I got teary eyed!! She is so so cute! You two are great parents already. I can't wait for Logan and the new little guy to really get to know her!!PS thanks for not being mad at me for texting you and telling you I was worried!!
Congrats Kaitlyn! She is such a cutie! Love the story...thanks for sharing!
Isn't it the most amazing thing you've ever experienced? I LOVE being a mom! So glad she got here safe and sound, and that you are enjoying her so much. She is ADORABLE!! :)
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