I had been debating on whether or not I was going to write this blog. I wasn't sure if I wanted to talk about my birth story of our little girl. But after receiving many questions about it from people and encouragement from some friends and family, I decided that I would write about it and make it a 2 part blog. First, my labor and delivery story.
On August 14th, at 1:01pm my life was turned upside down when a little 6lb 5 oz girl came into the world after over 26 hours of labor, and 5 days overdue!
On August 14th, at 1:01pm my life was turned upside down when a little 6lb 5 oz girl came into the world after over 26 hours of labor, and 5 days overdue!
My journey through pregnancy, labor, and delivery was nothing crazy or too special. I was very fortunate to have a complication-free pregnancy and labor. Even going 5 days overdue, I was thankful that I wasn't horribly uncomfortable. I was not happy going 5 days overdue, the smallest of walks or anything would exhaust me, but I wasn't bedridden so for that, I am grateful.
In the early morning of August 13th, I woke up with what felt like mild period cramps. Nothing uncomfortable or worth getting excited for. I had these type of cramps a few times and they went away so I wasn't going to get too excited.
Over the course of the morning, they started to become more noticeable, not painful by any means, just noticeable. By the later morning, around 10:30am, after talking to my mom (who has been through 5 births of her own) I determined that these cramps were starting to turn into actual contractions. I started to take notes and time them. They were anywhere from 15-20 mins apart by this time, starting in my back and working their way around to the front.
Over the course of the morning, they started to become more noticeable, not painful by any means, just noticeable. By the later morning, around 10:30am, after talking to my mom (who has been through 5 births of her own) I determined that these cramps were starting to turn into actual contractions. I started to take notes and time them. They were anywhere from 15-20 mins apart by this time, starting in my back and working their way around to the front.
The contractions started out mild, not even strong enough for me to stop whatever I was doing, then as the afternoon came about, they got stronger and stronger.
My husband was at work that day, so around noon, I called him to tell him that I was having contractions. They were still about 15 mins apart, and tolerable. He was working close to home so I told him I'd keep him in the loop if anything changes.
Around 2:30 that afternoon, I had my first "holy shit" contraction and they were about 10 mins apart by that point. That was the first one that made me go, "Oh that hurt". Up until that point, they got progressively stronger and lasting a bit longer, but not enough to worry me. After I had that one, I felt like I needed some support, so I called my husband and asked him to come home.
We spent the next couple of hours at home while I waddled around the house with contractions. I found having a super hot shower and moving back and forth with my back being rubbed during the contractions helped quite a bit.
The contractions progressed to more frequent and painful and by 5pm, we decided it was time to head to the hospital.
When we got there, they checked me out to see how far dilated I was. The day before when I saw my doctor, I was 3cm so I thought for sure with all the contractions and laboring all day I would have made some progress. The nurse checked me out and said, "You're maybe 3.5cm right now" What the hell?! We opted to walk around the hospital parking lot for a couple hours and then go back to get checked because they would not admit me until I was at least 5cm.
My water broke around 7:30pm and we went back to get checked again. I was only 4cm and feeling frustrated, they gave me the option of going home, but home is a half-hour away from the hospital and I was determined that I was not going home because I was having this baby! So, more walking, more contractions, more swearing- a lot of swearing.
By 11pm, I was exhausted and painful and had not progressed any farther along. My whole body was tense from the contractions and I could not relax enough to let my body do what it needed. I opted to have some pain medication to see if that would help me relax and my body could progress. I was given a shot of morphine (only a half dose because I am a lightweight and don't react well to drugs), which greatly helped take the edge off the contractions. I laid in the admitting room bed and worked through my contractions for about an hour. By midnight I was finally 5cm and admitted to a room!
Through the night we didn't sleep at all, maybe dozed for a couple minutes in between contractions but they were getting quite strong and more frequent! By 3am, I was 6cm dilated and using nitrous oxide (laughing gas) on the bad contractions just to make them barely tolerable.
By 6am, I stalled out at 6cm, the contractions were maybe 3-5 minutes apart and very intense. The nurses contacted the Doctor to update on my situation. The Doctor said I had been laboring long enough without much progress, it was time for a little intervention. They recommended starting an Oxytocin drip to progress the contractions and dilation and an epidural as IV Oxytocin makes contractions very strong and unpleasant. I answered with a very quick, "YES, let's do that!" I had intended on getting an epidural at some point anyway, so I figured no time like the present!
By just after 7am, I was given an epidural, which initially dropped my blood pressure. I am very sensitive to anesthetic drugs and even pain medications. I discussed with the anesthesiologist who did my epidural and he went with a lower dose for me and even still my blood pressure tanked and I felt like garbage within a minute of starting the epidural. He said to me, "Wow, you weren't kidding, you are sensitive!" I was given some additional drugs to reverse the effects on my blood pressure and after a few minutes, I felt normal again and pain-free!
They hooked me up to the Oxytocin drip and I sent my poor husband to go get himself a coffee and breakfast while I updated family on how the night went.
I happily progressed through the next 4 hours pain-free thanks to the magical epidural. By just after 11am, I was 10 cm dilated! We were waiting for the doctor, who was busy with c-sections all morning to come and break the rest of my water that dropped down so I could push. A little while later, my body had decided it had enough and my body started to push on its own. It's so interesting that your body knows what to do and how nature decides its time to get that baby out! The nurses urged me to wait and not give in to the pushes because they needed the doctor to break that water.
I was able to hold off until almost noon, still waiting for the doctor, but my body and brain had enough. I told the nurses, I cannot stop this anymore, I am pushing this baby out with or without a doctor!
They finally let me start to push, which eventually broke that bit of water. The doctor was called in shortly after and I worked on pushing that baby out.
I won't lie, giving birth was physically the hardest thing I have ever done. And I've done some hard, physically demanding shit in my life! I just kept reminding myself, this is the only way to get this thing out, just keep pushing and she will come out.
It helped so much that I had a great support system. My husband counted out the seconds for each push and encouraged me along the way. My nurse was amazing and knew exactly how to get me to push harder and encourage me. By 12:45, I was exhausted and frustrated, and my nurse saw that. She told "Jackie, I want that baby out by 1pm!", which was exactly what I needed to hear, a challenge!
I set my mind on "1pm", I told myself to go hard for the next 15 minutes and this will be over.
By 1:01pm, Anna made her appearance into the world. A funny side note as she came out, she decided to have her very first bowel movement, all over herself, me and the nurse! So after a minute of quickly wiping her off and having to take away my gown as it was covered in meconium poop, I was able to hold my baby. Once they laid her on my chest, I cried as I was finally able to hold her. I felt like I waited for years for this moment. Before that day, I thought the idea of having a baby come out and them handing her to me all covered in gross placental fluid and whatever else would gross me out. Truthfully, I didn't care, I just wanted to hold that baby. I feel like many women have that same feeling.
After she was born, I hemorrhaged a little bit so I had to spend a little longer in the room so the doctor and nurses could get the bleeding under control and I could get sutured up from a bit of a tear. Once we had it under control, I was able to try and nurse her for the first time. It was difficult and hurt a lot but after a while we had her latched and she was able to eat for a little while. Then I handed her off to my husband so he could hold her for the first time. Seeing that tiny baby in his arms made me bawl like a baby all over again. Oh, the hormones!
After getting out of bed and having the best shower of my life, we were transported over to the recovery room where our parents were anxiously awaiting for us to meet their first grandbaby.
That first night in the hospital was overwhelming, to say the least. I was hoping to be able to go home that day, but the hospital protocol needed us to stay for 24 hours. Especially since she was so little and because I hemorrhaged post-birth, we had to stay.
After our families left and it was just my husband, the baby and I, I felt so overwhelmed with emotion. I cried so hard after everyone left. I was filled with many mixed emotions from that day its hard to describe.
We hardly slept that night, maybe an hour or two. She would not settle in her bassinet beside the bed so for the majority of the night, the 3 of us slept in the hospital bed together with her sleeping on my chest.
The next day, we could not wait to get home. After getting some initial tests done and having Anna checked by the pediatrician, we were granted release from the hospital that afternoon. Finally, we were going home with a baby in tow!
To read the rest of my experience, click here for part 2
The contractions progressed to more frequent and painful and by 5pm, we decided it was time to head to the hospital.
When we got there, they checked me out to see how far dilated I was. The day before when I saw my doctor, I was 3cm so I thought for sure with all the contractions and laboring all day I would have made some progress. The nurse checked me out and said, "You're maybe 3.5cm right now" What the hell?! We opted to walk around the hospital parking lot for a couple hours and then go back to get checked because they would not admit me until I was at least 5cm.
My water broke around 7:30pm and we went back to get checked again. I was only 4cm and feeling frustrated, they gave me the option of going home, but home is a half-hour away from the hospital and I was determined that I was not going home because I was having this baby! So, more walking, more contractions, more swearing- a lot of swearing.
By 11pm, I was exhausted and painful and had not progressed any farther along. My whole body was tense from the contractions and I could not relax enough to let my body do what it needed. I opted to have some pain medication to see if that would help me relax and my body could progress. I was given a shot of morphine (only a half dose because I am a lightweight and don't react well to drugs), which greatly helped take the edge off the contractions. I laid in the admitting room bed and worked through my contractions for about an hour. By midnight I was finally 5cm and admitted to a room!
Through the night we didn't sleep at all, maybe dozed for a couple minutes in between contractions but they were getting quite strong and more frequent! By 3am, I was 6cm dilated and using nitrous oxide (laughing gas) on the bad contractions just to make them barely tolerable.
By 6am, I stalled out at 6cm, the contractions were maybe 3-5 minutes apart and very intense. The nurses contacted the Doctor to update on my situation. The Doctor said I had been laboring long enough without much progress, it was time for a little intervention. They recommended starting an Oxytocin drip to progress the contractions and dilation and an epidural as IV Oxytocin makes contractions very strong and unpleasant. I answered with a very quick, "YES, let's do that!" I had intended on getting an epidural at some point anyway, so I figured no time like the present!
By just after 7am, I was given an epidural, which initially dropped my blood pressure. I am very sensitive to anesthetic drugs and even pain medications. I discussed with the anesthesiologist who did my epidural and he went with a lower dose for me and even still my blood pressure tanked and I felt like garbage within a minute of starting the epidural. He said to me, "Wow, you weren't kidding, you are sensitive!" I was given some additional drugs to reverse the effects on my blood pressure and after a few minutes, I felt normal again and pain-free!
They hooked me up to the Oxytocin drip and I sent my poor husband to go get himself a coffee and breakfast while I updated family on how the night went.
I happily progressed through the next 4 hours pain-free thanks to the magical epidural. By just after 11am, I was 10 cm dilated! We were waiting for the doctor, who was busy with c-sections all morning to come and break the rest of my water that dropped down so I could push. A little while later, my body had decided it had enough and my body started to push on its own. It's so interesting that your body knows what to do and how nature decides its time to get that baby out! The nurses urged me to wait and not give in to the pushes because they needed the doctor to break that water.
I was able to hold off until almost noon, still waiting for the doctor, but my body and brain had enough. I told the nurses, I cannot stop this anymore, I am pushing this baby out with or without a doctor!
They finally let me start to push, which eventually broke that bit of water. The doctor was called in shortly after and I worked on pushing that baby out.
I won't lie, giving birth was physically the hardest thing I have ever done. And I've done some hard, physically demanding shit in my life! I just kept reminding myself, this is the only way to get this thing out, just keep pushing and she will come out.
It helped so much that I had a great support system. My husband counted out the seconds for each push and encouraged me along the way. My nurse was amazing and knew exactly how to get me to push harder and encourage me. By 12:45, I was exhausted and frustrated, and my nurse saw that. She told "Jackie, I want that baby out by 1pm!", which was exactly what I needed to hear, a challenge!
I set my mind on "1pm", I told myself to go hard for the next 15 minutes and this will be over.
By 1:01pm, Anna made her appearance into the world. A funny side note as she came out, she decided to have her very first bowel movement, all over herself, me and the nurse! So after a minute of quickly wiping her off and having to take away my gown as it was covered in meconium poop, I was able to hold my baby. Once they laid her on my chest, I cried as I was finally able to hold her. I felt like I waited for years for this moment. Before that day, I thought the idea of having a baby come out and them handing her to me all covered in gross placental fluid and whatever else would gross me out. Truthfully, I didn't care, I just wanted to hold that baby. I feel like many women have that same feeling.
After she was born, I hemorrhaged a little bit so I had to spend a little longer in the room so the doctor and nurses could get the bleeding under control and I could get sutured up from a bit of a tear. Once we had it under control, I was able to try and nurse her for the first time. It was difficult and hurt a lot but after a while we had her latched and she was able to eat for a little while. Then I handed her off to my husband so he could hold her for the first time. Seeing that tiny baby in his arms made me bawl like a baby all over again. Oh, the hormones!
After getting out of bed and having the best shower of my life, we were transported over to the recovery room where our parents were anxiously awaiting for us to meet their first grandbaby.
That first night in the hospital was overwhelming, to say the least. I was hoping to be able to go home that day, but the hospital protocol needed us to stay for 24 hours. Especially since she was so little and because I hemorrhaged post-birth, we had to stay.
After our families left and it was just my husband, the baby and I, I felt so overwhelmed with emotion. I cried so hard after everyone left. I was filled with many mixed emotions from that day its hard to describe.
We hardly slept that night, maybe an hour or two. She would not settle in her bassinet beside the bed so for the majority of the night, the 3 of us slept in the hospital bed together with her sleeping on my chest.
The next day, we could not wait to get home. After getting some initial tests done and having Anna checked by the pediatrician, we were granted release from the hospital that afternoon. Finally, we were going home with a baby in tow!
To read the rest of my experience, click here for part 2
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| Epidural working its magic! |
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| First family picture! |
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| Baby girl |
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| We are going home! |
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