Birth Story

11.24.2010
Ok, so I am finally feeling well enough to break out the old computer and start uploading photos and documenting our past week. Tonight I will start with our birth story...

Thursday morning (11.18.2010) seemed like a normal day. I was still battling this everlasting cold and I had taken the day off of work [I had actually called on Tuesday and spoke with our clinical director and told her that I didn't think I would be returning before the baby was born since I was sick and my due date was approaching]. I had a dermatology appointment in the morning and then I came home and rested all day in hopes to get better. At 3:30 I had my weekly appointment at the birth center. During the last appointment I had found out that I was 4 cm dilated and in the past week I felt like she was getting lower and lower...so just in case I was farther along, I went ahead and packed my bags. During my appointment they checked to see if there was any progression. My midwife told me that although I was still only 4 cm dilated that I was 90% effaced. My bag of waters was also very low (and bulging) and that her head was very low. She had to be very careful during the exam to make sure she didn't break my water. Because I had progressed so fast with my first labor, my midwife had decided that if I didn't go into labor on my own by Monday, that we would go ahead and break my water Monday morning and induce the labor. I left my appointment and headed home.

On the way back to the house I called Damon to fill him in on our progress and to let him know he would need to take Monday off. I then called my mom who kept reminding me that just because I was 90% effaced and 4 cm dilated that it could still be a while before I went into labor (well except that we were scheduling to break my water). As I was pulling up to the stop sign by my house I felt a cramp in my belly and made a joke to my mom that it could be tonight. At that point I really didn't think that I was in labor, but I was experiencing some cramping that was different than I had felt before. It was 4:50 pm at this point so I went ahead and called Damon and told him to head home just in case I was in labor.

It was a good thing I did. He came in with Brodie at about 5:30 and at this point I still wasn't sure if I was in labor or not. I was trying to time the cramps at this point, but I was also trying to clean up the house and cook dinner (just in case we were in labor I didn't want to come home to a messy home). It seemed that the cramps were inconsistent and close together, so again I didn't think that they were contractions...and they didn't feel like I had remembered. At around 6 pm the pains started becoming a little more intense, to where I had to stop what I was doing and work through them...okay - now I was convinced I was in labor. I started timing them at this point and realized that they were about 3 minutes apart and 45 seconds long. We went ahead and called the birth center at this point and told them we'd be heading over. Damon went and dropped Brodie off at my sisters and then came back to pick me up. At this point I was still trying to finish making us dinner (because I didn't want to have a long night of labor without eating)...but Damon decided that soft chicken tacos were not easy enough to eat in the car, so despite my efforts dinner was left at home. Right before we left I went to the rest room and my water broke which at this point solidified the fact that we were indeed having a baby.

We got to the birth center around 6:30pm. Our midwife checked me and I was 6 cm dilated. I figured it would still be several hours before the baby came, especially since we were 7 cm dilated when we got to the birth center with Brodie. We decided to go ahead and get in the tub to help with the labor pains which were becoming extremely intense at this point. I turned to Damon and said something along the lines of...why are we doing this without medicine again? My midwife laughed and said that's a good 8 cm talking right there. I really was working very hard to visualize Ellie moving down and out during each contraction and to try to work through the pain. My midwife asked me if I had any urges to push and all I remember thinking was "urges to push - I just got in the tub...it's going to be a few hours still"...boy was I wrong. Within 5 minutes or so I was indeed having the urge to push, so I changed positioning and gave one good push - which was accompanied by my blood curdling scream...and out Ellie came! 7:08 pm! It had been just a little over 2 hours of labor and only about 3o minutes at the birth center - and there she was as perfect as could be. We nursed in the tub for a little while and then it was time to get out. As soon I got up I knew I wasn't feeling right. I had passed out after delivering Brodie and so we were all a little cautious of this. I made it to the bed at which point I passed out. I had lost a lot of blood and it was a really intense and fast delivery. The next few hours were used stabilizing me. They used Pitocin to help me stop bleeding and hooked me up to an IV of fluids and oxygen. I finally came to, but battled the feeling that I may pass out again for several hours, so they kept me there to make sure I was ok. In the meantime, my parents came by to visit and we also at some delicious Publix subs. After that we worked on getting some sleep. Before we left we did weight and measurements....I am pretty positive that they said she weighed 6lbs. 11 oz. and was 19.5 inches long at birth, but then when we went to our check up appointment on Monday, they had 6 lbs 10 oz. and 19.25 inches on the birth certificate paperwork, so I am not sure what to say it was [still thinking about what data to use on the birth announcements]. We were discharged at 5 am Friday morning and headed home to start our new life together ; )



2 comments:

  1. The text to picture ratio must be rectified immediately! But thx for updating ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congrats again Jess! You've got two amazing birth stories!

    ReplyDelete