Sunday morning I got up at at about 7:45 a.m. Eric and I had planned to go out to breakfast before church, so I was getting ready to jump in the shower. After I used the restroom, I was about to get in the shower when I noticed some fluid running down my legs. It wasn't alot and I had just used the restroom, so I wasn't 100% sure, but I immediately thought, "I think my water broke." I decided to go ahead and shower and see if there was still fluid after I was out and dry. I remember feeling a couple of possible "gushes" in the shower, but as I was standing under running water, I wasn't sure. After I got out of the shower and dried off I brushed my teeth, put in contacts, etc. and sure enough more fluid was running down my legs. I got partially dressed and headed downstairs to wake Eric up. He had stayed up Saturday night playing X-Box and fell asleep on the couch. I woke him up and told him that I had bad news. I didn't think he'd be able to watch the Colt's game today. That woke him up and he asked if I was in labor. I told him I think my water broke. At that time I wasn't having contractions yet, so I told him he had time to take a shower and we'd get the rest of our stuff together and make a couple of calls. While Eric was in the shower, I called my parents and let them know that we were about to head to the hospital and they started checking out flights to come on over. Then I called Samara to let her know what was up. We grabbed our last minute items. By the time Eric was out of the shower (8:15 a.m.) I had started having contractions. I came down to put a couple lines on my blog and while sitting at the computer felt a more definate gush and by then was pretty sure this was it. I was pretty calm, but Eric was a bit freaked out. We drove the hospital and went up to labor and delivery to check in. By the time we got to the hospital my contractions were about 5 minutes apart.
They put us in a triage room first to confirm I was in labor before admitting me (about 9:00 a.m.). They used this strip of paper to try to test the fluid to see if it was amniotic fluid. Unfortunately, I was a little too "dry" so the strip didn't completely turn colors. They told me I'd have to wait for a resident to do an internal exam where they collect some fluid from just outside the cervix and look at it under a microscope. We waited around for a while and finally the doctor came in to check me. While I was scooting down towards the stirrups I had another little gush and the doctor saw it, so they decided to use the strip again and this time it confirmed that my water had broken. While the doctor was there they did check me and I was at 3 cm, 90% effaced, and -1 station. The on-call doctor from my practice gave orders for me to walk for a while, so while they were doing my admission paperwork and getting me a room, they sent Eric and I to walk around the hallways for an hour. We walked for an hour and then went back and were put in our Labor and Delivery room around 11:00.
They hooked me up to the fetal monitors for a half hour or so and my contractions were about 2 to 3 minutes apart. Then they had me walk for another hour. This hour was tough. The contractions were really getting intense and I had to stop during every one to lean against the railing or Eric and breathe through it. We were supposed to go back to our room at 12:50 p.m. (after 1 hour of walking). We got back into the room and hooked back up to monitors. The monitor didn't seem to show all of the contractions that I was feeling and they mentioned giving me Pitocin to see if they could make my contractions more regular. I told them I didn't think the monitor was showing everything, so they put in an internal monitor. The internal monitor showed I was having contractions about every 90 seconds, so they decided I didn't need the Pitocin after all. They also checked me at this time and I was dialeted to 6 cm and 100% effaced. Will and Samara came in around 1:00 p.m. and got to witness some of the contractions I had to deal with. After they checked me, I started asking about an epidural. They said they would order me one, but they needed to start my IV and they had to take some blood to the lab before they could do it. They asked if I wanted some Nubane in the mean time. Eric and I had discussed it before hand and wanted to avoid Nubane, but these contractions hurt! I asked how long it would be before the epidural came, so I could decide if I wanted to just wait it out. They said an hour, so I decided to get the Nubane. It was wonderful. It made me a little sleepy and slightly drugged, but it definately took the edge off of the contractions. I'm not sure if it was the new drug or my perception of time, but it seemed like the anesthesiologist was there about 20 minutes later to give me the epidural. It was a breeze to get in as I didn't feel a thing. The IV in my hand hurt more. Eric saw the needle though and said it was pretty big. The epidural was in place around 2:00 p.m. After that, I didn't feel any of the contractions. I was just talking to people and sometimes Eric or Samara would mention that I was having a contraction (by looking at the monitor), but I didn't even notice. Will left a little later, but Samara decided to stick around since it seemed to be going relatively quickly.
Around 3:00 p.m., the nurse came back to check my progress again. I was now 7-8 cm. I'm not sure exactly when it was but around this time, Donna my mother-in-law arrived as well. We started trying to guess how much longer. We all thought maybe 7 or 8 p.m., but the nurse's guess was 5:15, so she must have known I was really progressing nicely. She came back to check me again at 4:00 p.m. This time I was 9 cm (still not feeling the contractions). She told me she'd be back in about 15 minutes, but to call sooner if I started feeling like I needed to push. Right about 15 minutes later, I started to feel like pushing. She came back and checked me and sure enough I was 10 cm dialated. Donna headed to the waiting room, the nurses brought out the sterile drapes and set up the tables with whatever stuff they use, and they adjusted the bed to add the stirrups and drop off the end for pushing. Around 4:20 p.m. I got to start pushing.
It took a couple of contractions for me to get the hang of it, but very quickly we started to make progress. Eric held one leg, while Samara held the other and Eric actually watched the whole time. At around 4:30 p.m. he could see the top of the head during pushes. I asked them to drop the mirror down so I could watch too. It was so amazing to see her little head making it's way down. They went to call my doctor at 4:30 to tell her to come to the hospital. She was about 20 minutes away and luckily for me, had come on call at 1:00 p.m., so my doctor was going to deliver my baby. After that, the nurse had my scale back on the pushes, so I wouldn't deliver before the doctor got there. I skipped a couple of contractions and did smaller pushes on others. Dr. D came in just before 5:00 p.m. Samara moved off to the side and the nurse took over on that leg. Now I got to push hard again. Her head came through and then things got a little crazy. Instead of having me stop pushing for a moment, everyone kept telling me to push more. I was running out of steam, but they just kept telling me to push. Then they had Eric move out of the way and the nurse jumped up on my bed and started pushing on my belly. The doctor apologized, but said they needed to cut me. Grace's shoulders had gotten stuck and they needed to get them out. Somehow, they made it through and Grace was born. They put her up on my chest and I just remember that she seemed purple and slippery and slightly sticky.
Then they took her over to the baby warmer to check her out. Eric went to the warmer to see her and the doctor started working on me. I still needed to deliver the placenta and get stiched up. They were immediately concerned about the shoulder dystocia. When she first came out she wasn't moving her right arm. The nerves can get pinched when the shoulder gets stuck and sometimes cause temporary or even permanent damage. They told us they were going to have someone from the NICU come to check her out. Otherwise she had Apgar scores of 7 and 9. By the 5 minute mark, she was beginning to move her right arm and they were less concerned about her shoulder. I was getting really impatient as I couldn't see the baby, but Eric took a couple of pictures and brought the camera over so I could see them. They weighed and measured her and said she was 8 pounds, 11 ounces and 21 inches long.
A few minutes later the NICU doctor came to check her out. By this time she seemed to have regained full use of her right arm. She had a good grip in both hands and everyone was pleased that there didn't appear to be any damage. Grace must have been crying during this time, because during her exam, the NICU attendant found out that she had a cleft palate. She had a dime size whole in the back of the roof of her mouth. They came to discuss it with us and said that it happens early in pregnancy (the first 8 weeks) and sometimes the palate doesn't completely close. It should be easily repairable with a surgery or two at Children's Hospital and we'll find out more about that part when we have our first official pediatrician appointment.
After checking her out, they wrapped her up, gave her to me and let us just hold her for a while. They let Donna come in and everyone got to see her. My parents arrived in from Iowa and got to the hospital around 7:00 p.m., just before they transferred us to our post-partum room.
Grace is beautiful and healthy for the most part and I felt very pleased with our birth even though we did have a few complications. When I have more time, I'll try to talk a little more about some of the consultations regarding feeding in the hospital, but overall, we just have a beautiful baby girl and couldn't be happier. Here's one more picture for you.
2 comments:
Gorgeous!!!! She couldn't be more scrupmtious. Thanks for posting your story. I miss you tons!
Congrats on the birth of your daughter. I am expecting a little girl myself on Jan 16th. I just wanted to let you know how relieved I was to know that someone else's husband falls asleep playing the XBox! Hahahaha! Good luck in all of your new endeavours!
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