I thought I would take the time to write my birth story. Given it was 6 months ago I thought I might have a hard time recalling some details, but that was not the case. It was all still so clear...
On Friday, February 27th Geoff and I headed to my 41 week Dr. appointment. Right when we were walking out the door Geoff told me he thought I should bring my hospital bag "just in case". I told him no because I knew I hadn't progressed at all, so I was sure we would be coming back home because I wasn't going to be induced. At the appointment my Dr. confirmed what I already knew; I was only 1-2 cm dilated and then he said Lilly still felt a little high. While we were there he checked my fluid levels and said they looked borderline and wanted them to be double checked when we went to the hospital for my non-stress test (NST) to make sure everything was ok. He told me if I passed my NST that I was to go home, lay on the couch and drink lots of water. So off we went to the hospital. On our way there Geoff decided we should stop for lunch. I didn't want to because I was sure I'd be going home, but I conceded and we stopped for, you guessed it, Chick-fil-a.
We arrived at the hospital a little after Noon and they got me all hooked up to the monitors - I did great. I passed the NST with flying colors. Lilly's heart rate was doing what it was supposed to so now all we had to do was wait for an Ultrasound Tech to come get me and recheck my fluid levels. While I was waiting they left me hooked up to the heart monitors and all of a sudden I heard Lilly's heart rate drop. And I mean drop. Like from 150 -160 to 90. I wasn't sure what was going on so I looked at Geoff and told him to get a nurse. By the time they got in the room Lilly's heart rate had gone back to normal. The nurse said that Lilly could have rolled on her umbilical cord, causing it to momentarily drop, or the monitor could have picked up my heart rate, but they would watch it. Sure enough, not even two minutes later, it dropped again. The nurse just looked at me and said, "You just bought yourself a ticket to stay with us." All I could do was cry because I knew that meant I would be induced, but after talking with the nurse and my doctor, I knew that Lilly needed to be out for her well being.
The nurses came in to start all the pre-admit stuff and they had to check my dilation and Lilly's position again. I don't know why that nurse couldn't find Lilly, but I swear she was elbow deep looking for her, if you know what I mean, because that junk HURT! Then we were left to wait for my Dr. to arrive because he didn't give orders over the phone to start the Pitocin. Finally around 3pm they got it started. Everything was good until the pitocin sent my body in to irregular contraction patterns that were only 1 minute apart for 3 minutes at a time. Because of this, Lilly wasn't getting enough oxygen so her heart rate jumped and they had to stop the pitocin until my Dr. finished delivering the girl next door. He came in and rechecked me and said that Lilly was still pretty high, so we may have to end up having a c-section - cue more tears (looking back, I think that may have been the way to go!) - but they restarted my pitocin at 7pm and boy were those contractions strong the second time around! After trying to maintain my breathing even though my whole entire body was shaking non-stop, I ordered my epidural at 1am and got it at 2am.
I was still only 4 cm so the nurse told me to rest up. After all my nurses told me I wouldn't deliver before their shift change, I decided to try and sleep because I felt like I was going to be in labor forever. And all I could keep thinking was I really wanted a February baby! At 5am my nurse came back in to recheck me and she just made this face. I was sure that it was going to be bad news, but she told me that I was 9 cm! I woke Geoff up and called my mom to come down. My Dr. arrived and I started pushing a little after 6am. I was worried about pushing, but pushing was easy with the epidural.
I knew I wasn't going to deliver before the 7am shift change so I knew I'd get a new nurse. Well, in walks this beautiful blonde with a full face of makeup, perfect hair and perky boobs! Seriously?! I've been in labor for 12 hours and now this girl is going to watch me push my baby out? Come on! She actually ended up being super sweet, but still. Towards the end I could feel the contractions enough to know when I needed to push. I only pushed for an hour and Lilly was born at 7:19 am. I was on such a high and couldn't wait to hold her. As soon as they laid her on my chest I remember thinking she smelt kinda funny, and then I was hooked. I couldn't take my eyes off her. I ended up tearing pretty bad and lost a lot of blood so I passed out three different times once I was in my Mother-Baby room and ended up needing a blood transfusion the night before I got discharged.
Though we're still dealing with some post-partum recovery issues, it was/is all worth it every time I get to snuggle with my baby girl.
7 months ago
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