I wanted to make sure to record my birth story novel. So here is
goes:
I kept telling Jeremy that I wished my water would break so
I would know for sure that we need to go to the hospital. Well my wish came
true! So our story begins:
Once upon a time on a Thursday afternoon (about 2:30) I took
a shower (I had been pretty slow going in the mornings since I didn’t have much
else going on). When I was stepping out of the shower, I noticed that a small
drop of something came out of my body... it was a clear substance. I wasn’t
sure if I peed a little without realizing it (not too uncommon during my
pregnancy haha ..sorry if that is an overshare) or if I was still dripping wet
from taking a shower or if my water had broken. So I read somewhere that you
should smell it. If it is amniotic fluid it will have a sweet smell. So I
smelled it... but it didn’t really smell like anything. I also read that if
your water has broken, then it will leak out more if you lay down because the
baby’s head is not stopping the flow. So I got dressed (I now realize that I
shouldn’t have done this) and laid down on our bed. Nothing happened so I went
to get up to fix my hair and then it came. As I sat up a big gush came out and
soaked my pants. Hmmm... time to call the doctor. I was trying not to freak out
but I knew that my water was broken! I was still a week early and didn’t think
she would be coming so soon. When I called the Dr. I had to leave a message for
the nurses that sounded something like this “Um hi... I think my water is
broken so if you could call me back as soon as possible that would be great.” I
decided to pack the hospital bags while I waited for the nurse to return my
call....40 minutes later she called and told me to go to the hospital right away.
Jeremy was at work, so I called him and told him that he should come home
because we need to go to the hospital ( I didn’t call him until now because I
didn’t want to freak him out).
We got to
the hospital about 3:45 and they had to do a couple tests to make sure that my
water really had broken. These tests were one of the most painful parts of the
whole labor... but not the most painful. I’m getting there. So turns out my
water had in fact broken! I was going to have a baby!! So they got me hooked up
to an iv. I am positive for a bacteria called Group B strep so I had to have
penicillin go through my iv 3 times (This was the most painful part of the
whole labor!!!!!) When the penicillin went into my arm it burned so so so so so
bad!! I wanted to rip my arm off. I’m not trying to be dramatic but you can ask
Jeremy about my reaction to the nasty stuff... I was balling so hard!
Anyways... now that you all think I am a wuss let me continue on with my
story....
I didn’t
ever go into labor on my own so at 5:30 I was started on Pitocin. By 7:30 I was
really feeling the contractions and decided that I wanted to be done feeling
them. At 8:00 I got my epidural. They gave me a local and then put in the
epidural, but as the anesthesiologist turned around to grab the tape to tape it
up, his finger caught the epidural tube and pulled it out! Ha! So he had to
give me the epidural again. Good thing I didn’t look at the huge needle because
I might not have wanted to get it again. He felt really bad but I wasn’t that worried
since I was numb where the needle went in anyway. I also got a cathedar... I
was nervous about this, but then I remembered I couldn’t feel anything anyway!
9:15 I was
almost a 4 and got another painful dose of penicillin... Yikes!
11:15
almost a 6
1:30 am. I
was fully dilated. So they called the doctor and I was ready for her to come. I
got another painful dose of penicillin (the epidural did nothing for the pain
in my arm, dang it!) I also got a fever at this point. I was also shaking
uncontrollably from labor and then I threw up to top it all off! Plus I hadn’t
eaten anything since noon so I didn’t really have much to throw up so it was kind
of painful too. They put me on oxygen because of... I don’t know why, but they
did. I was also really thirsty. All I wanted was to down a thing of water but
the nurse told me that it would make me more sick so I voted against it.
1:40 am.
The baby’s heart rate dropped. The nurse kept moving me from side to side to
back to try to bring the heart rate back up. I could tell she was trying not to
freak out, but she was a little nervous. She had the nurses call the dr and
told her to get there stat (which I know means right now! From watching Grey’s
anatomy). So I was getting really worried that the heart rate wouldn’t come
back up and I would have to have an emergency c-section. Luckily, the nurse was
able to find a position that the baby was happy with and the heart rate came
back up to normal after just a few minutes.
2:00 The
nurse told me that the dr wanted me to “rest and descend”. She said they wanted
the baby to work her way down on her own for a bit before I started pushing. I
thought that this would be like a 15-20 minute process... well an hour later...
The nurse
came back in to take my temp. It was up to 102.5! They were worried about what
was causing the fever but it was about time to push.
3:15 am. We
were about to start pushing. The nurse wiped me down and I felt it! I panicked
for a second... I was worried that since I felt that I would feel EVERTHING
when I was pushing. I was worried that my epidural wore off. But I just pushed
the button again and hoped that it would work quickly! I started pushing and
pushed for about 6 or 7 contractions (pushing is tough work, I tell you) and
then the nurse said that we weren’t going to push anymore and we were just
going to wait for the doctor to come in. It was like 3:30 at this point and
baby girl’s head was out a good few inches. As I had contractions I could feel
her wiggle and push even further out on her own. She was ready to come!!
The dr. had
2 patients that had their water break within an hour of each other so we were
racing to see who would deliver first. The other girl went first... hence why I
had to wait for the doctor to come. She was busy stitching up the other girl!
Crazy right! What are the odds!
3:42 am.
The doctor comes in and I push through one more contraction.
3:43 am.
Baby girl is born!!!
Nora Lynn Stevenson was 6 lb 9 oz and was 19 inches
long. She was perfect!! They cleaned her
up and handed her to Jeremy while the doctor stitched me up. I only tore a
little bit and I had one stitch that was wrapped around a couple times. Overall,
it was a good experience... despite my long post and nit-pickiness about the
details. I really couldn’t have imagined it going any better (ok I could have
done without the penicillin, but still)!
Recovery
wasn’t that bad except I was EXHAUSTED!!! I also had to keep my IV in until
Saturday at noon because I had to be on antibiotics from the fever. Which was
quite obnoxious. My first iv, in my wrist, started leaking, so the nurses
decided that I needed a new one at 1:30 in the morning on Saturday so I’m
running on like zero sleep at this point. They chose the veins in my hands. I’m
pretty sure the nurse sticking me hadn’t ever done an iv, ever! She stuck the
first vein and dug around for a while with no luck, the vein collapsed. It hurt
so bad and I was so exhausted that I just started crying again! She says “wow,
I’ve never made anyone cry doing an iv before”. Well I’m glad I could be her
first!! Gee! So the nurses left me alone for a couple hours and came back to
try again... She stuck another vein in my left hand... no luck. It also
collapsed. Finally on the third try, they were able to get a vein in my right
hand. So my hands were a little tender.
In between
all of these glorious visits (I know they were just doing their job and I’m not
mad at them), I had to feed Nora. So I felt like I got absolutely no sleep.
Then the nurses came back at 5 because I needed to get my blood drawn... of
course! So the same nurse decided that she still liked the veins in my hands
better than the veins in my arms so she stuck me in the same vein in my left
hand... and dug around for a while again. And guess what! Yep. It collapsed
again! She decided she was sick of failing so she got another nurse to come
draw my blood. The other girl came in stuck my arm in two seconds and was done.
It was fabulous. (Side note: I am not afraid of needles. Never really have
been. I am actually quite tough when it comes to needles. I have had to get my
blood drawn every hour for 4 hours and didn’t have a problem with it. I just
don’t particularly love to be mistaken for a pin cushion especially when
running on no sleep).
But
recovery wasn’t that bad other than this one incident. I healed pretty quickly
and was up walking around on Friday night. I think overall the whole delivery
went great! (I know I have focused on the 2 bad things that happened)
Nora is
perfect! We love her so much! She had a couple rough nights when we first got
home, but we are working on getting her to sleep at night and not so much
during the day. She is a breast feeding champ! I’m not so much, but she does
great! I’m a little sore, but it is getting better. She weighed 6 lbs when we
left the hospital but at her dr. appointment on Tuesday, June 26, she was back
up to 6 lb 6 oz. The dr said she is doing great! She is really healthy.
We love our little peanut! She is so fun!! So here are some
pictures!
She makes some of the funniest faces! |
my friend Hilary Briscoe took these newborn pics for us (the rest of the pics are from her).She did such a great job! Thanks Hilary! |
This girl loves her paci!! |
So there you have it. Thanks for reading if you stuck around this long. Sorry it was such a long post, I just wanted to make sure I got it all down! Until next time!