Here is my birth story! I tried my best to remember every detail, and some details are gross (pee, poop, blood, and every other bodily excretion), so... warning...
On Tuesday, October 1st, I went to see the doc to talk about the progress of things. I was a little over my due date of September 26th, and we were talking about induction. Before I had gone in, I said I will only get induced if she thinks Babby is in any danger, but when she suggested "We can do it this week, or you can wait until Monday..." Monday sounded like an eternity. I agreed for an induction on Thursday, October 3rd.
I immediately felt a sense of relief which I did not expect. I thought maybe I would feel disappointed. But it was nice that on Wednesday I could go into work knowing it would be my last day, finish things up, and take a deep breath. Wednesday evening rolled around, and I felt calm and excited. I was looking forward to getting a good night's sleep before it was time for delivery.
WELL... baby had other plans (of course). Luckily, we were in pretty good shape with having things packed and cleaned up, when I plopped down on the couch around 9 pm. I thought I had peed a little, but it felt different. I suspected that my water had broken, as I had heard its not like the movies where BOOM gush of water on the floor. I went to the bathroom to inspect, and it didn't seem like much was happening, so I continued to clean up and pack things, very unsure if it was time to go to the hospital or not. We called the OB office to report the potential water breakage, and they advised us to head to the hospital. I was still feeling very calm, but it also may have been tiredness. I had purposely gotten up really early on Wednesday to ensure that I would be really tired that night and sleep well. HAHA.
We arrived at Riverside around 11 pm and I was taken to a triage room so I could be checked to see if I was in labor. A nurse checked me to confirm that the fluid was actually amniotic fluid. She was the first of many many MANY people all up in my business. She also dressed me in my first of many giant, uncomfortable diapers, and placed monitors on my belly. Another nurse came in to give me a hep lock that really hurt. It's odd the things that I remember hurting the most during the whole experience, and the hep lock was one of them.
We checked in to a delivery room, but my cervix wasn't very dilated, so Tim and I were directed to walk around the maternity ward. We walked around for about 2 1/2 hours, which was very boring and awkward because we were lugging around the big IV pole with wobbly wheels. I was checked again and had dilated slightly, but not much. Next I bounced around on a birthing ball and we watched The Big Lebowski, then fell asleep. After that sleep, much of the next day and night seem like a blur.
I can tell you there were about a dozen different nurses, who took my blood pressure a countless number of times. At first the blood pressure band hurt badly, but after stretches of having it taken literally every 3 minutes, I barely noticed it anymore. I had two monitors strapped to my belly, one to monitor contractions and one to monitor baby's heart rate. They were constantly moving out of place and giving weird readings as a result. Eventually I was given pitocin to move along the labor. We waited, and waited, they took my blood pressure a million more times. I started to get intense contractions, which made it impossible to sleep anymore. I got to the point where I was ready for an epidural, as I had been planning on getting it from the beginning. Having it put in was scary though, because the anaesthetist listed all sorts of side effects I could experience if it was placed wrong or if I moved while she was putting it in... like a week long headache?!? thank god that didn't happen.
After I got the epidural, I was able to sleep a little better. I have no idea what time it was when most of these things happened, because I kept falling asleep and waking up again to get my vitals taken. The window of our delivery room opened into a closed in courtyard, so even daylight wasn't really coming in to indicate the hour.
My OB came in to say hello at one point and I was happy to see her. A new, kinda icy nurse started her shift with us, and that's when things started to go a little haywire. The monitors on my belly were moving out of place so much that they had inserted an internal monitor to measure contractions. Icy nurse decided to insert another internal monitor to measure heart rate, which sounded scary - a little patch of needles that attached to baby's head inside the womb. Well she tried to insert it, and it didn't catch. She tried to insert it again and it caught, but it was not working. Unbeknownst to me, all of these attempts were really upsetting baby. Additionally, the icy nurse was worried that the umbilical cord was being smooshed because I had lost most of my amniotic fluid. So there was ANOTHER thing inserted to pump more fluid back in. I had a whole network of wires and tubes coming out of my vagina. The baby was not having it. They sat me upright to try to get weight off the cord, and I suddenly got light headed and nauseated. It went away immediately when I was laid back down.
Then things got scary. I could not see the heart rate monitor, but the Icy Nurse pushed the call button and said something medical that I didn't really understand, and suddenly, like insanely suddenly, there were a dozen people in the room. They flipped me over onto my hands and knees, totally naked except for all the tubes and wires attached to me, and some guy doctor who I couldn't even see stuck his hand up my junk to check me. Simultaneously, the anaesthetist dosed me with something, someone threw scrubs at Tim, and a general panic ensued while I lay there, entering a state of shock.
I was rushed into the OR and I started to pray to whatever in my head, just the universe, I guess. I asked why my feet felt tingly and they said it was because of what the anaesthetist gave me. I was trembling uncontrollably, and I felt as though I was having a panic attack. I had never been more terrified in my entire life. I stared up at the ceiling, talking heads coming in to view, tears pouring into my ears. I tried to come to terms with having a c-section. I tried to think of the benefits. One surgeon acted as if it was inevitable, while icy nurse could tell I was panicking and tried to calm me by saying we just need to get baby's heart rate back up. All the while, Tim was stranded out in the hallway with no idea what was going on. My OB arrived super promptly, and it was such a relief to see her eyes above her surgical mask. She explained the baby's heart rate was improving and that they were going to do everything they could to make sure that I didn't have to have a c-section. I was so glad that she understood that it was something I really didn't want to have to do.
Tim was allowed in, and he came to my side. It seemed the crisis was passing, and the heart rate was good again. Thank goodness. They decided it was safe to put me back in the delivery room. I needed to move from the operating table back to my bed, and that's when I realized just how numb I was. I was COMPLETELY numb everywhere except for my face and arms. Several nurses had to flop my dead weight over onto the bed. I still had so many tubes and wires that the oxygen nostril thing they had put on me got caught on something and tried to rip my nose off. I was just a completely flopsy, tear soaked, pathetic blob at this point.
Back in the delivery room, they laid me on my side, and put my top leg in a stirrup. It was a very weird position, but I couldn't feel anything, so it was perfectly comfortable to me. The intensity of the OR scare had been overwhelming, and I fell asleep out of sheer exhaustion.
The nap was the most restful one yet. I don't know how long it was. When I woke up, I felt the urge to push! A new nurse checked me and I was dilated 10 cm. My OB was called again and we waited for her to arrive. As soon as that nap was over, things moved right along.
I didn't really realize it at the time, but baby's heart rate was still acting up as I started pushing. Our OB decided to use a vacuum to move things along. Tim was at my right side, holding my leg, while a nurse was on my other leg. I pooped on the table but they whisked it away. Tim described our tiny OB's techniques as "ninja moves" while she pulled on the vacuum with all her might and worked to get the baby out. I only pushed about 12-15 times, and 20 minutes after we started, I saw our pink baby flailing before me. It was a girl, and she was lovely. I think I cursed in overwhelmedness. Tim cut the cord.
The minutes after she arrived also feel like a blur. I was holding her at first, and then she was checked out on a warming table. Our OB explained that I had a second degree perineal tear and she set to work stitching me up. I guess I wasn't that worried about it at the time, I had known it was a possibility. I think I just kinda zoned out for a bit while they cleaned me and the baby up. Tim said there was tons of blood and nastiness, but I didn't see any of it. They put the baby on my chest, and I was breastfeeding within minutes of her arriving. They asked us what her name was, and I announced Wren Adaela. They cathed me and drew out an INSANE amount of pee. They had a tupperware thing that was as big as a loaf of bread, and it was FULL.
Because of my gestational diabetes, they needed to check Wren's blood sugar, and it was right on the cusp of being too low. Wren was handed off to Tim who was instructed to give her 15 ml of formula to raise her blood sugar. I hadn't eaten anything in almost 24 hours by the time she was born.
We were moved to a recovery room, and Wren was checked and poked and even had her first bath. I was exceptionally tired and hungry! Tim hit the cafeteria and brought back mozzarella sticks, mac n cheese, pizza, and salad and we feasted.
I didn't expect to be so beat up after delivery. My whole body was sore from pushing, especially my arms and shoulders because I was clutching handles on the side of the bed each time I pushed. Nurses kept pushing on my belly to squeeze blood out of my uterus and check that it was retracting as it was supposed to, and that really hurt too. I had to successfully pee in front of a nurse as soon as possible or they were going to have to cath me again, which would be much more painful without being numbed. I HAVE A SHY BLADDER! Eventually I was successful though. As the epidural wore off, more pain emerged. The injection site of the epidural hurt badly, and my whole back was sticky from the adhesive they used to hold everything in place, so I kept sticking to my gown/the bed. I had given myself hemorrhoids during delivery, my tail-bone was bruised, and obviously, I had a network of stitches holding my junk together. Getting up off the bed was terribly painful. It was a good thing I was so exhausted, because I was able to sleep despite all the pain.
Don't expect to get any restful sleep in a hospital! Someone was coming in about every 45 minutes during the night, either to check Wren's vitals, my vitals, or give me some sort of pills. I also started breastfeeding Wren right away, and at first, it would take us about 20 minutes to get her latched. She was doing a great job though. All the hours at the hospital bled together.
The next day we just rested and had some visitors. Wren was sleeping a lot, so she was pretty easy to care for while we were there. Being born is stressful and tiring! Before we left the hospital, we met with a lactation consultant who gave us some pointers and made sure I was feeding Wren correctly. We collected whatever supplies we could fit into our bags and got ready to leave the hospital. I could not WAIT to get home.
Those few days were the most intense of my life. The whole experience of birth for me was this outrageous mixture of every emotion. It was disgusting and beautiful, painful and blissful, I felt utterly terrified, and a also felt new sense of confidence. I felt surprisingly calm. I felt as though my body was failing me at times, and that it was incredibly strong at others. We have emerged from the experience with a beautiful baby girl who is now the center of our universe. I can't believe she was inside me for 9 months and now she's here. We made a person. *overwhelmed cursing*
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On Tuesday, October 1st, I went to see the doc to talk about the progress of things. I was a little over my due date of September 26th, and we were talking about induction. Before I had gone in, I said I will only get induced if she thinks Babby is in any danger, but when she suggested "We can do it this week, or you can wait until Monday..." Monday sounded like an eternity. I agreed for an induction on Thursday, October 3rd.
I immediately felt a sense of relief which I did not expect. I thought maybe I would feel disappointed. But it was nice that on Wednesday I could go into work knowing it would be my last day, finish things up, and take a deep breath. Wednesday evening rolled around, and I felt calm and excited. I was looking forward to getting a good night's sleep before it was time for delivery.
WELL... baby had other plans (of course). Luckily, we were in pretty good shape with having things packed and cleaned up, when I plopped down on the couch around 9 pm. I thought I had peed a little, but it felt different. I suspected that my water had broken, as I had heard its not like the movies where BOOM gush of water on the floor. I went to the bathroom to inspect, and it didn't seem like much was happening, so I continued to clean up and pack things, very unsure if it was time to go to the hospital or not. We called the OB office to report the potential water breakage, and they advised us to head to the hospital. I was still feeling very calm, but it also may have been tiredness. I had purposely gotten up really early on Wednesday to ensure that I would be really tired that night and sleep well. HAHA.
We arrived at Riverside around 11 pm and I was taken to a triage room so I could be checked to see if I was in labor. A nurse checked me to confirm that the fluid was actually amniotic fluid. She was the first of many many MANY people all up in my business. She also dressed me in my first of many giant, uncomfortable diapers, and placed monitors on my belly. Another nurse came in to give me a hep lock that really hurt. It's odd the things that I remember hurting the most during the whole experience, and the hep lock was one of them.
We checked in to a delivery room, but my cervix wasn't very dilated, so Tim and I were directed to walk around the maternity ward. We walked around for about 2 1/2 hours, which was very boring and awkward because we were lugging around the big IV pole with wobbly wheels. I was checked again and had dilated slightly, but not much. Next I bounced around on a birthing ball and we watched The Big Lebowski, then fell asleep. After that sleep, much of the next day and night seem like a blur.
I can tell you there were about a dozen different nurses, who took my blood pressure a countless number of times. At first the blood pressure band hurt badly, but after stretches of having it taken literally every 3 minutes, I barely noticed it anymore. I had two monitors strapped to my belly, one to monitor contractions and one to monitor baby's heart rate. They were constantly moving out of place and giving weird readings as a result. Eventually I was given pitocin to move along the labor. We waited, and waited, they took my blood pressure a million more times. I started to get intense contractions, which made it impossible to sleep anymore. I got to the point where I was ready for an epidural, as I had been planning on getting it from the beginning. Having it put in was scary though, because the anaesthetist listed all sorts of side effects I could experience if it was placed wrong or if I moved while she was putting it in... like a week long headache?!? thank god that didn't happen.
After I got the epidural, I was able to sleep a little better. I have no idea what time it was when most of these things happened, because I kept falling asleep and waking up again to get my vitals taken. The window of our delivery room opened into a closed in courtyard, so even daylight wasn't really coming in to indicate the hour.
My OB came in to say hello at one point and I was happy to see her. A new, kinda icy nurse started her shift with us, and that's when things started to go a little haywire. The monitors on my belly were moving out of place so much that they had inserted an internal monitor to measure contractions. Icy nurse decided to insert another internal monitor to measure heart rate, which sounded scary - a little patch of needles that attached to baby's head inside the womb. Well she tried to insert it, and it didn't catch. She tried to insert it again and it caught, but it was not working. Unbeknownst to me, all of these attempts were really upsetting baby. Additionally, the icy nurse was worried that the umbilical cord was being smooshed because I had lost most of my amniotic fluid. So there was ANOTHER thing inserted to pump more fluid back in. I had a whole network of wires and tubes coming out of my vagina. The baby was not having it. They sat me upright to try to get weight off the cord, and I suddenly got light headed and nauseated. It went away immediately when I was laid back down.
Then things got scary. I could not see the heart rate monitor, but the Icy Nurse pushed the call button and said something medical that I didn't really understand, and suddenly, like insanely suddenly, there were a dozen people in the room. They flipped me over onto my hands and knees, totally naked except for all the tubes and wires attached to me, and some guy doctor who I couldn't even see stuck his hand up my junk to check me. Simultaneously, the anaesthetist dosed me with something, someone threw scrubs at Tim, and a general panic ensued while I lay there, entering a state of shock.
I was rushed into the OR and I started to pray to whatever in my head, just the universe, I guess. I asked why my feet felt tingly and they said it was because of what the anaesthetist gave me. I was trembling uncontrollably, and I felt as though I was having a panic attack. I had never been more terrified in my entire life. I stared up at the ceiling, talking heads coming in to view, tears pouring into my ears. I tried to come to terms with having a c-section. I tried to think of the benefits. One surgeon acted as if it was inevitable, while icy nurse could tell I was panicking and tried to calm me by saying we just need to get baby's heart rate back up. All the while, Tim was stranded out in the hallway with no idea what was going on. My OB arrived super promptly, and it was such a relief to see her eyes above her surgical mask. She explained the baby's heart rate was improving and that they were going to do everything they could to make sure that I didn't have to have a c-section. I was so glad that she understood that it was something I really didn't want to have to do.
Tim was allowed in, and he came to my side. It seemed the crisis was passing, and the heart rate was good again. Thank goodness. They decided it was safe to put me back in the delivery room. I needed to move from the operating table back to my bed, and that's when I realized just how numb I was. I was COMPLETELY numb everywhere except for my face and arms. Several nurses had to flop my dead weight over onto the bed. I still had so many tubes and wires that the oxygen nostril thing they had put on me got caught on something and tried to rip my nose off. I was just a completely flopsy, tear soaked, pathetic blob at this point.
Back in the delivery room, they laid me on my side, and put my top leg in a stirrup. It was a very weird position, but I couldn't feel anything, so it was perfectly comfortable to me. The intensity of the OR scare had been overwhelming, and I fell asleep out of sheer exhaustion.
The nap was the most restful one yet. I don't know how long it was. When I woke up, I felt the urge to push! A new nurse checked me and I was dilated 10 cm. My OB was called again and we waited for her to arrive. As soon as that nap was over, things moved right along.
I didn't really realize it at the time, but baby's heart rate was still acting up as I started pushing. Our OB decided to use a vacuum to move things along. Tim was at my right side, holding my leg, while a nurse was on my other leg. I pooped on the table but they whisked it away. Tim described our tiny OB's techniques as "ninja moves" while she pulled on the vacuum with all her might and worked to get the baby out. I only pushed about 12-15 times, and 20 minutes after we started, I saw our pink baby flailing before me. It was a girl, and she was lovely. I think I cursed in overwhelmedness. Tim cut the cord.
The minutes after she arrived also feel like a blur. I was holding her at first, and then she was checked out on a warming table. Our OB explained that I had a second degree perineal tear and she set to work stitching me up. I guess I wasn't that worried about it at the time, I had known it was a possibility. I think I just kinda zoned out for a bit while they cleaned me and the baby up. Tim said there was tons of blood and nastiness, but I didn't see any of it. They put the baby on my chest, and I was breastfeeding within minutes of her arriving. They asked us what her name was, and I announced Wren Adaela. They cathed me and drew out an INSANE amount of pee. They had a tupperware thing that was as big as a loaf of bread, and it was FULL.
Because of my gestational diabetes, they needed to check Wren's blood sugar, and it was right on the cusp of being too low. Wren was handed off to Tim who was instructed to give her 15 ml of formula to raise her blood sugar. I hadn't eaten anything in almost 24 hours by the time she was born.
We were moved to a recovery room, and Wren was checked and poked and even had her first bath. I was exceptionally tired and hungry! Tim hit the cafeteria and brought back mozzarella sticks, mac n cheese, pizza, and salad and we feasted.
I didn't expect to be so beat up after delivery. My whole body was sore from pushing, especially my arms and shoulders because I was clutching handles on the side of the bed each time I pushed. Nurses kept pushing on my belly to squeeze blood out of my uterus and check that it was retracting as it was supposed to, and that really hurt too. I had to successfully pee in front of a nurse as soon as possible or they were going to have to cath me again, which would be much more painful without being numbed. I HAVE A SHY BLADDER! Eventually I was successful though. As the epidural wore off, more pain emerged. The injection site of the epidural hurt badly, and my whole back was sticky from the adhesive they used to hold everything in place, so I kept sticking to my gown/the bed. I had given myself hemorrhoids during delivery, my tail-bone was bruised, and obviously, I had a network of stitches holding my junk together. Getting up off the bed was terribly painful. It was a good thing I was so exhausted, because I was able to sleep despite all the pain.
Don't expect to get any restful sleep in a hospital! Someone was coming in about every 45 minutes during the night, either to check Wren's vitals, my vitals, or give me some sort of pills. I also started breastfeeding Wren right away, and at first, it would take us about 20 minutes to get her latched. She was doing a great job though. All the hours at the hospital bled together.
The next day we just rested and had some visitors. Wren was sleeping a lot, so she was pretty easy to care for while we were there. Being born is stressful and tiring! Before we left the hospital, we met with a lactation consultant who gave us some pointers and made sure I was feeding Wren correctly. We collected whatever supplies we could fit into our bags and got ready to leave the hospital. I could not WAIT to get home.
Those few days were the most intense of my life. The whole experience of birth for me was this outrageous mixture of every emotion. It was disgusting and beautiful, painful and blissful, I felt utterly terrified, and a also felt new sense of confidence. I felt surprisingly calm. I felt as though my body was failing me at times, and that it was incredibly strong at others. We have emerged from the experience with a beautiful baby girl who is now the center of our universe. I can't believe she was inside me for 9 months and now she's here. We made a person. *overwhelmed cursing*
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