Birth story
Monday May16th
I'd been having low pelvic pressure and a backache for days, then I started having contractions after lunch. I'd just start timing the contractions and they'd stop. The contractions came off and on all day, getting stronger and closer together before stopping altogether. Classic false labour.
I spent part of the day completing my birth plan, assuming that real labour would follow within days.
When I went to bed, the contractions started to slack off, and then by midnight they stopped completely. Frustrated because I was sooo ready for the baby to come.
Tuesday May 17th
I had my fifth ultrasound at 10:30 am. Baby looked really good. Scored 8/8 (whatever that means). Growth is fine. Estimated at 60th percentile in size; between 7lbs 13oz and 8lbs.
Took my ultrasound results with me for my weekly OB appointment. My doctor was happy with the results. He did an internal exam and although I was ready to go at any time things hadn't started yet.
Got home from the doctor around 2:30 and lay down for a nap. Right away the contractions started again. The pattern was much the same as the day before; they'd get stronger then ease off, close together then farther apart, never really getting regular.
Ed's parents popped in for a visit to help Ed put the baby's crib together in our room. The baby's room wasn't ready and won't be for quite some time, but it'll be handy to have the baby in our room for the first little while anyway. The pain from the contractions didn't ease off at all, but they weren't getting any more regular. I was still convinced that it was false labour. I convinced Ed to go to his hockey game, and told his parents they didn't need to stay with me. I went to bed hoping that the "false labour" would stop as it had the night before.
Wednesday May 18th
Ed got home from hockey shortly after midnight, but stayed up until 2am because he was all wound up from the adrenaline. At 3am I got up to have a warm shower to try and ease the pain of the contractions, and stayed up because lying in bed hurt too much. My contractions had increased in intensity and were bouncing back and forth between 3 and 6 minutes apart. I decided that I was probably in real labour, though things still weren't regular... still felt false. At 4am Ed got up to do a little work from home, to get things to a point where he could leave it since he'd be taking a week off if the baby came.
At 7am we called the hospital and asked if we should come in. The nurse we talked to sounded doubtful, but told us to come in for a check anyway "if we wanted to." When we got there I was 4cms dilated and my contractions were about 6 minutes apart. We were checked in and put into a labour and delivery room. I was in labour... the baby was coming.
Sometime around 10am the doctor on call broke my water to try and speed things up, since I was already tired and was having a lot of back pain. Back labour is the worst pain I can imagine! None of the labouring positions the nurses suggested worked, though we had limited success with the whirlpool tub. Unfortunately breaking my water didn't do much. At 11:30, after enduring pain I couldn't have imagined, mostly in my lower back, I was still only 4 and a half centimeters dilated. I didn't think I could endure much more. I hadn't really slept for more than 26 hours, the burning/tearing pain in my back had become excrutiating. I couldn't catch my breath and the contractions were coming one on top of another.
Between my moments of sobbing, Ed and the nurses talked me into having an epidural and a pitocin drip... something I had originally decided I didn't want. Needles in my back scare me. But I they couldn't see me having the strength to deliver the baby if I had to endure the back labour for several more hours, and the epidural is much safer for the baby than narcotics.
Epidurals... ah, bliss.
The pain gone, I was able to sleep. By 5pm I was finally dilated to 10cms and ready to push. I couldn't feel a thing below my bra strap so the nurses held my legs for me and urged me to push. Apparently, I pushed pretty hard (muscle pain I'd feel later when the epidural wore off) but the baby wasn't coming down. And more importantly, the baby's heart rate was dropping dangerously low with each contraction.
The decision was made to perform a c-section. My pelvis was too narrow, the baby wouldn't fit through. A c-section was our only safe option.
I was wheeled into the OR at 5:45 and prepped. Ed was allowed to come in, and he said he saw parts of me he never thought he'd see. At 6:07pm Angelie Elizabeth was born. She was 7lbs 7oz (a little smaller than the ultrasound technician's guess) and 20 inches long. She let out one heck of a wail, good lungs, but I couldn't see her. A few minutes later, after she was swaddled, Ed brought her to me and I kissed her on her forehead. I didn't see her again for three hours. Ed went with the baby to the nursery while they closed me back up.
The nurse came back in and told me that Ed's parents were with him in the nursery visiting with the baby. I asked her if all three of them were crying, and she laughed and told me that yes, they were.
It took much longer to put me back together than it had to take me apart, and then I spent an hour in recovery. I arrived in my hospital room just before 9pm, still with very little feeling in my legs. The baby was brought to me at 9pm, and Ed and I were able to spend a little time with her.
Because I was bedbound and unable to tend to the baby myself, she had to spend the night in the nursery, though they brought her to me every three hours so that I could nurse her. I didn't sleep much in between feedings; the plastic hospital mattress was uncomfortable and hot, I still felt stiff from the epidural and the muscle achiness from pushing, but not much real pain.
Angelie and Mom, Day one:
Thursday May 19th
Starving, but on a liquid diet all day because of the c-section. Bed-ridden with IV and catheter. Feet and legs, face and hands very swollen because of the excess IV fluids and the bedrest. I felt like a sausage ready to burst. Nurses tell me to sleep as much as I can between feedings, but hospital staff keep coming in to see me about things: physiotherapy, baby care, and to bring me advertisement packages.
Baby developed jaundice so spent most of her time basking in the "Florida Sunshine", only coming out from the lights to feed. We supplemented her with bottle feedings, as the fluids help to combat the jaundice and my milk wasn't in yet. It's so hard to send her back to the nursery and not see her for two and a half hours out of every three. I'm to nurse for 10 minutes on each side and then give her a few cc's of formula in the bottle. She doesn't like the bottle so it's hard to get her to take much. Visitors come to see us, but most of the time they only see glimpses of Angelie through the nursery window, her eyes covered in gauze pads to protect them from the lights.
My IV and catheter are removed and I'm allowed a shower after supper. That shower felt so good. My legs are wobbly and stiff and my abdomen hurts to get up and down, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be.
Baby on double-light therapy overnight -- vacation upgrade to "Bahama Sunshine".
Friday May 20th
Real food today -- if you can call hospital food "real". My feet and legs still very swollen and uncomfortable, but much of the swelling in my face has gone down. Nurses tell me to walk up and down the hallways, and alternately keep them elevated to help relieve the swelling. Not much pain. The IV painkillers are wearing off and now I'm taking only Tylenol and Motrin.
Baby is out from under the lights and can stay with me all day. She's nursing well, but we're still supplementing her with formula to flush out the billirubin causing the jaundice. Weight at 6pm is at 7lbs 2oz, less of a loss than most newborns because of the supplementing. Good diaper changes, flushing out the meconium and the billirubin.
Ed's grandmother (Nana) Angelie visited and Ed told her that we'd named the baby Angelie. She'd previously been told that her name was Elizabeth (which is her middle name) because Ed wanted to tell her in person. Nana was very surprised and I think very pleased. Told us that "the baby is too beautiful to be named after an old hag like her."
Baby roomed in with me overnight.
Monday May16th
I'd been having low pelvic pressure and a backache for days, then I started having contractions after lunch. I'd just start timing the contractions and they'd stop. The contractions came off and on all day, getting stronger and closer together before stopping altogether. Classic false labour.
I spent part of the day completing my birth plan, assuming that real labour would follow within days.
When I went to bed, the contractions started to slack off, and then by midnight they stopped completely. Frustrated because I was sooo ready for the baby to come.
Tuesday May 17th
I had my fifth ultrasound at 10:30 am. Baby looked really good. Scored 8/8 (whatever that means). Growth is fine. Estimated at 60th percentile in size; between 7lbs 13oz and 8lbs.
Took my ultrasound results with me for my weekly OB appointment. My doctor was happy with the results. He did an internal exam and although I was ready to go at any time things hadn't started yet.
Got home from the doctor around 2:30 and lay down for a nap. Right away the contractions started again. The pattern was much the same as the day before; they'd get stronger then ease off, close together then farther apart, never really getting regular.
Ed's parents popped in for a visit to help Ed put the baby's crib together in our room. The baby's room wasn't ready and won't be for quite some time, but it'll be handy to have the baby in our room for the first little while anyway. The pain from the contractions didn't ease off at all, but they weren't getting any more regular. I was still convinced that it was false labour. I convinced Ed to go to his hockey game, and told his parents they didn't need to stay with me. I went to bed hoping that the "false labour" would stop as it had the night before.
Wednesday May 18th
Ed got home from hockey shortly after midnight, but stayed up until 2am because he was all wound up from the adrenaline. At 3am I got up to have a warm shower to try and ease the pain of the contractions, and stayed up because lying in bed hurt too much. My contractions had increased in intensity and were bouncing back and forth between 3 and 6 minutes apart. I decided that I was probably in real labour, though things still weren't regular... still felt false. At 4am Ed got up to do a little work from home, to get things to a point where he could leave it since he'd be taking a week off if the baby came.
At 7am we called the hospital and asked if we should come in. The nurse we talked to sounded doubtful, but told us to come in for a check anyway "if we wanted to." When we got there I was 4cms dilated and my contractions were about 6 minutes apart. We were checked in and put into a labour and delivery room. I was in labour... the baby was coming.
Sometime around 10am the doctor on call broke my water to try and speed things up, since I was already tired and was having a lot of back pain. Back labour is the worst pain I can imagine! None of the labouring positions the nurses suggested worked, though we had limited success with the whirlpool tub. Unfortunately breaking my water didn't do much. At 11:30, after enduring pain I couldn't have imagined, mostly in my lower back, I was still only 4 and a half centimeters dilated. I didn't think I could endure much more. I hadn't really slept for more than 26 hours, the burning/tearing pain in my back had become excrutiating. I couldn't catch my breath and the contractions were coming one on top of another.
Between my moments of sobbing, Ed and the nurses talked me into having an epidural and a pitocin drip... something I had originally decided I didn't want. Needles in my back scare me. But I they couldn't see me having the strength to deliver the baby if I had to endure the back labour for several more hours, and the epidural is much safer for the baby than narcotics.
Epidurals... ah, bliss.
The pain gone, I was able to sleep. By 5pm I was finally dilated to 10cms and ready to push. I couldn't feel a thing below my bra strap so the nurses held my legs for me and urged me to push. Apparently, I pushed pretty hard (muscle pain I'd feel later when the epidural wore off) but the baby wasn't coming down. And more importantly, the baby's heart rate was dropping dangerously low with each contraction.
The decision was made to perform a c-section. My pelvis was too narrow, the baby wouldn't fit through. A c-section was our only safe option.
I was wheeled into the OR at 5:45 and prepped. Ed was allowed to come in, and he said he saw parts of me he never thought he'd see. At 6:07pm Angelie Elizabeth was born. She was 7lbs 7oz (a little smaller than the ultrasound technician's guess) and 20 inches long. She let out one heck of a wail, good lungs, but I couldn't see her. A few minutes later, after she was swaddled, Ed brought her to me and I kissed her on her forehead. I didn't see her again for three hours. Ed went with the baby to the nursery while they closed me back up.
The nurse came back in and told me that Ed's parents were with him in the nursery visiting with the baby. I asked her if all three of them were crying, and she laughed and told me that yes, they were.
It took much longer to put me back together than it had to take me apart, and then I spent an hour in recovery. I arrived in my hospital room just before 9pm, still with very little feeling in my legs. The baby was brought to me at 9pm, and Ed and I were able to spend a little time with her.
Because I was bedbound and unable to tend to the baby myself, she had to spend the night in the nursery, though they brought her to me every three hours so that I could nurse her. I didn't sleep much in between feedings; the plastic hospital mattress was uncomfortable and hot, I still felt stiff from the epidural and the muscle achiness from pushing, but not much real pain.
Angelie and Mom, Day one:
Thursday May 19th
Starving, but on a liquid diet all day because of the c-section. Bed-ridden with IV and catheter. Feet and legs, face and hands very swollen because of the excess IV fluids and the bedrest. I felt like a sausage ready to burst. Nurses tell me to sleep as much as I can between feedings, but hospital staff keep coming in to see me about things: physiotherapy, baby care, and to bring me advertisement packages.
Baby developed jaundice so spent most of her time basking in the "Florida Sunshine", only coming out from the lights to feed. We supplemented her with bottle feedings, as the fluids help to combat the jaundice and my milk wasn't in yet. It's so hard to send her back to the nursery and not see her for two and a half hours out of every three. I'm to nurse for 10 minutes on each side and then give her a few cc's of formula in the bottle. She doesn't like the bottle so it's hard to get her to take much. Visitors come to see us, but most of the time they only see glimpses of Angelie through the nursery window, her eyes covered in gauze pads to protect them from the lights.
My IV and catheter are removed and I'm allowed a shower after supper. That shower felt so good. My legs are wobbly and stiff and my abdomen hurts to get up and down, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be.
Baby on double-light therapy overnight -- vacation upgrade to "Bahama Sunshine".
Friday May 20th
Real food today -- if you can call hospital food "real". My feet and legs still very swollen and uncomfortable, but much of the swelling in my face has gone down. Nurses tell me to walk up and down the hallways, and alternately keep them elevated to help relieve the swelling. Not much pain. The IV painkillers are wearing off and now I'm taking only Tylenol and Motrin.
Baby is out from under the lights and can stay with me all day. She's nursing well, but we're still supplementing her with formula to flush out the billirubin causing the jaundice. Weight at 6pm is at 7lbs 2oz, less of a loss than most newborns because of the supplementing. Good diaper changes, flushing out the meconium and the billirubin.
Ed's grandmother (Nana) Angelie visited and Ed told her that we'd named the baby Angelie. She'd previously been told that her name was Elizabeth (which is her middle name) because Ed wanted to tell her in person. Nana was very surprised and I think very pleased. Told us that "the baby is too beautiful to be named after an old hag like her."
Baby roomed in with me overnight.
posted by Dawn at 11:11 AM
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