The Birth Story

My mom did such a fantastic job as my "blog doula" i'm hesitant to take over again. She kept everyone so well informed and was on top of her game with posting pictures and updating often that there isn't much of the birth story to tell. However, i figured that i would just fill in the blanks.

We called the hospital that morning and there was room (actually when we arrived it was like a ghost town in labor and delivery). I was really apprehensive driving over there and was worried that we would be late and somehow they would give my spot away (like at a restaurant). Can i blame my hormones for not thinking like a normal person?

Once everything was set up i just sat there waiting for the pain to come. It was normal and manageable until my doctor broke my water. It got really painful really fast. I was having very strange contractions pretty early on. I would have normal contractions (2-3 minutes apart) for a little, then all of the sudden i would have 5 or 6 contractions one on top of the other with no break in between them. We called them "marathon contractions." It was during one of the sets of marathon contractions that i snapped and asked for the epidural. I always knew that i would get an epidural but i wanted to see how far i could last without it (and it wasn't very long). The anesthesiologist was the coldest person ever and had no bedside manner at all but i didn't care as long as he had the goods.

20 minutes later i felt amazing. I think i felt better after my epidural than i did when i walked into the hospital that morning. I'm a huge fan. But i will give props to those women who go natural, i'm not sure i could do it. After my epidural kicked in the whole labor process became really uneventful. I felt bad for my mom and Aaron, because there was nothing to do. We watched a lot of TV. Mostly Cash Cab and the US Open. I continued to have the strange contractions so they turned the pitocin off and let my body do its own thing for awhile. The contractions slowed a little bit, but kept doing the 2-3 minutes apart/marathon tradeoff. During one of the marathon contractions the nurse came flying into my room because the baby's heart rate had dropped pretty low. She got me going on oxygen and had me lay on my right side because the baby responded well.

Progress was SO SLOW. 1 cm every hour or two. The nurse came in at one point and checked me. I was dilated to a 7, still having marathon contractions which stressed the baby out, and the baby's head was "bubbling" meaning the uterus was pushing it down but the baby's head wasn't going into the birth canal. She told me that if i didn't progress in the next hour that i would probably have to do a C-section. She left and called my doctor (and i found out later that she scheduled me in the OR for an emergency C-section). While she was gone i started to cry. I wasn't expecting news like this and felt like i had no time to mentally prepare for a c-section. I asked aaron to give me a blessing that the baby would be okay and that i would be okay with whatever decision my doctor made. I just wanted the baby here safely. Aaron gave me an amazing blessing and a few minutes later (15 minutes from when my nurse checked me and i was a 7) my doctor came in. He checked my contractions and told me i might need a c-section, then he checked my progress. He said "Wow, i don't know what happened here but you're now dialted to an 8-9, and the baby's head has dropped." It was amazing. My mom and Aaron exchanged a look right when the doctor said that.

I was an 8-9 at 5:30pm and they felt that i would probably be ready to push around 8 or 8:30. I told my Mom and Aaron to go get something to eat before things got crazy. They left around 6:15 to get some subway. My doctor left the hospital to go eat dinner with his family, and my nurse took her break for dinner as well. I was pretty much completely alone. I was fine with it because my labor had been so slow and boring up to this point that i figured everything would be fine. I started to feel my contractions through my epidural, but i was hesitant to up the dose because my left leg was completely numb and i had no control over it. A nurse came in to check on me since my other nurse was on a break, i told her about my pain. she said that i should change positions to try to get the medicine to settle in a new spot. When i shifted to my back the baby's heart rate dropped big time. The nurse immediately called for another nurse to come in, they strapped the oxygen to my face (i had just been holding it before), shifted me back to my right side, put an internal monitor on the baby and called my doctor. They checked me and i was dilated to a 10 and ready to push. At this point i asked my doctor if i should call my husband. She said yes, that i should dial and she would talk to him. When he answered she said "This is Nurse (i forgot her name) you need to get back here right now." and she hung up. They had me push a few times. They prepped the room for delivery. My doctor showed up, then Aaron and my mom came back in the room (they both were wide eyed and really confused). Because my epidural wore off just a little i was able to feel when i should push. My nurse came back to the room and things got going. I pushed for about 40 minutes and Gracie was born.

It was an unreal experience seeing her for the first time. I was kind of shell shocked and couldn't believe that she was finally here. They immediately put her on my chest and she didn't cry. I was freaking out that she couldn't breathe, but the doctor was like "She is a great pink color, so she is breathing, she just isn't crying." They rubbed her back to try to get her to cry but she just looked around. It was a nice quiet little moment. I remember Aaron leaning down to me once they took her to get her clean and saying "She looks just like you, babe." (that assessment has changed the longer she has been here, she looks more and more like aaron everyday). I'm pretty sure that all i did was stare at her for the first 48 hours. Aaron and i are both so in love with this little girl.

I'm doing pretty well right now. The recovery has been up and down. Sometimes i feel great and other times i feel like crap. But i can tell that things are slowly but surely getting better. Its really hard to let everyone else do things for me, i didn't think that i would care, but i want to help cook, or do the laundry, but i know that it would make me so tired. I'm so grateful for my Mom, Dad, and Aaron who have been an incredible support team. Gracie has been wonderful and i'm finding the whole sleepless night/caring for a baby for the first time thing is easier than i was expecting. I think she is spoiling me, and i keep waiting for something crazy to happen, but so far so good.