Sarina Faith Angelina 4/15/08
At my dr appt the day before, Dr. P did an internal and a sweep. He told me I was at 3cm and 70% thinned. I asked to go in on Wednesday to have baby girl, but he was going to be out of town by then and the next time that would work for everyone in the family was next week if she'd not come on her own. So Tuesday it was!
That evening I began having regular contrax starting at 7-10minutes apart for a few hours. After going to bed and waking later, they were at 5. I was happy about that, but doggone tired, so finally headed back to bed to get a bit of sleep since we had to be at the hospital by 6a.m. *yawn*.
When its time to get up in the morning, I realize the contrax have basically stopped. Figures. Though they did start back up on the way to the hospital, they were only about 8-12 minutes apart now.
After getting my paperwork, we headed up to L&D where they were waiting on us. I was the only one there to deliver so got all kinds of attention! My first nurse got me settled in and hooked up to see how things were going (that's when I seen the contrax were about 8min apart) and she called Dr. P to let him know I was in.
He arrived about 7 to talk about what was going to happen that day. I'd planned on just getting my water broke, but he told me that if things didn't start up within a couple of hours, he wanted to start me off on a low dose of pit to get things going. (I was pouting about it, but really didn't want to be in labor for HOURS anyway, so okayed it). The heplock was put in (which turned out to be a good thing), Dr. P broke my water at 7:20. No big gush this time at all, just a wee bit of trickle. They were happy with it though cause little girl was still high up and they didn't want to risk a cord prolapse with her.
So we hang out for a couple of hours, listening to the baby, watching any contrax and just trying to catch a couple of zz's since I was tired. At this time, I was a stretchy 3, almost a 4 when they broke my water. Nurse called me at only 50%, though I told her the doc had said 70% the day before.
My nurse had been warned about how fast I *could* go, so my cervix was checked about once an hour from 7:30 til 10:30. At 9:30's check, 2 hrs into having my water broke, I was still the same as before. Almost a 4 and no real change in cervix. *pout* this looked like it was going to drag out on me. The nurse worked on my cervix a bit because Sarina wasn't facing the right way yet and wasn't putting pressure on me like she should. As she fiddled with her, Sarina started to turn a bit for me.
The pit mix was brought in after that, all set up 9:45-10 a.m. Started the drip at a 2 of course and she upped it every 15-20 minutes til it got to 6 and we stopped there.
After about an hour on the pit, the contrax were very regular and getting slightly painful. they wondered about what kind of pain I was having by the way it was showing up on the monitors though (I have a high pain threshold, so wasn't showing a lot of signs). (I should mention my nurse was being followed by a trainee the entire time). Before my first check upon getting there, I had already told my head nurse that I had been thinking I wanted an epidural cause I'd been freaking out about the labor for the longest time. I didn't want to feel the pain and was really ready to get it if it looked like it was going to be a while. (she was talking me out of it though in her own way). So after she told me I'd have to finish a bag of fluids before the epi could be given and that it'd take a good 20-30 minutes to take effect, she convinced me to keep on going.
I should also mention that dh didn't want me to get the epi, mainly cause I'd told him after I had one before with Hunter's birth, that I didn't want to get another one. So he was vocal in me not doing it, while my mom was saying if I wanted one to hurry up and not wait (cause she didn't like to see me hurt).
Let's see, around 9, my little sister got there. She's got a lot of everything on video and is going to send it to me as a movie file. About 9:30 my mom, Sdad and the young boys got there. Canaan and Katlyn had arrived with us that morning of course. About 10 my brother and SIL arrived. I think about 10:30 my dad arrived.
We all hung out and talked and stuff. I tried to rest a bit, but laying on my side hurt a lot, so we set the bed up in a mostly sitting position since that felt better on me and my back. My dad kept the kids entertained a lot and most of the men folk hung out in the lobby area while the ladies stayed in the labor room. My SIL was really excited I remember and I could really tell her anticipation of what was going on, though she felt so bad when I'd have a contraction. My sis was the same (though she's quieter) and my mom I could hear trying to breathe through the contrax with me. LOL!
During each check the nurse would encourage Sarina to turn her head some to a more favorable position. This really seemed to help.
I *think* the pains started getting a bit harder by 11:15 to 11:30. I do remember that the nurse wanted to check me again at about 11:25 (cause she didn't trust me LOL) and found that I was at 5-6cm now and baby was still turning and much easier to feel. I'd been getting small gushes of fluid by now with the contrax as well. So she told everyone they could step back around the curtain and we told them the progress. (wow's all around and yays too cause things were finally moving! LOL). We sit back and yak some more (I'm still in the same semi-sitting position in bed) and with each contraction I have to breathe deeply now. Dh is picking on me that he has a good opportunity to give me a wet willy right now. LMBO! So at 11:35 the nurse comes back for another check cause she sees that I was dealing differently with the contrax now. She does a quick check and sees that I'm 7 now and baby is really close and turned even more and my cervix is almost gone. She has the staff put a call in to the doc either now or before this point, but I found out later he was in with a patient at the office (which is just around the corner).
Back to our yakking and hanging out, but nurse is back within 10 minutes, about 11:45 to do another check because of whats showing on the monitors and so that she's not surprised all of a sudden. She finds that I'm between 8-9cm now! So after the check, she mentions that she thinks baby would be here within 15 minutes or so. We tell the family as they come back around the curtain and everyone is excited! I remember dh being on the side of the bed and my mom close to the end of the bed at this point. A few more contrax come though after that as everyone is talking with me. These have gotten to the point of closing my eyes and deep breathing while I push against the bed with my hands. After these are through, I raise my right hand up to show dh and mom and all I said was "just so you know" cause my hands were shaking bad now. Dh told the nurse, "be ready." She asked "are you serious?" and he and mom told her that I always start getting the shakes before baby comes. So she asks "do you think I should check her again?" (I wasn't getting any push pains by this point, just shaking-which is seen clearly on the video, and really could have cared less if I got checked again.) I didn't feel like pushing yet and baby wasn't in the birth canal either, so I was just breathing through the contrax like I had been and pushing against the bed with my arms as I was sitting. Dh told the nurse to check me, so she asked people to stand behind the curtain (I think it was dh, mom, sis, SIL and dad back there at this time).
I told the nurse before she started to check me that a contraction was starting and she said that was ok. Well, as soon as she touched my cervix everything changed! It was no longer just a contraction, it was a PUSH and baby was coming OUT! She started telling me loudly to "just breathe!" and dh and mom ran back around the curtain to get on the sides of the bed and my sisters got back on the other side of the room. The nurse hollered at the trainee to go get another nurse on call cause she needed her help ASAP. As for me, my head is thrown back on the bed and I'm doing my darndest to breathe/pant like they want, but all that's coming out is pushing urges. Still on the same contraction during this time if that tells you how quick all this was going on.
*back to my perspective* When the nurse had touched my cervix, I suddenly felt head coming down the birth canal and there was no stopping it. The bed never got dropped, the stirrups were never put up and I never got laid down. I was holding onto the rails on the side of the bed with my head thrown back over the pillows behind me. I remember looking at the lights with my teeth gritted, trying to breathe deep or pant so they could do what they needed, but I could only do that a couple times. There was just no stopping it! I remember dh and mom telling me to breathe during this like the nurse was doing and I also remember the feeling of her head popping out of me and immediately her body following. I'm still looking up now and in my mind I'm thinking I could never be one of those ladies that reach down to watch or catch their own baby cause I couldn't manage it! LOL!!
I could hear my mom (and I think dh as well) telling me "she's out! She's out!" and I told them I knew she was out! (mom said I had a huge grin on my face at this point) and dh was telling everyone that "yep, she's a girl!". So I had one contraction that I birthed her in, with two breaths in that time. My mom told me today that no one really caught her she came out so fast, she just shot out on the bed! LOL!!
I could hear my sisters beside me afterwards saying things like "oh my gosh! That was so fast!" and "that was amazing!" "I cant believe it went that fast!". The nurse was busy cleaning up the baby and she had cut the cord directly afterwards, even though my dad had come around the corner to do it. L it really made me sad cause this was the 3rd time I'd tried letting him cut the cord! *sigh* he said it was ok though.
She got laid up on my chest after cutting the cord and she looked SO small. I was amazed! My first words at seeing her were "Look at her hair!!!" I'd never expected to have a red or strawberry blonde haired baby! LOL! It had crossed my mind that it'd be neat if she came out blonde as all the other kids had all been born with a form of brown hair, but 3 of them had changed hair color to blonde later. Go figure she'd come out totally different! LOL! Her face looked the same though, definitely one of our babies!
After about 15 minutes (I think) they took her across the room to the clean up area. She had come out screaming and hadn't stopped yet! So her apgars were 9/9. They said she came out pink! The trainee nurse came back out and told me they'd weighed her at 7.11 1/2lbs at that point and would get the other stats from the nursery. (The nursery ended up weighing her at 7.10 1/2lbs so daddy calls her 7.11).
Some other things I noticed while still laying there: the nurse laid the cord up on my belly because we were still waiting on the dr to arrive. The cord was small to me, probably only as thick as my pinky finger. The doc looked kinda disappointed when he arrived LOL! I joked with him that he'd told me that I didn't need to take all day if I was getting my water broke, so I had just followed orders. *giggle*. He did deliver the placenta and checked me out. All was cleared, so no rips, tears or stitches, just sore!
We got to hang out in L&D for about an hour and a half I think. (I remembered to send a text to Naomi during this time). Sarina was squalling so loud! LOL! She was chewing her hands through the blanket and everything, so I finally got to feed her. Oh, she was so happy after that! LOL! Took right to nursing at that time (or maybe it was just the sucking LOL).
The nurse kept telling me how wonderful I did and that she was so proud of me and that she 'knew I could do it like I wanted' (as my birth plan had called for no epi or other meds unless needed). Made me feel really good!
I had to keep the heplock in my hand for a full 24+ hrs because they said I bled more than they'd have liked and in case I needed fluids, they wanted to keep it in. I ended up having to take 4 doses of a drug to help with uterine contractions (methicane? Methadone? Something like that). But all was fine with my bleeding after the initial checking and my uterus was going back down within a few hours like it should.
Oh, forgot to post all her official stats again:
Sarina Faith Angelina
7.10 1/2lbs, 20.5" long and a head circumference of 14" (though when remeasured at discharge was only 13.75" so I think someone wrote down the wrong thing), chest was 13.5". she has long fingers and toes/feet, little bird legs and bright blue eyes with strawberry blonde hair that everyone comments on! I'm thinking she *may* have a small birthmark on her right wrist, I'll see how that develops (all the other kids have birthmarks of some kind). Upon discharge she was down to 7lbs 1 ½ oz.
Truly a little princess!
At my dr appt the day before, Dr. P did an internal and a sweep. He told me I was at 3cm and 70% thinned. I asked to go in on Wednesday to have baby girl, but he was going to be out of town by then and the next time that would work for everyone in the family was next week if she'd not come on her own. So Tuesday it was!
That evening I began having regular contrax starting at 7-10minutes apart for a few hours. After going to bed and waking later, they were at 5. I was happy about that, but doggone tired, so finally headed back to bed to get a bit of sleep since we had to be at the hospital by 6a.m. *yawn*.
When its time to get up in the morning, I realize the contrax have basically stopped. Figures. Though they did start back up on the way to the hospital, they were only about 8-12 minutes apart now.
After getting my paperwork, we headed up to L&D where they were waiting on us. I was the only one there to deliver so got all kinds of attention! My first nurse got me settled in and hooked up to see how things were going (that's when I seen the contrax were about 8min apart) and she called Dr. P to let him know I was in.
He arrived about 7 to talk about what was going to happen that day. I'd planned on just getting my water broke, but he told me that if things didn't start up within a couple of hours, he wanted to start me off on a low dose of pit to get things going. (I was pouting about it, but really didn't want to be in labor for HOURS anyway, so okayed it). The heplock was put in (which turned out to be a good thing), Dr. P broke my water at 7:20. No big gush this time at all, just a wee bit of trickle. They were happy with it though cause little girl was still high up and they didn't want to risk a cord prolapse with her.
So we hang out for a couple of hours, listening to the baby, watching any contrax and just trying to catch a couple of zz's since I was tired. At this time, I was a stretchy 3, almost a 4 when they broke my water. Nurse called me at only 50%, though I told her the doc had said 70% the day before.
My nurse had been warned about how fast I *could* go, so my cervix was checked about once an hour from 7:30 til 10:30. At 9:30's check, 2 hrs into having my water broke, I was still the same as before. Almost a 4 and no real change in cervix. *pout* this looked like it was going to drag out on me. The nurse worked on my cervix a bit because Sarina wasn't facing the right way yet and wasn't putting pressure on me like she should. As she fiddled with her, Sarina started to turn a bit for me.
The pit mix was brought in after that, all set up 9:45-10 a.m. Started the drip at a 2 of course and she upped it every 15-20 minutes til it got to 6 and we stopped there.
After about an hour on the pit, the contrax were very regular and getting slightly painful. they wondered about what kind of pain I was having by the way it was showing up on the monitors though (I have a high pain threshold, so wasn't showing a lot of signs). (I should mention my nurse was being followed by a trainee the entire time). Before my first check upon getting there, I had already told my head nurse that I had been thinking I wanted an epidural cause I'd been freaking out about the labor for the longest time. I didn't want to feel the pain and was really ready to get it if it looked like it was going to be a while. (she was talking me out of it though in her own way). So after she told me I'd have to finish a bag of fluids before the epi could be given and that it'd take a good 20-30 minutes to take effect, she convinced me to keep on going.
I should also mention that dh didn't want me to get the epi, mainly cause I'd told him after I had one before with Hunter's birth, that I didn't want to get another one. So he was vocal in me not doing it, while my mom was saying if I wanted one to hurry up and not wait (cause she didn't like to see me hurt).
Let's see, around 9, my little sister got there. She's got a lot of everything on video and is going to send it to me as a movie file. About 9:30 my mom, Sdad and the young boys got there. Canaan and Katlyn had arrived with us that morning of course. About 10 my brother and SIL arrived. I think about 10:30 my dad arrived.
We all hung out and talked and stuff. I tried to rest a bit, but laying on my side hurt a lot, so we set the bed up in a mostly sitting position since that felt better on me and my back. My dad kept the kids entertained a lot and most of the men folk hung out in the lobby area while the ladies stayed in the labor room. My SIL was really excited I remember and I could really tell her anticipation of what was going on, though she felt so bad when I'd have a contraction. My sis was the same (though she's quieter) and my mom I could hear trying to breathe through the contrax with me. LOL!
During each check the nurse would encourage Sarina to turn her head some to a more favorable position. This really seemed to help.
I *think* the pains started getting a bit harder by 11:15 to 11:30. I do remember that the nurse wanted to check me again at about 11:25 (cause she didn't trust me LOL) and found that I was at 5-6cm now and baby was still turning and much easier to feel. I'd been getting small gushes of fluid by now with the contrax as well. So she told everyone they could step back around the curtain and we told them the progress. (wow's all around and yays too cause things were finally moving! LOL). We sit back and yak some more (I'm still in the same semi-sitting position in bed) and with each contraction I have to breathe deeply now. Dh is picking on me that he has a good opportunity to give me a wet willy right now. LMBO! So at 11:35 the nurse comes back for another check cause she sees that I was dealing differently with the contrax now. She does a quick check and sees that I'm 7 now and baby is really close and turned even more and my cervix is almost gone. She has the staff put a call in to the doc either now or before this point, but I found out later he was in with a patient at the office (which is just around the corner).
Back to our yakking and hanging out, but nurse is back within 10 minutes, about 11:45 to do another check because of whats showing on the monitors and so that she's not surprised all of a sudden. She finds that I'm between 8-9cm now! So after the check, she mentions that she thinks baby would be here within 15 minutes or so. We tell the family as they come back around the curtain and everyone is excited! I remember dh being on the side of the bed and my mom close to the end of the bed at this point. A few more contrax come though after that as everyone is talking with me. These have gotten to the point of closing my eyes and deep breathing while I push against the bed with my hands. After these are through, I raise my right hand up to show dh and mom and all I said was "just so you know" cause my hands were shaking bad now. Dh told the nurse, "be ready." She asked "are you serious?" and he and mom told her that I always start getting the shakes before baby comes. So she asks "do you think I should check her again?" (I wasn't getting any push pains by this point, just shaking-which is seen clearly on the video, and really could have cared less if I got checked again.) I didn't feel like pushing yet and baby wasn't in the birth canal either, so I was just breathing through the contrax like I had been and pushing against the bed with my arms as I was sitting. Dh told the nurse to check me, so she asked people to stand behind the curtain (I think it was dh, mom, sis, SIL and dad back there at this time).
I told the nurse before she started to check me that a contraction was starting and she said that was ok. Well, as soon as she touched my cervix everything changed! It was no longer just a contraction, it was a PUSH and baby was coming OUT! She started telling me loudly to "just breathe!" and dh and mom ran back around the curtain to get on the sides of the bed and my sisters got back on the other side of the room. The nurse hollered at the trainee to go get another nurse on call cause she needed her help ASAP. As for me, my head is thrown back on the bed and I'm doing my darndest to breathe/pant like they want, but all that's coming out is pushing urges. Still on the same contraction during this time if that tells you how quick all this was going on.
*back to my perspective* When the nurse had touched my cervix, I suddenly felt head coming down the birth canal and there was no stopping it. The bed never got dropped, the stirrups were never put up and I never got laid down. I was holding onto the rails on the side of the bed with my head thrown back over the pillows behind me. I remember looking at the lights with my teeth gritted, trying to breathe deep or pant so they could do what they needed, but I could only do that a couple times. There was just no stopping it! I remember dh and mom telling me to breathe during this like the nurse was doing and I also remember the feeling of her head popping out of me and immediately her body following. I'm still looking up now and in my mind I'm thinking I could never be one of those ladies that reach down to watch or catch their own baby cause I couldn't manage it! LOL!!
I could hear my mom (and I think dh as well) telling me "she's out! She's out!" and I told them I knew she was out! (mom said I had a huge grin on my face at this point) and dh was telling everyone that "yep, she's a girl!". So I had one contraction that I birthed her in, with two breaths in that time. My mom told me today that no one really caught her she came out so fast, she just shot out on the bed! LOL!!
I could hear my sisters beside me afterwards saying things like "oh my gosh! That was so fast!" and "that was amazing!" "I cant believe it went that fast!". The nurse was busy cleaning up the baby and she had cut the cord directly afterwards, even though my dad had come around the corner to do it. L it really made me sad cause this was the 3rd time I'd tried letting him cut the cord! *sigh* he said it was ok though.
She got laid up on my chest after cutting the cord and she looked SO small. I was amazed! My first words at seeing her were "Look at her hair!!!" I'd never expected to have a red or strawberry blonde haired baby! LOL! It had crossed my mind that it'd be neat if she came out blonde as all the other kids had all been born with a form of brown hair, but 3 of them had changed hair color to blonde later. Go figure she'd come out totally different! LOL! Her face looked the same though, definitely one of our babies!
After about 15 minutes (I think) they took her across the room to the clean up area. She had come out screaming and hadn't stopped yet! So her apgars were 9/9. They said she came out pink! The trainee nurse came back out and told me they'd weighed her at 7.11 1/2lbs at that point and would get the other stats from the nursery. (The nursery ended up weighing her at 7.10 1/2lbs so daddy calls her 7.11).
Some other things I noticed while still laying there: the nurse laid the cord up on my belly because we were still waiting on the dr to arrive. The cord was small to me, probably only as thick as my pinky finger. The doc looked kinda disappointed when he arrived LOL! I joked with him that he'd told me that I didn't need to take all day if I was getting my water broke, so I had just followed orders. *giggle*. He did deliver the placenta and checked me out. All was cleared, so no rips, tears or stitches, just sore!
We got to hang out in L&D for about an hour and a half I think. (I remembered to send a text to Naomi during this time). Sarina was squalling so loud! LOL! She was chewing her hands through the blanket and everything, so I finally got to feed her. Oh, she was so happy after that! LOL! Took right to nursing at that time (or maybe it was just the sucking LOL).
The nurse kept telling me how wonderful I did and that she was so proud of me and that she 'knew I could do it like I wanted' (as my birth plan had called for no epi or other meds unless needed). Made me feel really good!
I had to keep the heplock in my hand for a full 24+ hrs because they said I bled more than they'd have liked and in case I needed fluids, they wanted to keep it in. I ended up having to take 4 doses of a drug to help with uterine contractions (methicane? Methadone? Something like that). But all was fine with my bleeding after the initial checking and my uterus was going back down within a few hours like it should.
Oh, forgot to post all her official stats again:
Sarina Faith Angelina
7.10 1/2lbs, 20.5" long and a head circumference of 14" (though when remeasured at discharge was only 13.75" so I think someone wrote down the wrong thing), chest was 13.5". she has long fingers and toes/feet, little bird legs and bright blue eyes with strawberry blonde hair that everyone comments on! I'm thinking she *may* have a small birthmark on her right wrist, I'll see how that develops (all the other kids have birthmarks of some kind). Upon discharge she was down to 7lbs 1 ½ oz.
Truly a little princess!
3 comments:
yay... glad it went so smoothly!!! I would so love to do that again... if nothing else to do a Vbac... but with K being 10, I keep wondering, do I want to start over???
She is adorable. I am so proud of you!!! enjoy her!!!
Sounds great! She is so cute!!
By the way..I know you have so much free time, but girl..update my link!! ;-) 5lilmonkeys.blogspot.com
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