Dec. 29, 2010 - Claire's birth story

What a week its been! Obviously, since I haven't blogged since the 19th its safe to assume I had the baby. I'm looking at her right now, and it looks like she's waking up from her nap and will need a diaper change and another meal! So this will be completed in phases, I'm sure.



So the last thing I posted was early on the 19th. I called the hospital later that morning to see when I could go in to be checked and have the nonstress test done. They said they were full and they'd call me when I could go in. I went to church (but not Sunday school), then came back home and crashed on the couch. Paul cooked lunch, I think, but I can't remember it. I had a few contractions all day but nothing to concern me. Late in the afternoon, I decided to go and make up bags for the horses feedings, just in case. Then I came in and took a bath, since I was so tired and itchy. I was soaking in the tub when the hospital called. They said I could come in when I was ready, but to take my time cause Dr. Liese was going home for supper and to shower. This was at 5:30 or so.



So I finished my bath, told Paul to get ready. The hospital had said to eat a light meal, so I ate a PB&J sandwich even though I wasn't hungry. I figured we'd be there for maybe 2 hours max and we could just get supper afterwards. I finished packing my hospital bag, though, just in case. Mama wanted us to stop by her house on our way, and her and Daddy gave us an early Christmas present - a flip video camera. They said they wanted us to have it just in case they induced me that night.



We finally got to the hospital at 7:30. When I walked in the ER door a guy asked me if I was going to labor & delivery and I said yes. Paul had to go back to the car because he had his gun on him. The guy at the door said I'd need to get in a wheelchair and I said "but I'm not in labor" and he said I had to anyway. I checked in at the desk, he told me to sit in the chair and then whisked me away. Paul made it back just in time for the guy to tell him to go finish checking me in at the other desk, then to come to L&D. He took me to my room and told me to take off my clothes and put on a gown. I was a little confused. I figured I'd need a gown so my cervix could be checked, but I couldn't figure out why I needed a regular delivery room for all this.



A nurse (Nikki) came in and I changed into the gown. I laid on the bed and she immediately hooked up 2 monitors to me, one to monitor contractions and 1 to monitor the baby's heartbeat. I was having contractions, but not major ones. Paul made it to the room and he looked just as confused as I was. Another nurse came in and they started putting in my IV, which hurt like hell. I think my vein blew out or something, but they kept digging and oh man it hurt! They tried a different vein which didn't hurt so bad but it didn't work either. Finally a different nurse came in and popped the IV in on the other wrist on the first try. I asked Nikki why were we doing all this and she was like "you're being induced." I told her I thought we were just there for a cervix check and the nonstress test, and she said Dr. Liese must have miscommunicated with one of us. So, I was being induced and didn't even know it, haha!



From here on out, you may not want to read. I'm recording every detail I can remember, though I know most people don't want to hear about EVERYthing. But I want to remember.



Dr. Liese came in at 8:30 and inserted a cytotek pill into my cervix. This is a very risky drug but apparently they use it all the time. It ripens the cervix to prepare it for induction, and sometimes it makes contractions start on its own. Dr. L said it could take 6-12 hours to work, and I might need another dose after that. He said to expect to be in labor 24-48 hours. Wonderful news to hear when I was already exhausted from not sleeping all week! (And remember, the night before I hadn't slept at all until like 6am and then I got up at 8. And the night before that I only slept like 3 hours. So I started this whole ordeal very sleep-deprived and exhausted, physically and mentally.)



Around 4:30am my contractions started getting more intense and regular, but I wasn't in true labor yet. I had taken an Ambien pill around 11:30 the night before so I could try to get some rest, but I didn't really. The IV fluids had me getting up to pee every 30 minutes or so, which was a huge ordeal. I had to call the nurse, she had to unhook my monitors and follow me with the IV thing. Then when the contractions started to hurt I just couldn't get back to sleep. They weren't really painful enough to keep me awake, but I guess I was just excited.



Around 9am Dr. Welsh checked me (Dr. L's shift ended at 7am) and I was a fingertip dialated and 80% effaced - progress! The baby was at -2. At 9:15 they started the pitocin in my IV. Pitocin makes you have contractions. BAD ones. With natural contractions, they gradually build in intensity so that by the time you reach the peak of one, you're almost used to the pain (until they're really bad, but that doesn't happen until later in labor), then you get a gradual let down to no pain. That's how I'd been feeling until the pitocin started. Pitocin makes you feel nothing, then suddenly you're at the top of the contraction hurting really bad, then just as suddenly its over. Its exhausting.



Anyway, at noon the nurse checked me and I hadn't made any progress in dialation. It really wasn't a surprise; pitocin still takes a long time to make things really happen. Around 12:30 my head was hurting pretty bad and I was nauseated. They wouldn't let me eat or drink anything since I'd been in L&D. I was regretting eating only a PB&J at that point! I could have ice chips and that's it. So the nurse gave me stadol for my headache and phenegran for the nausea. After that, I don't remember a whole lot of details. Stadol makes you very loopy. My contractions got INTENSE. I would pass out between contractions and wake up for them and be in SO much pain. At some point I begged for more stadol, and I think I ended up with 2 more doses. I never screamed or made a fool out of myself, but I moaned and whimpered a lot.



So basically for about 2 hours I was in and out of consciousness and in the worst pain of my life. Finally, the nurse asked me if I'd ever had cryosurgery or anything like that and I said yes. She siad that explained a lot. Basically, I wasn't able to dialate any more because of scar tissue from my cryosurgery from years before (I had precancerous cells in my cervix). Not being able to dialate meant I was having bad contractions but not making any progress, which is not good. So around 1:45 the anesthesiologist came in and gave me an epidural. I've always heard they hurt, but I barely felt anything. Maybe because I was in so much pain already, I don't know. He had a hard time doing it, though, because I have scoliosis. He was like "did you know your spine is not straight? I'm having trouble getting the epi in..." But he did it and within a few minutes I was in heaven. About 2:30 Dr. Welsh came in and scraped off the scar tissue and broke my water. I was 100% effaced and 3-4 cm dialated.



Not long after all that, I started to feel pain again in my left side. It was like the epidural wasn't working as well on that side, probably because of my crooked back. Sometime around 4:30 they gave me a stronger dose of the epidural. The next few hours are again a blur. I remember some family members stopping by to see me but I couldn't talk to them. When I was conscious I was in so much pain I couldn't do anything. At 6pm Dr. W checked me again and I was 7cm! The baby was at -1.

At around 8:45 I was checked again by the nurse. She said she couldn't find my cervix, which meant I was fully dialated! Dr. W wanted me to labor down for about an hour, so the baby could get lower in the birth canal without me wearing myself out pushing. The nurse said when I felt a constant pressure that it would be time to push.

Around 9:50pm I was ready to start pushing. My lower body was pretty numb from the epidural, and I couldn't move by myself, but I could still feel every contraction. But I figured I'd made it this far, I could deal with the rest of the pain. At some point Paul insisted I have a little more of the epidural, and I think I got some, but I'm not sure. It took me a few tries to understand how to push effectively. Its harder than I thought it would be! The nurse, Stephanie, had me push the traditional way - with Mama and Paul holding my legs for me. Then Stephanie had me pull on one end of a knotted sheet while she pulled on the other end. I don't know how it worked but it really helped me get the baby down, though it really wore me out even more cause now I was using my arm muscles, too.

My contractions began to get irregular again, and I think they upped my pitocin at one point. Instead of having a contraction every 2-3 minutes, I was having one every 5-6 some times. So I pushed for 2 hours but didn't push as many times as I could have. I passed out between contractions. At some point I remember Stephanie saying the head was crowning and the baby had a bunch of hair. Which was interesting cause earlier, when she checked my cervix the final time, she said she couldn't feel any hair. Well, Mama got all excited about the hair and went on and on about it. Finally, my nerves and temper got the best of me and I said "enough with the hair! You have got to stop!" and Paul said "just don't say anything about the hair anymore." haha. That was the only outburst I'd had all day, though, so I think that's pretty good.

After 2 hours of pushing, Stephanie went to get Dr. W, who was asleep in the doctor's lounge. He said to let me take a 30 minute break. I sat through one contraction but the urge to push was so strong and the pain so intense that I just wanted to get it over with. I pushed a few more times, then Dr. W came in. He attached a vaccum to the baby's head and helped me get her out. I didn't really want that, but I was so glad of the help. I really don't think I could have went much longer. It had been about 30 hours since I'd had food or water, I'd been in intense pain all day, and I hadn't really slept in days. I was quite simply give out.

Anyway, with Dr. W's help I pushed for about 2 more contractions, then Claire was out! She passed meconium and swallowed some of it, but it happened late in the game so she was okay. She came out crying, just like she was supposed to. Dr. W held her up and asked me was it worth it and I nodded yes. The laid her on my stomach and dried her off a little. I couldn't cry or do anything but kind of wimper and try to catch my breath. Paul and Mama were crying. They took Claire to clean her up and weigh her. 7lbs 7oz! Dr. W pushed on my stomach to get all the blood and gunk out, and boy did that hurt. Then he stitched up my tears. The nurse pressed on my stomach again and almost made me scream. The epidural was basically gone but I couldn't move my legs.

They finally brought Claire to me and I breastfed her a little. Then she had to go to the nursery. Before that, though, they let the family come in 2 at a time to see us. We had to rush their visit, though, cause the nursery wanted Claire ASAP. During labor, I kept sayin I wanted a pepsi and I finally got one! And 2 bowls of lucky charms, haha. Best food I ever ate! Paul had to help Stephanie transfer me to a stretcher so I could be taken to my new room. I didn't regain the use of my legs until a few hours later, and my right leg was still numb the next morning. The rest of that night, when I had to pee, I had to call the nurse and she had to help me walk to the bathroom, with my right leg giving out all the time. Very wierd feeling.

They brought Claire back to me around 1:30 or so. Everyone had stayed to see her one more time, but they all left soon afterwards. Let's see if I can remember who was there...Mama and Paul, of course, Aunt Jeanette, Aunt Karen and Uncle Jerry, Sandra, Dean, Karen, Katlyn, David, Jennifer...maybe that's it. I'll have to ask Paul if I missed anyone. Finally everyone left, I breastfed Claire around 3:30 then they took her back to the nursery and I finally got some sleep. Of course, the doctor came around 7, and the nurse came in to check my bloodpressure a few times so I didn't really sleep much. Claire came back to me around 9:30 and I fed her again.

I don't remember much of that day, Tuesday. I was so tired still, but so happy. I wasn't in a lot of pain, but I did hurt. After what I'd gone through the day before, though, it was nothing! The pediatrician came that day and told us that Claire might develop jaundice since my blood type is O+ and hers is A- I think. (Maybe A+.) Sure enough, the next day she did get yellow. So she had to stay in the nursery under UV lights except when it was time to eat. That was tough on me, but I could visit her. I only made it there once, though, cause I was so weak. They originally said we might go home Thursday morning, but then they decided to keep Claire one more day and night cause her bilirubin levels weren't down enough. They should be 0 and hers had gone up to 12 or 13, then came down to 9. I think when we left it was 7 or 8. I was discharged Thursday, but they let us rent my room like a hotel. I tried to convince Paul to go home every night to sleep in our bed so he'd feel better, but he wouldn't do it. He left me for a few hours every day to come home and get stuff done, but I really wasn't alone very much.

Friday morning, I was up at 5. I was so nervous Claire wouldn't be able to get home. It was Christmas Eve, after all! Paul and I went down to the cafeteria to eat breakfast, then came back to the room to anxiously wait for the pediatrician to come. They had to redo Claire's bilirubin test so we had to wait a while, but finally we were told we could leave! We were home by noon, I think. Mama was at our house all morning cleaning for me, so she stayed until we got home and got settled in.

That night, we went to Paul's grandma's for Christmas Eve supper. We didn't stay long cause I was still exhausted. Paul and I exchanged presents that night cause I figured we'd be too tired the next day to do it. (I was right!) I gave him the Harry Potter movies, a wireless mouse, a watch, a shirt, and a Star Wars ornament. He gave me a Shark steamer, a pistol, and $100 to go to the spa! And some candy and an Elmer figure as per tradition. ( :

We had a rough night that night. Claire barely slept, which meant neither did me or Paul. So the next morning we didn't go to breakfast at either of our parent's houses, like we usually do. Paul's mama sent over a bunch of food, though. And we went over there around 9 or so, maybe later. We did presents with his family, then went to Mama's to do presents with them. Then we had to to back to his Grandma's for lunch. We came home and took a nap for a few hours, then went to my grandma's for supper. We stayed there until 9 or 10. That night was pretty rough, too.

We were supposed to take Claire to the doctor Sunday morning for a checkup (breastfed babies have to be seen 2 days after discharge), but the snow came in and they didn't open. Sunday night Claire's right eye started to water and eventually had green gunk comin out of it. When the doctor opened on Monday I called and told them. The doctor called in a prescription eye ointment for clogged tear ducts, and Paul went to Mt. Olive and got that. We had to be in the Goldsboro office at 1:10. The appointment went well. Claire had dropped down to 7lbs 3 oz on Friday when we left the hospital, and was now up to 8lbs! Dr. Ponzi said she looked great and we were going a good job with her. THat made me feel SO good. I'd been worried cause she spits up a LOT. But obviously she's getting what she needs.

Paul went back to work yesterday, so for the past 2 days its just been me and Claire. Its been nice. I'm still pretty sore and have to take it easy, so that's what I've been doing. I hang out on the couch most of the day, but I have managed to do a little cleaning here and there, at least enough to keep the house presentable. Last night Claire slept pretty good, which meant I did too. I slept for 4 hours straight, which is the most sleep at one time I've got in about 2 weeks!

So far, I love being a mama. Its challenging when she cries and we can't figure out what she wants, but its all okay when she's calm and happy. I've taken so many pictures and I just stare at her all the time. She's so beautiful. She doesn't look like a normal newborn to me. Most newborns look like little old people. But she looks like a doll. I love her so much! ( :