Some of the dust is settling now as Paul went back to work today (aka last Wednesday since it took me about 6 sit downs to finish this post lol) and we are starting to settle into a routine as a family of three. I have been cherishing each snuggle with Stella as I know they grow so fast. Finally I have found a moment to write my labour story out so be warned it will be a long post with lots of pictures!
My last belly profile shot, I was in labour here!
So it all really started on the 19th, I started having some regular contractions. We thought it might be time and even debated going to the hospital but they ended up getting less regular and I had an appointment with my OB the next day so we thought it would be best to wait for that. The next morning I was still contracting but very irregularly. I went to my appointment and he said I was 3 cm and thin! I was beyond excited! He wasn't going to book an induction since he didn't think I would need it, which made me even more excited. I then had an ultrasound to check on her and my fluid levels. Everything was good, he checked to see if her cord was around her neck (thanks to me being super paranoid about this) and thankfully it wasn't. I couldn't even see her face since she was so far into my pelvis! I remember thinking that she looked HUGE. The doctor also did a stretch and sweep- ouch! On my way out the doctor joked that he would see me tomorrow in the postpartum unit. After my appointment I texted Paul to call me asap and called my mom to share the exciting news.
That afternoon I bounced on the yoga ball constantly only taking breaks to try to get last minute things together in preparation for my hospital stay. By 3pm my contractions were very regular, every 7 minutes or so. I remember texting Paul to tell him I didn't think he would be at work the following day since we would likely be in the hospital. By 4 pm my contractions were every 5 minutes lasting 45 seconds to a minute but they still weren't overly painful at this point. I knew at this point you are supposed to go to the hospital but I really didn't want to call Paul home from work and I didn't want to go there and get sent home. So instead I made dinner. By the time Paul got home I was cooking dinner and having a contraction every 4-5 minutes. It was so silly and it took me forever to make dinner. Looking back we were so thankful we had made that meal. It meant we had full bellies going into the hospital, that we had healthy left overs for the first couple of days home with baby and it was a wonderful distraction from my labour. At about 10 pm we decided we should go to the hospital to be checked even though my contractions still weren't as painful as I imagined they would be. They hooked me up to the monitors and checked me. I was still 3 cm and not in an awful lot of pain so they sent me home. I was so discouraged. I felt like I had been through a whole afternoon of labour and had made no progress and I felt like I had looked silly getting sent home. So we went home and tried to get some sleep. Literally 5 minutes after we laid down I was writhing around in bed with my next contraction. The pain was awful! Paul had fallen asleep but quickly woke up to me in pain. I got up and went to have a bath to help with the pain. It didn't work at all. I got out and was in so much pain I would be on the floor with every contraction. Paul insisted we go right back to the hospital. It's now about 1:00 and I get to the hospital, I have the same nurse in triage and I have a contraction on my way back to the triage room. Talk about embarrassing! I was freaking out with each contraction. I had thought this whole breathing thing was a huge joke but quickly learnt there was no way I was going to get through each one without it. The nurse asked Paul how long I has been in this much distress for and he said about an hour and a half. Then she asked how I felt about an epidural and I said to get me one AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! We all laughed and then they got me admitted. I got wheeled back to my labour room, which was absolutely gorgeous. The view we had of the city was beautiful. They started getting me ready for an epidural which involved blood work and getting an IV started. I'm so terrified of needles, this was the part I was dreading for a long time. Blood work went smoothly, I like to think I am somewhat past this phobia after tons of blood work for my miscarriages. Then came the IV. The nurse couldn't get it in my left hand and ended up digging around for a while trying to get it before finally giving up and going to get another nurse to put it in my right hand. She got it the first try, thank goodness! The resident came in shortly after to get me my epidural. They had a hard time getting me to sit strait. I felt like I was strait and I was but we found out that my spine is curved and I have scoliosis. So I got my epidural, which took way more freezing to get in then it should have. Really I thought the IV episode was way worse then my epidural. We are now at about 3:00am. After 1000 ice tests, they figured out my epidural wasn't working properly. It was patchy and my uterus wasn't frozen at all. They ended up giving me higher doses and that didn't work, so he took it out and re did it higher on my back. This time it worked but we are now at 5:00! I was so thankful when I couldn't feel those contractions anymore. I remember thinking I would never make it through if these epidurals didn't work. The only issue now was that I was so frozen from all the meds that I was freezing to high up and there was concern I wouldn't be able to breath if I froze too high. Luckily this never happened.
They broke my water shortly after and checked me again. I was only 4 cm but very thin and baby had moved down more. My water had meconium in it which meant Stella would be taken away right after birth to be checked by the NICU team. I was devastated to hear this. I had always felt very strongly about skin to skin right after birth and this meant it wouldn't happen but I trusted in God's plan and found comfort in knowing he was in control of the situation.
When they checked me again in two hours I was only 5 cm dilated and they made the decision to start oxytocin to get my contractions stronger and more productive so Stella wouldn't be in the meconium or distress for as long. They started that around 8:15 and checked me again in two hours. The nurse told me to guess how dilated I was at that point and I thought around 8 cm. I was fully dilated! 10 cm! I've never been so excited! She then said I would start pushing in an hour so I could rest and prepare to push. This was great. I had time to get my mind around pushing and that our baby was going to be born within the next few hours. I was so relaxed, but also scared that pushing would be so painful. I remember pushing my epidural button a couple of times in this hour in preparation for pushing haha.
An hour later I began to push. It was around 11:15 now. I was so nervous I would be able to push well with an epidural and had prepared myself for 3-4 hours of pushing. After the first couple of pushes and some guidance I knew how to push. I could feel the pressure of Stella coming down and I could feel when I needed to push. I was also able to move my legs through my entire labour despite my epidural, which was wonderful. I remember the nurse saying, " I can see the baby's hair!" and I was beyond excited that she had hair. Shortly after I started pushing the nurse said, " Do you think we can have this baby by 11:50?" and I thought that was crazy! Less than half an hour from that point. I pushed as long and hard as I could and not long after than the nurse was calling in the doctors and the NICU team for my delivery. The resident that was supposed to deliver her didn't even make it. At 11:42 am I watched the doctor guide our beautiful baby girl into this world. All I remember is seeing that she was a girl and being so thankful, looking at my mom, her saying something to me, both of us in tears and looking back and seeing Paul cutting the cord and little Stella getting whisked away to be suctioned.
Stella ended up being taken for about 15 minutes. It sucked. I needed stitches and with no baby to distract me it was quite painful, even with an epidural. This was the worst part of my whole delivery. Paul went to bring Stella to me and after a couple of quick minutes they ended up needing to take her away again for more suctioning. Despite this, her apgars were 9s and when it was all said and done I got to have her skin to skin.
It was the most amazing thing I have ever done in my life and I had a wonderful experience despite a few bumps along the way. I surprised everyone (including myself) with how calm I was throughout the whole process. We couldn't be happier with our baby girl!
Blogging is now nearly impossible since we have a mommy's girl on our hands who hates to be put down for longer than 5 minutes. It took me over a week to write this post so I apologize if it doesn't make sense in places. I will still try to do posts, but for now I am enjoying my sweet little newborn snuggles since she won't be considered a newborn for much longer. You can't spoil a baby this young, right? ;) Thanks for joining us on the journey to becoming parents, I look forward to seeing what mommyhood will bring!
When they checked me again in two hours I was only 5 cm dilated and they made the decision to start oxytocin to get my contractions stronger and more productive so Stella wouldn't be in the meconium or distress for as long. They started that around 8:15 and checked me again in two hours. The nurse told me to guess how dilated I was at that point and I thought around 8 cm. I was fully dilated! 10 cm! I've never been so excited! She then said I would start pushing in an hour so I could rest and prepare to push. This was great. I had time to get my mind around pushing and that our baby was going to be born within the next few hours. I was so relaxed, but also scared that pushing would be so painful. I remember pushing my epidural button a couple of times in this hour in preparation for pushing haha.
The last belly picture ever!
An hour later I began to push. It was around 11:15 now. I was so nervous I would be able to push well with an epidural and had prepared myself for 3-4 hours of pushing. After the first couple of pushes and some guidance I knew how to push. I could feel the pressure of Stella coming down and I could feel when I needed to push. I was also able to move my legs through my entire labour despite my epidural, which was wonderful. I remember the nurse saying, " I can see the baby's hair!" and I was beyond excited that she had hair. Shortly after I started pushing the nurse said, " Do you think we can have this baby by 11:50?" and I thought that was crazy! Less than half an hour from that point. I pushed as long and hard as I could and not long after than the nurse was calling in the doctors and the NICU team for my delivery. The resident that was supposed to deliver her didn't even make it. At 11:42 am I watched the doctor guide our beautiful baby girl into this world. All I remember is seeing that she was a girl and being so thankful, looking at my mom, her saying something to me, both of us in tears and looking back and seeing Paul cutting the cord and little Stella getting whisked away to be suctioned.
Stella ended up being taken for about 15 minutes. It sucked. I needed stitches and with no baby to distract me it was quite painful, even with an epidural. This was the worst part of my whole delivery. Paul went to bring Stella to me and after a couple of quick minutes they ended up needing to take her away again for more suctioning. Despite this, her apgars were 9s and when it was all said and done I got to have her skin to skin.
It was the most amazing thing I have ever done in my life and I had a wonderful experience despite a few bumps along the way. I surprised everyone (including myself) with how calm I was throughout the whole process. We couldn't be happier with our baby girl!
Blogging is now nearly impossible since we have a mommy's girl on our hands who hates to be put down for longer than 5 minutes. It took me over a week to write this post so I apologize if it doesn't make sense in places. I will still try to do posts, but for now I am enjoying my sweet little newborn snuggles since she won't be considered a newborn for much longer. You can't spoil a baby this young, right? ;) Thanks for joining us on the journey to becoming parents, I look forward to seeing what mommyhood will bring!
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