Birth Story

Well, I ended up having to be induced. Part of me still cannot believe it! According to my cycle I was 6 days overdue, but according to what my OB had changed my EDD to, I was 11 days overdue and they were not letting me go past the weekend.  I just still am in a little disbelief that I went even more overdue than I did with Graydon (3 days overdue)!

So on the morning of Feb. 28, we left our house at about 5:45 AM and headed to the hospital, which is thankfully only like 5 miles away. I had barely slept the night before..I was way too anxious and nervous.  I got up at like 4 AM to shower, get ready and finish packing last minute odds and ends along with making sure I ate a good breakfast since I had no clue when I could eat again. From 6-7 we checked in, got into our room, went over details, asked a lot of questions and got stuff set up. I got my IV. I was pretty emotional, and scared. I just did NOT want to have a c-section.  The nurse was very reassuring and helped calm my nerves.  At 7 AM my nurse Megan came in and she was with me the rest of the time, and was pretty awesome. My friend Kelli had actually called there the night before and had her assigned to me which I thought was really  nice of her. She just wanted to make sure I had an amazing nurse and I was thankful!

At 7 they started the Pitocin drip and I was still around 3 cm (barely.) They were hardly giving me any fluids (per my request because I didn't want to get super puffy and didn't know if I'd want the epidural or not). They uped it about every 30 min. It took like 2 hours for me to really even start feeling anything it seemed like. The contractions just were not that bad and seemed tolerable still at that point. The nurse gave me credit because she said that a lot of women start freaking out once they feel any pain at all and want the epi like right away. But, they "needed me to be feeling uncomfortable. It is supposed to hurt." I was like uhhh ok. Between like 10-10:30 is when it started getting worse. The nurse checked me at some point and I was only at 4 cm. which frustrated me. I felt like I wasn't going anywhere but she assured me my body was doing what it was supposed to, but I was thanking God that Nora's heart rate stayed stable the entire time. She was such a trooper. The contractions were every 1-3 min. apart and lasted around a minute each time. They honestly were not that bad but the fact that they were so close together made it a bit hard.

I talked with my nurse again around 11 and told her I thought that I might want the epi soon but I wasn't sure what to do since I was only 4 cm and I felt like that was just too soon but I didn't want to accidentally wait too long. She said, well let's make a goal. Try to make it until noon and then the Doctor will get here and check you and most likely break your water. By 11:15 I told Chris it was really starting to bother me and I didn't want to wait much longer and regret it, and then not have it when she broke my water. At 11:30 I called for my nurse and the other nurse told me it would be a few minutes. Well, she never came. At noon she walked in with my OB and apparently they had never told her I called that I had called. At this point I was starting to get super anxious, in tons of pain and definitely wanted the epidural. The contractions were around 1 minute apart, and just not a natural progression of pain like a normal labor is. I can definitely understand why people end up getting an epidural when on pitocin, it just is NOT natural!

My OB checked me and I was still 4 cm ( in my head I was like HOW is that possible??!!!! I was in sooo much pain at this point.) She broke my water and my pain level went from like a 6 to a 100 in less than a minute. The contractions were still one minute apart, lasting around minute but I felt like I was in transition with every contraction. I don't know how I did it. It was awful. It was SO incredibly painful, I thought I was going to die, lol. It was like once the water was broke and the pressure of the baby moving down...it was just really intense.  I ended up having to deal with the pain for about half an hour until the anesthesiologist finally got there to do the epidural. He got the epi in right away (oh and I forgot to mention that they got almost 2 bags a fluid in me super quick so my BP didn't drop before he did the epi) and he also gave me some sort of local once he put it in and the effect was almost immediate. It was smooth sailing from there on out and thank goodness my blood pressure never dropped and I didn't have any other side effects. My body took it all really well.

My nurse Megan checked me again sometime right before 1:30 and was like wow...you are already 5-6 cm. I was like WOOOO HOOO!!! Finally, some progression. After that they got me some jello and I just hung out. The epi wasn't going through the best on my right side so they gave me some fentanyl. I swear it made me feel a little buzzed. I told the other nurse that but she was like No...that is probably just from the epi, except I never felt it until they gave me that. Anyways, I was still feeling stuff on my right side but it was tolerable so I honestly didn't even care, I wasn't in pain and was feeling pretty good.  The nurse ended up saying that I was probably feeling that pain because I was almost ready to have a baby. She checked me again at like 1:37 and she was like you are 8 cms...I need to go get your doctor! I texted our photographer right away that if she wanted to make it for the birth that she would need to leave work immediately because I would probably end up pushing soon. I was so excited!!  Unfortunately she didn't make it in time but we still got a ton of awesome pictures in the delivery room afterward.

My nurse came back a few minutes later, and I told her I was feeling pressure.  She checked me again and said I was completel! My OB came in shortly after and I started pushing a little before 2 pm, pushed for like 15 min. and had her at 2:08.

Once they broke my water and I got the epi, things went fast. It only took like 1.5 hrs for me to go from 4-10 cm. I only had like one little tear. It was awesome! I was just so happy because Nora's HR never dropped with the pit, my BP never dropped from the epi, I barely tore, I only had to push for 15 minutes, and I didn't hemorrhage this time like I did last time with Graydon. The only negative side effect was after it was all said and done I was itchy from all the drugs for like 12 hours, but it was bearable.

We stayed in our room for a couple of hours before we could be transported. My epi wore off pretty quick and I was able to walk shortly after the birth. They ended up having to cath me once to drain my bladder because it was still numb but that was all. We got to our room sometime around 4:30-5:00.  My good friend/family/coworker Nancy was our first visitor and first person to hold Nora. She got me a beautiful Willow Tree figurine that I love and a balloon. That night we were also visited by our friends/family Mike and Lyn. They brought Nora a cute little outfit. 

That night was too bad, and Nora slept in the nursery except when she needed to eat. She kept spitting up and I was too scared to try to sleep with that happening, so I was more comfortable with her being monitored while we slept. The next day was a busy one with lots of visitors. Chris's parents and Aunt came, our friends Jason and Andrea, my sister Megan and her girls, and that night my friend Jessica. When Chris's family came they brought Graydon with them and he was finally able to meet his "baby sister". He was sooo sweet and we got some really great pictures of him holding her, it was adorable!

That night was a little rougher and true to what the lactation consultant warned us would happen, she wanted to eat literally like every hour, trying to raise my supply for her growing stomach.  The next morning (Saturday) we headed home about 10:00 AM.  That day we sort of just chilled out, I took a nap and that after Mike and Lyn visited us again, and brought some amazing food. That evening our friends Paul and Naomi stopped over with more food. The next day (Sunday) Chris's family came over again and brought Graydon home. We ended up going out to eat at The Outback that afternoon.

Ok, that is all for this post! :)