She's here! Birth Story

I met the most amazing person. She came into my world on june 19th, 2010 at 10:20am. I was lucky enough to be the privileged person who made my belly her home for the last 10 months. I have been overwhelmed with being in the hospital for 4 days, going through recovery and adjusting to life as a mommy so I haven't been able to write anything. Here's how I brought my angel into the world:




Friday, June 18th:

830am: I had my regular weekly check-up at the doctor's office. My swelling was still pretty bad and I was STILL not dilated. My blood pressure was up and there was a bit of protein in my urine so the doctor sat down looked at me and said "I think it's time to have a baby" and I laughed like well duh. And then she said "so I'll call and set it up" and I was confused so I asked when? And she said today.... right now. And it hit me OH MY GOD TODAY?? This can't be happening. I know I want this baby out but I was prepared for the 24th not emergency induction right now. I started crying and shaking and all the nurses hugged me and my doctor hugged me and sent me on my way to have a baby.



930am: Went home. Fed the cat. Grabbed some stuff. Left for the hospital.



10:00am: Hospital time. Lots of paperwork, signatures, labs, vitals and exams. Got hooked up to the monitors and IVs. Very terrified.



1:00pm: Given medication to soften my cervix. The medication takes 4 hours to work.



5:30pm: Medication didn't work. Got another dose.



8:15pm: Got up to pee and my water broke. The doctors decided not to give me the pictocin since my water broke. They wanted to let my body contract on it's own. Contractions came every 2-3 mins. They were so painful I couldn't talk, I couldn't think, I couldn't take it.



June 19th, 12:00am: Asked for an epidural. The anesthesiologist came and put me in the most uncomfortable position a pregnant woman could ever be in. I was cross-legged, sitting straight up then hunched over a pillow with my shoulders relaxed down. It was almost impossible to sit still in that position. It took 40 mins, 3 tries and 2 anesthesiologists to put the epidural in. It was very worth it. I was instructed to get some rest. I tried to sleep after that but the automatic blood pressure cuff was going off every 10 mins and every time I would move, the heart monitor on my belly would slip and they'd lose her heart rate and come running in to adjust it and are you kidding me? Who can sleep through all that?



2:00am: Contractions slowed pictocin was started



4:30am: The nurse came in on her usual rounds and asked how my pain level was. I explained that the epidural was crap and not helping when in reality it WAS helping but not as much as I expected. She seemed confused and told me to keep pressing the epidural button. I said I already was pressing it and it was still painful. Again she seemed confused, "do you feel pressure in your bum like you need to push?" And truthfully I did feel pressure but I said no because I didn't feel any urge to push.



5:00am: Nurse came back and I told her how I did feel pressure. She said that would be highly unlikely because that would mean I would be dilated. But she called the doctor anyway.



5:30am: With tom still sleeping the doctor came in, checked me and said "10 cm! Time to push!" Tom woke up from all the commotion. I looked over "did you hear that? 10cm babe". He was so confused. He had just woken up and his wife was getting ready to give birth right here, right now.





6:00am: After pushing for a little over an hour the doctor came to check on our progress. She announced lauren was face up and pushing her out was going to be extremely difficult. I had to really push harder. I was already giving it all I had so I didn't know how this was possible. But I couldn't give up.



7:00am: The doctors switched shifts so now I had my regular doctor that had taken me through this whole pregnancy. She came in to check and told me she was stuck under the pelvic bone, face up and we either need to move her manually to face down, push harder, or do a c-section. I certainly didn't want a c-section so I said let's try to flip her. She brought in another doctor who stuck his evil large man hands up and tried to coax her to flip. It was more painful than all my contractions combined. And it didn't even work! So my doctor said I really could push her out if I pushed hard enough but most likely a c-section would be needed. I wanted to keep pushing.



9:15am: After pushing for 3 and a half hours I had no strength. You see it in movies where the woman cries that she can't go on and the man gives her a heartfelt pep talk and says just one more push, cue music, woman screams, baby is born. But this is real life and I really couldn't move. I could barely talk or open my eyes. I have never felt true exhaustion and let me tell you, it's absolutely paralyzing.



9:30am: Doctor came in to check and said I had only moved her less than an inch in all that time. All the nurses were shocked I pushed as long and hard as I did. And with all that pushing, she just couldn't get out in that position. A c-section was necessary and that was that.



9:45am: I was taken to the operating room shaking violently from all the numbing medication. This was defiantly the scariest moment of my life. What if something bad happens? What if she doesn't breathe and I can't see her? I have never had surgery before so I had no idea what to expect. And this was the birth of my child not a silly little surgery.



10:20am: I heard her cry. Her beautiful beautiful cry. Tom lost it. I breathed a sigh of relief. They yelled out 7lbs 6oz, 21 inches. I was still shaking so hard from the anesthesia that I couldn't enjoy the moment my daughter was born and that truly pisses me off but I obviously understand. I did what I had to do. After a few minutes she was cleaned off, umbilical cord cut and swaddled up. They handed her to tom and he brought her over. She was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Her coney head and wrinkley nose were so precious. I instantly loved her.

I couldn't keep my attention focused on her though because of the anesthesia and the exhaustion. I had been awake for 28 hours straight with no food, in labor for 22 hours of which 3 and a half I was pushing. That was when all of it hit me and boom I fell asleep right there on the operating room table while they were sewing me up.



This amazing pregnancy journey has finally ended. It's time for a new chapter and so far, motherhood has been tiring, painful, funny, emotional, stressful and through my first week with her it has been truly wonderful and I wouldn't have changed a thing. The way she smiles in her sleep. The way she cries out for me. The way she curls up in Tom's lap. The way she holds my finger with her tiny hand. The way she snuggles on my chest. The look in her eye when she finds my face. It's everything I hoped for and more. Who knew that life on this side of the womb would be so good?



Happy birthday Lauren.

Love,
Mama