When I went in for my weekly check up my doctor wanted to check me to see if there was anything going on (cervical softening or dilating). That would determine if I had to go in the night before the induction to have my cervix ripened (a drug put on the cervix to help soften it). Since my body hates me there was absolutely nothing happening. I was already a few days past my original due date of Dec. 31st. I won't lie, it was a little (lot) disheartening. I had been having SO many braxton hicks contractions for months. The last few weeks they had gotten pretty intense. Sometimes coming very regular for a while. Baby felt so low, like she'd just fall out if I sneezed. So to hear that there was no cervical change was not at all what I wanted to hear.
That was a Tuesday. We had decided during an earlier appointment that I would be induced on Saturday the 6th but because I had to have my cervix ripened she wanted me to come in the night before. The medicine had to sit in me for 12 hours before they could start the pitocin. Friday was Hunter's birthday. Saturday morning Carter and Hanna both had basketball games. I just couldn't figure out in my head how this was all going to work out if I was in the hospital and didn't want Trent to have to worry about me and how to get the kids where they needed to be. So I suggested that instead of me coming in Friday night, I wasn't going to agree to that anyway since it was Hunter's birthday and we had a little party planned for Hanna and Hunter, that I come in Saturday night instead. I felt much more at peace with that decision.
I knew Blair and Rhonda would show up sometime Sunday morning. Trent's niece got married on Friday the 5th so they weren't going to be leaving UT until Saturday morning and they don't usually go the whole way in one day. I figured that nothing was going to happen over night so Trent could drop me off at the hospital and then go home and be with the kids. Carter is good with the kids for a few hours. I had arranged with one of the young women in the ward to come over in the morning and help the kids get ready for church and then to take them to church. I had the church bag all packed and everything. Then bring them back home, by then Blair and Rhonda would be there. We had a backup plan just in case something did happen during the night, but I knew I wouldn't be that lucky.
Saturday afternoon, around 2:00 we got a call from Trent's dad saying that they were in Pendelton, about 4 hours away. They were coming all the way. It was such a relief to know that someone would be here with the kids, even though I had plans in place. It was super foggy between Richland and Wenatchee so it took them a lot longer than planned to get here, finally arriving about 8 pm.
I had to be to the hospital by 5:30 pm so that the medicine could be in place by 6 pm. I had to be hooked up to the fetal monitor for 2 hours after the medicine was inserted. Trent stayed with me during that time. We finally talked about baby names. I had made a list of names I liked the day before, nothing like waiting for the last minute to name baby sister. We narrowed down the list to two names; Bailey and Malia. We decided to wait till she was born to make a final decision.
After they unhooked me from the fetal monitor Trent left and went to Walmart to get a few things that I had forgotten to get earlier (like slippers for the hospital). He came back by the hospital to drop off the slippers, then went home to be with the kids. I jumped in the shower about 9 pm and got ready for bed. The shower was the tiniest shower I have ever used! And it was freezing. The water never heated up.
The hospital is very small and really old. A new one is being built. There is only 2 labor and deliver rooms. Usually only one of them is ever used. I had Trent call earlier in the day to make sure they'd have a bed for me when we showed up. I got put in the hardly-ever-used room. The med cart that the nurses use for L&D was in my room. So whenever someone needed any meds they were coming into my room. All. Night. Long. It was super irritating. Not that I was sleeping, but I couldn't even get comfortable enough to fall asleep. I was naughty and even took half a unisom to see if maybe I could get some sleep. Just didn't happen. Every 4 hours I had to be hooked up to the fetal monitor for 20 mins and have my blood pressure taken. Every time I would move the baby's heart rate would no longer be detected by the monitor, especially if I tried to lay on my right side. So I had to lay in the exact spot every time the monitor was put on. Every time the nurse came in she'd ask how my contractions were. There weren't any regular contractions, just the same thing I had been having, and those obviously worked.
By 5 am I was so done pretending to sleep. I got up and got ready for the day. My doctor came in about 6:30 am to see how things were going. When I came into the hospital Saturday night I was at 1cm, but my cervix was still very high. Which made putting the medicine in and checking me very painful! When she checked me Sunday morning I was at 2cm, but still very high. That's just how I roll, my cervix stays high until 5 seconds before baby is born. Happened with all the others, figured it would with baby girl too. I was surprised to see Trent roll in about 6:30 too. He said he didn't think I'd call him during the night if anything was happening so he wanted to come in early. The best news that I got from my doctor was that I was allowed to eat! This was very exciting as I was very hungry. Her words were 'surprisingly they are finding that laboring mothers do better when they are allowed to eat.' She said it very sarcastically, like that should have been the norm all along.
It took a while for the pitocin to get going. The nurse had a student nurse shadowing her and the student had never been apart of an induction before so she took extra time to explain everything to her. It was painfully long at times. The nurse wanted to make sure that I got a full dose of antibiotics in before she hooked up the pitocin. I have no idea why she just didn't start them all at once, but she didn't. It took her well over an hour to get the antibiotics going, and then another hour to get the pit going. It wasn't until after 10 am that the pitocin was running. My doctor was not very happy about that at all, she expected things to be rolling right around 8 am. I was hooked up to the fetal monitor as well as the monitor that monitors contractions. Every 6 hours they had to check my blood sugars too, you know, because I have gestational diabetes.
Trent and I just hung out and watched HGTV on his tablet all morning long. The pitocin didn't really do much until it had been in for about 3 hours. The contractions would come regularly, but they weren't painful at all. It was super boring. After eating some lunch I got on an exercise ball to see if we could help things along a bit. I bounced on it, rolled my hips around on it. Sat there for over an hour. The nurse kept coming it to see how my contractions were coming along. I didn't really know what to tell her. There wasn't much change, I was doing fine. The nurse was to call my doctor when I was no longer comfortable. But I was doing okay, contractions were coming regular and they were not comfortable, but not unbearable either. If that makes any sense.
About 1:00 Trent decided that he'd run home and grab the longer charging cable as we were watching shows on his tablet. He also thought the kids would like to come visit for a bit.
At 2:00 my doctor showed up. She wanted to check me to see how things were progressing. Same, at a 2. But she decided to break my water as the sack was bulging. Never before have I seen such an epic explosion of an amniotic sac.Never before have I heard the pop either, but I did. So gross! There was so much fluid and it gushed out. Fluid went everywhere! Somehow even my feet got wet. I don't know how the doctor remained dry, but I'm pretty sure she did. I seriously hate being wet and everything was now wet, there was no way around it.
A few minutes after my water broke things started to get real. My contractions went from bearable to holy cow I think I'll die in just a matter of minutes. I texted Trent to let him know that bringing the kids is probably not a good idea. Things just got real. Doctor checked me again and now I was at a 3. They asked me if I was ready for that epidural. YES!! I knew they had to call the anesthesiologist in and it would take awhile so I decided we'd better get on that right away. Things were only going to get worse. I wanted to move around still so I stood next to the bed swaying, trying to let gravity help us out a bit. I was trying really hard to concentrate on my breathing as the contractions were coming pretty close together. I was doing my best to get through them, still able to chat and joke around between them. Trent came in to seeing me leaning over the bed swaying side to side trying to control my breathing. Trent went to the other side of the bed and held my hands. I never realized how much I needed him there until he was there. Then I didn't want him to ever leave, he brought so much comfort to me when I was in so much pain. Just having him there to hold onto was so comforting. I did really well until the anesthesiologist tried putting that darn epidural in too.
The anesthesiologist showed up about 4 pm. She works with Trent and he had already talked to her about my experiences with epidurals. Though I don't think she really understood because, what a nightmare! She tried 3 times to get the epidural in. All the while I am sitting on the side of the bed, trying to breath through the contractions that are hitting about every minute. Man oh man were those contractions intense. I really wanted that epidural. I swear it took almost an hour for it to get in place. After the second failed attempt they decided to do something else for pain relief, though she wasn't sure how long it would last. Maybe only an hour, possibly 3. I was hoping we'd have a baby before it wore off. It was that last attempt that she got the epidural line in, but didn't turn it on because of the other medicine.
Funny story: As they were trying to get the epidural in place I was sitting at the edge of the bed and Trent was holding me, helping me though the contractions as well as supporting me as they tried to get the epidural in. With one contraction a gush of fluid came out and ran right down Trent's leg. His outside leg, the one farthest from me. How it traveled that far I'll never know, but we all laughed. Good thing he works at that hospital and knew right where to find clean scrubs to put on.
It was about 5 pm before I was finally not feeling anything at all. My doctor checked me, I was at a 7. They were pretty certain that this baby was going to be here within the hour. They called in another nurse, a baby catcher they called her. The room was prepped for delivery. I was checked again. Still a 7. Baby was not going to come as fast as they thought after all.
About 6 pm whatever they had given me had started to wear off. Call back the anesthesiologist. Holy intense pain. They want me flipped every 30 mins, baby doesn't like the right side and we loose her heartbeat every time I'm on my right side. Anesthesiologist comes back in by 7 and has the epidural hooked up and running now. She gave me a shot of fentanyl. That took the edge off. But still the epidural wasn't working. I was able to move my legs completely. I could roll over without much help.
I remembered from Andrew's labor that being on my hands and knees really helped so I wanted to spend sometime like that. Holy cow though, being like that was so awful! The contractions and pressure was so much worse when I was like that.
Here's where I start to loose track of events and time. I remember being checked again and again, because I was feeling SO MUCH pressure. It was so bad. Each time I was still at a 7. It was so disheartening. So much pain for no progress.
I had had a thought before we even left for the hospital the night before that I should have Trent give me a blessing before we left. Things got busy and I just didn't ask for one. So somewhere in the midst of me wanting to die and 9 pm I asked Trent to give me a blessing. He texted a member who lived close by and he came over to assist. The minute their hands were laid on my head I felt at peace. I knew things would be okay, it was all going to work out just fine. But as the night went on and there was no change I started to doubt that feeling.
They kept calling the anesthesiologist back in to see what she could to because the epidural obviously wasn't working. I think after the third time she just stayed at the hospital. Later she told me she stayed because she was certain that I was headed for a c-section.
Somewhere around 10-11 pm, I think it was around then anyway, I asked if I could sit up, sitting up didn't hurt near as much as lying down. And I figured that maybe gravity could help baby come down a bit. I had been stuck at a 7 for almost 8 hours now. My doctor kept popping in and out. She'd check me, still at a 7. Since my blood pressure was doing just fine with whatever drugs they were pushing in me, that weren't working, she decided it'd be okay if I sat up. I was shaking so bad, my teeth were chattering, I was in so much pain. It was weird pain, it wasn't so much pain as unbearable pressure. I really have no words to describe it. They dropped the bottom half of the bed down and I was able to sit up. I had Trent find a warm blanket and that really helped the shaking to stop. I was so tired, and I just wanted a few minutes of relief, wanted my body to relax for just a little bit.
My doctor was not sure things were going to progress anymore. After 8 hours of no progress they usually call it and do a c-section. She was thinking that maybe baby was really as large as they thought and she just couldn't descend to put pressure on the cervix to make it dilate. After sitting up for about 30 mins she checked me again. Progress! I was now at an 8. It was kind of a relief that something was actually happening.
By now my doctor had called in another doctor. My doctor didn't do c-sections, so she had to call in the other doctor to help. She jokingly said that in all the times she has had to call in Dr Snyder they've only had to do 1 c-section. Maybe just getting her out of bed would speed things along. Or maybe Dr Snyder would know some tricks to help.
I don't really remember when Dr Snyder came in. Just for some random information: I really like both Dr Snyder and my doctor. Both are women, and are hilarious together. Both are young, no older than me. Although I wanted to die, there was still some laughter in the room.
So, Dr Snyder came in and she checked me. She confirmed what my doctor was feeling. My cervix was swelling, not dilating. Though I was now at a 9, she could even stretch me to a 9 1/2. It was still swelling. There was an anterior rim of the cervix that was not effaced at all. So weird. Dr Snyder thought that maybe if I could push a little we could get that baby to come down a bit and put pressure on that rim. Oh, and by the way, there is now a med student in here too. Cuz, why not party in the laboring woman's room who wants to die. He showed up sometime during the epidural insertion that went horribly bad. Like so bad the anesthesiologist thought that she might have perforated (I think that is what they call it) the spinal column and I'd end up with a horrible epidural headache. Yeah, he showed up during that party. Good times are had in my labor and delivery room!
All 3 doctors checked me. They did ask if the med student could check me too, as it is good practice for him, and truthfully I just didn't care. Have at it friend, so many hands have been up in me, one more isn't going to matter at all.
They had me push a couple of times while they stretched the cervix to see if they could get that anterior rim to soften. Then they discovered that when I pushed it got hard. When I didn't push it was soft. So weird. I was making progress by pushing, but that anterior rim never went away.
I think I pushed for about an hour when they decided that she was not going to come. They had called in an OR team. The consent form for the c-section was filled out, just needed a signature. I don't really recall the passing of time from about 7 pm on, but I do remember someone coming in and saying it was midnight. So I'm not sure when I started pushing, or when the consent form was brought in. Baby only had one hour to come before they'd have to do the c-section because I had been given all the rounds of antibiotics they could give me for the group B strep.
I asked my doctor if we could try pushing on my hands and knees before we gave up.
Oh, somewhere along the line the external monitor for my contractions stopped picking up the contractions, it happened with all of my delivers, so they had to put the internal on in. Thankfully, though this whole ordeal baby did great. Her heartbeat was steady, never having any big dips with contractions. When I started pushing the internal monitor was taken out. The nurses were scrambling to get a new monitor in and my doctor, kind of annoyed with the nurses, asked them why it was needed. She said 'she doesn't need a monitor, she's telling you when the contractions are coming!'
When I flipped over to my hands and knees they couldn't keep baby's heart rate on the external monitor so my doctor quickly put a probe on babies head. I pushed of the first contraction and it felt much like pushing on my back. Though they all said it was good. Don't really know what that meant. Second contraction...HOLY COW...there was baby, she was crowning, she had descended. I remember screaming, 'get her out!' Ya'll the ring of fire is real. My doctor asked if I wanted to turn back over now that baby had crowned, and I didn't want to move. I just wanted her out. Of course everyone in the room busted up laughing. I was a hot sweaty mess, one of the nurses kept asking me if I wanted a cool rag on my head. I HATE having things on my face, a wet rag would have been so annoying. When I flipped to my hands and knees she asked if I wanted a fan. I was just irritated with her so I said sure bring the fan in. But it actually felt really good blowing on me because I was so sweaty. My contractions were about 3 minutes apart so I had to wait with that pressure/burning until another contraction came. When it came I pushed and out came baby. I've never felt so much relief in all my life. As baby came out she pooped on the floor, apparently it was an huge amount of poop. I missed it because I was rolling over.
 |
| That'd be the poop all over the floor |
Baby was born at 1:45 am.
For the first time ever I was handed a baby before it was cleaned off. Trent cut the cord and they handed me the baby. She was wrapped in a blanket but I've never held any of my babies so quickly after birth. I had barely rolled over when they handed her to me. I was really anxious for them to weigh her. I couldn't tell from holding her how big she was. I held for for just a little bit then they took her and weighed her. 8 lbs 6 ozs 20 1/2 inches long. Not at all the 10 lb baby that was predicted. She was the exact same weight and length as Carter.
Even though I had an epidural in I was able to roll over by myself, with in a few minutes of delivery I was up and walking. There is no way that epidural worked. I made a comment a few days later to my doctor about how I don't know how anyone does this all naturally. She just looked at me and said 'well, you did. There is no way that epidural was working like it should have.'
I remembered every time Barbra (the anesthesiologist) would come in and adjust the epidural meds or give me a shot of fentanyl she'd ask me how my feet felt. I had to think about it for a bit. I'd say things like they feel fat, cuz they were really swollen. I could still wiggle my toes. She'd do a test to see if I could feel cold, and while I couldn't feel the cold, I could feel right where she was touching. The only pain relief I got was for one hour of whatever that first thing was, it lasted exactly an hour, and the fentanyl did okay for a little bit but wasn't near as amazing as whatever that first stuff was.
I apologized over and over for being a horrible patient, for keeping Barbra up so long, for making her come back to the hospital so many times. For getting Dr Snyder out of bed, for keeping Dr Berguson up so late. They all just laughed. The two doctors both said this is the best part of their job. Besides they love working together.
I was up and walking around about 30 minutes after the birth. Trent helped me up to use the restroom, if I didn't have to take the IV pole with me I probably could have done it myself. As I walked back to the bed I looked around the room. What a mess! I commented that it looked like somebody was killed, there was blood everywhere. Birth is a messy business.
We hung out for two hours in the labor and delivery room and then were transferred to a regular room. Remember how this is a small hospital? I think there is only 8 rooms total, that includes the two labor and delivery rooms. It is just a med/surg floor, most of the rooms are shared, but I didn't have a shared room. I got the room with the best view too. I was all settled into my new room by 5 am and I sent Trent home to get a little sleep. I was supposed to get some rest too as I didn't sleep much Saturday night, and I surely got no sleep at all Sunday. I hadn't actually slept since Friday night, almost a full 48 hours with no sleep. I was so tired, but still didn't get much sleep.
Since it was now Monday morning, and I knew there were some very anxious kids wanting to meet their new baby sister, I suggested that Trent bring the kids in before school. Mondays are late start days and school doesn't start until 9:30. That way the kids would be able to see baby before school. After school there'd be no time as Carter has basketball and Hanna also had basketball until 7 pm, then it's pretty much bedtime. It worked out perfectly! Trent came with the kids just after 8 am. Blair drove the kids out so that he could take them to school and Trent could stay with me.
They had the biggest smiles on their faces! Hanna said 'this is the best day ever!' We asked them what they thought her name should be; Malia, or Bailey. It was unanimous, Malia Kathleen Lyman would be her name.
We checked the mail as we were coming home from the hospital. Of all the amazing timing, there was a jury duty summons for me. I took great pleasure in writing down the ages of my kids...2 DAYS old. I asked for a note from my doctor excusing me for a year, she was happy to write one.
As soon as we set the baby's seat down on the table the cat jumped up to sniff it. He was very interested in what was in that seat. He hasn't shown much interest in her since, but it was pretty funny how he jumped up there to investigate just minutes after we got home.
Two days after she was born we had to go back to the hospital to have her bilirubin levels checked. We went in the late morning hours. I figured since we hadn't heard anything by 3 pm that things must have been just fine. Well I was wrong. About 4:30 my doctor called and said that Malia's levels were so high that she'd need to be readmitted to the hospital an spend the night on lights. Once again I was so thankful that Trent's dad and step-mom were there! We were able to pick up and go without worrying about the kids.
Trent spent the night in the hospital with me, I don't think I could have done it alone. I was so tired, and she didn't love laying there under those lights. She cried and cried for a long time.
When we were admitted her levels were right around 19, when they checked her then next morning she was down to 13. Dr Berguson commented when she came in the next morning that Malia's levels came down really fast. Mostly because we left her under the lights except to feed her. Sometimes the nurses would come in and find baby in bed with mom. How on earth are they to get better if they don't spend time under the lights?! It was so hard to leave her crying under the lights but I would rather spend 12 hours under lights at the hospital than a week under lights at home! We were discharged from the hospital by 8 am and on our way home.
Adjusting to life with a newborn has been a little difficult for me. Maybe it's my mental state, you know, cuz we were done with babies and here we are with one again. Maybe because those first few weeks are so hard. Sleep is hard to come by. Malia didn't nurse well at all for the first month. But things are going much better now. She is sleeping better, she is pretty happy most of the time. She is finally nursing well. Though, she's not taking a bottle very well anymore and we can't get her to take a binkie yet.
She's been with us for only 7 weeks, yet it seems like she has always been apart of us. She is loved beyond words. The kids all want to hold her. Hunter wanted nothing to do with her for the first two weeks of her life, he didn't want to hold her, kiss her, nothing. He can't get enough now! He is the first to volunteer to hold her. He's always asking if there's a bottle that he can feed her. They are all more than happy to feed her if I'm busy doing something, usually making dinner. They love to put her in the stroller and walk up and down the street if she's grumpy. Hunter and Hanna both offer to change her diaper. Although, Hunter may not volunteer to change a poopy one ever again. One day he offered to change her. Trent sat down with him. I had showed him how to slip a new diaper under the one you'd be taking off first. So he did that, then pulled out his hand. His eyes got huge as he looked at his fingers. They were covered with yellow poop. Yup, massive blow out, like up to her armpits blowout. Haha!
We're still learning how to live life with a baby again, but we are love having her here.
1 comment:
Oh my gosh, what a crazy, tiring, painful and great birth story! Good thing she wasn't your first baby you may have only had one! She is beautiful and I love all that dark hair, hopefully she keeps it. I think she looks just like you but it will be interesting to see how she changes in the next few months. Congratulations, sending good vibes and sleep your way friend!
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