So grateful for this guy and how much he did to keep me as happy and comfortable as possible during this whole process.
I had a lot of anxiety and hopes leading up to this birth. I feel so very blessed at the prayers that were answered and the many people who helped.
The morning of September 1st I was feeling very good. I wanted to take that opportunity to spend time with my kids. Lucy peed in the potty and her and Bridget watched Bluey while I built different circuit boards with Sienna and Gabriel. I haven't really been able to do anything like that for weeks, because of the pain, but it was so fun. Then I had all the kids come outside. It was a little too hot so we ended up sitting in the shade and making "snack packs" out of an egg carton for their stuffed animals. Then I took a nap. I woke up feeling terrible and a emotional and ended up crying a lot.
At 10:00 pm we were trying to settle down for bed. I hurt and was contracting and passing mucus. At 10:30 my water broke. I started shaking really bad. I called Sister Davis and she came over right away to be with the kids. Gabriel and Bridget were so excited. I am told they had a lot of difficulty settling down and sleeping with the thought of baby being on her way.
Sean and I got in the car. God blessed me that I wasn't really contracting at that point. We said a prayer about which hospital to go to and felt good about heading to Buffalo. This made me truly happy because I did not want to ride the ambulance again. I was much more comfortable than I was on my drive to Brooks Hospital the week before when I was having contractions right on top of each other.
The drive to the Hospital was pretty peaceful and I felt okay, but very shaky. We called on the way to find out where to go and we were given very specific iinstructions. Sean dropped me by the door to park. As soon as I tried to walk the pain was excruciating and I could feel her head really pushing down and I lost more amniotic fluid. Despite being told to go to labor and delivery the doors were locked. They wanted us to drive back to the ER. Thankfully, Sean talked them into coming to get me. They finally arrived with a wheelchair. I asked for my epidural immediately. They checked me and I was only at a 3 so they agreed I could have it after my blood work. Unfortunately, I was very dehydrated so the nurse tried twice. The 2nd nurse tried 3 times. They finally got the anesthiologist and she got it in and got the blood tests. The wait for the tests was hard. The contractions were quite painful, but Sean held my hand and talked to me the whole time. Even though he worked in the morning and took care of the kids in the afternoon and was exhausted. He seemed very relieved to be in the hospital and know he would not have to delivery this baby. Finally, they came to give me the epidural. I was going insane with all the talking and paperwork that had to be done first. I had two contractions during the process, but thankfully I was able to hold still as needed. As soon as it started to kick in the contractions, became bearable. They checked me and I was at 4. They felt I hadn't really progressed and my contractions while painful were not consistent they way they like. They suggested piticon and I was over the moon. I am so so grateful my water broke so they wouldn't send me home. Huge answer to many many prayers there. They started the pitocin and I started to progress. They put it up every half an hour. I was so physically, mentally, and emotionally relieved I would have fallen asleep if I was shaking so intensely the whole time. The time seemed to fly by after this point. They came the 3rd time to up the pitocin and I suggested they check me as I felt a strong urge to poop. They checked and I was indeed fully dilated and effaced. They turned on the show lights and the room was flooded with residents, nurses, and attending. My doctor introduced herself as Dr. Trumpeter which I thought I had mishead and I grabbed her name tag to check. She said,"Now, you remember how to push from your last one?" I said, "No, she just kind of fell out. You will have to help me." A few pushes later and she was out and on my chest, moving and crying and it was lovely. They had Sean cut the cord and took her away. They started to direct me to push the placenta. This was harder, the pressure was gone and I had to ask if it was doing anything. They assured me it was and that the cord was just really long. When it came out I turned to Sean and said, "Oh, I love that part." The placenta coming out is the best. I kind of wanted to see it and measure the cord, but I was shaking so bad. Sean put his hand under my head and unlike that picture of after I had Bridget I could actually feel the comfort of his hand beneath my head. As they stitched me up they said I had very little tearing. The one thing they did have to stitch a little was my urethra and I was warned it would burn when I pee. I remembered the burning after Bridget, but it has only really really hurt once so far. As they stitched me I fumbled for the epidural button, I wanted to be numb as long as possible. Sean helped me find it. The after pain and cramping when the epidural wore off was so much more manageable after the hours break from the pain. I am so grateful for how everything went with this delivery. The nurses, doctors, and attendees were all great.
I did notice they were the first hospital we went to that didn't provide a single meal for Sean. They did not do any sort of celebratory meal, or send us home with a mini cake. They also didn't give me the giant drinking cup so essential for nursing. I was really really glad that I didn't rip much or have a traumatic birth because I had to get up a lot for water. Which thankfully I can now drink without throwing up. I was really nervous that the nausea would continue, but I am no longer gagging and temperature changes and heat are okay. Also, showering feels good again and I can use scented soap to wash my hands.
Best of all I have a beautiful new daughter. Red hair and lots of it. Also, she was my first baby to come out ready to eat and she latched perfectly all on her own. The epidural was still in effect so my cramping didn't make me seize up and ruin the latch. I nursed her as much as possible before it wore off and she was very accommodating. We did start to have some trouble when the epidural wore off, because it was really hard to not tense up with the cramping and that ruined her latch. I had the lactation consultant confirm that I was still latching properly, because the cramping made it hard to tell. She said Adalind was the best newborn nurser she had ever seen. Way to go girly!
No comments:
Post a Comment