Wow...with all the stories out there, I learned quickly that both pregnancy and labor are quite unique experiences and so different for everyone! Here is a summary about how my labor went.
We arrived at the hospital around 3:15 p.m. on July 7th, and due to an emergency in the maternity ward, we weren't check into our room until 4:00. It took a little while of checking my vitals, and initially the resident Dr. wasn't sure if were should have the Pitocin started at that point, and suggested we try other medications first, and start the Pitocin in the morning. I was still only dilated 1-2 cm. However, fortunately my Dr. was all for pushing this labor along, and we got the the Pitocin started at 6:10 pm. At 7:45 p.m. they broke my water, which was a very interesting feeling (not painful at all). By 9:30 pm I moved to a full 3 cm dilated (still not moving along too quickly), and they also put in an internal lead to measure my contracts. From like 9:45 pm to 10:20 pm they had me do some "belly time" (aka turned on my hands and knees over a bean bag chair), the nurse was concerned the baby was facing up instead of down, and the reason my contracts weren't making me dilate faster. Finally by this point I couldn't take the contracts any longer and by 11:10 pm I started the epidural, which is the best thing in the world! Prior to the epidural my contracts were about 2 to 2 1/2 minutes apart, and after the epidural they did slow down to 2-5 minutes apart. Due to a slightly reduced blood pressure after the epidural, they put me on oxygen around 11:55 pm, which helped significantly.
Around midnight my parents arrived from our cottage in White Lake. It was fun having them there for the delivery. Finally at 1:10 am on July 8th, they reported I had graduated to 4 cm, 70% effaced and -2 location. At 1:30, it was time for more "belly time" and they changed over my IV to one with a little more sugar, this time because the baby's heart rate had dropped a little (I think she missed her ice cream). Then at 1:45 am they stopped the Pitocin. There were two deliveries taking place at this point and needed to have the staff available, and they wanted to give the baby a little time to relax. By 2:10, it was back to the bean bag for more belly time for about 40 minutes. (Since, I couldn't feel the contracts, laying on the bean bag really wasn't a big deal at all.) They found that even though I was off the Pitocin my contracts didn't change at all, and the baby's heart beat improved significantly! At this point, I offered for my parents to head back to the house for a rest, as things didn't appear to be moving along too quickly.
Her first bath!
Where did that red hair come from?
Be prepared...we took notes / times of everything :)
July 5th 2009 - Last Belly Picture (40+ weeks prego)
We arrived at the hospital around 3:15 p.m. on July 7th, and due to an emergency in the maternity ward, we weren't check into our room until 4:00. It took a little while of checking my vitals, and initially the resident Dr. wasn't sure if were should have the Pitocin started at that point, and suggested we try other medications first, and start the Pitocin in the morning. I was still only dilated 1-2 cm. However, fortunately my Dr. was all for pushing this labor along, and we got the the Pitocin started at 6:10 pm. At 7:45 p.m. they broke my water, which was a very interesting feeling (not painful at all). By 9:30 pm I moved to a full 3 cm dilated (still not moving along too quickly), and they also put in an internal lead to measure my contracts. From like 9:45 pm to 10:20 pm they had me do some "belly time" (aka turned on my hands and knees over a bean bag chair), the nurse was concerned the baby was facing up instead of down, and the reason my contracts weren't making me dilate faster. Finally by this point I couldn't take the contracts any longer and by 11:10 pm I started the epidural, which is the best thing in the world! Prior to the epidural my contracts were about 2 to 2 1/2 minutes apart, and after the epidural they did slow down to 2-5 minutes apart. Due to a slightly reduced blood pressure after the epidural, they put me on oxygen around 11:55 pm, which helped significantly. Around midnight my parents arrived from our cottage in White Lake. It was fun having them there for the delivery. Finally at 1:10 am on July 8th, they reported I had graduated to 4 cm, 70% effaced and -2 location. At 1:30, it was time for more "belly time" and they changed over my IV to one with a little more sugar, this time because the baby's heart rate had dropped a little (I think she missed her ice cream). Then at 1:45 am they stopped the Pitocin. There were two deliveries taking place at this point and needed to have the staff available, and they wanted to give the baby a little time to relax. By 2:10, it was back to the bean bag for more belly time for about 40 minutes. (Since, I couldn't feel the contracts, laying on the bean bag really wasn't a big deal at all.) They found that even though I was off the Pitocin my contracts didn't change at all, and the baby's heart beat improved significantly! At this point, I offered for my parents to head back to the house for a rest, as things didn't appear to be moving along too quickly.Finally by 5:00 am the fun started! I was given the report of 6 cm, 100%, and 0 on location. (However, my nurse really though I was 8 cm!) They also decided to put in an internal lead to measure the baby's heart rate. By 6:15, I was the full 10 cm, 100% and a +2 on location. My doctor was called, and a call was placed to my parents who were only 7 minutes away to make it back quickly. At 7:20 am it was time to start pushing!! This was actually a pretty funny experience, as I still couldn't feel anything due to the epidural, and the contracts were still about 5 minutes apart. Everyone was getting "bored" waiting for the next contraction to start and my goal was to make sure to push out the baby before the epidural wore off. (It was stopped about an hour ago.) At 7:51 am baby Brooke Isabella was born! (It was awesome delivering a baby without any pain.)
She is absolutely perfect at 7 lbs, 8 oz, 9 APGAR score and 20" long !! Plus with the coolest birthday (7-8-09)!
Her first bath!
Where did that red hair come from?
A very proud, and happy daddy!
Our first family picture!
Our first family picture!
We stayed at the hospital until Friday morning, which gave us time to learn more about how to take care of Brooke as well as have time to recover with the help from the great nursing staff at the hospital.
Now for the real fun of learning how to take care of this amazing baby!
3 comments:
Finally! I can stop checking to see if you updated your blog! Not that you're busy or anything. Great post! Can't wait to meet her!
Yes, I agree - Hooray for the person who invented the Epidural! They are my hero! ;-)
That was an awesome delivery story! Brooke took forever!! Luckily it sounds like it was worth it. Congratulations Hannah, You Did It!
Post a Comment