- July 15: Jeff and I go to the OB to see if I had made any progressed. I had been some contractions on and off that week and I FELT like the baby had dropped. Upon examination, I had not dialated any since my last appointment, but the baby had indeed moved down. I was at 1 cm. The OB was optimistic though, she said I would most likely deliver before or on my due date of that following Thursday, if not, she was going to start an induction that following Saturday.
- July 22: My official due date. At this point I had been having steady false labor for about a week. Good HARD contractions. I knew it was time. This time at the OB office I just KNEW I was dialated and progressing...but again, my doctor checked me and I was still only 1cm. This time though, the baby's head was as far down as it could go, but my body was not letting her go. The doc told me to go ahead and pack my bags, she wanted me to be at the hospital the next day at 4pm. Once there they were going to begin administering a cervical softening gel every 4 hours to try to get me to progress, then on Saturday they were going to start a pitocin drip to induce labor, if I had not progressed enough by then.
(40wks 1day, July23)
-July 23: Jeff and I check into the hospital at 4pm and I am put in the room I requested, low lighting and private. They started IV fluids immediately, took blood for labs and the resident came in to speak to me about what was going to happen. Best case scenerio, they would start the gel and at about the third dose, I would begin to dialate and go into labor on my own and by Saturday afternoon, I would have my baby, pitocin free. Worse case scenerio, I would only progress a little and they would have to give me pitocin and I would have a baby by Saturday evening. I received the first dose of the gel at around 8pm. I would have gotten it earlier, but the resident had to deliever another baby. About an hour after the first dose, I begin to have light contractions. The anesthesiologist came in to talk to me about my pain management options. At first I told them I did not want an epidural or a spinal at all, I wanted to see if I could have a natural birth, but if I needed something I wanted a "walking epidural" which is an epidural that takes the edge off the pain, but enables me to walk during labor and effectively push when the time came. She told me they did not offer it, but I could get a patient controlled epidural, where they would insert a catheter, administer the initial dose and then give me a button, much like a morphine drip and I could have as much or as little medication as I needed. I considered this option.
At midnight the resident comes in to administer the second dose of gel. I had dilated to 4cm at this point! I was so excited. I was progressing! The contractions got more and more intense after the second dose. I was in active labor. A nurse came in and offered me Ambien, to help me rest, a light pain medication, to ease the pain of labor a little bit, and phenegrin to help with nausea. I agreed to the Ambien and the phenegren, BIG MISTAKE.
The mixture of these two medications made me loopy. I did not sleep AT ALL. I would pass out in between contractions. I would have a contraction and was suddenly wide awake, I would get out of bed and lean on Jeff, walk around the room, sway and lean, I tried to use all the methods I had learned in yoga, breathing and doing a low "Om" sound. I COULD. NOT. LAY. OR. SIT. that just made the pain worse. I ended up vomiting too, so much for that phenegrin. Jeff was a rock star through all of this. He was awake every step of the way helping me through every contraction, at one point he all but carried me to the bathroom, I had to pee after each contraction.
- July 24: At around 5am the anestesiologist came back in and asked if I wanted the epidural. I took it, I needed the relief. They administered the first dose and I literally passed out from exhaustion.
(After the epidural)
At 6am the resident came back in to check me and give me my third dose of the gel only to find that I was dilated to 7cm!!!! I was so excited! She told me I would should be having the baby by 9am! So she called my doctor and told her to start heading to the hospital. By this time I was starting to feel my contractions again. At around 6:30am I told Jeff I felt like something was coming out...I could feel the baby's head. The pressure was SO STRONG. The resident came back in and check, the baby's head was RIGHT THERE! She told me to lay back and don't push! She called my doctor again and was like "where are you?" Luckily my doctor was headed inside because by 6:45am I was ready to push.
I pressed my epidural button one more time, (little did I know, the medication was already gone), my water broke in a big gush, my doctor came in just in time. We could see the baby's head!!!!
In 4 strong pushes Lily Grace was born!!!!!!!!
6lbs 13.5 oz
19 inches long
at 7:32am
The pain was like nothing I had ever felt before, but believe it or not, PUSHING felt good and once she was OUT, the wave of euphoria, almost made me pass out.
She was beautiful and perfect in every way. I cried. Hard. The emotions flowed from me in a rush.
Lily latched on right away and nursed like a CHAMP. Everything after that is a blur.
It has been three weeks now and I am SO in love with my baby. Breastfeeding is hard sometimes, but so rewarding and Lily is THRIVING! She left the hospital weighing 6 pounds 8oz and at her check up 5 days later, she was 7lbs on the dot!!! I did not and still don't nurse her on a strict schedule, I just feed her when she lets me know she is hungry.
I don't get much sleep at all and I am EXHAUSTED. The first few days I was on a high and was trying to do everything and please everyone...I eventually came crashing down, so now I am taking things slow. Jeff is back at work and it is just me and the baby during the day. I am sleeping in the nursary with her at night so that Jeff can get enough sleep for work. It is hard sleeping away from my husband, but this is only for the time being, soon Lily will get on a schedule and wake up less during the night.
All and all, Jeff and I are happy and Lily is beautiful and healthy.
Cheers,
Kira
