Her Birth Story

I better write this down now or I will forget parts and have to make things up.

September 18th 2:30 AM I woke up having contractions. I glanced at my clock and tried to keep track of the time as I fell back asleep between them. The contractions were about 15 minutes apart, but regular and getting gradually stronger. I woke up Jim and told him that I had no idea if this was it or not, but I wanted my computer so I could go on a contraction timer website and time them. I sat on a yoga ball, laid my head on my bed and hit the space bar every time I had a contraction for the next 2 hours.

I called my mom at about 4 AM and asked her to get on the road so she could be here if I needed to leave in the next couple of hours. I thought she might be getting here a little ahead of time, but she said call "anytime" so I took her up on it. (It takes her about 2 hours to drive from her house to mine) Between contractions I checked email, posted on twitter and updated my facebook status.

At about 8:30 AM my mom left to walk Madeline to school and we got in the car and headed to the hospital. My contractions were about 6 minutes apart at this point and getting stronger and stronger. As we pulled into the emergency room, there was a huge tent and men in yellow hazmat suits running around with all kinds of other people standing around watching them. I could just imagine what kind of chemical spill or other freak accident I was getting ready to walk into. But as I was registering the lady called around to make sure it was just a drill and it was.

So I headed up to labor and delivery and they put me in a triage room to monitor my contractions. They watched me for about 30 minutes and a doctor came in to examine me. He said I was still only 2cm and about 60% effaced. But he still thought I was in labor so he kept me on the monitor and said he'd check to see if I progressed in a little while. When he came back he said that he would check me but unless I had progressed or if I wanted something for pain I could go home. I said "sign me up for some pitocin and an epidural" and let's just get on with it. I explained that I had never progressed without pitocin for either of my other pregnancies. He checked me and low and behold I had actually progressed to 3cm and 80% effaced. I was being admitted to the hospital at that point, pitocin or no poticin.

The nurse told me that there were no other room available yet, but they were releasing 5 other patients that morning and soon I would get a room. My midwife came in to see me as soon as she got on duty and that was around 12:00. She said she was going to change into scrubs and she would be back. The nurse who ordered my epidural came to tell me there were 3 epidurals ahead of me, including one c-section. So she offered me a narcotic to hold me over. I turned it down due to my last experience with narcotics, during Madeline's delivery, being so awful to come down from. But about an hour later I gave in and took just enough to take the edge off between contractions. At that point the contractions were what Jim refers to as "off the charts" on the monitor and I was pretty much crawling up the side of the bed every 4 minutes.

Around 3pm the anaesthesiologist came into my room to give me the epidural. The narcotic had worn off and I was screaming my way through each contraction. I was still in the small triage room and I was beginning to wonder if I would make it into a delivery room before the big show. But I didn't really care because my biggest fear, that I would be too far along before I could get my epidural, was about to be taken care of.

About 15 minutes after I got the epidural I was rolled on my side and I said I thought I felt a trickle. My midwife checked me and found that my water was broken. I was about 7cm and fully effaced. During this whole time the baby had a pretty low base line heartbeat. It was averaging about 120. But she would regularly dip down to 100 or even lower and they would come rushing in and move her around and roll me from side to side. My midwife had pretty much been camped out in my room with us just watching the monitor. It was really nice to have her all to myself. She was very reassuring and supportive. I was her only patient that afternoon and her care for me was absolutely flawless.

Around 4pm I was wheeled down to my new room which was a LDRP (labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum) room. It was a nice, big, comfortable room where we would be able to stay until we checked out. We spent the next half hour just talking and keeping an eye on the baby's heartbeat which was regularly dropping a little too low. I actually felt pretty fantastic at this point. My pain was nearly gone, although since one side was more numb than the other, I could still feel the pressure from the contractions. I was totally fine with that since I knew I would need to at least have a little feeling to push out the baby.

Around 4:30 my midwife examined me and I was 9cm and the baby was as low as she was going to get before I started pushing. She and the nurse stepped out of the room to give Jim and I couple minutes to ourselves and said she would be watching the monitors from the nurses station. Not even five minutes later she and the nurse came rushing in and said that the baby was dipping too low and we needed to go ahead and start pushing now.

I was still only 9cm but she was able to help open me with her hand to 10cm so I could push. I could feel her stretching me out and then I could feel the pressure from the baby. It only took 3 sets of 3 pushes and I reached down and helped pull Charlotte out. Her cord was wrapped around her neck one time, that was probably the cause of the slowing heartbeat. But she was just fine and was placed directly on my chest. Jim cut the cord and we wiped her off and rubbed her until we got some nice deep breaths and a couple of good squawking cries.

After we had about 15-20 minutes with her and my placenta had been delivered they took her for her measurements. I can't remember if I nursed her before the measurements but I know they gave her back quickly and I did get to nurse her before they did the longer exam.

We called my mom and Jim's mom and told them to get in the car and bring the girls over so everyone could meet Charlotte. Madeline and Amelia got to meet their sister before she was even 2 hours old.

Recovery has not been too hard on me. I didn't tear or need an episiotomy, so that is a huge help in the whole healing process. Breastfeeding has been a challenge, but is going slightly better than it did with Madeline or Amelia. I am still keeping at it, but she is getting more formula than breast milk at this point. But I talked to her pediatrician today and she said not to worry about it and to pat myself on the back for every time I make it through each breastfeeding. As much as I wanted it to work and as careful as I have been to try and keep myself from cracking, blistering and bleeding it isn't working so well. I have cracked, blistered and bled.

We had to take Charlotte in to the doctor today. When I bathed her this morning I found a sore in the top of her ankle right above her foot. It was in a crease and I am not sure if her dry skin just split or if she had a small scratch that got a little flared. Her doctor swabbed it and gave us some medicine to use on it. We go back on Thursday for her 1 week visit and a follow up on her sore. She is gaining her weight back. She was born at 7lbs 11oz and when we left the hospital she was 7lbs 6oz. Today she was up to 7lbs 13oz.

We all just adore this little girl. She is a champion cuddlier and she loves to nuzzle right in to your neck. Her tiny little face is just precious and her head is as soft as a feather. She is a keeper and I am totally in love.