Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Adalyn's Labor/Birth Story

Wed, 11/17 I went to work and started feeling cramps/aches. I knew I wasn’t having contractions because the pain never went away. It wasn’t severe so I continued work as normal, but it was bad enough that when I heard that JT had to work late I invited myself to stay at my parent’s house for dinner. I knew I wouldn’t feel up to taking care of Bella by myself that night.

Wed night after we all got home, I thought I was starting to have contractions but they were mild and irregular. I didn’t want to get my hopes up …but couldn’t help but be excited that something may actually happen soon. The contractions continued through the night (still mild and inconsistent) and woke me up a few times, so I called into work in the morning deciding that I should wait to see how Thursday played out. I went back to bed and by the time I woke up at 10am on Thursday, the contractions had went away completely.

I knew the best thing for me would be to get up and walk around and be active, but I was so tired, felt so big and just didn’t have any energy. So I relaxed most of the day hoping that the contractions would magically start again. Around 2:00 I forced myself to get up and start cleaning the house. About 4:30 I started feeling something, but wasn’t sure if it was just from vacuuming and running up and down the steps… so I went to get Bella letting my in-laws know that I was hoping to be in the hospital soon but not really believing that I would be.

By the time JT got home at 6:00, I now knew I was officially having contractions but they still weren’t regular. I kept track during dinner (hamburgers and tater tots) and they were coming anywhere from 5-8 min apart. I decided to call my parents since they’d be watching Bella the next day anyway and it’d make more sense for them to just take her overnight “just in case” anything happened. Again, I was really hoping baby was coming but wasn’t convinced anything really would happen. But my parents came to get Bella and JT and I continued to track the contractions.

At 9:30pm they were regular at 8 min apart and the pain was still manageable, but was getting worse. I decided to call Labor and Delivery to see what they would say. I was told that I could come in if the pain wasn’t manageable, but if I could wait another 30-60 min the contractions might get closer together. I decided to wait. Around 11:00 they were still 8 min apart but the pain was getting worse. I was going back and forth regarding if I should go in and JT obviously didn’t know what to do either. We finally decided to just lay down in bed and try to get some rest. I figured if something was really going to happen we might as well get some sleep.
The first contraction I had laying down changed my mind. I decided I had to go in. So we got up and started getting ready…then I changed my mind again and thought maybe I was being too anxious. Finally, I decided to call L&D and even though they sounded hesitant they said they’d plan on me coming in. The drive to the hospital (10 min) I second guessed myself but knew I made the right decision when contractions started coming just a couple of minutes apart and I had 3 by the time we walked from the car to the 4th floor of Mercy Hospital.

They checked me in and got me a bed in the triage dept. We could tell it was really busy and nurses were scrambling to find rooms/beds. A nurse came in to check me and made a comment about how she thought I was measuring 6, but she couldn’t really tell… so she called another nurse in who checked and said “Oh, you are an 8 or even a 9! Good thing we didn’t tell you stay home!”.

My first reaction (other than being relived that we decided to come in and that it was really happening)? “Can I still get an epidural??”. I was worried I lost my chance! Thankfully they said I could, but they’d have to get it going NOW. Also, I tested as GBH positive during my pregnancy which meant that I should have been on antibiotics during labor in order to protect baby from infection. Well no one told us that the antibiotics take 4 hours. So they told us that we pretty much missed our chance because there was no way I was lasting 4 hours (THANK GOD!) and while they’d still get it going for me it meant that they’d have to keep baby for a full 48 hours just to monitor her. My next question was if that meant she could still be in our room (because Bella had to spend her time in the Level 2 nursery/couldn’t be in our room with us) and they said she could still be with us (again, thank god!)

Everyone had sprung into action. They attempted an IV four times before getting it in my arm. In that process, they gave me some pain medication to hold me off until the Epi. I can’t remember what it was called, but it was great. I immediately felt light headed and relaxed. So relaxed that I didn’t care what was happening anymore. Unfortunately, it only lasted a short time but worth it. One other comment I remember a nurse making was regarding how I was starting to shake – she said “oh, you’re transitioning! You’re starting to shake”. Which I assume means that I was transitioning to being fully dilated.

They transported me into an actual delivery room and that’s when my body really started reacting. Thankfully they did get the epidural in me in time. Not long after that, I couldn’t stop shaking. It got to the point where I freaked the nurse out, but I couldn’t stop. It didn’t take long until I felt like I had to push, but was confused because it felt more like I had to go to the bathroom than push a baby out.
While my nurse ended up being great, she admitted to me later that she normally doesn’t do deliveries and that she was newer to Mercy. She worked as a postpartum nurse at a different hospital for many years and recently transferred to Mercy. She does labor when they need help. ..and I’ll be honest that it showed. She wasn’t the most confident, but she got the job done I guess. She kept having trouble with the blood pressure monitor and was verbally frustrated. At one point I almost told her to give up on the freaking blood pressure because I had to PUSH, but I contained myself.

My nurse confirmed with another nurse that if I had to push, I should push. She said “the Dr is in another delivery now, and then has a c-section, and then he’ll be in..”. Well crap! That sounds like a long time. But I was given the green light so I pushed while laying on my side, holding JT’s hand and shaking like a leaf. Before long, the Dr actually came in and I realized that this was it. Here was here to deliver the baby! He got things ready and reminded me and JT how to push (wait for a contraction, push while counting until 10, repeat 3x for each contraction). And guess what? 15 minutes later Adayln was born!

With Bella, I pushed for 2 hours and 45 minutes so I could hardly believe it when they said they saw the head. JT saw way more this time than last time and I could tell he was a little squeamish, but he did really well. At one point everyone got a little quiet and JT was still encouraging me to push, but he Dr said “no no, maybe only 50%” so I gave a little push and asked what was going on. The Dr said “take a look!” and there she was! My baby! Less than 3 hours after we got to the hospital, she was delivered, checked out and I was able to hold her. Totally different experience than with Bella.

The rest of the hospital stay went well. We delivered Fri morning and stayed until Sun afternoon. We got a lot of help with nursing from the lactation consultant and nurses and spent a lot of time cuddling with Addy. We did put her in the nursery at night and they brought her back for feedings.

Visitors included Grandma, Grandpa, Bella (they came twice – once each day), Aunt Lissa, Nana, Papa, Clayton (with Melissa again), Great Grandma (with Nana and Papa again), Aunt Michelle, Uncle Pete, Uncle Andy, friends Melissa, Curt (with Reese!) and Jessica.

Overall the staff at Mercy took great care of us and we couldn’t have asked for a better experience!

4 comments:

Miss Jess said...

What a great birth story. Now you have 2 beautiful girls... excited to see how they grow up.

Jessie said...

Awww, great you could capture it in writing. Sounds like it went fast and all turned out great. :) So exciting to always read about birth stories. Such a miracle.

Amie and Carson said...

Sounds MUCH smoother than my 2nd delivery! If you ever want to hear a story...LOL Savannah was difficult (still is!! haha)

Congrats, she's beautiful!!

Sarah said...

I am so so so glad this delivery went so much smoother than the first time. I am also glad you didn't have to go through what you went through after Bella was born. I know you hated her being in a different room. Sounds like it was a great experience! That Addy sure is a cutie!