I want to get this down before the details blur. And because I was totally one of those women who had no idea they're in labor.
The Friday and Saturday before Eleanor was born I was having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions. My stomach would tighten, and occasionally I could feel the tightness in my back. I timed them, and sometimes they were consistent (between 5-20 minutes apart) and sometimes they weren't. And they would slow down or stop at times. So while I was having more Braxton Hicks than normal, I didn't think much of them since they didn't keep up. Matt and I walked the mall a bit and I sat on my exercise ball a ton, but we couldn't get the contractions to stick around. By Sunday and Monday, when I wasn't having as many contractions we had resigned ourselves to waiting until Baby B decided to make an appearance and were convinced that we still had a while.
Monday 1/2 Matt and I hung around the house all day. We decided to go out to dinner at our favorite Japanese steakhouse as kind of a final nice date night for a while. Just as we were getting ready to head upstairs and change clothes I felt a pop and a gush of fluid. I told Matt, "Um, I think my water just broke." This was at 5:23pm. I called the doctor (my doctor was on call) and she said to come on in and get checked and that if my water had broken or I was having contractions that were causing me to dilate I would be staying. Keep in mind at this point that I am in no pain whatsoever. I'd been having some mild cramping off and on during the day on Monday, but nothing even as bad as when I'm starting my cycle. And again, cramping had been normal for me the last several weeks. Matt and I went upstairs, changed clothes, and took our time getting the last-minute things we needed for the hospital bag together. During this time was when I realized those mild cramps I had been having must be contractions, as they started to get a little more intense and were regular. But nothing that was really bothering me or that I couldn't talk through.
Matt and I got everything in the car and headed out. We stopped at Panera to get something to eat because 1. I was hungry and 2. I don't function well without food. We figured if I really was going to push a baby out, I needed to eat something. It was while Matt was inside ordering that the contractions (still just cramping, not the wrapping around your stomach and back that all the books and all of our childbirth classes said contractions felt like) started getting to the point that I needed to concentrate on breathing through them. They were painful, but I wasn't writhing in pain. Matt and I ate on the drive to the hospital, with me pausing in conversation about every 4 minutes to grip the door handle and breathe through a contraction.
We arrived at the hospital at 6:30, so only an hour after my water broke. The nurse took us to a triage room and checked me. She immediately told me that yes, my water and definitely broken AND I was already dilated to 8 cm and was 100% effaced. I looked at her in shock and, I'm not going to lie, swore. Not in a bad way at her, but in an "Oh, shit!" kind of way. I had thought that maybe I'd be dilated to 4 or 5 cm, but 8!?!?! That's like almost ready to push out a baby!
The nurses immediately got us moved down to a labor and delivery room and things were kind of a whirlwind for the next 45 minutes or so. I had nurses on both sides of me firing questions right and left. The anesthesiologist was in there getting ready to put in my epidural. By 7:15 my epidural was in and I wasn't feeling anything. Getting the epidural wasn't bad at all, I just felt some pressure. Honestly, the most painful part thus far (aside from those contractions that had definitely picked up pace and intensity but still felt like cramping) was getting the line placed for my IV in my left wrist/forearm.
The epidural was amazing. I couldn't feel any of the contractions that were showing up on the monitor. It was kind of weird to be able to move my legs around but not really feel them. I told Matt they felt like huge tree trunks when I felt them with my hands because I could just feel the pressure of my hands. But that epidural allowed me to get some rest, which was really helpful since we were heading into evening/night time. Matt and I hung out and watched a couple movies (A League of Their Own and When Harry Met Sally). I had purposely brought movies I knew well so I didn't really have to focus on them...because I thought I'd be dealing with contractions and would be at the hospital for a while waiting to dilate. I alternated between watching the movies and going in and out of sleep.
At 9:35 the nurse checked me again and I was dilated to 10 cm. The contractions had slowed down a bit due to the epidural and were now at about 5 minutes apart, which is why it took a little bit to get to 10. The nurse told me that the baby was still a little bit high to start pushing so they were going to let me labor down for about an hour. Basically this meant I continued to hang out in bed watching movies, sleeping, and letting the contractions do their job of pushing the baby down.
My mom got to the hospital around 10:30 and Matt brought her back to say hi to me. Not 10 minutes after my mom came in my nurse walked in and said, "Okay mama, ready to start pushing?" I was like, "Oh! Um, okay!" At this point it hadn't really sunk in that we were having a baby tonight. My mom went back out to the waiting room and the nurse talked to me about how to push. I started pushing at 10:40. For each contraction I would push for 3 counts of 10. The nurse watched the monitor and told me when to push. Each time I pushed she held one leg back while Matt held the other. In between I had Matt re-wet a washcloth with cold water. I had this on my forehead while I was hanging out in bed, but when I pushed it kept falling on my face because I was leaning my body forward to push. So I eventually moved it behind my neck. Oh and at 11:05 the nurse looked at me and Matt and said, "Your baby has hair. A lot of hair! Dad do you want to see?" Matt was amazed that he could see Baby B's hair and said it was a lot of dark hair.
The baby got stuck for a bit and when I'd been pushing for a little over an hour the nurse stepped out for a minute to call the doctor on call (no longer my doctor, but another one in the practice who, thankfully, was one I really like) to see if they needed to start pitocin to up the intensity of my contractions to see if that would help. The doctor decided to come on in and see how things were going. They ended up not doing pitocin because my contractions started getting closer together and were working. Also, having the doctor there and counting was added motivation for me to push even harder than I already was.
I feel like I should mention here that the whole giving birth process was much calmer than I imagined it would be. The lights were all off in the room except for the two spotlights on me. We kept movies going (Sweet Home Alabama at this point) and had conversations going. We'd pause the conversation when I had a contraction and then would pick it right back up again when the contraction was over. At some point the movie was over and Matt pulled up a Weepies album on Spoti.fy for me to listen to. Apparently the doctor also really liked the album and said she listened to it a lot. Eventually the nurse moved the mirror over and I could see Baby B's head and all that hair. That was also added motivation for pushing.
The Friday and Saturday before Eleanor was born I was having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions. My stomach would tighten, and occasionally I could feel the tightness in my back. I timed them, and sometimes they were consistent (between 5-20 minutes apart) and sometimes they weren't. And they would slow down or stop at times. So while I was having more Braxton Hicks than normal, I didn't think much of them since they didn't keep up. Matt and I walked the mall a bit and I sat on my exercise ball a ton, but we couldn't get the contractions to stick around. By Sunday and Monday, when I wasn't having as many contractions we had resigned ourselves to waiting until Baby B decided to make an appearance and were convinced that we still had a while.
Monday 1/2 Matt and I hung around the house all day. We decided to go out to dinner at our favorite Japanese steakhouse as kind of a final nice date night for a while. Just as we were getting ready to head upstairs and change clothes I felt a pop and a gush of fluid. I told Matt, "Um, I think my water just broke." This was at 5:23pm. I called the doctor (my doctor was on call) and she said to come on in and get checked and that if my water had broken or I was having contractions that were causing me to dilate I would be staying. Keep in mind at this point that I am in no pain whatsoever. I'd been having some mild cramping off and on during the day on Monday, but nothing even as bad as when I'm starting my cycle. And again, cramping had been normal for me the last several weeks. Matt and I went upstairs, changed clothes, and took our time getting the last-minute things we needed for the hospital bag together. During this time was when I realized those mild cramps I had been having must be contractions, as they started to get a little more intense and were regular. But nothing that was really bothering me or that I couldn't talk through.
Matt and I got everything in the car and headed out. We stopped at Panera to get something to eat because 1. I was hungry and 2. I don't function well without food. We figured if I really was going to push a baby out, I needed to eat something. It was while Matt was inside ordering that the contractions (still just cramping, not the wrapping around your stomach and back that all the books and all of our childbirth classes said contractions felt like) started getting to the point that I needed to concentrate on breathing through them. They were painful, but I wasn't writhing in pain. Matt and I ate on the drive to the hospital, with me pausing in conversation about every 4 minutes to grip the door handle and breathe through a contraction.
We arrived at the hospital at 6:30, so only an hour after my water broke. The nurse took us to a triage room and checked me. She immediately told me that yes, my water and definitely broken AND I was already dilated to 8 cm and was 100% effaced. I looked at her in shock and, I'm not going to lie, swore. Not in a bad way at her, but in an "Oh, shit!" kind of way. I had thought that maybe I'd be dilated to 4 or 5 cm, but 8!?!?! That's like almost ready to push out a baby!
The nurses immediately got us moved down to a labor and delivery room and things were kind of a whirlwind for the next 45 minutes or so. I had nurses on both sides of me firing questions right and left. The anesthesiologist was in there getting ready to put in my epidural. By 7:15 my epidural was in and I wasn't feeling anything. Getting the epidural wasn't bad at all, I just felt some pressure. Honestly, the most painful part thus far (aside from those contractions that had definitely picked up pace and intensity but still felt like cramping) was getting the line placed for my IV in my left wrist/forearm.
The epidural was amazing. I couldn't feel any of the contractions that were showing up on the monitor. It was kind of weird to be able to move my legs around but not really feel them. I told Matt they felt like huge tree trunks when I felt them with my hands because I could just feel the pressure of my hands. But that epidural allowed me to get some rest, which was really helpful since we were heading into evening/night time. Matt and I hung out and watched a couple movies (A League of Their Own and When Harry Met Sally). I had purposely brought movies I knew well so I didn't really have to focus on them...because I thought I'd be dealing with contractions and would be at the hospital for a while waiting to dilate. I alternated between watching the movies and going in and out of sleep.
At 9:35 the nurse checked me again and I was dilated to 10 cm. The contractions had slowed down a bit due to the epidural and were now at about 5 minutes apart, which is why it took a little bit to get to 10. The nurse told me that the baby was still a little bit high to start pushing so they were going to let me labor down for about an hour. Basically this meant I continued to hang out in bed watching movies, sleeping, and letting the contractions do their job of pushing the baby down.
My mom got to the hospital around 10:30 and Matt brought her back to say hi to me. Not 10 minutes after my mom came in my nurse walked in and said, "Okay mama, ready to start pushing?" I was like, "Oh! Um, okay!" At this point it hadn't really sunk in that we were having a baby tonight. My mom went back out to the waiting room and the nurse talked to me about how to push. I started pushing at 10:40. For each contraction I would push for 3 counts of 10. The nurse watched the monitor and told me when to push. Each time I pushed she held one leg back while Matt held the other. In between I had Matt re-wet a washcloth with cold water. I had this on my forehead while I was hanging out in bed, but when I pushed it kept falling on my face because I was leaning my body forward to push. So I eventually moved it behind my neck. Oh and at 11:05 the nurse looked at me and Matt and said, "Your baby has hair. A lot of hair! Dad do you want to see?" Matt was amazed that he could see Baby B's hair and said it was a lot of dark hair.
The baby got stuck for a bit and when I'd been pushing for a little over an hour the nurse stepped out for a minute to call the doctor on call (no longer my doctor, but another one in the practice who, thankfully, was one I really like) to see if they needed to start pitocin to up the intensity of my contractions to see if that would help. The doctor decided to come on in and see how things were going. They ended up not doing pitocin because my contractions started getting closer together and were working. Also, having the doctor there and counting was added motivation for me to push even harder than I already was.
I feel like I should mention here that the whole giving birth process was much calmer than I imagined it would be. The lights were all off in the room except for the two spotlights on me. We kept movies going (Sweet Home Alabama at this point) and had conversations going. We'd pause the conversation when I had a contraction and then would pick it right back up again when the contraction was over. At some point the movie was over and Matt pulled up a Weepies album on Spoti.fy for me to listen to. Apparently the doctor also really liked the album and said she listened to it a lot. Eventually the nurse moved the mirror over and I could see Baby B's head and all that hair. That was also added motivation for pushing.
At 12:45am the nurse and doctor helped me move to the edge of the table and put my feet up in stirrups. It wasn't until the nurse laid a towel on my chest and called for nurses to come in to take care of the baby that I realized we were having a baby SOON. That, and the doctor putting on shoe covers, a gown, etc, which happened at 1:05am. After a few more pushes Baby B came out all at once at 1:31am on 1/3/2012. Matt took a look and told me, "It's a girl!" He cut the cord and when she was laid on the towel on my chest I started crying. It still seemed really surreal that we had a daughter, that she was here. Eleanor was 7 pounds 3 ounces and 19.5 inches long.
I held Eleanor for a minute and then the nurses took her over to get her cleaned off and checked out. The doctor stitched me back up (I only had a second degree tear) and I definitely had to ask her to move the mirror over. I didn't want or need to see that part because I knew if I could feel what she was doing it would really hurt. After Eleanor got cleaned up and swaddled they brought her over for Matt to hold. This was within 10 minutes or so of her being born. He had texted my mom to let her know Baby B was here, but didn't tell her if it was a boy or a girl :) After I got moved back up on the bed I attempted feeding Eleanor before my mom came back.
When Matt went out to get my mom and brought her in the room I definitely made her guess whether it was a boy or a girl. For the record, she guessed boy :) My mom got some time to hold Eleanor. The nurse brought in some boxed lunches for Matt and I since the cafeteria downstairs closed at 2am and it was just after 2:00 at this point. A cold cut turkey sandwich has never tasted so good!
Around 3:30ish (I think) I was wheeled upstairs to a postpartum room. My mom headed to our house to get some sleep and Matt and I sort of got some sleep in our room.
All in all it was a great experience. All the nurses and the doctor were amazing, and the hospital was awesome. I did joke with Matt that it was funny we had gone to all those classes about how to deal with contractions and had brought the exercise ball and some massagers to use during labor...and we had no use for them since I was so far dilated when we got to the hospital :)
And because she's so cute, here's a picture of Eleanor from a newborn photo shoot we did today with a local photographer, Elisabeth Smith. There are 4 posted on Fac.ebook and I can't wait to see the rest! Our daughter is so beautiful!
I love reading your story. It brings back so many memories. Its funny how similar mine is to yours after the point of getting to the hospital :) I was very surprised at how calm and just "fun" it was to go through the labor process. Weird to say, but its true. Epidurals must be a little glimpse of Heaven..lol. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteJenny A
How awesome that labor moved quick before you got to the hospital! That picture is absolutely adorable - can't wait to see the rest. Enjoy your time at home as a family!
ReplyDelete