Audrey's Birth Story Part 2

Read Part 1 here if you missed it!

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Once we got to the hospital and checked in, we were told to just hang out and do whatever we wanted. I was completely overwhelmed by this because I had assumed they'd want me in the bed and I'd have to push for alternative laboring positions. We ended up walking the halls after being officially admitted. The first half hour, I was plugged up to the IV for the GBS (Group B Strep) so I had to drag that along, but once that was done I was able to just walk around free of all monitors and cords. 

The contractions picked up and were 1-2 minutes apart lasting anywhere from 30-60 seconds each. It seemed great, so after an hour or so, we went back to the room to try sitting down (not laying down in bed). At this point, the contractions did slow down, although they didn't stop. I was distracted by my water leaking  because it seriously seemed out of control. Anytime I switched positions or bent a little or even moved backwards or forwards, it would pour out of me and make a huge mess. I spent a ton of time in the bathroom trying to stay relatively clean and dry. It was frustrating. I even asked if it was normal to be leaking so much for so long, and they said that I was probably holding a lot more fluid than other pregnant women. This makes sense because we all assumed baby would be huge but she wasn't - I just had a lot of fluid.

Around 1:30 AM, my nurse came in and wanted to talk about sleeping sedatives. I was hesitant at first because I still was hoping for an all natural birth, but she said that a lot of times after the water breaks, it can take quite a long time for contractions to really pick up. Since we were missing all of a night's sleep, she wanted us to have the option of getting a few hours before I was really put to work. The risks were extremely minimal and I was getting pretty tired. She also said that if my contractions got strong enough to be serious or close to pushing, my body would not even acknowledge the meds and I would be awake in no time. Sign me up! 

They kicked in about 45 minutes later, but I never really fell asleep. I did completely relax and get some serious rest, but never lost consciousness. Around 4:30 AM, I really wanted to get at least something going. I woke up the hubby who was sleeping on the super uncomfortable chair/bed they have in the room, and we resumed walking. The contractions really picked up and were taking my breath away, but once we stopped they lost their intensity. 

My midwife came in around 5:30 AM and said that she wanted to start a little Pitocin (the drug that they use for inducing me). I was shocked by this because I thought they wouldn't want to do that unless absolutely necessary. They planned on doing a minimal amount and only upping it when needed. Although I was bummed, I also realized how fast time was going and how little progress had been made. At this point, I was at 4 cm, which was great because I had progressed from the 2 cm I had been at when I came in, but was not a lot of progression for the amount of time I had been laboring.

They started the Pitocin at 6:30 AM, and the contractions started getting really sharp. They were also coupling and tripling, which is similar to what happened with Josie. This meant that I'd have two or three contractions each about a minute apart and then have a long break, usually around five minutes. As long as this was the pattern, they planned on bumping up the Pitocin level a little at a time until it evened out. These contractions were so different from normal contractions, and I could feel myself freaking out. I was in a haze of exhaustion (possibly the sleeping sedative that hadn't worn off completely) and could hardly focus on getting through each contraction. 

That's kind of ironic actually. The nurse repeatedly said that she couldn't tell based on my demeanor when I was having a contraction because I was so "zen". I would focus completely on my breathing and praying through each one and spent some time reading the bible verse cards I had prepared ahead of time. Up until this point, I knew I was doing pretty good and was not nervous, just excited.

Now that I had the Pitocin in my system, I changed my birth plan. I had always known deep down that if I had to be induced, I'd probably get an Epidural again. The Epidural pushed me from a 2.5 to a 7 in just a couple of hours with Josie and it was clear to everyone that my body needed to relax and just do it's thing. So this time, I was willing to let it do it again. Plus the contractions were so so so sharp. That's the best word I can come up with to describe it. I turned to the hubby at one point and said "don't you love how I just completely changed course?" and he just had to laugh. He agreed with my decision and we got the ball rolling for the Epidural.

It took about 45 minutes from that point until the anesthesiologist was in the room getting the needle in place in my back. With Josie, he (a different doctor of course) hit my nerve twice and it was incredibly painful. I was terrified of this happening again, but this doctor was so nice and calming. I trusted him. He got me laying on my side and talked me through most of it. I started praying immediately because the contractions were crazy intense and he wasn't waiting for a break between them before continuing.  Get this. He hit a nerve like four times. FOUR times! It was just ... a terrible ten minutes (let's just put it that way). The tears came, I did what I could to not cry out, but thankfully he was very aware of my body language and always stopped the second he went too far. Finally, he got it in place and I was able go back to a normal resting position. 

Part three here.


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Audrey's Birth Story Part 1

Now that she's here, I want to get this birth story written out before I forget everything! So. 

We were scheduled to be induced on Sunday, November 18th which would have been ten days from due date. The week before that, I was nauseous and extremely uncomfortable almost every day and was thinking to myself "Why on earth did I push back the date to be induced??" I was feeling guilty about not being able to play much with Josie and being hard to be around for hubby and the family the rest of the time. Thankfully, they seemed to understand.

On Saturday, I woke up thinking "last day for sure with just me and Josie" so I knew I wanted to do something  and not just sit around feeling miserable. My body felt pretty good and I had minimal nausea. I got it in my head that I was going to Walmart to stock up on a few things (flour, eggs, the basics) and then I was going to decorate for Christmas as much as I possibly could. Somehow this plan actually worked out, and I was happily able to get a lot of it done before hubby got home. It was fun to do it with Josie around because she loved the "Christmas books" and her nativity set that she got to play with while I did the "real work". 

Once hubby was home, he put the lights up outside and then we ate dinner as a family of three. Josie stayed with hubby's parents (awesome because she's there so much the way it is, it's like her second home) while we were gone so we brought her over after we ate. We figured it was better for her to sleep there then to have us wake her up really early and then have to fall back asleep once she got there.

It was bittersweet dropping Jo off, knowing that next time we saw her would be in the hospital. It did help that she was completely excited to be at grandma's at night.

Back at our house, we continued to decorate our home for Christmas. At one point (as we were basically getting done), hubby through my phone towards me and I missed it. As I reached down to pick it up, I felt like I peed a little (sorry, TMI) like when I coughed too hard a couple of weeks ago while I had that awful cold. 

I went to the bathroom to assess the damage and was surprised by how wet everything was. Plus, no odor, which if being honest, usually made me more grossed out than the act of "peeing a little" itself. I was planning on showering anyways, so upstairs I went to shower and get ready for bed.

Afterwards, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so even though I had an inkling that my water had possibly broke, I assumed it was me being paranoid and threw on a robe (good choice, looking back). I bent over to grab the garbage bag (always cleaning and prepping in prebaby mode) and suddenly realized that I was standing in a huge puddle of clear liquid. Thank you God that I was upstairs on the hard surface floors instead of downstairs on the carpet! I yelled for hubby to bring a towel and just stood there with no clue what to do.

Have you seen the episode of Keeping up with the Kardashians where Kourtney goes into labor with Mason? (Don't judge, that show is my weakness) Well I think this is similar to what happened to her, so thankfully I had an idea as to what was coming next. Funny where we learn things from. I called the hospital and the nurse said take my time coming in since contractions hadn't started. She also said that it was good for me to call and check when I did because I did need to come in with enough time to get the antibiotics for Group Strep B since I had tested positive. Hubby took a shower, I finished packing up my bags, and we left the house at exactly 10:00 PM.

41 weeks - last pregnancy picture

Part two here.


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Welcome

Welcome to the family Audrey Joy Deyle!

She was 8 lb 6 oz and 21 1/4 inches long.

Birth story to follow... Mom and baby are doing great!

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Midweek Confessions

It's been a while...

1. I'm overdue by 6 days for this pregnancy. I feel like I'm at 39 weeks, which is confusing for this girl's brain. 

2. Our vacuum's home is in the hallway next to our bedroom. Why? Because I was sick of bringing it upstairs to vacuum the busiest carpet in our house - the rug in the living room. If only we had room to store it up here, it wouldn't have to clutter up my hallway. It's classy, I swear.

3. Josie's back to two naps a day because of daylight savings time and I LOVE IT. Sure, she's up earlier now in the morning but I can deal with that. No problemo.

4. I'm loving the cold weather way more than usual because I'm constantly overheated  being pregnant. My world will really be rocked when I'm no longer prego-hot and have to cart around two kids and a diaper bag in negative zero weather!

5. I don't actually believe my body knows how to have a baby without help. Therefore, I'm just assuming that I'll have numerous false alarms before Sunday when I am scheduled to be induced. Faith in myself? Well...not for this...

Happy Wednesday!

 


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