How She Came into the World

Well, here's the story....sorry for the delay. I've been a little sleep deprived! Wednesday I had contractions all day at work. They weren't terribly strong and they were 15-20 minutes apart. I had a feeling we'd be going to the hospital that night or early the next morning, so Wednesday night, I did everything at the house (laundry, dishes, etc.). I laid down with Grant Weds night and went to sleep for about 30 minutes before coming to get in my own bed. That's when they started getting stronger. They were still bearable, but getting worse. The bad thing was that the contractions were still pretty spaced out (15 minutes or so). Around 3 am, they got to 7 minutes apart, so I got up and took a shower and got everything ready to go. I called my mom around 5:30 and asked her to come over and get Grant ready to go to school because we were going to have to go to the hospital. We were just waiting for that magic 5 minute apart mark. They got to that point between 6:30 am and 7:30, but every time I'd sit down, they'd space back out to 10-15 minutes. I called the dr. and they told me to come into the office and they'd check me out.

We got to the dr. around 9 and they checked me and said she thought it was very early labor, but not enough yet to be admitted. She actually told me to go home and relax or go to the movie... obviously she was underestimating how bad these contractions hurt! She thought they were Braxton Hicks, but I knew otherwise. When they're the real thing, they're totally different than all those "practice" ones! Anyway, so we left, stopped at Target and bought Grant a present from baby sister. I had 4 contractions while we were there, but we still headed on home. I got home and when I sat down, they'd space out, but when I was standing up or walking around, I was having major pain every 4-6 minutes. We waited until around 2 and then decided to go back. I was hurting too badly to stay home and wait anymore even though every time I sat down, they got further apart.

We arrived at the hospital around 2:30 and went straight to Labor & Delivery as we'd been instructed. Upon entering, they told me to sit down and they'd have someone come and get me to take me to OB Assessment to decide if I was really in labor. I walked downstairs and had several contractions on the way down. They got me in a bed , hooked me up to the monitors, and checked me. She said I was at a 4, which I was that morning also. Heck, I was almost at a 4 at my appt on Tues, so very little progression. They said they'd leave me on the monitors for an hour or so and see what happened and then check me again.

So I just laid there during what they called a code yellow, tornado alert waiting on contractions. I had some that were super super painful, but again they were like 10 -15 minutes apart and apparently didn't look all that strong on the monitor. They checked me again an hour later (around 3:30) and said that maybe I was a bit more effaced. They were contemplating sending me home again. I was really having lots of pain.... think just on the verge of screaming but instead, squeezing the life out of whoever's hand was closer. My mom kindly went out in the hallway and told the lady that we were not leaving.. that my dr. had offered to induce already and she just needed to call her and get the go ahead to move me upstairs. Guess what.. the nurse did just that. She told my dr. she thought that if they'd break my water that we might just have the baby by midnight.. little did she know!

So, a few minutes later, they put me in a wheelchair and took me back to L&D. I had major contractions in the hall on the way there and getting into the bed was almost impossible because every time I moved I was in tremendous pain. The nurses came in the room and started asking questions, etc. but all of their computers were down. I just kept yelling that I needed medicine (an epidural). They got my IV in after sticking the needle in and then searching for the vein, during which I thought I might die. She explained that usually before the epidural they had to draw blood and wait for results, etc. but she could tell I wanted it badly so asked if I had any negative health history and then agreed to go ahead and do it. The CRNA came into the room with his little cart and I yelled that I was feeling lots of pressure. No one upstairs had checked me yet because 1. they'd just checked me downstairs and 2. we'd literally been in the room like 10 minutes.

When I said the magic word pressure, she immediately checked me and told me I was done! Then, they informed me there was no time for an epidural because it wouldn't take effect before the baby came. If you've read any of my previous posts, you know this is not what I had planned. I had a very painful labor with Grant (but did get an epidural before delivery) and I had absolutely no intention of doing it again. I totally freaked out when this girl told me that I was getting ready to have natural childbirth. Crying, etc. This is not what I wanted. I literally thought I was dying, at which point, the nurse said, "no, you just want to." I guess it was pretty bad, because then the anesthetist offered to do a spinal block (they informed me later they NEVER do this anymore for normal deliveries). They were trying to tell me that I wouldn't be able to feel anything, get up for a long time, etc. but I did not care at all. He told me to roll over to put it in and when I did, my water broke and the baby just started coming. There is no dr. in the room at this point. I think it was total chaos, although truthfully, it's all kind of foggy. The next thing I know, a dr. I've never seen before walks in and says, " hi, I'm Dr. _______, I was in the hallway, and I'm going to deliver your baby." And, out she came.

The whole experience was crazy! Not only did my dr. not deliver the baby. It wasn't even someone from her practice. Just another OB that happened to be in the hall at the time. I don't think Pook had any clue what was going on. Mom said she turned around and just told him to sit down because he was as white as a ghost. My mom never even took her jacket off before the baby was born.. that's how quick it all was. Pook was so out of it they asked him to cut the cord, and he just said no. So, mom cut it. Crazy. They called the nurse down in assessment and told her the story. She, in turn, called my dr. to relay the story to her. The nurse later called me to apologize for almost sending my home. All I can say is thank goodness they didn't or baby Claire would've been born on I-40 or in the parking lot... not something I want to think about.

But, I guess my body is no worse for the wear. I didn't feel any different afterward than I did the first time, so I guess you should never under estimate what your body can do. I just know I never want to do that again. I apologized to my delivery nurse, who was my nurse again on Saturday. She, herself, had two children naturally so she just kept telling me it was ok and I could do it. When I apologized, she said it was no big deal because natural childbirth is something you really have to have set in your mind to do and being told you have no choice as it's happening is totally different.

So, here's a picture right after she was born. She's already growing like a weed. We went to the dr. today and she's gained 8 oz. since we left the hospital, already up past her birth weight to 8 lbs. 8 oz. The dr. told me not to leave the house until the end of March... seriously. We're coming up on 1 week old, and I'm already going stir crazy. So we'll see how that goes. She's still not sleeping at night, but I'm hoping this will improve very soon!