The arrival of my 3rd child, pt 1

My birth story began long before the day my third child was born. For weeks I had been having prodromal labor (lots of regular contractions that don't change), but had not progressed past 3cm and my cervix remained high and thick. At each regular Tuesday appointment my Midwife would remind me to call her if anything changed. I refused to make the "walk of shame" so I never went to Labor & Delivery to be checked between appointments. I kept telling my midwife and husband (and anyone that asked) that the only way I was going to Labor and Delivery was if my water broke, or my midwife told me to go.

On Monday June 13th my midwife called me because she hadn't heard from me over the weekend yet again. She asked for me to come in that afternoon so that she could check me. After my husband got off work we went in. While the midwife was checking the heartbeat with the Doppler she was getting low heart tones. At first she wanted to send me over to L&D to be monitored for a while but I didn't have anything with me and I was afraid they would keep me and I would end up with interventions I didn't want. She checked my cervix and "stirred the pot" which is a nice way of saying that she stripped my membranes. Before deciding if she was sending me to L & D or not she had me lay on my left side and rechecked the baby's heartbeat. While laying on my side they got better and the baby was being active so she let me go home. She did say that if labor didn't start that night I was to come in the next morning (Tuesday) after she got to the office.

Well her "stirring the pot" got contractions going in a more regular pattern. I spent the evening managing my discomfort by using my exercise ball. I had lots more mucus during the evening but nothing that alarmed me. I made sure that the kids packed their bags for Grandma's house and got all my things stacked by the door so they were ready to go. My husband thought it was all in my head and that I was being silly. I had a feeling that the next day would be "baby day” and I wanted stuff ready. I spoke with my mom before I went to bed and told her I would call if anything changed in the middle of the night. I was still able to fall asleep and stay asleep during the contractions, so I woke up Tuesday morning and prepared to have a baby that day.

My husband on the other hand didn't even want to wake up! I got up at my normal time and got ready for work and he was staying home with the older kids. I woke him up before I left and reminded him that a few things needed done in case I was having the baby that day.  He brushed it off yet again, but got out of bed because our oldest son was already awake.  I went into the office for a few hours getting things ready for my absence, then went over to my midwife's office at about 10am. When she checked me she said there was a lot more fluid and mucus and that I had dilated a little more. Even though my cervix was still high and only about 60-70% she said she was sending me over to L&D and would be over at lunch to break my water.

I called my husband to tell him as I left her office to drive over to the hospital and he still didn't believe me. I managed to convince him to at least grab my stuff and the older kids bags, but he still wouldn't pack himself a bag. In fact he wouldn't even shave!

When I got to Labor and Delivery I was standing at the front desk waiting for them to tell me my room was ready when I felt a gush. I knew what that meant! I sent a text to a few friends, it was 11:30 am.  I then realized that I forgot my birth plan in the van so I walked back out to get it before they called my name. As I was walking out DH & the kids got there. DH asked if I was going home already because it was false labor. I laughed at him and said no I just forgot something in the car. I told him I thought my water broke, but he said he couldn't see anything on my jeans. As we walked back in I felt more and more gushes. When we got back to the desk I asked if my room was ready, and it was.

I had to go back alone, and I also forgot to have my husband give me my bag so I didn't have my own gown to change into. I changed into the hospital gown and got cleaned up. They did all the check in stuff, I had to get a 20 min strip on the monitor so I was in the bed answering questions. They took my blood and didn't place an IV! After they were done with everything they let me get out of bed and my DH & kids came back.
  
I was having contractions at this point that came every 5-7 minutes but I was still able to talk through them.  I knew it was going to be a little while until my midwife came up and the kids were already very excited.  While I was getting checked in my husband had taken them to the cafe to get something to eat.  The kids were very excited ... a little too excited.  My husband and I decided to have the friends go over and play with some family friends.  My mom showed up about this time with flowers and I got changed into my own gown!  It was while I changed my gown there was green on the toilet paper when I went to the bathroom. 
  
My mom had not had lunch so we sent my husband to go to the bakery/deli down the street to get soup for me and sandwiches for them. I got some of the soup down between the contractions and a little bit if bread, it was my first real (and only) meal of the day. I stayed out of the hospital bed and was mainly on my birth ball or walking around the room. I was still able to use my iPhone to text friends and check Facebook, but the contractions started coming more frequently and started getting stronger.  Each time I tried to relax and not focus on the pain.
 
The next time I went to the bathroom there was more green, and I knew it was meconium, so I told the nurse. I thought my midwife was coming over at lunch, but since my water fully broke on it's own there was no reason for her too. The nurse told my midwife I had meconium staining. My midwife ok'd the nurse to do hourly checks with the doppler instead of having to be on the monitors, so that was nice. The nurse said my midwife would be over after office hours unless I needed her sooner.

to be continued …

Birth part 2

Mom and I decided to start walking the halls. I showed her how to use my contraction timer app on my iphone and she was really good about ready my cues and being able to start and stop the timer without me even having to say anything. By the time DH got back the contractions were lasting about a minute and coming every 3 minutes. It was getting to be close to 4pm and mom was trying to suggest having the nurse do a cervix check in case we needed to call my midwife, but I didn't feel like I had really hit transition yet. I decided just to wait for her to get there.


We continued walking the halls until the nurse came to find us that my midwife was there just after 5pm. We were all very surprised when she checked me that I was only 5cm and still only 60-70% and high. She suggested that we get a strip on the baby and then get in the shower on my hands and knees for a while. It was then that I realized I had forgot my tankini top that I had bought. SO I was just totally naked laying over my birth ball in the shower LOL! I am not sure how long I was in the shower but the contractions did not feel as bad with the water hitting my back. I got out just before the shift change so that must have been around 7pm. While I was in there my midwife told me my blood work had come back and that my H&H (hemoglobin and hematocrit) was only 8.8 and that left no room for error if I started bleeding so I had to have an IV.
 
The new nurse was so fabulous. She was from Hawaii and had 4 natural child births and was so excited that we were having a surprise baby because she had as well! We hit it off right away. I was her only laboring mother so she basically stayed in the room with me. My midwife started looking for a vein for the IV and I have horrible veins. I knew it would be hard to find a site. My midwife got one vein in my right forearm, but the vein blew before she could finish setting up the IV. She went to my left arm and found a vein right below my elbow but that one blew as well. If she couldn't get a vein the anesthesiologist said he would place a central line, which I obviously didn't want. Thankfully 3rd time was the charm and she got the IV placed on the back of my right hand. She decided to just hang a back of fluid so the IV would have something running through it. It was a little annoying since I had been drinking so much water to stay hydrated and avoid the IV.
After the IV placement I was able to get back out of bed. My midwife had one other patient in the triage area so she was between the two of us. My midwife brought in some lavender oil to help me relax. My nurse helped me get into a standing position and would have me do a hip sway/squat through the contractions. At about 8pm they started seeing a few decels on the monitor so after some talking we agreed it would be best to get an internal monitor so that they could really see what the baby was doing and see how strong my contractions were. They were now lasting about 1 1/2 min and coming every 2-3 min. We she placed the internal monitors I was still only 5cm. I was trying not to get discouraged, but after 8 hours of labor I was surprised I had not progressed farther.
  
I got back up between contractions and the first contraction I had while standing up the baby's heart rate plummeted. I don't know how long it was but the drop was well below the 100 mark on the screen
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The nurse let me go through one more contraction standing to see what the baby would do. Sure enough the heart rate dropped right after the peak of the contraction. Into the bed I went. I continued to breath through the contraction an rock my hips as much as I could while laying on my side. The baby's heart rate was better, but was still having decels. After a while of switching back and forth on my sides. My midwife suggested a saline infusion so they hooked that up to see if the decels would stop.
The longer I was in bed the more my contractions slowed down. They got to about 5 minutes apart instead of 2 minutes. At about 9 pm my midwife came in and sat down by the bed. The decels were starting to happen between the contractions. My contractions were slowing down and I wasn't dilating. She suggested we try an epidural to see if it would relax me enough so I would dilate and birth this baby. I agreed since if a c-section was going to happen it would be better to already have the epidural in place.
     
They called for the epidural and started to prepare me, this doctor was very particular about how things are during the procedure. The kids wanted to come see me so we made arrangements for them to come up to the hospital and my Dad would take them home to spend the night. The time should have been perfect for the epidural to be done by the time they got to the hospital.

When the doctor got to the room my mom and DH had to leave the room. I answered his questions and got into position. I held perfectly still just like the nurse had instructed me. At the end of the procedure I felt a stabbing pain up the back of my neck to the top of my head. The doctor said the needle was out and that he wasn't doing anything. He continued to tape up the tubing and finished what he was doing. The numbness was spreading fast. When he finished I was still sitting up. I told my midwife I didn't feel right and everything was very numb. I started to kind if fall over and my midwife helped but then as soon as I was laying down I felt worse. My midwife toon my blood pressure and it was 80/30!!
My midwife called for help and everything got kind of blurry. The kept asking me to squeeze their hands and I couldn't. I would try talk and nothing would come out. They rubbed my chest asking if I could feel it but I couldn't. I was so scared, I had no idea what was going on and there were so many people in the room.

They gave me a shot of epinephrine and raised my head some and my blood pressure came up. They kept telling me that I was breathing even though I couldn't feel that I was. The nurse was reassuring me that the baby was doing fine, even though I wasn't. Just when I started feeling a little better it started happening again. They called for the anesthesiologist to come back in and my midwife called for a shot of something else (they told me later it was to reverse the effects of the epidural) plus a second shot of epinephrine.
After the 2nd episode passed my midwife went out to the waiting room to talk to DH & my mom and brought them back in with her. They officially called "decision time" for the c-section at 10:26pm. The kids never got to come in of course. The doctor I thought would be doing the c-section was actually on vacation so another OB was covering for him. I was disappointed because this OB has no bedside manor ... but he is a great surgeon. The anesthesiologist started talking about giving me more meds for the c-section, but I don't understand why (my midwife and nurse didn't either) because I was already so numb I felt NOTHING below my neck. He settled for only giving me a 3rd of a regular c-section dose. My midwife was concerned that I would have a reaction again. She said that if they had to put in a breathing tube they would put me under general anesthesia and then DH couldn't be in the OR.

There was lots of activity after they called for the c-section. I was still kind of out of it. I don't remember many details. I know I wanted to close my eyes but I was afraid too. I know that mom was making sure all my stuff was packed up. They gave DH scrubs to change into, they were huge LOL. The nurse changed me out of my pretty custom gown and into the regular hospital one again. Then it was time to move me. I remember that nothing happened slowly. Everything was very fast paced.

Once in the OR I remember thinking it was nothing like the movies and the room was very small and white. They made DH wait outside. They moved me to the OR table, I told them I never felt huge during the pregnancy until that moment ... it had to have taken 6-8 people to move me. I felt like I was the size of a whale. After they moved me I felt like I needed to throw up but I had no muscles to get it out. I asked someone to suction it and the anesthesiologist said it would make me gag. I didn't care, I just wanted it out! I think my nurse finally came and did it for me.

It felt like forever before they let DH come in the room. All I remember seeing was his eyes the size of saucers, since he had a face mask and hat it was all I could see. I think they started once he was in the room. They said you might feel some pressure, but I felt nothing at all. The next thing I heard was his cry and then my midwife said "It's a boy" and I started crying. I have no pictures from in the OR because we were not able to take a camera in with us.  I didn’t see my son for hours because they would not bring him to me in my recovery room.  Luckily my mom had kept my camera and took photos of him in the Baby Holding Area.

The Birth of my 2nd Child

Dear Ellie,
This is the story of how you were born. One day you will {hopefully} have children yourself. I was very fascinated with the details of how I was born when I was pregnant. I hope that you feel the same and cherish having this written record of the day from when it was fresh in my mind. I apologize for the poor quality photos, You were born at the beginning of the digital photography age and I was still learning.
Love, Mom
Tuesday, March 23rd I had a midwife appointment. I was still 3 cm and 50% effaced with a posterior cervix. Since my midwife was going to be going in for surgery herself on Friday we decided to try and speed things up a little. She stripped my membranes and poked at them a little. She told me that if I didn't go into labor on my own that night to come back at 1pm on Wednesday.
So I drove out to my parent's house to pick up Anthony. On my way there I had a couple stronger contractions. I could still talk through them so I wasn't too concerned. I got to my parent's and told them what my midwife had said. They had plans for the evening and my Mom wanted to cancel them, but I told her not too. So they went out and I waited for Anthony to wake up. I called Rob and gave him the news. We decided that I would just keep him informed over the next hour or so to see if I was going to go into labor that night. While at my parent's I was spotting and had a very loose bowel movement, but the contraction did not get stronger or closer together. After Anthony woke up we went home and I started finishing things at the house. My parent's stopped by after they had dinner to check on me, and I was about the same so I told them to go home, but we made plans for what would happen if I did have to call in the middle of the night.
When I put Anthony to sleep the contractions started slowing down and I actually fell asleep. About Midnight the contractions started to wake me up again. I got out of bed and went online for a little while and had a large glass of water. I was still really tired so I decided to go lay back down and try to rest. The contractions did slow down again and I was able to sleep.
First thing Wednesday morning I had to call and make an appointment with Anthony pediatrician because I thought he had an ear infection. They were able to get me a "work in" appointment at 10:15am. My Mom met me at the office to help me with Anthony. It turns out that he doesn't have an ear infection - in fact she couldn't find anything wrong with him.
I drove Anthony and I back home. Anthony's babysitter (Justine) arrived at Noon and then a little while later my Mom came to pick me up to take me to my Midwife's office. We got there before 1pm so I had to wait for Annette to get to the office. She had me go empty my bladder and when I thought that I might actually be leaking fluid because my underwear were wet.
They did my regular stats and then put me in a room. Annette came in and checked my cervix, she said I was about a 4-5! She sent me over to Labor and Delivery and said she would see me there in a little while to break my water.
We checked in at about 2pm. I was having regular contractions about 3 minutes apart. After they got a good strip of Gabrielle's heartbeat and my contractions I was able to get up and walk. The nurse said that Annette would be over in a little while because she had another patient getting close to delivery. The little while actually lasted much longer because the other patient did not progress as fast as they anticipated so Annette didn't get to the hospital till after office hours, at 5pm.
She checked my cervix and I was still about 4-5 cm so she broke my water. That was such a relief, there was SO much water I felt a HUGE relief. I called Rob after she left and he had just drove into town so he had perfect timing. My contractions started getting stronger and closer together, even though the monitor was not picking them up as much. Gabrielle's heartbeat continued to look good so after a while they let me get up and walk again. My parent's took Anthony to dinner and Rob and I started walking the halls again. The contractions were getting so strong that I had to stop walking during them. Around 7pm the nurses asked me to go back on the monitors so they could check the baby. Everything continued to look good so they let me get back up to walk. It was after 8pm by this point so my parent's took Anthony home to go to bed. My mom said she would come back after he was asleep.
At about 9pm Annette came back and wanted to check and see how I was progressing. I was about 6 cm, but my cervix was still posterior. We talked about my options and we decided to go ahead and start some pitocin. I didn't want pitocin without an epidural. The nurse came in to start an IV, she missed twice, so Annette came back in to try. She got it the 1st time! They started the pitocin and fluids and they said that the pitocin would take a while. My body reacted very quickly and the contractions got stronger and faster very quickly. I also started having this horrible pressure to urinate during the contractions. I ended up sitting on the toilet because it was the only position that was remotely comfortable  I have very little concept of time from this point. My Mom arrived while I was still in the bathroom. My legs starting to shake uncontrollably and I was afraid to stand up. I also started feeling VERY nauseous so Rob went and got the basin, just in case. Finally Rob, my Mom and the nurse were able to get me back on the bed so they could check me before the anesthesiologist got there. The nurse started to mess with the monitors though so they could get Gabrielle's heartbeat. I was in much more pain on my back and did not want to lay down. At this point I was really losing it - the nurse grabbed me and looked me in the eyes and said "BREATHE" and helped me get through the next couple of contraction. The then anesthesiologist came in. I never did get checked but I was begging for the pain to go away so they started getting everything ready for the epidural. The one thing I did not like was that the anesthesiologist asked both my Mom and Rob to leave. I said okay, but I was VERY uncomfortable with both of them gone. The nurse continued to help me breath through the contractions. They hurt so bad that I didn't even notice the pain of the epidural going in. I was still having the same pressure to urinate during the contractions and even after the epidural was working I was still feeling it. The nurse got the catheter right away to try and see if that helped the pressure, and while she was there she checked my cervix and said I was still about 6cm. The anesthesiologist suggested that I try to get some rest since I had been having contractions all day. It must have been about 10:45pm when she said that and the nurses were anticipating Gabrielle coming sometime after midnight.
**What they didn't tell me at the time was that Gabrielle's heartbeat was really dropping.**
I heard my nurse said that Annette was coming in, and she had the internal monitor in her hand when she sat down. She immediately said we are ready for delivery, I have a head. Everyone was stunned. Annette told me to go ahead and push as she was putting my legs in the stirrups and it felt SO good to push with the pressure. With the next contraction Annette told me to push then had to say, "wait for me to get my gloves on Amber" The next thing I remember hearing was Annette telling me to hold my breath and push. I felt Gabrielle's head come out and then I pushed again and felt her shoulders. Annette didn't put her right up on my chest though. She was born at 11:07pm (less than 10 minutes since the nurse had said I was 6cm) I kept asking for her but Annette was still holding her. I heard my Mom say, "she is so little" and then Annette finally lifted her up enough for me to see her. Annette told me that she had to deliver her through her cord, but that she was okay. Annette was wonderful and let the cord continue to pulse while the nurses helped rub Gabrielle off. After a few minutes she said that the cord had stopped pulsing and she clamped it and handed Rob the scissors. He cut the cord and I just continued to hold and rub Gabrielle as she peed all over! She was so perfect! Her apgar scores were 9 and 10.
After I had delivered the placenta the nurse asked if they could take Gabrielle to the warmer to finish doing her assessment. I said okay. I was able to see her the whole time. She weighed in at 6 pounds 5 ounces (although in the picture the scale says 6 pounds 4.5 ounces) and was 19 inches long. They brought her back and since Rob was on the phone with his Mom, my Mom held her for a little while until he came in. Then he got to hold his little Princess. It was so sweet to see them together. She is the opposite of Anthony. She has straight blond hair and deep blue eyes! She has the longest little fingers! I hope she will be able to play the piano better than her Mommy.
She is doing wonderful and we were able to come home Thursday night. Of course she is a little night owl. She is breastfeeding like a champ though, I am so proud of her. It is such a relief to have her here after everything we went through together.