As you may already know, we were scheduled to be induced Friday, 1/31/14 if I hadn't gone into labor before then. It was really starting to look like that would be what was going to happen, but Audrey had other plans. I had had a few contractions Wednesday night that woke me up, but I only had a few and they weren't consistent at all, so I thought nothing of them really. Then Thursday night Mike and I were watching some Nip Tuck and I started feeling funny. I wasn't sure what was happening, but it was different than anything else I had felt. It didn't feel like the Braxton Hicks I had been having, but I wasn't convinced it was the real thing. Then they started getting closer together, so I pulled out my "What to Expect When You're Expecting" book and read the symptoms of real labor and some of the symptoms matched up. Mike and I decided that this was it and called my doctor, but they didn't call me back, so we called again, but still no response. The contractions were getting even closer together, every 5 minutes or so which is when my doctor had said to go in, so we said "screw it" and called the hospital to let them know we were coming and left. When we got there I was put in triage and hooked up to fetal and contraction monitors and checked by a doctor who said I was only 1 1/2 centimeters dilated. We told her that I was scheduled to be induced tomorrow after my doctors appointment in the morning and she said they would give me a couple hours to see if I would progress, and then they would keep me if they had the staff to induce tonight, but if they didn't she might have to send me home. We were pretty upset that they would send me home when my contractions were 5 minutes apart, how would I know when to come in, when they're 2 minutes apart?! Anyways, the contractions started feeling more intense and I was sure that I must be progressing, but when she came back to check me I was still only 1 1/2 centimeters, so she went to check if they could keep me and possibly induce me. She came back about an hour later and said that they would be keeping me. Mike and I were so relieved. So they wheeled me over to labor and delivery and a new doctor took over. This doctor wanted to give me some more time to progress on my own so she left me for another two hours. The contractions were getting really bad, so I decided to take the only drug they felt comfortable giving during the early stages of labor: Morphine and Phenergan. I soon regretted my decision. All it did was make me extremely tired and groggy. I stayed that way through the entire labor and delivery. Anyways, while I was left to progress my water broke. The nurse told me that that was a good sign that I was progressing on my own and I was so sure I must have dilated at least a couple centimeters, but when the doctor came in to check me I was still only 1 1/2 centimeters. What the heck?! I didn't understand how the contractions could be getting worse, but I wasn't progressing. That's when the doctor decided to give me some Pitocin to get things moving along and said she would check back in on me in another couple hours. They started very slowly with only 4 mg/hour. About an hour after getting the Pitocin the contractions were intolerable. I decided to get the epidural, so the Anesthesiologist came in and went over all the consent forms and what not and administered the epidural between the contractions. When he was done putting the epidural in he said I should only feel one or two more contractions, and left. When I had had about 5 more awful contractions I figured it wasn't working, so the nurse had him come back and check it. He checked it and said it was working wonderfully, which lead him to wonder if I were farther along than the doctors thought. The nurse had my doctor come in and she asked me if I felt like I had to push and I told her yes, so she checked me again and thought the baby's head was my cervix at first, but then realized that I was 10 centimeters and ready to go. That's when a bunch of doctors, interns, and pediatric nurses came in and I started pushing. I was so out of it that I would drift off a little between the contractions and pushing. I remember Mike chatting it up with the doctors between pushes and everyone telling me what a good job I was doing during the pushing. At one point one of the doctors mentioned that there was another women pushing at the same time as me and Mike said that if I beat her he would make me a milkshake when we got home. Anyways, after what seemed like forever pushing the doctors started getting concerned about the baby because her heart rate was dropping and he told me that she was getting tired and couldn't take much more of this and I told him that neither could I. I started to get a little concerned that they would have to do a cesarean section. After a few more pushes he said that they would have to do an episiotomy, I told him to do whatever he needed to get the baby out. So they did the episiotomy, and that helped a little, but she got stuck again, so he said that they would have to use the vacuum extractor. After a few more pushes with the help from the vacuum extractor she finally came out. I didn't hear any crying right away and I got worried. I kept asking if she was ok and Mike reassured me that she was, but I didn't feel any better until I heard her cry and the doctor told me she was fine. Mike cut the cord and they put her on my chest before taking her away to check her out. Mike and I were both crying, it was magical. My baby was finally here and she was perfect. This was by far the most wonderful day of my life. They took her over to the warming bed to check her out and make sure she was ok and Mike stayed with me, but I could tell he wanted to be with Audrey and so did I, so I told him to go be with her. He gave me a kiss and went to be with her. I delivered the placenta and then the doctors sewed me up. I asked how long I had been pushing and the nurse told me two hours; it had felt like forever. Then I asked if I had won the birthing competition and I was told that I did indeed win and Mike said that he would have to make me that milkshake when we got home. I honestly don't remember what happened after that. The next thing I remember is moving to the recovery room and being with my beautiful little miracle.
What a brave girl you are. Congrats. I can't hardly wait for Audrey's first birthday!!! Love, Mom
ReplyDeleteShe looks so content while warming up! :-)
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