Birth Story

It has been one week since Loie was born and I thought it time for me to post the birth story and some pics of my adorable new daughter!  I am very wordy when I tell stories, so I am going to TRY to be thrifty with my words. ;)

False labor started Sunday night - 9 minutes apart and 45 seconds long.  It went away by 1 am, which is pretty typical of my false labor experiences.  Monday night it started up again, but this time it was 7 min apart and 45seconds to 1 min long.  They did not go away and by morning I thought, all right, something is really happening now, it should be soon!  We had a doctors apt that morning anyway, so we went in all optimistic and unfortunately I was still only at 1.5 cm dilated.  Boo.  She sent me home with a percoset and the idea that I was in the very early labor stage so watch carefully and I would probably be back in by the end of the day or the next morning having my baby.

I went home, took a much needed nap, (having no sleep from the night before) and, of course, my contractions went completely away and didn't return until 2 am that night at a lame 12 min apart, 1 min long.  Weird that they would be so strong for a solid 12 hours and then just disappear, only to reappear a day later so far apart and with mild intensity! 

Wednesday was uneventful and depressing because they went away again and I was actually a little worried about baby girl because I didn't feel her move that much.  She must have been exhausted from the contractions the day before because she was really lethargic; she barely passed the kick count test.

The contractions started up again early Thursday morning - 7 min apart, 1 min long, and getting closer together and stronger in intensity.  By 4 am they were 3-5 apart and medium intensity, but still not consistent enough for me to rush to the hospital.  We decided to go in at 9 am, but by then they had already started spacing farther apart.  So weird. 

We got to the hospital and I was still only a 1.5 and my doctor said that even though I wasn't having 'efficient' true labor contractions yet, she was worried that this was going on too long and the baby would go into distress if we let it go days longer because I wasn't getting any sleep and contractions like mine going for days can wear out the baby too.  She said we had a decision to make, either go home and hope for the best (real labor contractions ramping up within a couple days) or natural induction by them breaking my water that day and seeing if real labor would kick in.  Problem was if real labor did not kick in and I never dilated, we would have to do a c-section after a certain time.  After much debate, we opted for the water breaking route and prayed for dilation! 

Hours went by and my contractions really ramped up! They were killing me but I couldn't get an epidural until I was at least a 5 because it would have most likely slowed down the labor, which was the exact opposite of what we wanted.  I had to bear through it.  I was only at a tight 3 after a few hours and after 7 hours from breaking my water and 2-3 min apart, 1 min long, serious contracting I was still only a 3.  Awesome.  

My body started to shut down.  The nurses said I looked like I was showing the transition labor signposts, but alas, no transition here! No epidural even.  So painful.  My doctor came in and said, do you want to keep going or should we do the c-section?  Her opinion was that since I hadn't dilated hardly at all in 7 hours despite my contraction pattern, I probably wasn't ever going to.  I was a mess and my body was convulsing, so I knew I had to have the c-section and like right now, like I didn't want to feel another contraction ever again. 

I was wheeled into the OR and prepped for surgery.  I was totally okay with my decision because I knew that if I was feeling this way, I would never make it to a 5 to get the epidural, so this was it.  A failed VBAC, oh well.  

In the OR I was totally loopy.  Probably because of the drugs, but also because my body was just done trying to hold itself together and I was borderline delirious.  A nurse started rubbing the betadine on my belly and told me she was painting a pumpkin.  She apologized for the joke, but I told her, "no, that's exactly right, and Dr. Kinghorn is going to carve the smile."  The whole OR cracked up, I must be hilarious on morphine.

After they pulled her out, the doctor assisting went to suction her mouth and like the true daughter of mine that she is, she bit his finger and he literally had to pry her mouth open to release it.  Classic.  She was really calm and sweet, barely crying.  I was just so happy to have her out and to have a healthy happy baby girl in my husband's arms.  What a sweetie.

Later, in the room, we tried to nurse and it was like Heavenly Father was giving me a little present after such a hard couple of days.  She latched on right away and nursed a full feeding right then and there.  For those who have nursed, you know that is a huge blessing because nursing is not easy.  In fact, the stars have to align for breastfeeding to work. I pumped for 8 months with Isla, so this is huge that it would come so naturally to Loie.

Anyway, that is enough story for now.  Wordy, I know.  I tried. :)  Next post I'll explain her name and her visit to the NICU.  Oh, and pics.  I promise I'll post pics!