Post by amandav on Jul 18, 2006 15:42:46 GMT -5
So now that Lexi is a month old I am finally sitting down to write her birth story (hopefully I haven't forgotten).
I went in for my routine Dr's appointment on Monday June 19th (our 7th wedding anniversary) at 9:30. I was 9 days overdue by that point and my doc was planning on inducing me on Tuesday. She checked my cervix and it was still at 3cm (as it had been for 2 weeks). She said she was going to call over to Labor and Delivery and schedule me for induction for the next morning. Alex pipes up "Could we do it today?" She said she didn't know but she would see what she could do. A few minutes later she came back in the room and said "Good news, you're going to have your baby today!" I was still a bit in shock and asked if I had time to go home and get my bag but she said no, I had to hurry over to the hospital. Alex and I walked over to the hospital (it's across the street). He was excited because he didn't have to work now (if you saw the pictures he's in scrubs because the plan was for him to go to work after my appointment).
We got to labor and delivery and everyone there knew me since Alex works at the hospital. They said they'd been saving the "deluxe birthing suite" for us for 3 weeks now and it was about time we came in to have our baby. We went down to the room and it was beautiful-and HUGE!!! My nurse was already in the room getting stuff ready and I was happy to see that it was Alex's friend Jan. Apparently Jan is also friends with our doc and so that was how she was able to get me induced Monday instead of Tuesday. I got in my gown and Alex left to go home to get my stuff. Jan started my IV and got labwork and all that and by 10:30 she had started the pitocin. I started contracting right away (on the monitor), but really didn't feel anything. Jan stayed with me for a while and then said that the anesthesiologist was going to do a C-section at 12:00 and if I wanted an epidural I had better have one before that case started or it could be several hours before I would be able to have one-and by that time I may be in bad pain. I said okay and she went to call the anesthesiologist. While she was gone I had 2 contractions that were no more painful than bad menstrual cramps. At 11:30 the anesthesiologist came in and Alex got back around the same time, and I had my epidural before I really had any pain. We sort of settled in then. Alex kept coming in and out and taking care of work things (which irritated me). We had lots of visitors (people who worked there-so much for privacy).
My doc came in around 12:30 to break my water but said I was still only 3cm so she was going to wait so she went back to her office. More waiting-no pain. Alex left to have a quick meeting with his big boss. I was bored so I called up my girlfriend and chatted for a while, she laughed cause she couldn't believe I was in labor and I was bored enough to call her. Alex came back around 2:00 and we sat there talking and all of a sudden there was a loud POP! and my water broke. We called the nurse in and she helped get me cleaned up and dry linens. She said there was light meconium staining the amniotic fluid, but it was really light so not to worry.
Then Jan came back in (she had been at lunch) and checked me and I was at 6cm, but the meconium had gotten darker. She started setting up suction for suctioning the baby's lungs. The baby was doing just fine on the monitors and I didn't start to worry until they brought the incubator in and said that she may need to be intubated after birth so that they could deeply suction the meconium out of her lungs. All the while Jan kept telling me that it was fine and not uncommon for postterm babies to have meconium before birth. I settled down a bit and knew that we were in good hands and decided to just let what was going to happen happen.
I started shaking pretty badly (a side effect of the epidural towards the end of labor) at around 3:30, so Jan checked me and I was complete. At this point she said she'd let me "labor down" and didn't want me to push until the baby was just about to crown. She stayed right by and talked to me and Alex and checked me every 15 minutes or so. At 4:10 she told me to try a practice push, which I did and she said "STOP!! I have to call Dr. White, this baby is going to come out!" So she leaves to call my doctor and tells me that I am under no circumstances allowed to push. Well after that all I wanted to do was push so I am sitting there panting and trying not to push and Alex tells me he has to go to the bathroom (he's like having another 3 year old!) So he leaves to go pee and I'm sitting there panting and dying and praying that the baby isn't going to come out. After that it got exciting, Jan and Alex came back followed by my doctor and a respiratory therapist and a NICU nurse. Then they finally let me push! I pushed her head out with the first push and then I had to STOP (which was nearly impossible) so she could suction as much meconium out before she took her first breath. After they suctioned her I pushed one more time and out she came. They put her on my belly and she was green. Her skin and hair and nails were all green from the meconium staining her. But she was still beautiful. She was only on my belly for a few seconds while my doc cut the cord so they could whisk her away to suction her some more. They took her behind a curtain so I couldn't see her. She started crying right away. They had to suction her quite a bit but they didn't end up needing to intubate her (thank God). Alex was allowed to go and see her and he took pictures on the digital camera and brought them back so I could see them. After about 20 minutes or so they were satisfied that she was going to breath just fine and so I finally got to hold my little Shrek baby (that's what we called her cause she was so green).
She nursed right away and after I was all sewn up (I got a tear from her head coming out so fast), and after everyone left the room Alex brought me carrot cake (my favorite). We had all of about 20 minutes alone before we had visitors again. It was nice that everyone wanted to see Alexis, but I was soooo tired. My parents brought Abbie to see her new baby and the first thing she said was "She's so beautiful!" followed by "She needs a baby brother!" It could not have gone better and the no pain thing was fabulous. We left the hospital 24 hours after she was born and she's been a dream baby ever since.
Amanda
I went in for my routine Dr's appointment on Monday June 19th (our 7th wedding anniversary) at 9:30. I was 9 days overdue by that point and my doc was planning on inducing me on Tuesday. She checked my cervix and it was still at 3cm (as it had been for 2 weeks). She said she was going to call over to Labor and Delivery and schedule me for induction for the next morning. Alex pipes up "Could we do it today?" She said she didn't know but she would see what she could do. A few minutes later she came back in the room and said "Good news, you're going to have your baby today!" I was still a bit in shock and asked if I had time to go home and get my bag but she said no, I had to hurry over to the hospital. Alex and I walked over to the hospital (it's across the street). He was excited because he didn't have to work now (if you saw the pictures he's in scrubs because the plan was for him to go to work after my appointment).
We got to labor and delivery and everyone there knew me since Alex works at the hospital. They said they'd been saving the "deluxe birthing suite" for us for 3 weeks now and it was about time we came in to have our baby. We went down to the room and it was beautiful-and HUGE!!! My nurse was already in the room getting stuff ready and I was happy to see that it was Alex's friend Jan. Apparently Jan is also friends with our doc and so that was how she was able to get me induced Monday instead of Tuesday. I got in my gown and Alex left to go home to get my stuff. Jan started my IV and got labwork and all that and by 10:30 she had started the pitocin. I started contracting right away (on the monitor), but really didn't feel anything. Jan stayed with me for a while and then said that the anesthesiologist was going to do a C-section at 12:00 and if I wanted an epidural I had better have one before that case started or it could be several hours before I would be able to have one-and by that time I may be in bad pain. I said okay and she went to call the anesthesiologist. While she was gone I had 2 contractions that were no more painful than bad menstrual cramps. At 11:30 the anesthesiologist came in and Alex got back around the same time, and I had my epidural before I really had any pain. We sort of settled in then. Alex kept coming in and out and taking care of work things (which irritated me). We had lots of visitors (people who worked there-so much for privacy).
My doc came in around 12:30 to break my water but said I was still only 3cm so she was going to wait so she went back to her office. More waiting-no pain. Alex left to have a quick meeting with his big boss. I was bored so I called up my girlfriend and chatted for a while, she laughed cause she couldn't believe I was in labor and I was bored enough to call her. Alex came back around 2:00 and we sat there talking and all of a sudden there was a loud POP! and my water broke. We called the nurse in and she helped get me cleaned up and dry linens. She said there was light meconium staining the amniotic fluid, but it was really light so not to worry.
Then Jan came back in (she had been at lunch) and checked me and I was at 6cm, but the meconium had gotten darker. She started setting up suction for suctioning the baby's lungs. The baby was doing just fine on the monitors and I didn't start to worry until they brought the incubator in and said that she may need to be intubated after birth so that they could deeply suction the meconium out of her lungs. All the while Jan kept telling me that it was fine and not uncommon for postterm babies to have meconium before birth. I settled down a bit and knew that we were in good hands and decided to just let what was going to happen happen.
I started shaking pretty badly (a side effect of the epidural towards the end of labor) at around 3:30, so Jan checked me and I was complete. At this point she said she'd let me "labor down" and didn't want me to push until the baby was just about to crown. She stayed right by and talked to me and Alex and checked me every 15 minutes or so. At 4:10 she told me to try a practice push, which I did and she said "STOP!! I have to call Dr. White, this baby is going to come out!" So she leaves to call my doctor and tells me that I am under no circumstances allowed to push. Well after that all I wanted to do was push so I am sitting there panting and trying not to push and Alex tells me he has to go to the bathroom (he's like having another 3 year old!) So he leaves to go pee and I'm sitting there panting and dying and praying that the baby isn't going to come out. After that it got exciting, Jan and Alex came back followed by my doctor and a respiratory therapist and a NICU nurse. Then they finally let me push! I pushed her head out with the first push and then I had to STOP (which was nearly impossible) so she could suction as much meconium out before she took her first breath. After they suctioned her I pushed one more time and out she came. They put her on my belly and she was green. Her skin and hair and nails were all green from the meconium staining her. But she was still beautiful. She was only on my belly for a few seconds while my doc cut the cord so they could whisk her away to suction her some more. They took her behind a curtain so I couldn't see her. She started crying right away. They had to suction her quite a bit but they didn't end up needing to intubate her (thank God). Alex was allowed to go and see her and he took pictures on the digital camera and brought them back so I could see them. After about 20 minutes or so they were satisfied that she was going to breath just fine and so I finally got to hold my little Shrek baby (that's what we called her cause she was so green).
She nursed right away and after I was all sewn up (I got a tear from her head coming out so fast), and after everyone left the room Alex brought me carrot cake (my favorite). We had all of about 20 minutes alone before we had visitors again. It was nice that everyone wanted to see Alexis, but I was soooo tired. My parents brought Abbie to see her new baby and the first thing she said was "She's so beautiful!" followed by "She needs a baby brother!" It could not have gone better and the no pain thing was fabulous. We left the hospital 24 hours after she was born and she's been a dream baby ever since.
Amanda
I have been waiting to hear about this, and I am so happy that you have had time to post. Now I am going to have to stop posting for now and check my email while I a) have the energy and b) am not puking. lol 
