So Thursday afternoon, Sept 6th, after my membrane sweep
I was having very mild contractions. They picked up in
intensity around 10:30pm. I tried to sleep but couldn't.
I got Jon around 11:30 and he rubbed my back through
them. Jon called our doula to give her a heads up. I
showered and then decided to start timing them around
1am and they were at least 1 minute long, coming
every 3-5 minutes. We called my midwife's practice
and they told us to come to the hospital. I told Jon
that I was pretty sure I'd be getting an epidural.
We got to the hospital close to 2am. The doula showed
up and we got settled into a room. I was 4cm. I had
to get hooked up to the fetal monitor, which sucked,
because I think the added pressure from the belly band
that held them in place made my pain a little worse. I
was getting through the contractions alright, though
I was still sure I wanted an epidural. My doula suggested
waiting a bit, so I did. I labored mostly in bed while
being monitored, and that made the pain worse.
My doula and Jon were so awesome. Although I usually
wanted to smack her. Poor doula.... during contractions
she'd quietly say "you're doing this for your baby,
release the tension in your hands, let your belly do the
work" and I just wanted to tell her to shut up.
I was still asking for medication, and I almost gave in
to Stadol, but Jon reminded me that I really wanted to avoid
that, so I agreed to wait until the OB from my practice
got there before getting the epidural. The happy medicine
man even showed up and I had to send him away.
I finally did get the epidural at 7cm, around 5am. My doula
told me how great I was doing handling the contractions (7cm
and she's still not screaming!), but I just wanted to be
done with it all. I knew it would be getting much worse before
it got better and I felt like I wanted to enjoy the birth
and not be so tense and worried about the pain.
Once the epidural kicked in I definitely felt better and
relaxed in bed. I was still contracting on my own, but labor
slowed down. I started to worry that things wouldn't end
well. They started a pitocin drip to move things along.
I made it to 9cm and was so happy that Maya would soon
be here. Then I somehow went back to 8cm and got stuck
there. Also, the (now internal) monitor kept showing
Maya's heart rate slowing down with contractions. They
had me change positions and flip sides and that did help.
They also had me breathe oxygen and that helped a bit too.
At one point, I could hear the monitor's alarm go off and
all the nurses and stuff rushed in and had me flip to the
other side, quickly. I got scared... I just wanted Maya
safe. Her heart rate had dropped dramatically, but
recovered a bit. I was back up at 9cm and the doctor
decided that she wanted me to push. I heard the nurse
say that she thought I could do it, and that gave me so
much confidence. I really wanted to get her out vaginally.
Pushing is HARD. It's exhausting. I pushed through 3 or
4 contractions (I don't know how some ladies manage to
push for hours!!!), and I was feeling quite a bit of
pressure so I was trying to work with that and each time
Maya's heart rate dropped. The doctor thought that the
cord was probably in a weird spot and getting compressed
by the contractions and the pushing. She wanted to do a
c-section.
I was really disappointed. My doula was so great, though.
She also had a labor where she got an epi and ended up
with a section, and she was so calming. I think I might've
freaked out without her there. Jon got changed into
scrubs and I was wheeled into the OR. I had been shaking
for a little while -- I think that's a reaction to the
epidural. So, I was still breathing like I was getting
through contractions, trying to calm myself down. The
experience of being in the OR was totally weird. My
happy medicine man was there, though, and he was actually
really calming. He upped the dosage so that I felt
nothing (before I'd been feeling my legs a little). I
was prepped, and Jon came in and they started. I talked
to him through it to keep myself distracted. Lots of
tugging and pressure, it felt so bizarre.
Finally, I felt a ton of pressure and pulling... and
out she came. I could hear her little cries! Jon peeked
over the curtain and was crying, telling me she's here.
I saw her a little when they brought her to be suctioned
and stuff. I was crying, asking if she was ok. She was.
I was so happy... so happy. She was so beautiful and alert.
Jon went with her to the nursery to get her vitals done.
She got a 9 for each Apgar. She was 7lbs 2oz, 20 inches
long, born at 10:13am. I got stiched up and wheeled back
into my labor room. I rested, but I just couldn't wait to
see Maya.
They brought her back in to me after about an hour. Jon
and my doula and the lactation consultant were there too.
She was so alert! And was rooting like CRAZY. She kept
opening her little mouth and sticking out her tongue. I
immediately wanted to feed her. The LC had stepped out
for a second so I just stared at her while she was in
my arms for a while. My doula was awesome. I can't
believe how helpful she was thoughout the whole
experience.
We got settled in our postpartum room, made phone calls
to our families, sent out texts, etc. The next few days
are kind of a blur. Her first day and night were difficult.
She was adjusting to life in our world, and we were trying
to figure out what she needed. She cried a lot and was
extremely fussy. Feeding wasn't always easy and she seemed
to get frustrated a lot. She kept us up almost the entire
first night, and then managed to conk out for 4 hours between
4 and 8am. The nurse told us we'd have to wake her up for a
feeding, but there was no way we were doing that.
The next day was great, and the rest of our time there was
pretty good too. Maya seemed to pick up breastfeeding pretty
well, though sometimes she still gets fussy when trying to
latch. My milk came in Sunday afternoon. They were a little
worried because she wasn't peeing, but after my milk came
in that moved things along nicely. She started gaining weight
back on Sunday I think.
It's really hard for me to not be able to do what I want to
do, like pick her up, change her, etc. It's hard for me to
sleep because I can't find any position that's really
comfortable. I'm taking pain medication and it does help,
but it's still hard. I get my stitches out Wednesday. I
hope this all starts getting easier soon.
