The Birth of Leila Katherine
We'll start off on Thursday August 19th. I had spent most of the week feeling pretty discouraged about my lack of labor and really even lack contractions at all. My sister Piper was coming to visit for a couple days and would be here that evening. I had resigned myself to think at that point that I would be going past my due date and should just enjoy the weekend with my sister and my in laws who would be arriving Friday.
We met up with my sister Thursday evening. We got some pizza and stayed up til about 1 am just talking and catching up. We figured a late night wouldn't hurt us since we could sleep in the next morning.
On Friday August 20th, my actual due date, I got up at about 4:20am to go to the bathroom. I waddled my way in there, finished up and came back to bed. I was trying to get comfortable and was attempting to roll from my left side to my back. When I plopped on to my back all of a sudden I felt this huge GUSH. I knew immediately my water had broken! It's the kind of thing you dream about and hope for but don't actually think will happen to you.
I got up and went to the bathroom to check the color (as green is an indicator that meconium has passed from the baby) and saw that it was clear. My heart was racing, this was too good to be true! I went back into the bed room and woke up Kolt. “Hey baby, my water just broke.” His grumbled reply, “What time is it?” So I told him and he moaned, and got him up out of bed. I called the labor and delivery unit since I wasn't having any contractions, thinking that maybe they would want me to labor at home a while but when I called they said to come in immediately since my water had broken and the risk of infection is very high. The next step was to wake up my sister.
I went to her room, “Piper, wake up. My water broke.” Her reply, “Are you serious?” It took some convincing. In fact, I think I had to reassure her about ten times that it really did break, that I wasn't coming into her room at 4:45 in the morning to play with her. Then she starts questioning me, “Are you really sure your water broke. Because a lot of women think that it's broken when it's not.” I told her that I knew I didn't just pee myself. That I had gone to the bathroom first and that I NEVER had any incontinence issues the whole pregnancy. So with that we finished packing up our stuff and headed off to the hospital.
On the drive eight minute drive I probably had at least two contractions. I was thinking this was probably good and hopefully my body would just take over. Once I got up to triage they hooked me up to the monitors. Baby's heart rate was good but I wasn't having any contractions. The doctor came in to do an exam to make sure my water had broken and I gushed even more when she went to look. She said “Yea you're definitely ruptured. Let's get you to a room.” I asked her how dilated I was and she said because I was group B strep positive AND my water had broken that they wouldn't be checking me very often at all. She tried to see my cervix during the exam but couldn't. So we were going blind.
They got me to a room and I got into a gown and got in bed. It was at this point they told me because my water had broken that I was no longer allowed to get out of bed because there was a risk of the cord descending below the baby's head and getting pinched off. That was a bit of a punch to the stomach. That meant I couldn't use my birthing ball, that meant that I couldn't walk or do anything but lay reclined and maybe on my side. What this also meant was that I couldn't use the rest room. I ended up having to use a bed pan to pee, twice. Talk about humbling and embarrassing. I asked what happened if I needed to go poop, she said “in the bed pan.” I was mortified! I hadn't been yet that morning and was hoping to go before it was time to push so that I wouldn't poop during delivery....now I couldn't decide what was worse, the bed pan or during delivery.
It was shift change and so it took quite a while to get hooked up to an IV. I got into a room at about 5:45am and it was 8:30 before they started ATTEMPTING to insert my IV. I'm not sure what we did during that three hour wait....but it seems like it went by really quickly. Anesthesia came in and did their schpiel about the risks and I signed the paper work as I was pretty sure I'd be wanting an epidural at some point. Then the med tech came in to insert my IV and I wasn't too stressed. I don't mind needles but I'd never had one in my hand before. She goes to stick me and starts to thread it, and it blew. So she went to try my other hand, she stuck me and it started to thread and then my my vein went from straight to an “S” shape. Even Kolt said he'd never seen anything like it. So my med tech apologized profusely and said she was going to get the nurse to try.
The nurse comes in and sticks me, and it blows. Then she goes to the other hand and sticks me again, and it blows. FOUR attempts and nothing. She said she saw one more vein that looked good and could she try, but when anesthesia had come in earlier and said that if they couldn't get a vein to have them page them. I told the nurse to have anesthesia do it.
The anesthesiologist came in and saw that they'd tried four times and was pretty upset. He said they should only try twice before they page them. Well, he got it in the first try but MAN it hurt. He got it in deep and it ached badly, but it was in. Which means we could finally start pitocin since I wasn't contracting regularly on my own. We could also start the antibiotics which was so important. They said they wanted at least fours hours on antibiotics before they wanted me to deliver.
Pitocin ranges from on a scale from 0-42 units. They started me out on 6 to see how it would go. After an hour the contractions were starting to get painful but I could still handle it. The nurse asked if I wanted the epidural yet. I told her I could still handle it but if it got much worse I'd want it soon. She told me “well you don't want to get it too soon because then it may run out.” This is NOT what anesthesia told me. They said because my water had broken I could have it any time I wanted and it was a continuous infusion so it would last as long as it needed to. But because she said this is scared me from asking for it so soon. BIG mistake.
When we got to 10:30 the contractions were coming about every 90 seconds and were extremely painful. I asked for the epidural but they told me they were in the next room working on that patient and it would be a bit before they could get to me. The contractions were almost not letting up at all in between each other and I was writhing in pain. I couldn't breathe through them, and I couldn't change position because I was confined to the bed. It is the worst thing I've ever felt in my life. I guess I started to hyperventilate because I started feeling really light headed. My lips tingled, my fingers tingled, and my legs were almost numb. Kolt hit the call light and tells the lady to get my nurse, I can't breathe and I'm about to pass out. We wait a few minutes, mean while my eyes are rolling back and I'm fighting for consciousness. Kolt hits the button again, “We need her nurse NOW.” The lady said she'd paged her. We wait a few more minutes and Kolt hits the button again, “We need her nurse NOW. DON”T MAKE ME GO FIND HER MYSELF!!” She replied “Yes sir.” But still another minute and no one comes. I'm fighting to stay awake because I keep almost passing out and I'm in so much pain I can't speak. Finally Kolt says “if they won't come with the call light then I'll hit the emergency button. If they won't come then I'll hit the code blue button.” I begged him not to hit the code blue button but he did hit the emergency button. It was like MAGIC. All of a sudden about 10 people run in and are asking what's wrong. Kolt starts to yell at them and say I've been passing out for 10 minutes. They all automatically assumed it was because I'd had an epidural and my blood pressure was bottoming out. I yelled “I haven't HAD my epidural yet. At least two people tried to say that was why and we had to tell them I hadn't had an epidural. I started to panic thinking that if I was already passing out that they wouldn't give me the epi. They put an oxygen mask on my face but didn't bother to inflate the bag on it, so if Kolt hadn't fixed it, it never would have helped. I couldn't have been more grateful for his nursing expertise and his fierce protective instincts. He made sure things got done.
Anesthesia also came in with this flood of people and asked if I was ready and where my pain scale was. 10/10 I told them. They told me to start breathing slowly and to try and stay awake. They got their stuff ready and had me turn to the side and hang my feet off the bed and roll forward. THAT helped immensely with my pain. It still hurt like hell but at least I could deal with it then. It made me realize that maybe if I weren't confined to the bed I might have been able to handle the pitocin with more grace. I felt like such a wimp, 3 hours on the pit at 6/42....I just felt like I should have been able to do better. BUT I knew all along I'd be asking for the epi. He had me lean forward and I was able to stay perfectly still even during the contractions and he stuck me with the lidocaine. That stung a bit but wasn't bad at all. After that, I didn't feel him stick me with the giant needle or anything! It was a piece of cake. Thank goodness.
After a few minutes the contractions became bearable but I could still feel it a bit on my left side, but again, it was so much better. Anesthesia left and after a few more minutes all I could feel was pressure, no pain at all. I could also still move my legs and toes and everything! God bless the inventor of the epidural and my amazing anesthesiologist. It made my experience.
They checked me right before I got the epi, I was only a 3, mostly effaced and still at -1 station. I was pretty discouraged by that. After all the pain of the pit and I'd barely progressed. I'd kind of geared up for a long day. But at least it would be a pain free day!! I was on the phone after that and texting and face booking. All the while feeling some pressure but no pain. I got the epi at 11:30.
The next few hours were spent with me on my phone, watching a movie and just talking with Kolt and my sister. I told Piper that it was all happening so fast that I was worried about how I'd feel about the baby. What if I didn't love her right away? What if there was this disconnect? She said it was normal to worry about that but she was sure I'd be fine.
Piper and Rich had wanted to go run some errands and she kept asking me if I had any clue where I was. All this time I've only been checked once the whole day and so I had no clue, I couldn't feel much of anything. I told her to go on and if anything changed we'd call. I told her I could feel the pressure in my bum a bit, so I knew the baby was dropping but I didn't feel the need to push. So she and Rich left a little after 3 pm.
At about 3:15 they came in to check me. The doc says. “Um yea she's complete and a +2. Time to start pushing.” Holy crap, I went from 3cm and -1 to a 10 and +2 in four hours! They had turned my pit up to 14 but that's all. Kolt called Piper and told her to come back, so she furiously ran back up to the unit. She came in all red faced and sweaty, it was pretty funny.
At 3:35 I started to push. I had been worried about this part because I know a lot of first time moms don't know how to push, add that to the fact that I had an epi and I was worried this part was going to take forever.
Doctor was all ready, contraction came, and I pushed like they told me to, and to my surprise they were all impressed and thrilled! I kept at it and was told I was a “very effective pusher” and she'd be here in no time. She was coming down at a good rate, not too fast not too slow, so the doctor left and I kept at it. Kolt was on my left leg, Piper on my right which left the nurse available to coach. I told everyone I didn't want everyone counting, I didn't want it loud, and I didn't want a man to count, I just thought it might irritate me. So either the nurse or Piper counted the whole time.
At 4:20 the doc came back in to check on me and decided it was time to gear up. A few more pushes and Leila Katherine was born. Her head came out and the doc immediately asked if Kolt would cut the cord. It was wrapped around her neck and when I tried to push our her shoulders it tugged on her and her face turned blue. So the doc is telling Kolt to hurry and cut and he's thinking “well give me a minute it's around her neck!” She wasn't in distress though, it only tightened up right at the end when the rest of her came out. I wouldn't find out about the cord until later. She also had a bowel movement on the way out so after she was born the pediatrician took her immediately to make sure she was ok. But I heard her scream, that glorious, wonderful sound. I made the comment that it was even prettier in person than on a baby story. My next thought was she's beautiful! Truly. I know everyone thinks their babies are gorgeous but she truly is a beautiful baby.
It took about 15 minutes before she was all assessed and ready to be placed in my arms. I'm sure there are pics of this but I actually haven't seen them yet. It's a moment I'll never forget. My baby, my perfect baby was finally here. And the whole doubt about if I'll love her, not a problem. My heart was SO full. In fact, once she was out and they had her on the table and I really got a look at her, I just started bawling. Kolt was close by her the whole time and you could see the amazement in his face as well.
It was an incredible experience, and aside from that awful hour waiting for the epidural, it was perfect. My water broke ON MY DUE DATE. Who does that happen to? I've been meaning to look up statistics but haven't bothered yet. My sister, who was only here for about 2 days total was able to be there for the whole thing. My epidural worked perfectly, I could still move my legs, feel to push, but had no pain so it was an enjoyable experience. Labor was 12 hours from start to finish and 45 minutes of pushing. She was 7lbs 13 oz of miracle. Everything about this pregnancy, from the timing (which was unplanned) to the lack of complications, to her delivery, were perfect. Now I'm terrified of something else going wrong because it has all been so ideal. All I can do is hope and pray and count my blessings. My life will never be the same because of that precious child, and I love her more than I ever thought possible.
