Stubborn and Beatiful Paige!

The following blog is a true story, this is the story of the birth of my daughter.

Let me start with this disclaimer:
- if you are pregnant (particularly with your first) take caution reading this, I didn't have the most normal birth story.
- the basics are: born 8/26/11 @ 7:34pm; weight 8lbs 13oz; height 21.5in.

So while I'm waiting for the pain medicine to kick in I thought what better time to write my birth story then at 1:30am!

Let's go back to Wednesday the 24th... I went in for my 41 week check up, I was at 3cm and the doctor stripped my membranes, she mentioned there was a 50% chance that this would speed things along and boy I think it did. We talked about the possibility of induction and I had originally thought that I didn't want to go past the weekend, but after talking with the doctor (who was by no means pushing me to get the induction) and after talking with Jeremy I felt this overwhelming sense of peace to wait. I know it was God saying I'm in control and she will come out when she's ready, so we decided to wait to schedule the induction for the following Wed (8/31).
Thursday: I woke up like I usually do every other morning, except I was only going to go to work for an hour or two to get things tied up and let them know I wanted to "officially" start my leave. One thing that happened before I headed downtown which made me a little curious about events later to come that day was that I had some diarrhea. I had thought I remembered reading somewhere that diarrhea was a sign of labor so I was paying close attention to my body the rest of the day.
I came home and just laid around for the rest of the afternoon with no significant events. I was starting to have a few contractions around 6 but they went away and weren't very strong. Then I had some more diarrhea and then Jeremy and I went for our normal evening walk. We took the short route because I told him I wasn't feeling well and wanted to stay a little closer to the house this time. When we got back to the house I started timing them at regular intervals (this started around 7:30 pm). They were stronger than I had ever felt before but I still wasn't ready to call this real labor yet, however, I think jeremy was... He knew before I did that we would be heading to the hospital that night (well early Friday morning). He called in sick to work around 9:00 that evening and I was so glad he did! I tried to lay down to get some sleep around 10pm but I don't think I ever really slept that night in more than 5 minute increments...
Friday: around 2:30am Jeremy finally convinced me to call the doctor and ask if we should head to the hospital, I called, told her my symptoms and she said yes, come on down. We arrived about 3:30 after getting the car packed up and went straight to triage where I was hooked up on the fetal monitor. The nurse checked me and I was at 5cm which made me pretty happy and I felt good about how long we stayed home to try and labor. We made it to our room around 4:30am and we were told that because I was at 41 weeks I would have to be hooked up to the monitor at all times, we weren't too happy about it and our nurse that came in at 5:ooam convinced the doctor to let us go 30 on/ 30 off since Paige was doing so great! We tried different labor techniques for the next few hours such as walking, leaning, using the birthing ball... I don't think I would say that I ever found a favorite position. Eventually all I wanted to do was curl up into the fetal position as much as I could. Jeremy was amazing through every single contraction.. He coached me through the so well! The doctor came in to check me around 8:30 and I hadn't progressed micha dn she wanted to break my water to try to help get things moving along. I think it was around 11:00 that I knew I needed a little bit of help, so we tried the Fentonoyl (not sure on the spelling) to try to take the edge off... I would say it only worked through like 2 contractions for me...
I was getting to the point that I remembered the doula saying in the natural childbirth discussion: if it gets to the point where it's going to be a traumatic experience for you then you need to think about an intervention. Jeremy was great, he knew how hard I was trying but he also saw the pain in my eyes. So we went with the epidural. I was more scared of the procedure of the epidural than anything else... It was probably the easiest part of yesterday, even better than getting the IV which took them 3 tries! I think I felt 2 more contractions while waiting for the mess to kick in... And then... Nothing!! I was at 7cm when I was given the epidural... So almost 9 hours of labor and I went from a 5 to a 7.. That was also a deciding factor for the drugs! The weirdest part was not being able to feel ANYTHING... I was completely numb! It did allow me to try to sleep for an hour or so...
The doctor came back in around 2:30 and I was completely dilated! She wanted me to start pushing but it was so hard because I couldn't feel anything! So they came and decreased my epidural which still didn't help much and they eventually turned it off. The next 3 hours from about 4:00-7:00 were filled with pushing, and towards the end the epidural was pretty much gone so I was feeling the contractions again, and while I wanted to stop pushing, it felt better to push through them than it did to try to breathe through them!
Here comes the problem... Paige was face up, the doctor could feel her forehead instead of the back of her head. We had tried during early labor some of the techniques to try to get her in position but apparently it never worked. The doctor thought through pushing I might be able to get her low enough to use the vacuum or forceps to get her out... Let me tell you, I'm glad I did't get that far! We ultimately made the decision with the doctor to get the C-Section. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, I guess the scariest part for me was not being able know constantly that I was doing okay and that baby was doing okay. But once they pulled her out and I heard her crying I was so excited!! Then they had to keep working on me which was probably the most nerve-wracking part! I was so exhausted at this point that I could barely keep my eyes open while they were finishing. We made it back to our room around 8ish... I tried to feed Paige but could barely keep my eyes open to do it so she didn't get much to eat! I vaguely remember my parents coming into the room to meet her and then in was out cold. We sent Paige to the nursery so we could both get some sleep!

And that's how the birth story ends... There a few other TMI (too much information) bits that I left out... But no one wants to hear the bloody parts of birth!

As for any typos that appear.. I apologize I kept dozing off while writing this, but I really wanted to get it done! Now time for some more sleep!!

Come and Gone

Well, as most of you know my due date was August 19th... it's now August 22nd :) and I still have a baby in my belly. Now I know all of the "first babies are always late" fact/myth (you choose) that people keep telling me. Well let me say that 4 women that I knew that were due around the same time I was all had their babies early... and they were all first babies. When I think back to most of my friends that have had babies, most of them were also either on their due date or early. So I would prefer not to hear "first babies are always late." I understand that some babies are late, and now that I've made it past my due date I'm dealing with it.

I think the last two weeks of my pregnancy were the hardest for me to get through, just the unknown. Jeremy and I are so anxious to meet our little girl that it takes a toll on me thinking what can I do to get her out... I know there are things that are supposed to help get things going, but in reality, she'll come when she's ready, or she'll come when the doctor says it's time to get her out.

I know Jeremy in particular is so ready to meet our little girl. Recently a friend asked us what we were most looking forward to about being parents, and Jeremy's response is something I will never forget. He said he's just ready to be part of her life. Since he can't really do much right now (other than console me when my emotions run haywire) he's ready to help me and try to take some of that stress away from me that I've been dealing with for 9 months. It was such a genuine and loving answer that I will never forget. He has been so amazing during this pregnancy and I can't wait to see him hold his little girl for the first time!

All that to say, I'm still here and Paige is still with me :)

Hanging in There

I feel like I should wear a sign around my neck at work that says either "I'm here or Hanging in There." That is my response everyday when someone asks me how I am doing. It's not to be rude, it's just how I feel right now. I'm starting to get emotionally drained because I am ready to have a daughter (at what point does it stop feeling weird to say "daughter") in my arms. I'm ready to love her!

If I seem like I am in a bad mood all the time, I apologize... Most of the time it's probably because I'm tired (which I know won't change for a long time)... but part of the time it's because I just get tired of the waiting... And yes, again I know "It will all be worth it."

Anyway... I'm here and hanging in there...