As I sit here on the couch with my daughter asleep in her wrap I will attempt to write her birth story with the one hand I have free :) Mostly so that I can document all the little details for myself for the years to come.
September 26th, Friday:
Went to work for my regularly scheduled shift at 8am. 39+3 today and ready to barrel through the last three shifts I was scheduled for before my leave started. Everyone at work asking me how I was doing and I assured them all that yes, she had dropped but no I was not in labor and I planned to make it through all my shifts. I texted Tyler a little bit later to tell him how my pelvis was killing me - this baby head down there was no joke. He then told me I was going into labor, and again, I reassured I was not. Then around 9:30ish I started feeling contractions. I had been getting Braxton Hicks contractions during my work shifts for some time now, but these were definitely different. I figured this was false labor due to dehydration and set out to drinking a ton of water and continuing seeing patient after patient. They didn't let up even when I was so hydrated I was making a trip to the bathroom almost every 30 min, so I told Tyler this was
possibly early labor, and I would keep him posted but not to get excited yet. Apparently he didn't listen and was in a hypomanic state the rest of the day from excitement. As the day went on I decided I should try and time my contractions, which wasn't easy during a busy work day - I would usually forget the time the last one had started by the time I got another. Though they seemed to be coming quite steadily every 5-10 minutes. I finally made it to the end of my shift, thankfully wasn't held over.
I rushed home to let the dogs out and get to my regularly scheduled OB visit. On the drive home since I had a clock in front of me I was able to time things and was having contractions like clockwork every 5 minutes. Still only in the uncomfortable realm though. Made it home for the dogs, got them settled and then drove over to VCU to see my OB. I found great street parking and made it up to my appointment - I had planned for her to strip my membranes (again convinced I would be post-dates and wanted to hedge anything in my favor) but now I actually wanted to know what my exam was to help figure out how real these contractions were. My appointment was fine, actually had a "yes" answer to the leaking fluid/bleeding/contractions question - but I still wasn't impressed by them though they were still coming about every 5 minutes. My exam was good, but not really telling of anything. 1-2 cm dilated and 70% effaced, which is a great starting point for a first time mom. But that may have been change made over the past couple weeks or that day, so my OB said maybe the next 72 hours, but who really knows. Tyler tried to make it to my appointment but just made it to the waiting room as I checked out, so we headed out to Costco to do our final nesting shopping and to prepare for family visiting. Either there is something in the air at Costco or it was all the walking that things really started to get more real. Now I was the giant pregnant lady stopping every 5 minutes to lean on the shopping cart when my contractions came. But still managed to get some ice cream to eat before we left so I figured it was still too early to tell. We managed to buy yet another baby outfit while we were at it, and stocked up on goodies and cereal for our incoming guests. By the time we made it to Trader Joe's though I was starting to have to breathe through my contractions and opted to stay in the car while Tyler made a mad shopping dash so that I wouldn't frighten the shoppers with their idea of a baby getting delivered in the 2 buck chuck aisle. Still, I didn't believe this was really going to be it.
We got home and I was stressed about deciding whether or not this was the real thing, because I would have to let my boss know to get my final two work shifts covered. If things petered off during the night and the next day would be like it was earlier today, I would have rather just gone to work and not missed the hours. So I decided I would lay low and see if I could make the contractions go away. Several episodes of Big Bang Theory didn't dissipate them, so I thought I would see if I could sleep them off. Not only did that not work but having contractions in bed was not comfortable in anyway. So at that point I decided I would just commit to this being the real thing and stop trying to hold them off. I texted my boss, who was excited and took care of the coverage. And then decided I needed to walk around the house like I would tell any other early labor patient to get things going. Tyler dutifully found a distracting movie to put on - The Birdcage - while I paced and huffed and agonized over when I should go into triage. I did not want to be the primip that showed up at 1-2 cm asking for an epidural. I almost wished my water would break so I would have a definitive turning point. Once I realized I could barely even get myself to keep walking because it made the contractions too intense, I decided to call it and Tyler grabbed our gear and we drove over to VCU. Luckily I had finished packing my hospital bag that week, which I was already rather late to the game on.
September 27th, Saturday:
The advantage of coming in after midnight was that the stork parking spots in the garage were free which was great. The trek to triage took a while, as I had to stop every few minutes for my contractions, I think I had about half a dozen on the way up, including one in the full elevator. And then 3 more while registering with L&D. I was so worried I wouldn't have made any cervical change from my check earlier that day, and while secretly hoping for them to tell me I was 5 cm dilated decided I would be happy with 3 cm. The residents that came in for my evaluation basically admitted me on sight based on how I looked with my contractions, which were now every 2 minutes. Still had to do the exam though and I was 3 cm dilated, 100% effaced. So just on the cusp of active labor by exam but definitely clinically active! I agreed to be in their suture study in between contractions, they were comparing the healing process of vicryl and chromic, and then they whisked me off to my swanky L&D suite. I wish they had remodeled the postpartum rooms first, because I definitely didn't give a crap how swanky my room was at that point. I really wanted to hold out until 5 cm for my epidural, so I set out to find the best way to cope with my contractions that were cooking away. The unfortunate part was that I couldn't find a good coping position that was compatible with my desire to sleep in between, as I was already exhausted from my work shift, errands and now over 12 hours of early labor. And while walking would have been logical to help things progress, they made my contractions so intense I couldn't manage it. I managed to stick it out until my next cervical check where they told me I was 4-5 cm so I hailed the anesthesiologist. Getting the epidural was surprisingly uneventful, other than having to hold completely still during contractions which was as hard as it sounds. And oh was it glorious. I was able to sleep for the first time, well doze really because my mind was racing too much to sleep, and just let my contractions do their thing, which they continued to come every 2 minutes. When they rechecked me around 6:30am I was 6 cm dilated, which was great news - excellent progress overall, and the resident AROM'd me (broke my bag of water). Tyler ran home to take care of the dogs, as we didn't have any back up plan for their care in the event of me going into labor before my mom arrived. Sadly my next check around 9am I was still 6 cm, although the residents had changed shifts, so I felt really discouraged and was thinking I would need pitocin if I wasn't changed at my next check. Apparently though the OB attending that day must have been really hands off because they decided not to check me until the early afternoon, or earlier if I was feeling pressure. I really didn't understand the logic behind this but let my team decide what was best - I still was contracting super regularly so I just let my body do its thing (and the glorious epidural do its thing). So finally sometime after 1pm I thought maybe I was feeling some pressure, but I'd just gotten an add on my epidural and frankly couldn't feel too much of anything. But my nurse diligently got the resident to come and check who informed me I was complete and 3+ station, ready to push! All the way dilated and didn't even need to labor down anymore. I couldn't have had better news. So I woke Tyler up (he was much better at sleeping through this watch and wait part of labor than I was) and so began the marathon. I think I have underestimated how challenging and exhausting pushing really is - never again. It took 3 hours of pushing until my little girl made it into this world! I honestly wasn't sure I could do it, I thought I would need a vacuum for maternal exhaustion I was getting so spent. And I could have killed my nurse who kept telling me I was "so close" for about 2 hours, as it took me about an hour to realize that it meant nothing. And feeling first hand how discouraging it is to have the resident walk in, watch me push, and then walk out again. I know exactly what that means! Not going anywhere fast. Also to add in that my temperature was elevated, up to 100.2 and the FHT was tachy in the 170s, so I was just hovering on the border of being called chorio, which I did not want. That would have meant a 48 hour stay in the hospital and likely antibiotics for the baby. Luckily I managed to push her out without any assistance and didn't even tear too badly considering that she was much bigger than we thought - 8 lb 4 oz!
We got to have our skin to skin time, in which I was still in a daze. Madelyn was already asserting herself by getting really cranky when the nurse tried to help her breastfeed. So I fended her off and let her do her thing and she latched on all by herself and breastfed like a champ! Clearly already a genius. Once they finally pried her from me and she had her exam and we found out her weight - we made all the requisite phone calls to family. My brother was at an airport waiting for his connecting flight to New Zealand, and my mom was already in the air on her way to Richmond so we had to wait for her to land to fill her in. Tyler again had to run home to take care of the dogs before we settled in for the night, but made it back before I switched rooms to the postpartum floor. In the meantime I had gotten dinner and devoured it while Madelyn snuggled next to me.
The next 24 hours were a blur of feedings (still a breastfeeding champ, she was way ahead of her feeding goals and even the lactation consultant had nothing to add!), exams for the both of us, social security forms (hello new person in this world!), routine screenings and lots of awkward bathroom trips. I convinced our teams that we could go home at the earliest they would allow, the 24 hour mark, and I don't think there was anything better than walking through the door with our brand new daughter in my arms.
Most of our hospital photos are on the real camera which I haven't hooked up yet, so here is one from my phone so the post isn't photo-less. This is from right after she was born.
