Posts
We woke up at 4:30 am since we had to drop Jessy off at
SIL’s house for the day, and had planned to be at the hospital between
6:30-7am, per the instructions we had received at the doc’s office a couple of
weeks prior. Of course, being the non-morning people we are, we didn’t get out
of the house til about 5:30 (we were supposed to be out of the house by 5). We
stopped at McDonald’s on the way out and I got myself a sausage biscuit with
egg (didn’t want cheese hanging on my stomach). I nibbled it down- hey my 5am
530am appetite just doesn’t exist. LOL
Jessy was surprisingly calm when we dropped her (and her car
seat, bag and play yard) off at SIL’s. We kissed J goodbye and headed back
(yes, we backtracked, lol) to Plano to get our little show on the road. As the
sun came up we noticed something very unusual for this time of year- it was
overcast. We quickly speculated whether it meant rain or not- overcast
conditions are very rare in July in N TX.
We arrived at the hospital at about 6:45 and got signed in-
slightly detoured due to construction at the hospital, but no biggie. I quickly
texted Kirsten (our awesome doula!) and my mom at 6:53 to let them know we were
there and getting settled and our room number.
By 7:18 I was on the monitor and Miss Natalie was, as
always, living up to her nickname and dancing around for us. My blood draws and
IV’s were started, followed by my first round of abx (GBS+). Dr. D came in to
check and I was *still* 2cm, 70%, -1 and a posterior cervix (same as the week
before). Pit was started at 2 units at around 8:20 am.
I laid low in the beginning since I had slept horribly the
night before, just sat in the bed in a semi-tailor sit (the best I could do
considering that there was a (almost literally!) bowling ball in my lap. :p However,
the Firecracker danced around so much that we were having a hard time tracking
her on the monitor, so I had to lay down on my left side for a while, which
unfortunately ended N’s acrobatics show for the time being. At this point my
ctx were not very painful; they felt slightly stronger than BH’s. No biggie.
The nurse increased my pit to 4. In the spirit of conserving my energy, I
decided to try to nap a bit. I think I may have dozed off a bit for a while. My
pit was increased to 6 and Keith decided to go for a walk. By the time dad came
back from his walk, my pit had been upped to 10 and I was finally back to
sitting up- yay!
I decided to take a virtual walk and hop online for a few
minutes for a different kind of distraction. I poked a couple of friends on FB
(lol) and was going to update my status but never had the chance… N was back to
her acrobatics again and dodging the monitor so the nurse came back in and
instructed us, once again, to lie on my left side for 20 minutes so she could
get a good reading of Firecracker’s heartbeat. My ctx were about 2-3 mins apart
and still not too painful.
About 13 minutes later, I felt a minor gush of something and
speculated aloud about what it might be. Having had the exact same sensation at
one time while in labor with J and it turning out to just be my mucus plug, I
initially refused to get excited. Instead, I just reported that there was stuff
coming out. However, this “stuff” continued to come out! Maybe it is actually
my water??? Kirsten ran to get the nurse, who confirmed that my water had
indeed broken, about an hour and 23 minutes after the pit was started. The
water was once again stained with meconium (as it was with Jessy, I think we
have a family tradition going here! lol), earning us some extra people in the
delivery room when the special time came.
I was soon allowed to sit back up and resume my regular
coping strategy. SIL was on the phone and I got to talk to Jessy for a few
minutes, just before grandma arrived. The first couple of contractions were
easy, but needless to say they became more intense after a while; at about
11:20 they required more of my attention to stay on top of them. I sat on the
exercise ball for a bit while Kirsten applied some counter pressure on my back,
which helped tons! We moved back to the bed after that and I knelt over the
ball, which felt pretty darn good until my legs decided they didn’t like
supporting me and my ginormous belly, so I shifted backwards into a throne
position so I could prolong the comfort.
Once I switched back to sitting up, I ordered up a grape ice
pop and ate on it between contractions. SO refreshing! Totally hit the spot.
(lol) Right after I devoured my last bite of popsicle I was checked again and
was 5-6 cm and we all cheered! The ctx intensified and I began shaking through
them. I had gone into the hospital with a mindset that I would hold off as long
as I could before asking for the big E, avoiding it if I could. Since I was at
the point where I was literally shaking through the ctx I caved and asked for
the epidural. It seemed to take forever and a day to get the epi in but once it
was in I was a happy camper once again. They checked me and I was at 8cm at the
time the epi was given- WOOT! Since I was once again comfy I decided to rest
and try to nap again. I may have dozed off (can’t remember! Lol) after the new
nurse arrived and Keith went for a walk at about 3:01.
At 3:37 I was checked again and found to be complete and at
+2 station! I asked for my phone and called Keith and told him he “had better
get back up here!” Minutes later, he returned. By 4:05 things began to heat up
again- our nurse began setting things up and calling in the NICU team and Dr.
D. I labored down for a little bit more and just before pushing time the nurse
felt my belly to determine what position Natalie was in. Her back was arched
“like a cat” and she was facing my right side. At this point I resigned myself
to another long pushing session. (J was OP and I pushed for nearly 2 hours with
her!) I did a quick practice push and was instructed to hang out- only needed
one! Once Dr. D arrived I pushed twice more- and out slid Natalie! Little
firecracker had one more trick up her sleeve- she must have turned at the last
second! She did have her had up by her face- waving at everybody as she came on
out!
Once the placenta came out we noticed that the membranes
were quite stained from the meconium, indicating it had been there a while.
Good thing we got this kid out when we did!
Little Natalie Grace arrived after just two pushes- 9# 9oz,
20.5” long at 4:24pm on 7/26. <3 I ended up with two small tears- first
degree (as opposed to my second-degree with Jessy!). At around 5pm I was
finally able to nurse Miss Natalie, after the NICU team finished with her. J
Poor kid had been screaming to eat pretty much since she came out and was
finally happy.
