Birth story: part 2

    The first part of my birth story was about the week waiting on going going into labor as well as my early labor experience. The second part is about my labor on Saturday, delivery of Ty, and recovery.

     So after sleeping for an hour and a half after receiving the epidural, I woke up and ended up talking with the nurse who was monitoring me for most of the morning. I mean, it's kind of difficult to sleep when people are checking up on you quite a bit, when you are still trembling like crazy (thanks epidural for the help?), and when you become paranoid about your baby's condition after they find that his heart rate dropped momentary and you are placed on oxygen. Fortunately, his heart rate dropped just the one time.

   Contrary to what I've heard about eating while in a medicated labor, I did get to eat a granola bar at six a.m. even though I was like 7 cm dilated.  It was manna from heaven although I needed and wanted-- to brush my teeth later. Does/did anyone else think about brushing their teeth while in labor?

   At 7 a.m., the nurse that monitored me all night left, and another came to replace her. I really liked the new nurse because she was so personable,  and I feel so fortunate she was there for this part of labor.
   About the time nurses switched out, things with my labor also changed. I was 7-8 cm dilated and I felt the urge to push because of the amount of pressure on my rectum. It turns out the epidural wasn't enough for the job, so I was given another numbing medication that also kind of wore off because I ended up needing to breath and do horse lips through contractions again so I would relax and wouldn't start pushing too soon.  Fortunately, I didn't need to wait long until I was fully dilated. About nine, the nurse called my midwife, and started to set things up for the delivery. She also told Greg and my mother-in-law to eat food because she wasn't going to stop and help them out if they fainted. Lucky them... I was hungry, too.

   I only pushed for half an hour; Ty was born at 9:58 a.m. I may have been called a champion pusher afterwards by the doctor, midwife, and nurses, but I still had to comment that pushing hurt and ask why my vagina hurt so badly several times. I mean, I did end up with a two-degree tear...  I thought the pain would be pretty much over with when I delivered Ty, but man, receiving stitches was no walk in the park.

  Ty came out perfectly healthy--scored a 9/9 on the Apgar test. Greg was surprised by the doctor being so "rough" with him as he was delivered. I didn't notice; I remember being so overjoyed to have him on my chest and in my arms even though he was covered in a blood.  Initially, we thought his hair was dark brown because of all the blood stuck to it, but it turns out it's a lovely light brown. He obviously gets his hair color from me, but the rest of features are still undetermined except his toes; he definitely has daddy's toes (my toes are short little sausages).

Here is my cutie being weighed.  He loves lying on his side.

I had to put him down so I could sleep. 

  Greg and I hadn't even decided on a name at the time Ty was born. It was only after Ty was wiped down, weighed (8 lbs, 15 oz), measured (21 inches), and Greg got real food to eat that we discussed names.
  Throughout this pregnancy, I couldn't come up with any other names for this little guy besides Luke and Tycho. Greg on the other hand would tease about Tycho's name. "How about Chewbacca Tyrone? CTR (Chicks think Richins or choose the right) is a great name." And since we were watching the NBA playoffs, he got plenty of ideas for unusual names... When Greg told me his idea for Tycho's full name (which I won't disclose here), I was pleased and readily agreed. Before we knew Tycho was for sure a boy, I felt impressed that Tycho was his name, and I'm glad that Greg stuck it out with this name idea even when I wasn't always sure. However, I was a bit worried that the full name we came up with a long time ago was too unusual. At one point, I told Greg that we needed to come up with a normal name along with his unusual name. So that's how I came up with Luke which Greg doesn't like.
Anyway,  the funny part is that I sometimes think of Tycho as Tycho Tyrone... thanks Greg.

  Recovery at the hospital was hard. The bed was crazy uncomfortable-- who designs a bed where the end of it angles down?!I felt like I was sliding down that bed all day.   It hurt to lie there after I delivered Tycho because he adjusted my the placement of my tailbone in delivery (ouch). I LOATHED the IV in my arm, and I just wanted to get it out right away, but the rule was I had to have it in for six hours after delivery. Those were the longest six hours of my life. I was physically exhausted, and I wanted my own bed and comforts of home. We brought the Lego movie with us to watch, and we did watch, but I was so tired I fell asleep.  When the nurses came to help me go to the bathroom around 4 p, m., I ended up sitting on the floor in the bathroom very dizzy and light headed because I was so fatigued.
 
   Unfortunately, this meant I had to be hooked up to stupid IV longer and that we couldn't leave the hospital sooner. I was told I needed to sleep, so Greg and I did until Ty started crying and the IV monitor started beeping and both woke us up. Another nurse, who I didn't really like, came to help me out with nursing. Because I whimpered as she made Ty cry even more she thought I had anxiety, but really I just wanted her to leave him alone, but felt like I had no power to say that. (I'm pretty sure she was the reason we ended up staying much longer.) After we were woken up, Greg decided to take the opportunity to watch the Champions League final. And to top off the terrible recovery process at the hospiral, the staff brought me dinner, left it on the counter where I couldn't reach, and then took it away before I had a chance to eat it. I was in the middle of nursing and then finally proceeded to get dressed with the help of nurses. When was I supposed to eat?! So after we finished off all of the snacks we brought in the hospital bag, I decided to raid their fridge for food they have for patients, and shared my findings with Greg even though he technically wasn't supposed to have any food.
Punks.

Greg had to do skin-to-skin to raise Tycho's temperature and heart rate while I was finally putting real clothes on. I'm sad that I didn't get a picture with Tycho at the hospital, but I looked incredibly wiped out... So imagine me with really pale skin--like I lost blood, lots of sleep, and 20 pounds . 

  I guess the final highlight from the hospital was getting Ty dressed to get ready to go. I put a little shirt on him, and I was about to get some pants on when I noticed his diaper needed to be changed (Greg would like to point out that he changed the first diaper). Ty had a lovely poopy diaper for me, so as I'm about to clean him up, more poop just keeps spewing out causing a lovely mess and a first change of outfits--I don't know how he got poop on his shirt, but it happened. A nice poop the first day was a great sign that we didn't have to worry about jaundice, right?

  So about 8 p.m., we finally left the hospital, and I rejoiced that I could sleep in my bed, and I raided my fridge for pizza Greg and Sue bought the day before ready to experience a long night of trying to breastfeed Ty. (Haha.. Greg was cute, and we were super naive that night; "So do you need to set an alarm so you can feed him?" I did set an alarm, but obviously I didn't need it.) Learning to breastfeed took a few long, difficult days before we mastered it, but Ty eats like a champ now. He weighed 9 lbs, 4 oz ten days after he was born. Huzzah! And now I need him to learn to sleep like a champ-- like sleep the hours a newborn apparently needs to sleep--not necessarily though the night.

  Anyway, that was my birth story. Having a unnatural birth wasn't my plan, but it wasn't the worst thing in the world. I have a healthy baby boy, and I have recovered well from labor. All I think I need/want is eight hours of uninterrupted sleep, but for now, I'll enjoy the late night feedings and cuddles with my baby boy.

Birth Story: part 1

Week of waiting

   I love hearing birth stories, so I thought I'd share mine.  The birth of my baby didn't go as planned, but I still think it was a good experience of labor and birth.  Most importantly, I'm just happy to have a healthy baby, and that we're both doing well.  I'm splitting up the story because I like details and the story is lengthy-- like my almost 17-hour long labor and delivery.

  The week leading up to Ty's birth was very emotional for me; first of all, I was saddened by the loss of my grandfather who died on June 1.  We had learned he had stomach cancer shortly after I found out that I was pregnant, and my grandpa tried to fight it this entire time to stay alive to meet his first great-grandson.  Unfortunately, he didn't meet him here on earth or see pictures of him after he was born, but I do feel fortunate that I was able to get another ultrasound picture of Ty when I was 39 weeks along to send to my grandfather.   But I like to think that they did meet in that small window of time.

  The other reason I was so emotional the week leading up to the birth of Ty is because I was SO bummed (super grouchy and anxious pregnant lady) that I wasn't going into labor spontaneously and within the necessary time frame that midwives and doctors see best.  I walked like crazy every day to help me prepare for this baby and all that jazz just to try to get things going.  I really wanted to have a natural childbirth experience.  Friends of mine suggested that I talk to the baby to help persuade him to come out.  One of them also suggested that this baby was like his dad and that he was just chillin' in the womb.  Ha!  I think that sounds like Greg.  But then again, both of Ty's parents were two weeks overdue...

  On Wednesday, June 3, I had an ultrasound to make sure the baby was doing well.  And I can't tell you how frustrating it was to do this ultrasound because I really wanted to have the baby in my arms at this point.  Everything looked well, and baby was still healthy.  My midwife called later that day to make a plan.  We'd go into triage on Friday, June 5, to have a non-stress done and plan for induction for June 6.  Again, I hoped for a natural childbirth experience.

   On Friday morning, I hung out in triage after a very restless night. I was tired, and triage was so boring: two hours hooked up to monitors in a scary hospital room (so many scars on the wall and such).  I really wish I had brought a book with me or took a nap (seriously, the one time I don't bring a book with me?!). The plus side of this experience is that we learned that Ty was still doing well in the womb--just chillin' out.  We decided to use Cervidil-- a cervix ripening tampon--when we learned that I was only dilated to 1 cm at the top of the cervix.  So off I went home feeling crampy--thanks to Cervidil--, grouchy, and anxious.  Greg took a nap and I tried to relax and distract myself in the basement with The Three Musketeers.  I was just frustrated with my body because it wasn't doing what it should be doing.  At one point, I decided that I needed to get out of the house, so I went on a walk with my neighbor to the library to return a book.

  I experienced unpleasant cramps that whole afternoon, and by the time I went walking I had had a few contractions that I needed to stop for on my walk.  When I got home, I noticed things changed quickly.  Apparently, Cervidil can also help one go into labor.  So as I'm messaging family members on Facebook, "If I don't go into labor tonight, I'm going to be induced sometime tomorrow,"  I was having contractions that I need to breath through about every five minutes, and I started to get uncomfortable.  I'm not sure at what point I decided to curl up in a ball in bed, but soon after I went to bed Greg had to ask me, "Do we need to call the midwife now?" After we spoke to the  midwife (and I enjoyed a lovely contraction while speaking with her), Greg gave me a blessing of comfort, and we headed out the door.

   Around 8 p.m. or about three hours after I went into active labor, we went to the hospital to be reassessed in triage.  I don't think my body does well with pain because I have never trembled so much before in my life.  My arms were shaking so badly that I felt like I had Tourette syndrome (my arms shook throughout my entire labor which was really annoying quite frankly).  As we walked up to the hospital, another woman in labor was approaching with her husband.  I felt so embarrassed because my moans of pain were quite loud while she was still able to just breath deeply through her contractions.  Those hypnobabies techniques that I sporadically practiced just went out the window...  
  So once we learned I was dilated to 4 cm, we waited for my midwife in the family waiting area and tried to watch The Big Bang Theory. After we waited for her to arrive, we then had to wait for a room. I was so ready to have privacy to go through labor especially since I was noisy in going through pressure waves. Around 11:00 p.m., my midwife broke my waters which alleviated some pressure during contractions. Shortly after that, I was hooked up to an IV and started on oxytocin since my contractions still weren't strong enough. I never thought an IV could cause that much pain, but it did. The nurse had to make her second attempt at inserting the IV into my hand. Apparently the IV insertion caused A LOT of bleeding, and Greg intentionally covered my eyes so I wouldn't faint or whatever. He even got a picture...

My midwife placing my hospital ID band on me.  Unfortunately, since I had to be induced and subsequently had a transfer of care, she couldn't deliver my baby.

The IV from hell. You can't see any blood, but I went home with dried blood on parts of my hand.

 At this point, I was thoroughly exhausted, and being tethered to a pole didn't help me out with the whole natural labor idea. I wanted to take a bath, but I was tired and so were my companions. I tried to sleep in between contractions, but that was difficult. I thought if the baby was born soon, I could manage, but not having adequate sleep to push the baby out was a concern. So around 1 a.m., I took the plunge and got an epidural.  The anesthesiologist had to play "bad cop" with me. He asked if I wanted to go through with the epidural and I said "I guess." "It's a yes or no question, Suzannah." I swallowed my pride and got the epidural. I ended up getting 1 1/2 hrs of sleep while my mother-in-law and husband slept most of the night which made me super jealous (snoring through the whole night, guys!).
    So I did get to experience labor for like seven hours without medication--although I'm pretty sure Cervidil made things a bit more intense for me sooner than expected... As my midwife said to me, "You have to play the cards you are dealt, and sometimes you get a crappy hand." Well, trembling like crazy and hooked up to Oxytocin at 10 days late in my pregnancy, I think I played my best.  Ya know, whatever happens, happens.  

Part two of this story will highlight the rest of my labor and delivery as well as my recovery.

 

41 weeks

The inquires are getting a little old now and it makes me feel like there is something wrong with me; yes, I'm still pregnant and I'll be 41 weeks pregnant tomorrow.  I don't want to call anybody any more because I'm tired of inquires.

The sympathy "ah you'll be done any time soon" and "first babies are generally late" is getting super annoying.

If I haven't mentioned anything to you about having a baby it's because I haven't had a baby yet.  Don't worry; I'll say something soon to those who want to know so badly via phone, email, or facebook.

Please just leave me alone now.

Thanks,

The on-the-verge-of-tears pregnant lady