Fast and Furious - Sis's Birth Story

Baby Sis arrived yesterday, beautiful and perfect, after a labor that started out very ho-hum and ended up with a crazy fast finish.  I had agreed to be induced yesterday morning, fully believing that she would arrive before then.  Of course she didn't, so we got ourselves all ready and came on over to L&D.  

Because of my history of a c-section with Miss, it isn't safe for me to be induced with pitocin.  That is entirely fine with me, as I would prefer not to have medication said to make contractions even more painful than they are naturally.  So, for me, an induction consisted of having my water broken and hoping labor would start.  I felt pretty confident that it would.  In fact, I was surprised by how slowly it got going.  I kind of expected the contractions to start up right away.  They didn't.  But once they did, things happened fast.

My doc came up and broke my water at around 8am.  I had to stay in bed to be monitored for an hour.  

Then I could get up and move around, though I still had to carry the monitor with me.  I put my lovely hospital-issued "track shoes" on and my husband and I got to walking.

We walked for three hours, almost nonstop.  We did have to pause for a minute after each lap around the L&D floor so our nurse could monitor Sis's heart rate, because the mobile monitor wasn't working well while I walked.  After three hours, we took a little break.  I didn't want to stop, because every time I did, my contractions, such as they were, would slow down, but we were hungry and just needed to sit for a few.  So I hung out on the labor ball, my hubby got lunch and I got some Italian ice and Jello (and snuck a few of his fries), and we took a short break.

We got up and walked some more after lunch.  Labor had started, in that I was having somewhat regular contractions, but they were pretty mild and my husband and I continued to joke and chat as we walked.  After a bit we had to stop again for monitoring because of a deceleration in Sis's heart rate, so I sat on the ball some more.  As you can see, my labor was still not too difficult at this point.

In fact, my husband and I were lamenting how slowly things were moving and trying to gear ourselves up mentally for another really long labor like Lass's.  At 1:30 the nurse said we could get up and walk again but she wanted to check my progress first.  I didn't really want her to, because I just knew I had not progressed much, but I let her anyway because I'm cooperative like that.  I was only 5cm.  I had been 4cm when I started at 8am.  This did not encourage me.

But things began to change rather quickly after that.  We got up and walked a bit more, though I think we only made it one and a half laps or so.  We were going much more slowly and I was having to stop for each contraction.  The contractions were coming much more closely together and I told my husband we needed to go back to the room.  When we got there I sat back on the ball and things got serious.

We weren't joking and chatting anymore, and by about 2:30 it was all I could do to stay focused through each contraction.  As he was during my labor with Lass, my husband was awesome.

I decided I wanted to try something different, so I asked to get into the tub.  The nurse again said she wanted to check me before I did.  I was feeling kind of discouraged and thinking I was not going to be able to continue without an epidural the way things were going if she told me I hadn't progressed much, but I agreed to let her check me.  As soon as I stood up, she almost didn't need to.  I immediately had an overwhelming, all-consuming need to push.  This urge came with two conflicting but equally strong thoughts, "Oh my gosh this is pure torture!" and "Woohoo!  I'm almost done!"  The nurse checked me and sure enough, I was ready to get the job done.  Unfortunately, the room was not set up and my doctor wasn't there, so I had to wait a bit before I was allowed to.  This was the worst part.  My husband and nurse kept reminding me how to breathe to keep myself from pushing.  The best thing that my husband said to me, many times during that short period of intense labor, was "This will end.  Just get through this one contraction."  That was the perfect thing to say to help.  Even so, it seemed to take forever (though I'm sure it was only 10 minutes or so) before everything was ready and my doctor was there.  Two or three contractions later, Sis was born!

Then she peed on me.

Born at 3:06 pm.  9 lbs, 7 oz, 20 inches of gorgeous.  As you can see she is just perfect.

I am going home later today after my husband gets off work.  I can't wait to see my big girls and let them meet their baby Sis.  I am so thoroughly blessed.

One Year

One year ago, I was arriving at the hospital, in labor with Lass.

I was excited about her impending arrival but scared and nervous at the same time. I had only been in labor with Miss for about four or five hours before I had a c-section, so I had very little experience and naturally I was apprehensive about my plan to have an unmedicated VBAC.

Little did I know how long that night and the next morning would turn out to be. Little did I know that Lass would be 10 and a half pounds of perfect. Little did I know how much joy she would bring to my life and our family. One year ago, when I got to the hospital, ready to get the show on the road and meet our little Lass, I had some idea about the joy part at least. I knew she would be wonderful and we would love her. I knew it would be amazing to have two little girls and a sister for Miss. But that night, one year ago, in my last few (okay, many and agonizing!) hours as a mommy of one little girl, I couldn't even imagine how much. How wonderful. How big our love. How amazing.

Tonight I'm reflecting on that night, just before Lass came into our lives and made our happy family happier. I'm remembering being a little scared about how Lass's arrival might affect Miss. I'm smiling at how it did affect her, and at what a fantastic big sister she is. Tonight I'm choking up thinking that my baby will be a year old tomorrow. I'm cringing slightly remembering the pain of getting her here (who the heck says you forget that, by the way?). I'm reminiscing about how great my husband was and what a great team we were that night.

Tomorrow Lass will be one, and I'm all sappy and sentimental thinking about it tonight. It's amazing the difference one year makes in the life of a family. I remember feeling like Miss grew up practically overnight between the time I put her to bed on this night one year ago and the time she walked into my hospital room to meet her baby sister.

This is Miss, one year ago.

This is her a few weeks ago.

I love to see how much she's grown.

I mentioned above how it seemed like Miss grew up almost overnight when Lass was born. Today was another day that made her suddenly seem so much more grown up.

Today she went for a visit to her preschool. Preschool. It wasn't her official first day of school. That will be after Labor Day. Today she just went to check things out and was only there for about an hour and a half. She seemed to be having a blast when I left (she gave me a kiss and ran back to playing with blocks and toy dinosaurs with another little boy) and when I came back (she was happily drawing a picture). Her teacher said she had a little rough patch, but over all did great. When I asked Miss how she liked school she said, "I cwied because my want you." Stab to the heart. Twist. Gulp. I have to remember how much fun she seemed to be having for the majority of the time she was there. She was very interested in the science area with the birds' nests, rocks, seeds, and other various objects from nature (she couldn't stop talking about the birds' nests and seeds). She got very excited when we talked about trying to find something at the farm next week that she might be able to take to school to add to the collection. She talked about new friends she got to play with. I know she's going to love school. She's so confident and inquisitive. It will be great for her to have her own "thing" to do twice a week, without me. Hopefully her first "full day" (three hours) will be a little easier in a couple of weeks.

Lass and I will stay nearby just in case. Today we went two doors down to a bagel shop and met up with the Daddy (who is on nights this week and came from work) for breakfast and coffee. In my last post I mentioned that Lass was feeling under the weather. When she woke up with a fever again on Saturday I took her to the doctor and found out she had strep throat! I suspect she picked it up on the plane home from Florida. She's been taking her antibiotics and is back to her happy little self now.

My little almost-one-year-old at breakfast with Mommy and Daddy:

A Birth Story - Lass's Arrival

I know that I always like to hear about other people's experiences in the childbirth process. Here is the story of Lass's birth:

On Monday, August 23 I started having strong regular contractions at around 5:30 pm. I began timing them at about 6 while we were eating dinner on the deck. I knew the contractions felt strong and different from those I had had previously (I had to stop and breathe through them as they got stronger) and was pretty sure labor had started. I gave Miss a bath and put her to bed. When the contractions continued to get stronger during this time, I told my hubby to get our things in the car, I called our babysitter and the on-call nurse, and we left for the hospital.

When we got to the hospital, I was monitored for a bit to make sure I was really in labor and we finally got into our room around 9:30 pm. Here I am in the triage room still:

In our room at about 11 pm:

We got a big yoga ball and I sat on that for a little while and then we went out to walk around the hallways. My contractions were definitely stronger and closer together when we walked the halls, but I was more comfortable when I was sitting on the ball, so we alternated these two things for a while. When I had a contraction, I faced my hubby and put my hands around his neck and kind of “danced” with him and breathed through the contraction. After a while I tried lying on my side and trying to get some rest, as it was getting really late and I was very tired. I continued to alternate resting and walking for a few hours. Then I got into the tub for about an hour and a half or so in the very early morning. The nurse said that the on-call doctor would probably want to break my water around 7 or so in the morning to get things moving, so at that point I decided to try to stay in bed and get as much rest as possible for the last few hours, since I figured I would not get much rest after my water was broken. Through all of this, my hubby was great, reminding me to breathe slowly through the contractions and relax.

Some time in the wee hours of the morning:

The on call doctor came in and broke my water at about 7:30 am (I think). At that point I was only 4 cm dilated. Of course, once my water was broken my contractions became much stronger. My hubby really had to help me get through them at this point. I got back into the tub for a while and sat on the ball some more. I started to feel a little unsure that I would be able to continue without pain relief. I think I said to my hubby a few times something like, “I don’t think I can do this.” He continually encouraged me and told me that I could do it. It was probably around 10 am when the nurse offered to check my cervix to see how far I had progressed. We agreed, hoping I had made progress and it would help me to feel more certain that I could proceed without medication. When the nurse checked me she said I was almost 7 cm, which really helped me to get my “second wind” and I again felt certain I could do it. A while later the nurse checked me again and said I was 8, almost 9 cm, with just a bit of cervix left. Around that time I started really feeling the urge to push with each contraction, though I couldn’t push because I wasn’t completely dilated. The nurse suggested I try getting on my hands and knees or lying in the “recovery position” (on my side with top leg forward) to help get my cervix to dilate the rest of the way. The “recovery position” was very uncomfortable and made my contractions more painful, so I spent quite a while on my hands and knees. I was so tired I almost dozed off and face-planted several times while in that position. The urge to push continued to get stronger, and I would say this was the worst part of my labor, needing to push but not being able to. I think this went on for at least 45 minutes or so. The nurse checked my cervix a couple of times with minimal change. Finally she said she could check with the doctor about whether she could stretch my cervix enough to allow me to push, and she called the on-call doctor (my doc was on vacation). The on call doc happened to be the doctor I had seen the previous day for my appointment, so I was familiar with her, which was nice. She came in and said that she would be able to stretch my cervix enough that I could start to push, so I did. It took a few tries to get into the right position and push the right way, but I got it pretty quickly and seemed to be making good progress. I got great feedback from the doctor and from my hubby that I was doing a great job, which really helped. I was so tired I was dozing off in between contractions. I pushed for about an hour and a half, according to my hubby, though it didn't really seem that long to me (maybe because I was sleeping between contractions??). Finally:

As soon as she was born, the doctor placed Lass on my chest, which was amazing. It was the best feeling ever. Unfortunately, she was not breathing very well right away and she wasn't really crying, so I didn't get to hold her for long, but the few moments I did were the best.

They had to take her and do lots of suctioning to help improve her color and get her breathing better. She did start to look better pretty quickly and she started crying more, which was good.

Man, she looks huge in these photos.

They ended up needing to take her to the nursery for monitoring for a few hours, but she turned out to be just fine and was back in the room with us after about two hours.

I've written a dissertation and earned a PhD. I've written a book. I've worked in various prisons with dangerous criminals. I have trained for and run two marathons. Going through 20 hours of labor and giving birth to a nearly 10 and a half pound baby without any pain medication was by far the hardest thing I've ever done. I could not have done it without the help of my husband. No way. It was an incredible experience to go through with him, and I am so glad I got the opportunity have that and that our girl was healthy and perfect.