Dear Olivia,Thank you so much for finally sleeping from 9:30 until 5:30. (3 nights in a row!) Mommy really appreciates it. I also love the early morning coos and cuddles we've been having. Please keep up the good work.
Love,
Mommy
Monday, June 22, 2009
Dear Olivia
Dear Olivia,Thank you so much for finally sleeping from 9:30 until 5:30. (3 nights in a row!) Mommy really appreciates it. I also love the early morning coos and cuddles we've been having. Please keep up the good work.
Love,
Mommy
Friday, June 12, 2009
Olivia's Birth Story
I woke up like normal on the morning of the 4th, tired and grumpy. I went to the bathroom and found that I lost my mucus plug. Yes, it was as disgusting as it sound. I pee'd, wiped and went "eww....that must be my mucus plug". I didn't think much of it, as the plug can fall out anytime in the last month, it is just suppose to be an indication that things are getting ready to go. I did have a just-in-case thought, so, since I hadn't packed my hospital bag yet, (hey, I still had 3 1/2 weeks to go) I gathered all the stuff I wanted to take with me that was upstairs and put it in a duffel bag in the closet. The I got ready and went to work. I didn't even wake Zalebaby up to tell him about the mucus plug. At work, someone asked me when my last day was going to be. I told them I was going to work until I went into labor. Ha-ha!
All day I had been feeling cramp-y and back achy. I never thought I was in labor, nothing was rhythmical, just a general low level cramp/ache at the end/bottom of my uterus. Around 3:00 I decided I was tired, grumpy and achy enough that I was going to go home early. I was getting kinda worried, because I was still oozing jelly-fluid and it had gone from being mostly clear to bloody and it was freaking me out. So, before going home, I thought I'd better call the Dr's office. (Where I work is between home and the Dr.'s office and I didn't want to drive all the way home to turn around and drive back to see the Dr.)
When I called the office, my doctor had just left to go to the hospital and the office told me to go and meet her there. I really didn't want to go to the hospital, I truly didn't think I was in labor and I didn't want to be the pregnant lady that cries wolf--especially since I had a scheduled Dr's appointment the next day. The nurse convinced me to go to the hospital anyway, so off I went. I called Zalebaby and gave him a heads up that I was going, but not to worry, it was just for a quick check up.
I was totally clueless.
I went in where I was told to on the hospital tour (that I went on the week before). I was checked in and sent to a maternity check-up room. It was freezing in there and deserted. It really creeped me out that there was no-one there. 4 or 5 examining rooms and a big nurse's station, no-one there but me. I waited about 10 minutes in the room they put me in until the midwife nurse showed up. She nicely explained that my office's midwife nurse was in another delivery and my doctor would be by in a little bit. Would I mind if she did an exam? She strapped me up with a fetal heart monitor and a contraction monitor, put my feet in the stirrups and did the exam.
She told me that I was 2 cm dilated and having regular contractions.
HUH?
She flabbergasted me. The little cramps that I was feeling were honest-to-goodness labor pains. The little sheet with the jagged lines doesn't lie. Even knowing that, they still didn't feel like what contractions were suppose to feel like. About 1/2 hour later the doctor came by and did an exam. She told me I was 4 cm dilated and that she was going to give me fluids with an IV and see if the contractions stop. If they stop, I can go home, if they don't, she wasn't going to do anything else to stop them, I'm far enough along to have the baby. She left and the midwife came back in with the IV and stabbed me 4 times before getting the vein (!$!@#$@!!). I hadn't been hooked up for more than 10 minutes when my water broke. While I was all alone.....on the phone with my sister. It was the weirdest feeling. I felt it pop, just like it feels when a water balloon pops in your hand....but it was inside of me. I nearly freaked out when it popped--over the sensation, the fact that the fluid was greenish black and knowing that I was going to have a baby soon. Katie freaked out over the phone and told me to call the nurse. After my water broke, I could really feel the contractions. I could feel the water pulse out of me in time with the contractions. Shudder. Such an odd feeling.
I no sooner hung up the phone on Katie then the midwife came to check on me. I told her my water broke, she looked under the sheet and got still. The scary type of still that nurses do when they don't want you to know there is a problem. (Olivia had been poo-ing in there, she wasn't supposed to be doing that) She told me she was going to get my doctor and left me there, sopping wet and in increasing pain. I'm not sure what was more distressing at the time, being wet or how much the contraction hurt. The contractions went from being irritating to holy shit that hurts as soon a my water broke. They also never seemed to stop. Long painful squeeze that stopped for a second to start all over again. The pain offended me. I was not prepared for it.
Fast forward to 9:30. I had been pushing for about an hour or so. I had been given an epidural, which didn't work completely. I had two "hot spots" where I could feel the labor pains. They hurt like hell, but at least I knew when to push. When I first started pushing, the Dr did her exam and told me that Olivia was "sunny side up" which meant she was facing outward rather than inward like she was supposed to be. So the nurses had me laying on my side to push, to try to get her to turn over. We tried both sides and she wasn't budging. When the Doctor check me at 9:30, she hadn't changed position and she was getting a severe cone head from all the pushing. The Doctor suggested getting a C-section, she opened her mouth to give me the reasons to do it and I was already saying yes, ok, lets go. I was tired, hungry and hurting, I didn't care what way she was coming out, I just wanted to meet Olivia.
The Doctor wanted to do a C-section for a couple of reasons.
I finally got to hold Olivia about 12ish while I was in recovery. She was born at 10:30. It seemed like forever until I got her, but hold her I did and welcomed her to the world with a boob. Not that I had any milk yet, but hold her and love on her I did.
All day I had been feeling cramp-y and back achy. I never thought I was in labor, nothing was rhythmical, just a general low level cramp/ache at the end/bottom of my uterus. Around 3:00 I decided I was tired, grumpy and achy enough that I was going to go home early. I was getting kinda worried, because I was still oozing jelly-fluid and it had gone from being mostly clear to bloody and it was freaking me out. So, before going home, I thought I'd better call the Dr's office. (Where I work is between home and the Dr.'s office and I didn't want to drive all the way home to turn around and drive back to see the Dr.)
When I called the office, my doctor had just left to go to the hospital and the office told me to go and meet her there. I really didn't want to go to the hospital, I truly didn't think I was in labor and I didn't want to be the pregnant lady that cries wolf--especially since I had a scheduled Dr's appointment the next day. The nurse convinced me to go to the hospital anyway, so off I went. I called Zalebaby and gave him a heads up that I was going, but not to worry, it was just for a quick check up.
I was totally clueless.
I went in where I was told to on the hospital tour (that I went on the week before). I was checked in and sent to a maternity check-up room. It was freezing in there and deserted. It really creeped me out that there was no-one there. 4 or 5 examining rooms and a big nurse's station, no-one there but me. I waited about 10 minutes in the room they put me in until the midwife nurse showed up. She nicely explained that my office's midwife nurse was in another delivery and my doctor would be by in a little bit. Would I mind if she did an exam? She strapped me up with a fetal heart monitor and a contraction monitor, put my feet in the stirrups and did the exam.
She told me that I was 2 cm dilated and having regular contractions.
HUH?
She flabbergasted me. The little cramps that I was feeling were honest-to-goodness labor pains. The little sheet with the jagged lines doesn't lie. Even knowing that, they still didn't feel like what contractions were suppose to feel like. About 1/2 hour later the doctor came by and did an exam. She told me I was 4 cm dilated and that she was going to give me fluids with an IV and see if the contractions stop. If they stop, I can go home, if they don't, she wasn't going to do anything else to stop them, I'm far enough along to have the baby. She left and the midwife came back in with the IV and stabbed me 4 times before getting the vein (!$!@#$@!!). I hadn't been hooked up for more than 10 minutes when my water broke. While I was all alone.....on the phone with my sister. It was the weirdest feeling. I felt it pop, just like it feels when a water balloon pops in your hand....but it was inside of me. I nearly freaked out when it popped--over the sensation, the fact that the fluid was greenish black and knowing that I was going to have a baby soon. Katie freaked out over the phone and told me to call the nurse. After my water broke, I could really feel the contractions. I could feel the water pulse out of me in time with the contractions. Shudder. Such an odd feeling.
I no sooner hung up the phone on Katie then the midwife came to check on me. I told her my water broke, she looked under the sheet and got still. The scary type of still that nurses do when they don't want you to know there is a problem. (Olivia had been poo-ing in there, she wasn't supposed to be doing that) She told me she was going to get my doctor and left me there, sopping wet and in increasing pain. I'm not sure what was more distressing at the time, being wet or how much the contraction hurt. The contractions went from being irritating to holy shit that hurts as soon a my water broke. They also never seemed to stop. Long painful squeeze that stopped for a second to start all over again. The pain offended me. I was not prepared for it.
I called Zalebaby, told him it was time to come to the hospital and what else to put in my hospital bag and what else to bring. I neglected to tell him he could leave most of it in the car until after the baby was born.....when he finally got to me, he looked like we were going on vacation for a week.
After I called Zalebaby, my phone rang and it was Marian, the CFO of the company, calling me to ask where her keys were (on her desk where I told her they were...4 hours ago) I told her I what was going on and she asked if Zalebaby was there, when I told her not yet, she promptly got in the car and came to sit with me. She was so sweet. I had no idea she was coming and she got to me the same time as Zalebaby. Since he hadn't eaten all day, she went and got him a sandwich. By the time she got back, the nurses had moved me to a birthing suite and I was fully dilated and ready to push, we were just waiting on the doctor to come to the room.
Funny thing about that sandwich. Zalebaby and I had been left alone in the birthing room and he decided to eat it. He brings it over to me, a simple ham sub, and the smell of it had me hollering at him to find me a trash can, in which I proceeded to toss my cookies. Over the smell of a ham sub---while I was starving. I wanted something to eat in the worst way. I had lunch at 12 and it was now 8 pm. I was soo hungry. For future reference, birthing tables have a shelf on the side with a kidney shaped bowl, for just such an occasion. Just so you know.Fast forward to 9:30. I had been pushing for about an hour or so. I had been given an epidural, which didn't work completely. I had two "hot spots" where I could feel the labor pains. They hurt like hell, but at least I knew when to push. When I first started pushing, the Dr did her exam and told me that Olivia was "sunny side up" which meant she was facing outward rather than inward like she was supposed to be. So the nurses had me laying on my side to push, to try to get her to turn over. We tried both sides and she wasn't budging. When the Doctor check me at 9:30, she hadn't changed position and she was getting a severe cone head from all the pushing. The Doctor suggested getting a C-section, she opened her mouth to give me the reasons to do it and I was already saying yes, ok, lets go. I was tired, hungry and hurting, I didn't care what way she was coming out, I just wanted to meet Olivia.
The Doctor wanted to do a C-section for a couple of reasons.
1) Olivia's poo was a hazard to her lungs
2) She was facing the wrong way
3) My hip bones were not opening wide enough to let her pass through in the direction she was facing, causing the big cone head
4) Didn't want me to push for 4 hours or so before having to do an emergency c-section
5) This is just speculation---she didn't want to be in the hospital for another 5 hours (I was her only patient that night)
Like I said, I happily agreed. The hospital staff got the OR ready and I was wheeled in. I was moved to the operating table and the anaestheologist put my arms in padded blocks so I was in a T position and strapped me down. I needed it because the medicine for the c-section was giving me the shakes. It also made me feel like I had a pillow under my knees. I didn't, but it felt so weird I asked the anaestheologist about it. I could feel them open me up and pulling/tugging on me. Zalebaby, who was sitting by my head, stood up in time to see them pull Olivia out. She immediately starting crying and they whisked her over to the triage cart to vacuum out her lungs and do all the other things they do to newborns. The cart was behind me to my left and I kept craning my head around to try and see her. I wanted to see her in the worst way. Zalebaby was over there, watching her. I was so tired and all I wanted to do was hold her. They brought her to me for a moment while the Doctor and mid-wife were sewing me up, but I couldn't touch her, as I was still strapped down. Then they took her away to do more tests. I fell asleep on the table.
I finally got to hold Olivia about 12ish while I was in recovery. She was born at 10:30. It seemed like forever until I got her, but hold her I did and welcomed her to the world with a boob. Not that I had any milk yet, but hold her and love on her I did.
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