25 September 2015

Rory Ann: The birth story

I had most of this post sitting in draft form and today I came across my hospital pictures and couldn't remember why I never posted it. Regardless, there is so much about Rory's birth I want to remember and I enjoyed reading about other people's experiences before I went through it, so here it is. 

I was overdue, (as you all knew) and dying to meet my sweet girl.
Then I went to the doctor's office on Monday to get a check up.
The office ladies were rooting for me hoping my labor had progressed substantially. [I was huge...]
It had- but not substantially, and I was dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced.
I hadn't really made up my mind on the whole induction option yet.
My mom was induced with all four babies because she just didn't go into labor on her own,
but then there's people that hate pitocin, and others that had dying placentas because they were overdue. I felt comfortable with the idea of being induced, but part of me wanted that experience of going into labor on my own (for no other reason than I wanted it).
So when my doctor offered, I asked his opinion. I love and totally trusted my OB, he was this sweet old man that had been delivering babies for years and this was actually his last year practicing.
So I asked. He was totally polite and didn't push me either way, but did say he really prefers not to let women go more than a week overdue because of the complications that can come after that point.
I told him I thought that would be just fine if he thought my body was ready for it. He assured me I was a prime candidate for an smooth induction and had his sweet nurse call the hospital to see what they had available.

So six in the morning two days later it was. It was not exactly the way I had it pictured. I was totally calm, and walked into the hospital with my hair and makeup on, in no pain, to tell the lady at the  desk I was there to have a baby. They got me set up in the labor/delivery room and after a couple of hours they started me on pitocin. My labor didn't progress much those first two hours or so, but then my doctor came in and broke my water.

I think because I had only progressed like a half centimeter the first two hours before my doctor broke my water, they assumed I wouldn't progress much and didn't check me for a while. Contractions were getting really intense and the nurse asked if I was ready for an epidural [I initially wasn't sure if I wanted one because i wasn't sure how the process would be for me]. I asked her how much longer she guessed I would be in labor. Because if this was going to go on for 5 more hours... then yes please give me some meds, but if I only had an hour left I felt like I could do it on my own. She kind of chuckled and said this was my first baby and it would likely be several more hours, so I had her order the epidural. By the time the anesthesiologist got there, I was a 7.5 and the nurse was shocked and began to refer to my labor as "fast and furious" as well as compliment me on my pain tolerance [she had no idea I was that far along].  I loved the little doctor who gave me my epidural, and it was actually totally fine for me. From that point on, I felt no pain until the end when Rory was about to make her debut.

At one point, Rory's heart rate started to drop more than they liked between contractions. They took me off the pitocin drip and gave me an amnioinfusion which is basically where they pump water back in with Rory due to relieve cord compression. I had never heard of this before, and obviously asked what was going on. The nurse explained that often the baby will press up against the umbilical cord [or grab it with their tiny hands] and cut off their supply, which puts them under stress. So basically they pump water back in to allow them to move around a little and hopefully release the pressure on the cord. The procedure works often, but she explained that if not they may have to take Rory by C-section. I was understandably a little nervous, but everything worked out really well in our case. Rory released the pressure, her heart rate stabilized, and labor continued.

My labor stalled for about an hour at a 9, but after some exercises and waiting, Rory was born at 5:30pm.  She was born screaming and feisty, as I have a feeling she will always be. And the nurses shouted, "that is not a small baby!" as they whisked her away to the scale.

We are sure glad she came, and that she's here, and for a smooth and [relatively] quick induction and birth. Birth is no joke [nor is recovery for that matter] but it's a worthwhile price to pay and I already have forgotten most of the pain and discomfort associated. Cheers to the pioneers who did this with nothing. Grateful we live in a day and age where amnioinfusion and induction are even possibilities to help us have healthy babies when things don't go as planned.














2 comments:

  1. tay this was beautiful :) can't wait to meet baby girl!

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  2. I especially love my maniacal grin like "She's finally here!! I want to eat her." But no really, this is beautiful. thanks for sharing!

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