Sunday, July 24, 2011

Birthstory

I have been so busy around here but figured I needed to get this written down before I forgot details.

So early early at 0300 am we headed into the hospital. We both had gotten next to nothing for sleep because we were so nervous/excited. I was up at midnight doing last minute things that didn't matter like painting my nails and plucking my eyebrows... I think it distracted me enough to make it until 0300 when we went in. We got there and got all checked in and what not. By the time the had drawn my blood, started my IV, asked a bunch of stupid questions, it was 0430. They have standard orders on what they can/can't start depending on what my cervix was doing, so they checked me at that time and I was a 3 and 50% effaced. She suggested we do a prostaglandin gel first. They re-checked me at 0700 and no change, decided to try one more gel before starting pitocin. The gels made me feel real crampy and positive that things were making progress down there. Re-checked me at 0845... no change. So at 0900 they started the pitocin. The first downside of the pitocin is I couldn't get up and roam around like I was with the gel. The baby had to be on the monitor at all times.. unless I needed to go to the bathroom. So every 1/2 hour to hour they came in and turned the pitocin up. The contractions were getting stronger but bearable.. more tiring than anything. It got to be 12:30 and I was pretty sure I was ready for an epidural. I wanted them to check me again, just because I thought if I had made some good progress I could wait a little bit more.... NO CHANGE. So 1:00 CRNA came in and placed my epidural. Not so great of a time... I had weird scary shooting pains down my back and into my legs ( working in the Neuro ICU gives me way more information then I need to know) . Finally got through that part and started getting some relief. By 2:00 you would think the epidural would be working but it was only working on my left side. The CRNA came back and bloused me with more drugs and additional lidocaine which gave me some relief for like 30 minutes but then I could still feel my right side. Then by 03:00 my nurse was like, lets go ahead and place a foley cath, you shouldn't feel a thing. Holy crap.. the catheter hurt more than the epidural! So obviously the epidural wasn't in the right place. At 04:00 the CRNA came back and talked to us and said we really needed to take that one out and put another one in.. Ugh.. She made me feel a little better about her putting another one in when she put it into terms of.. If you have to have a c-section I can't send you to the OR with the epidural you have now. Ok ok ok.. here we go again. The 2nd epidural wasn't nearly as bad at all. I don't know if it was all the drugs/hormones but when she was putting the 2nd one in I was shaking uncontrollably. The shaking continued on and off until I had the baby too btw. So 2nd epidural in... aww relief. It was working! 05:00 the MD came in, checked me .. I was a 4 and 60%... and broke my water. Right after breaking my water she said I went to a 5 and 80%. From then on my evening was a little blurry. The contractions were still pretty intense despite my working epidural. I was having to use my pain button and bolus myself pretty frequently. By 10:00 the pain was pretty bad ( a lot in my lower back ) and they checked me... 9 and 100& ! The baby was still moving down so they wanted me to labor for another hour.. which they sat me almost straight up and down in the bed for. 11:15 comes around and I'm fully dilated and effaced and get to start pushing! I start pushing at 11:30. The pushing actually gives me so much relief from the contraction that is happening. We pushed with the nurse for 45 minutes and then she called the MD in. 15 minutes later we had our little monkey. I have to say the pushing baby part out was by far the easiest part of my whole day. He came out with his right hand up next to his head and his left arm was wrapped around the umbilical cord! The put him right onto my chest and I just cried and cried and cried. It is such a crazy amazing experience. He came out even more beautiful and more perfect then I could have ever ever imagined.

We are now home and adjusting to everything. It is a lot of work and we are both still feeling like zombies. It's already to rewarding.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

He's here

Sweet baby Monkey arrived early early Tuesday morning @ 0022! He weighed 7lbs12oz and is 22 inches long. It was a LOOOONG 15 hour labor... I will update soon with pics and birth story. He is the new love of our lives. Right now just trying to recover and catch up on sleep!

Monday, July 18, 2011

Baby Time

Well little man decided not to come all weekend. So now it's time to get things moving! It's 1230 in the morning right now and I just got up, had a light snack, and am getting ready to get in the shower. They want us to arrive at the hospital at 0300 am to get things started. I'm a bit nervous b/c the nurse/MD didn't really tell us what to expect. I wonder if they will try giving me another dose of Cervidil before any other interventions IE pitocin would be initiated. We are so excited and anxious! It's pretty crazy to be able to say our baby will be born today 7/18/2011!! I will try to keep everyone posted! We are bringing our computers to the hospital to keep our minds busy if things are slow.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Update

Well I sit here just a bit disappointed. My NP calls me yesterday morning and says since my "Bishop" score was right on edge and they were short staffed this weekend, they would not be inducing me Saturday. However she wanted me to go into the hospital to get the gel on my cervix to help ripen things... So Friday morning at 10:00 we heading up to the hospital. The MD on call checked me and I still was a 2-3 dilated and 50% effaced. The gel stayed in for about 2 hours while the monitored baby. Once the two hours were up they sent us home. They didn't even re-check my cervix which I thought was odd, but maybe was also glad they didn't because I'm afraid if it didn't help thin it out or I hadn't made progress I would have been disappointed. So know we wait all weekend for baby boy to come on his own. They did set up for me to come in Monday morning @ 03:00 a.m to be induced if baby didn't come. That's the latest and greatest folks..

Thursday, July 14, 2011

40 weeks

Headed to the docs office this morning after getting only 3 hours of sleep last night... :( I am dilated to a 3 and still 50% effaced. I started crying when I was in the office because I guess I'm so ready to be done... and I'm sleep deprived. She went ahead and stripped my membranes... which hurt SOOOO bad.. holy crap. She said it was a really good strip and I didn't see her gloves but Ang said they were bloody. SOO the plan is if I don't have this baby in the next two days I'm going in Saturday and to start getting induced. This was never my plan nor did I want to have to be induced but I'm to that point that I just want to be done. Everyone keep your fingers crossed that the stripping of membranes works and I go into labor on my own! Here is my 40 week pic!






Wednesday, July 13, 2011

bleh

Thought maybe today was the day. I couldn't go to bed last night until 0200 and then was awoken with cramps and low back ache around 0400. I've been up since... I'm exhausted but I can't nap b/c I wake up with cramps. They aren't horrible, just uncomfortable. I also haven't been able to eat ANYTHING today. I've felt nauseated and actually had to take my zofran this afternoon. ( oh and I have had the poops..tmi) I still don't feel good and wondering how am I going to get any sleep? Maybe this is early labor? Who knows... I have no idea what to expect. Ang has been up this whole time with me too bc she can't sleep and she hasn't eaten all day either but she says she thinks it's because of nerves. We have a doctors appt tomorrow morning at 0930 so maybe they will tell us it's go time! Wish us luck. I need to have this kid now or at least start feeling better. I need to post a picture too... tomorrow I will take a 40 week pic and try to post it!

Saturday, July 9, 2011

39 weeks

We are beyond ready for this little monkey to arrive. Went to the doctor Thursday and am dilated to a 2 and 40% effaced. Whoo hoo... After my exam on Thursday I had braxton hicks ALL day... literally 11:30 am till I went to sleep. I told myself if they didn't stop by morning Iwould go in and get checked out, but I woke up and they were gone! Last night at work I starting having them again but this time I was getting what I think were some real contractions. They were low period like cramps and back ache that came and went. This lasted about two hours and wasn't regular though. I'm also having more shooting groin pains/vagina pains... hopefully this means he is making his way down. Tonight will be my last night at work, which I'm totally pumped about! Then it's just a wait game for baby! Doc said they would strip my membranes next Thursday if I still hadn't had him!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

38w3d

Still here! Still no baby! Every twitch, twinge, ache, or pain makes me think... ok is it time?! My appt this past week showed that I was 1cm dilated and still pretty thick! I talk to baby boy every night and let him now that ANY time now that he wants to come out his moms will be ready for him. This coming week will be my last week of work. I work Mon, Fri, Sat and then I'm done!! Yesterday I didn't feel so hot and all day I had low back ache and low abd cramps... these continued into the night and all night last night. I couldn't sleep and felt pretty horrible. I thought... maybe just maybe this is the beginning of things... nope.. today no cramps and no back ache! I know I need to relax b.c baby will come when he is ready, it just sucks b.c I'm soooo done being pregnant!! Oh... and this is probably TMI but last week I'm 95% sure I lost my mucous plug!! It made me pretty excited.. I know this is no precursor to labor but we are moving in the right direction ppl!

A big congrats to 2 moms and a wild child as they welcomed their little ladybug into the world last week!!