Friday, November 11, 2005

My Daughter's Birth Story

My husband and I had decided quickly after our first baby was born that we wanted another as soon as possible. Because our son was so big and it took me so long to recover from the c-section I felt like I had missed out on the newborn stage. I felt jipped and we wanted another newborn. We wanted all our children to be close together, get them done and over with if you know what I mean.

Because I was nursing my son, I didn't have a cycle till he was 10 months old. And boom, we got pregnant again. We found out we were pregnant about a week before my son's 1st birthday. We were really excited, and figured out that meant this baby would be due in July of 2004, they'd be 19 months apart. We went up to Idaho to spend Thanksgiving with my husband's family. We wanted to wait a little bit before telling everyone the news, so we kept the secret to ourselves. Thanksgiving night I came down with a stomach flu, then my baby, and my sister-in-law, my husband, and my father-in-law. It was a wonderful time!

I planned on making the announcement of this new baby at Christmas time. My in-laws were planning on coming down. I made two iron-on t-shirts for my son to wrap and put under the tree. The first said "I'm going to be a Big Brother", and the second said "The Big Brother". Since my in-laws weren't going to be here ON christmas day but a day or two after we would only have that one present under the tree along with all the presents for the rest of the family. They'd see that present under the tree addressed to Will and they'd say "oh, theres another present for him." I'd casually say, "oh why don't you go ahead and open that for him". They'd open it, and see the t-shirts and be really surprised and excited. Well, it ended up that only my father-in-law was able to come down, so we had him open it. He saw the t-shirts, and was indeed surprised, but he also said "how did you keep this a secret at Thanksgiving? You know Mom did suspect something when you got sick". But I really did have the stomach flu just like everyone else did.

I spent three whole days going through the phone book looking for a doctor. It had to be a woman, in private practice (or at least her own office), willing to do a vbac, and taking new patients. Finally I found one.

I had the first ultrasound on February 13th 2005. We had to go to the hospital to have it done. I kept expecting the technican to ask us if we wanted to know the sex of the baby. Thats what they did with our son in Phoenix, so just assumed this person would do the same thing. Did it come to a surprise when she started to wipe off my belly and say okay, you're done, without ever asking us the question. So I asked her "So, what was the sex?" She said "Oh, well you didn't ask at the beginning, so I didn't check". I was fuming! I said "Well, I'm asking now!" This woman was the biggest meany-face (not the word I want to use, but you get it) I had ever met. She was rough, and pushy, and impersonal throughout the whole exam. She tried to see what the sex was but the baby was in the wrong position. I left that ultrasound room in tears. Not only was I treated poorly, but the due date of July 8th was a little off. They pushed my due date back to July 20th.

My doctor was very sympathetic, and requested that I get another ultrasound in a few weeks to see verify that the due date should be changed. She also thought it would be nice to give me a better experience and see what the sex would be.

I went back in for another ultrasound, and the same technican was there again. I thought I was going to start crying before it even started! She looked at my chart and said "we've already done this, why are we doing it again?" I told her "the doctor wanted to verify that the measurements are correct so they can officially change my due date." She gave a heavy sigh and said "okay fine." I also said "Okay and I'm asking you upfront, I would like to know the sex of the baby this time." She then responded after looking at my chart again "we did last time but the baby wasn't in a good postition." I said "Yah after you stopped and I requested that you look for the sex." I wasn't going to back off this time, my husband had to work and I had a 15 month old with me as well. She was just as rude, in a hurry, rough and pushy as she was the first time. And then she said "I think its a girl, but I wouldn't go betting at the horse races on it."

I left the room, mad at this woman for being so rude, but also scared to death that I might be having a girl. I had always planned on having boys, I grew up a tomboy and the only girl, I didn't know what it was like to have a girl.

Throughout the pregnancy I was very concerned that this baby would run as big as my son did. Remember, he was 9 lbs 1 oz. I was planning on a vbac. I worried about the fact that my previous doctor said I had a heart shaped pelvis and wondered if that was what made my son turn breech. And I worried that the back pain that I experienced with my first pregnancy, and was starting to get with this pregnancy might also have something to do with his turning breech. I requested from the doctor a name for a chiropractor. I went for adjustments throughout the pregnancy.

July 9th, 2004 the day after my original due date my husband and I went to a concert with some friends at the zoo. We saw Indigo Girls! It was so much fun.

Because of my concern about size, the doctor scheduled me for another ultrasound around 38 weeks. To determine the size, because of my bad experiences at the hospital, they sent me to a private ultrasound lab. It was so wonderful, they even did the cool 4D ultrasounds. They estimated the size of the baby being around 7 1/2 pounds, (which is what the doctor had guessed just by measuring my abdomen externally), and were finally able to determine that I was definitely having a girl. We had also discussed if the baby was of good size possibly scheduling an induction rather than waiting for me to go into labor on my own. We both felt that because I was having a V-bac it would be better if I were induced so I could be monitored throughout the process. My induction was scheduled for Friday July 16th. On Tuesday July 13th I received a call from my doctors office that my doctor was leaving town for Wisconsin for a family emergency, and that there was probably little chance that she would be back for my induction on Friday. The nurse told me they would be calling the hospital to cancel the induction. I was really frustrated. I went in for my normal checkup on wednesday and saw the Midwife in my doctors office. (who by the way was awesome and if my insurance had allowed I probably would have seen her the entire time). As of Wednesday July 14th, I was showing no progress. She said that if nothing happened between then and the following Tuesday for my next appt with the Doctor that they would schedule me for an induction.

My mom had flown in on Wednesday afternoon so she could help out with Will, since I was supposed to be having the baby that weekend, and would be staying for two weeks. Thursday it was like close to 100 degrees, I drove our Aerostar Minivan that didn't have working air conditioning to go pick up my husband from work so we could go to furniture stores to look at new dining tables. I remember the store we decided to buy from, one of the salespeople asking me when I was due. I told her not until the 20th. She wished me good luck.

Friday morning at 1:30am I woke up to having contractions. It felt like really bad menstral cramps that were centered around my c-section incision. I tried to sleep a little longer, and didn't want to wake up my husband yet. After a few more hours, and not being able to sleep I started tracking the contractions. They were 10 minutes apart but around 3:30am were getting much stronger and were 5 minutes apart. I woke up my sleeping husband. The first thing he said was "darn there goes all the things we had planned to do today!" And then he fell back asleep! Can you believe that? I got my things together, and got dressed. Tried to sleep a little more but really couldn't. The pain was all around my incision. I had read in all the books that contraction pain felt like a rolling sensation from the top of the uterus to the bottom. Mine felt like lightning strikes right at my c-section scar. At 4:30am, with the contractions being about 3 minutes apart I woke him up AGAIN and told him that he needed to take me to the hospital. He got up and Showered, can you believe that? I'm in pain and he's taking his time in the shower? :-) We woke up my mom and told her we were going to the hospital.

We arrive at the hospital and go up to the OB floor. I go to sign in and there my name was on the list. The doctors office had never called the hospital to cancel my induction and they were expecting me at 5am. Thats when I arrived, 5am! They had my room ready for me and everything. We get all settled in the room, and I go get changed into the hospital gown. The nurse checks me at 5:30am and I was 2 centimeters dialated. Right after the nurse left I felt my water break, but wasn't sure thats what had happened.

After my water broke my contractions were still 5 minutes apart but the strength of them had dimished dramatically. She said that I could either continue like this or that I could be given a pitocin to help things along, but she gave me this big warning that there was a higher risk of uterine rupture with women that were given pitocin than those that weren't. The doctor left, and my husband and I discussed what we should do. We decided that I should get the pitocin.

At about 8:30am the new shift started and since my regular doctor was in Wisconsin, the back-up doctors were the ones that attended me. At 9am or so the new doctor on shift came in the check me. I had been on Pitocin for a few hours and was not doing very well. Every contraction was like fire and lightning being thrown right at my incision and I felt like I was going to rip open. I couldn't handle the pain. The doctor said I was still at only 2 centimeters. I told her that I thought my water had broke shortly after I had arrived at the hospital. The nurse tested for it, and my suspicion had been confirmed. The doctor said since my water had broke, and I was on pitocin there was no reason why I couldn't get an epidural right then even though I was only 2 centimeters dialated. The anethesiologist came in about 30 minutes later and gave me my epidural. I was SO greatful!

The rest of the day I was able to relax a little, and gain some strength. I labored all day and all night. As I progressed the left side of my incision (where I believe it tore a little more than the doctor had cut when my son was born) was hurting A LOT! So every few hours the nurse and my husband would rotate me from my right side to my left side (and back) so the pain meds to concentrate on that side. Farther on in the night, with every contraction my baby's heart rate would drop. The nurse suggested that I be put on oxygen. Because I am a little claustrophobic Shane requested that they use the nose tubes, but the nurse said it wasn't neccessary that the mask be right on my face. I was able to just let it rest on the pillow close to my nose.

At 11 pm I was 4 centimeters dialated. The nurse and doctor expected that it would still be awhile. It seemed like the epidural was starting to wear off and I was beginning to feel a lot of pressure. At 1 am the nurse checked me again and I was 10 centimeters and plus 1. She started to get me set up to start pushing. I did a little bit of pushing with the nurse, and then at 1:15am the doctor came in and we got down to business. I pushed for 1 hour 45 minutes before my baby girl was born. My daughter was born at 3:03 am on July 17th. 7 pounds, 12 1/2 ounces, 20 1/2 inches long. She had quite the egg-head, and the first thing I noticed was the red mark on her eyelid and the line on her top lip. The same line that runs between my nose and top lip.


I had tested postive for group B strep earlier on in the pregnancy, so was required to stay in the hospital for three days so the baby could be monitored. About an hour after the delivery (or at least it seemed like it was an hour, maybe it was longer than that) I was wheeled up to the 5th floor for recovery. My little girl stayed in the room with me. The only time she went to the nursery was to be cleaned up, weighed, measured, and given her first shots. On Monday, July 19th I was supposed to go home, but that morning the pediatrician had come in and thought my baby was showing a lot of jaundice. We sat around in the hospital room waiting to receive the billiblanket we were supposed to take home with her. At 5pm, we were fed up with waiting, talked with the head nurse and checked ourselves out. We told the nurse if they guy comes to deliver the billiblanket he was to turn around and deliver it to our house instead, and with that we left!

Over the next week I had to take my little girl in to get her toes pricked to test her blood. They wanted to see if her jaundice was improving. It was so frustrating. To me she didn't seem any worse then my son had been. But then again, we moved when he was only a week old, he probably slipped through the cracks. She had to sleep under that light for 5 days at home. She was supposed to be under the light at all times except for feedings and diaper changes. It was so hard not being able to hold and cuddle her. I felt like I was being robbed of my newborn cuddling time again!

Because my mom and all my inlaws had come down a few days after this baby's birth my friend decided to throw my baby shower AFTER the birth rather than before. I am so glad she did, my family was able to be there. They had missed the baby shower for my son and I didn't want them to miss another one as well.

She was such a good baby, she would sleep for 7 hour stretches, and hardly every cried. She was born exactly 5 days shy of my son turning 20 months old. He was excited about "the baby", but wasn't really sure. One minute he would be giving her kisses, and the next minute he'd smack her across the head. Poor thing, she quickly learned how to play the victim or "damsel in distress". I sure hope she learns how to be a tough girl as she gets older.


Posted by ABQ Mom :: 11/11/2005 02:32:00 PM :: 2 Comments:

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