Friday, December 17, 2010
Birth Story-Part 2
Because I had dilated from a 1 to a 4 so quickly, I was really hurting at this point in labor, so the nurse gave me some stadol which was an interesting drug. She described it as drinking a 6 pack of beer all at once (which I've never done by the way)--I can see how that would be accurate though. It didn't take the pain away, but it did calm me down enough that I could seem to tolerate it a little bit better.
Around 11pm the anesthesiologist came to put my epidural in. She is someone I work with all the time, and she lightened the mood greatly, which was amazing. Getting the epidural was one of my biggest fears, but everyone told me that I would be in so much pain that it wouldn't matter--again, very true :) It was in within 10 minutes and the pain relief began. I could still feel my contractions, but they were much much more tolerable, just more of an uncomfortable pressure. They broke my water at 1am, and I seemed to stall at a 5 for a couple of hours. They considered starting pitocin to speed things up, but my doctor said to just let me wait another hour to see what happened. Sure enough, one hour later, I was a 7. Things progressed pretty normally from there on out. Around 6am I started to feel nauseous again, and the nurse checked me and I was dilated to a 10. Instead of pushing right away, they allowed me to "labor down"--waited just an hour and let my body push the baby down further into my pelvis.
Around 7:15am my dr came in and we did a few test pushes and determined it was go-time. Pushing was a weird sensation. I had the epidural numbness still, but could still feel the urge to push, which was nice. I pushed for about an hour and Chloe was born at 820am weighing in at 6lbs 14oz and measuring 20.5in. It was the most amazing feeling seeing her when she came out, all slimy and blue but the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. The entire staff at the hospital cheered and we had the next hour to just get to know each other--she was VERY awake which was great. I did have a 2nd degree tear, but got a few stitches and have felt fine. Keith did amazing through the entire thing, and would probably describe seeing the birth of his child as nothing short of a miracle.
We are in love with our little girl to say the least. She is changing every day already, and she's only 5 days old!! I can't even begin to imagine how fast time is going to fly, so I'm going to get off here and enjoy her :) We would appreciate your prayers for sleep, health and just a safe holiday season. Keith goes back to work on Monday, so pray that mom and Chloe keep it together--with help from Grandma and aunt Connie, I'm sure :) Thank you in advance for your prayers, both the ones you have prayed for our family during my pregnancy and the ones you will pray in the future--stay tuned for pics of our little princess :)
Around 11pm the anesthesiologist came to put my epidural in. She is someone I work with all the time, and she lightened the mood greatly, which was amazing. Getting the epidural was one of my biggest fears, but everyone told me that I would be in so much pain that it wouldn't matter--again, very true :) It was in within 10 minutes and the pain relief began. I could still feel my contractions, but they were much much more tolerable, just more of an uncomfortable pressure. They broke my water at 1am, and I seemed to stall at a 5 for a couple of hours. They considered starting pitocin to speed things up, but my doctor said to just let me wait another hour to see what happened. Sure enough, one hour later, I was a 7. Things progressed pretty normally from there on out. Around 6am I started to feel nauseous again, and the nurse checked me and I was dilated to a 10. Instead of pushing right away, they allowed me to "labor down"--waited just an hour and let my body push the baby down further into my pelvis.
Around 7:15am my dr came in and we did a few test pushes and determined it was go-time. Pushing was a weird sensation. I had the epidural numbness still, but could still feel the urge to push, which was nice. I pushed for about an hour and Chloe was born at 820am weighing in at 6lbs 14oz and measuring 20.5in. It was the most amazing feeling seeing her when she came out, all slimy and blue but the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. The entire staff at the hospital cheered and we had the next hour to just get to know each other--she was VERY awake which was great. I did have a 2nd degree tear, but got a few stitches and have felt fine. Keith did amazing through the entire thing, and would probably describe seeing the birth of his child as nothing short of a miracle.
We are in love with our little girl to say the least. She is changing every day already, and she's only 5 days old!! I can't even begin to imagine how fast time is going to fly, so I'm going to get off here and enjoy her :) We would appreciate your prayers for sleep, health and just a safe holiday season. Keith goes back to work on Monday, so pray that mom and Chloe keep it together--with help from Grandma and aunt Connie, I'm sure :) Thank you in advance for your prayers, both the ones you have prayed for our family during my pregnancy and the ones you will pray in the future--stay tuned for pics of our little princess :)
Chloe Elizabeth's Birth Story
Well, most of you have seen on Facebook that our little girl arrived on December 12 (in the middle of a blizzard). I want to blog about her story so that I can remember it in as much detail as possible, and to share her story with you. It will probably be in pieces, though, as now that she's here, I don't exactly have time to sit down and blog for an hour at a time. So, here goes....
Thursday I had a dr appt with an NST, which went fine. Chloe was sleeping (again) so this time we got an ultrasound just to make sure that she was tolerating being in the womb, which she was. We also learned that she was still head down and around 7lbs. We saw the dr and he checked my cervix and told us I was 1cm dilated, 90% effaced with the baby's head at -2 station. He was optimistic that an induction would be favorable for us if we wanted, so we scheduled it tentatively for Monday the 13th. We were SO excited to have an "end" to my pregnancy in mind. I knew that regardless of what happened over the weekend I would be induced on Monday and meet my little girl by Tuesday.
We went about our business the rest of the day, I had some contractions off and on but nothing regular. I was supposed to work Friday, but dr said I could be done, so I took advantage of that and spent Friday getting last minute stuff done in the nursery and around the house. Friday night I had some fairly regular contractions, but they fizzled out after walking around Target for a while, so I went to bed, keeping my sights set on Monday.
Saturday morning I woke up with contractions, but they were very irregular, about 20-30 minutes apart, but were more painful than I had experienced before. I told Keith that we should get the rest of our "to do" list done, so we went shopping and got our crib mattress and video camera. We spent the afternoon with Keith's family and my contractions started getting more painful but were still about 10-12 minutes apart. By this point, I thought something was going on, so we headed to the mall after supper to "get things moving"--I would much rather go into labor on my own than be induced. As we were walking the mall, the contractions increased in intensity and were about 5-7 minutes apart. They got painful enough that I couldn't walk through them, so we headed home to see how things went. The car ride did me in and we decided to go into the hospital. Keith packed a bag and threw mine in the car and we were on our way about 8:30pm.
When we arrived at the hospital, the contractions were still there, but by the time I went through all of the paperwork and got hooked to the monitor, they were about 8 minutes apart. I was still only dilated to 1cm, so I was worried they were going to send me home. They called my dr and he said to have us walk for an hour and recheck my cervix. After about 40 minutes I couldn't walk through my contractions again, and became SUPER nauseous. The nurse informed me that in labor, nausea is actually good, it means that your cervix is changing. So, she checked me again, and I had dilated to a 4!! I knew at that point I wasn't going to get sent home, so asked for something for pain, as I was VERY uncomfortable by this point. Keith was a champ-he hasn't ever really seen me in pain (because I've never really had any), but he handled it VERY well--he fanned me off as I was sweating through my contractions, and he even tolerated my impatience with him being on the phone keeping the family updated. For some reason, him talking on the phone was SUPER annoying to me--chalk it up to the pain.
Stay tuned....
Thursday I had a dr appt with an NST, which went fine. Chloe was sleeping (again) so this time we got an ultrasound just to make sure that she was tolerating being in the womb, which she was. We also learned that she was still head down and around 7lbs. We saw the dr and he checked my cervix and told us I was 1cm dilated, 90% effaced with the baby's head at -2 station. He was optimistic that an induction would be favorable for us if we wanted, so we scheduled it tentatively for Monday the 13th. We were SO excited to have an "end" to my pregnancy in mind. I knew that regardless of what happened over the weekend I would be induced on Monday and meet my little girl by Tuesday.
We went about our business the rest of the day, I had some contractions off and on but nothing regular. I was supposed to work Friday, but dr said I could be done, so I took advantage of that and spent Friday getting last minute stuff done in the nursery and around the house. Friday night I had some fairly regular contractions, but they fizzled out after walking around Target for a while, so I went to bed, keeping my sights set on Monday.
Saturday morning I woke up with contractions, but they were very irregular, about 20-30 minutes apart, but were more painful than I had experienced before. I told Keith that we should get the rest of our "to do" list done, so we went shopping and got our crib mattress and video camera. We spent the afternoon with Keith's family and my contractions started getting more painful but were still about 10-12 minutes apart. By this point, I thought something was going on, so we headed to the mall after supper to "get things moving"--I would much rather go into labor on my own than be induced. As we were walking the mall, the contractions increased in intensity and were about 5-7 minutes apart. They got painful enough that I couldn't walk through them, so we headed home to see how things went. The car ride did me in and we decided to go into the hospital. Keith packed a bag and threw mine in the car and we were on our way about 8:30pm.
When we arrived at the hospital, the contractions were still there, but by the time I went through all of the paperwork and got hooked to the monitor, they were about 8 minutes apart. I was still only dilated to 1cm, so I was worried they were going to send me home. They called my dr and he said to have us walk for an hour and recheck my cervix. After about 40 minutes I couldn't walk through my contractions again, and became SUPER nauseous. The nurse informed me that in labor, nausea is actually good, it means that your cervix is changing. So, she checked me again, and I had dilated to a 4!! I knew at that point I wasn't going to get sent home, so asked for something for pain, as I was VERY uncomfortable by this point. Keith was a champ-he hasn't ever really seen me in pain (because I've never really had any), but he handled it VERY well--he fanned me off as I was sweating through my contractions, and he even tolerated my impatience with him being on the phone keeping the family updated. For some reason, him talking on the phone was SUPER annoying to me--chalk it up to the pain.
Stay tuned....
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