The Rest of the Story

I woke up at 12:45 am from a super hard contraction.  I went to the bathroom and then crawled back in bed.  I laid there for about four contractions, each four minutes apart and decided to wake Mike up.  I felt like the girl who cried wolf because we both knew this wasn’t the first time I’d had contractions close together.  Mike was so out of it and in his mind he thought, “You are not in labor, go back to sleep.” He just asked me what I wanted to do.  I told him I wanted to go back to sleep but thought it was the real thing this time.  He reluctantly got out of bed, gave me a blessing, and went to call the neighbor.  We called a few times and then Mike went and knocked on their door when they didn’t answer.  By the time the neighbor came and we got to the hospital it was 1:45 am.  As we walked to the hospital doors I felt more fluid then normal and thought that perhaps my water had just broken. 

We got to triage and they asked if my water broke, to which I replied that I never felt a pop or gush but was fairly certain it had broken.  They got me in a tiny room and proceeded to check me in asking me all kinds of questions that I had already answered at my pre-admission appointment earlier in the week.  I was trying really hard not to be annoyed at having to answer all these questions when I was obviously in a lot of pain.
 

I had already decided to get an epidural before I went to the hospital.  I felt that with Laila I was totally prepared for a natural birth but I knew that I was not in a mental state this time around to try and have this baby naturally.  I had planned on doing it natural and even talked to the doctor about a natural birth on Thursday at my checkup but as the day had worn on I knew I wouldn’t do it naturally.  I knew that emotionally it had been a difficult and draining day for me and I wasn’t mentally prepared and in my opinion, that is really important to having a natural birth.  But even more than that, I knew from the ultrasounds and the degree of painful contractions that this baby was posterior like three of her siblings had been and I felt too worn out to endure a natural labor (besides the fact that I had essentially only had about two hours of sleep since 3:45 AM the previous morning).  

I asked the triage nurse for an epidural as soon as I could get one.  She said they just had to get me my IV and the antibiotic going for the group B Strep and I could have one.  She checked me and said I was a 6, at which point I began to worry.  I knew from previous labors that if I was that far along the baby was going to come in a very short time.  She sent another nurse in to get my IV in and it took her and another nurse forever to get the IV in (I have huge bruises all over my arms and hands from their attempts).  This is a common issue for me so I wasn’t surprised with their struggle—it certainly wasn’t their fault…I just have stubborn veins).  However, I was trying to stay still for them while in horrendous pain from the back labor and I was really worried about being a 6 already.  They finally got me in the labor and delivery room where the anesthesiologist was already waiting.  He said something about me already being a 6 and I said something along the lines of, “I can assure you I’m not a 6 anymore.”  (which in hindsight seems kind of rude).  He quickly got me my epidural and then everyone started freaking out saying, “She doesn’t look white like most people” and “do you feel nauseous?” and “how much medicine should I give her?”  I was confused about what the big deal was and then almost immediately said, “get me a barf bag!!” and then proceeded to throw my guts up.  Apparently my blood pressure had fallen really low.
 

At this point I was frustrated because while the contraction pain mostly disappeared the pain in my back was excruciating.  I have had three other labors with babies posterior and I know what back labor feels like and this was worse than anything I’d ever felt.  It was by far the most painful labor I’d experienced even with the epidural.  There was no wave of back pain that comes with each contraction—it was just one continuous horrible pain.
 

I felt like one big baby—I just kept telling Mike how much my back hurt and telling him I needed ice—“I’m so hot and my throat is so dry, it burns.”

After the anesthesiologist left the room the nurse checked me again and confirmed what I already knew—that I was not a 6.  I was already a ten and ready to push.  I felt a lot of pressure and knew it wouldn’t be long before it would all be over.  But then the nurse called the doctor on call to tell her I was ready to have the baby and when she hung up she told me, “The doctor said that since you still need your antibiotic that we can’t break your water for the next four hours and you will have to try not to push until then.” 

I was incredulous.  How in the world could they possibly think I wasn’t going to push being a 10 and feeling crazy amounts for pressure for the next four hours?!  She left the room and I just began sobbing.  I could not fathom being in this amount of pain for the next four hours and not pushing.  I’ve never cried in labor before—I am generally very quiet and in control when I’m in labor.  But I could not hold back my tears and I just sobbed. 

The nurse called the doctor again, who gave the same response.  But within a few minutes another nurse came in said, “The baby’s stats are low—it’s time to have a baby.”  They called the doctor a third time and this time the doctor agreed to come down.  She came in the room and proceeded to “break my water” except my water had already broken so instead of breaking my water she pricked the baby’s head three times and then said, “There’s nothing there to break.  She already broke her water.”  Then she turned to me and said, “Push whenever you feel like you need to.”
 

I had the baby about five minutes later and then I just cried for so many reasons.  

She was born at 4:30 AM.  She came out with her head facing my left side instead of the ceiling or the floor.  Mike said she was turning as she came out.  She only cried a tiny bit but mostly just squirmed and looked around the room with her one eye open.  She weighed 6 lbs 11 oz and was 20 in long.

 She has strawberry blond hair and while it is more than peach fuzz she doesn’t have a lot of hair.  I think she actually has less hair than any of her siblings.  I think she looks just like Isaac with a little bit of Eli in her as well.  Her toes, fingers and feet are super long and skinny just like Laila and her eyes look brown to me, like Will.  She has my tiny chin and tiny ears and Mike's skinny long legs.  So I think she has a bit of everyone in her.

It has been a mostly typical recovery for me.  The following day after delivering her my back was in so much pain that I couldn't move without feeling horrible stabbing pain throughout my lower back.  I usually don't need a lot of pain meds after delivery but this time my back hurt so much that I needed medicine on the clock.  But by Sunday my back had mostly recovered.  Compared to the recovery after Laila, it's been a longer recovery but similar to the recovery with the boys, minus the back issue (After delivering Laila I felt as though I never had a baby).

So she is here and we couldn’t be happier to have her join our family.  She is just so sweet and we all love her.  I have a feeling that she will be a wonderful uniting factor in our family, bringing us so much joy and peace as she grows.  She, like her brothers and older sister, is such a blessing to our family.