Kira’s Home!
Home….
For Kira’s Birth Story
We went into the Birth Center at 8am, and they gave me something inside of my cervix to ripen it, and I started contracting pretty much about then. It was pretty regular all throughout the day, at 6pm my Doctor came in, and I thought they were just checking me, but he asked for a scapel and I was like “Oh my gosh what are you doing down there” and then I felt him jump from the bed as he broke my water which went everywhere. I told him next time let a girl know he was going to do that.
After that I needed an IV of saline and oxygen to kinda get her to move around more. At about 6:30 Charlie left to go take care of Walker and Brin, and my mom showed up, which I was not expecting her to do. She stuck around all night and even assisted with Kira’s Birth.
At around 10 I was getting contractions lasting a few minutes and they were starting to hurt, a lot. I gave in to pain medication around then, but it wore off very quickly, so they gave me a spinal narcotic. Not an epidural. After I felt like a jellyfish for a bit (It made me shake, a lot) I went into active labor, but the spinal dulled the pain from 11:30 to 1am, at 1 I had fallen asleep and woke up moaning because it had worn off, and I felt the need to push. I was at 8-9, and they said no more pain medication, at this point it would simply hinder things. A lot of this is a blur to me, I tried to use the restroom to no avail.
At around 1:15 I told the RN (Who I have now found out is the only Midwife on staff and she’s been a midwife for about 30 years) I really felt the urge to push, and the RN checked me and tried to move my cervix out of the way, then it was time to push, she started to come quickly then, and I refused to grab anyone’s hand but had the entire nursing staff there holding my legs back, including my mother. At 1:40 she told me to push and not to let go, and I felt a gush which was Kira come out, but she had come out with her arm above her head, so that was the first thing they said she had broken her collarbone. They took her over to the baby monitors and spent about 10 minutes checking her out, checking her blood sugar, and everything else. It was difficult because she was covered in Vernix. (My mother later said that she had never seen a live birth and right before Kira came out there was a gush of white, and then she came, also covered in white). The umbilical cord looked great and my placenta was huge, and red, and also looking great. (Something I was worried about due to Diabetes and Hypertension). I did not rip, or tear nor did I need a Episiotomy, which was a concern of mine, however they (Doctors, Nurses, and my family) are all in awe of how big she was and that fact, but with my other birth’s I didn’t need one, either.
Everything was looking great. Her blood sugar was 54 at birth, and we put her on the breast about 20 minutes later. One of the nurses made a bracelet memento for us, and I thought that was incredibly kind. I kept on thanking everyone. When she was put to my breast my OBGYN showed up and started laughing at how fast we had progressed, and was glad that we did induce and get her out of me. She is a big baby, 10.5oz 22inches long =) But she was doing well, however her blood sugar dipped to 22, and they put her on an IV.
The next few days revolved around her on the IV to regulate her sugar, they started it at 15ml, and had to prick her heel every 3 hours to check it, once we were dealing with that hurdle, we had another one of a possible heart murmur. She came out very red, and so the second day of our stay they tested her for jaundice, so, she went from getting off the IV, to being under the bili lights. Her pediatrician also asked if I could breastfeed her but top her off with formula just to weed out the breastfeeding jaundice, so I’ve been pumping to keep up my milk supply.
We finally were able to take her home yesterday, however last night was a very long night, I think I got around 3 hours of sleep, we brought her back to the hospital today to do another bilirubin test, and I burst into tears when I saw how bruised her feet are due to how many times she’s been stuck with a needle recently. BUT we get to keep her home now, and just monitor her color, which I am happy about!
Me however, my recovery is .. well .. easy. I’m not in any pain, and the only part of me that hurts is my shoulder for some reason, which I suspect is mostly due to the beds at the hospital than anything else. When I got home yesterday, I had enough energy to do all of the laundry, dishes, and help straighten up (Well, they did try while I was gone), heh =) Other than exhaustion I am feeling, great.
So, now, to pictures =)
