baby
Josh and I welcomed baby Aurora Jo Seaver on March 30, 2010 at 2:29 pm. She weighed 6 lbs 13 oz and measured 19 1/2 inches in length. We went to the hospital at 6:30 pm on the 29th to be induced. They inserted this capsule thing into my cervix to soften it up some time after 8. My friends mom was the nurse in charge that night, so I was talking to her about it. She said that I could need to have 3 or 4 tablets inserted to get me fully ready. You are suppose to get them every 4 hours. Around 12:15 am the nurse came in and asked me if I wanted another capsule or if I wanted an Ambien so I could sleep. I told her that I would like to sleep because I didn't really sleep that well the night before considering I worked until 1 am (yes, I worked right up until the end. Monday was actually suppose to be the start of my maternity leave and Aurora was due April 5th). I didn't sleep well. Every time I turned over I would knock the monitor that was attached to my belly off, so the nurse would half to come in and adjust it so they could properly monitor the baby's heartbeat. This was happening every half hour or so. Josh was asleep next to me on a roll-away bed. Around 5:30 am, I woke up and felt something trickle down. I thought to myself, "Did I just pee myself or did my water break?" I woke Josh up and asked him if I should call the nurse or just go to the bathroom. It didn't feel like a lot of fluid and I remembered from reading all the books and websites that it was suppose to be a steady flow, so I was unsure if this was the real thing or not. Plus I have peed myself from getting kicked in the bladder. When the nurse came in I told her what was going on. She told me that there was a strip they could use (like a ph strip) to tell or not. If it turned blue then my water had broken. Sure enough, as soon as she stuck it down there, it turned blue instantly. So I sent out a mass text message to my parents, sister, and Kelley letting them know that this had happened. Doctor wasn't going to be in until 8, so we were going to have to wait on her. The contractions started off far apart and feeling like small mentrual cramps. Around 7 or so they asked me if I wanted anything for the pain. I told them I was okay at that time. However, 45 minutes later I was asking them for something. They asked me if I wanted my epidural, since I had told them that I would be getting one. I asked them if there were any other options. There was this shot that I could get, I can't remember the name of it. I opted for the shot. This made me feel drunk. But it did take the edge off. It didn't take the pain away, but it took the focus off of the pain. Doctor came in a little after 9 and was surprised I didn't take my epidural. She suggested I get it. She also had to check me to see how far I had dialated (this is something that hurts very very much!). I was barely dialated to 4 if I remember correctly. This is where things get blurry because I was all doped up. Then she had to insert this stick like thing to be able to monitor the contractions on the computer. Shortly after this, the lady came in to give me my epidural. This felt like someone directly touching my spine. It was very uncomfortable at first. I also had to get a catheter because I was unable to get out of bed at this point due to the epidural. Once those drugs kicked in I was in far less pain. I did start having back labor though. This was very painful. I didn't feel the contractions in my stomach, but I felt them very much so in my lower back. I don't even know how to describe this level of pain. Luckily my mom was there to help coach me through this. Josh wasn't very much involved because every time he touched me I had the strong urge to punch him in the face, and I made him very aware of this. I kept crying for my Bam Bam (my dog Bandit). I always cuddle with him when I don't feel good. I would sleep in between contractions. During one of my little naps, my dad had gone down to the gift shop and bought me a TY stuffed dog. It was a St. Bernard and looked nothing like my dog, but it did the trick. He was very soft and cuddly. I held on to him and slept with him throughout the rest of the labor. Sometime after noon, the back labor had gotten so bad I could barely stand it. So my nurse (whose name was Erin and was the best nurse anyone could ask for!) had me get on my hands and knees and rest my head on the pillow. She said this should help the baby get off of my spine and flip. We did this for about a half hour. However, it was not helping at all. Finally she told me that this should have helped by now and since it hadn't she was going to have me roll over so that she could check to see how far I was dialated. Turns out I was fully dialated and ready to push. The only problem was that Doctor was in surgery and I had to wait for her to get there to push. By this time it was 1. They told me around 1:20 that Doctor was done with surgery and it would only be a few minutes. All I wanted to do was push. It was like trying to hold in a poop. I said many times, "It feels like I have to take a massive poop!!" They kept telling me it would only be a few more minutes. At this point everything around me was irritating me. I just wanted complete silence in the room. Anyone who talked was getting yelled at. I was not a nice person at this point. It felt like forever before Doctor got there. It was right around 2. She walked in and checked me out, said I was ready to push and I could start pushing, and then she walked out. My nurse is the one that was down there waiting for the baby. I was so pissed. I waited an hour for her to come in and tell me to start pushing when I was clearly ready to push. So at this point everyone but my mom, sister, and Josh left the room. They put this bar on the bed for me to put my legs on. They wanted me to hold them up myself and grab behind my legs and push. But the epidural made them so numb and heavy that I could not do it myself. So they put the bar up and my mom had to hold up right leg on the bar, and the nurse in training held up my left leg for me. I grabbed on to the back of them and pushed when they told me. At first I was thinking that this wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, it hurt, but at first it wasn't that bad. My sister said you could see her head sitting right there ready to come out the whole time. Her head finally came out and then they told me I had to stop pushing. They needed to go get Doctor. This seemed to take forever, in reality it was only a couple of minutes. When she came back in we delivered the shoulders. This was the most painful part. It felt like I was going to tear from front to back. Then Doctor told me that I had to stop pushing. I kept telling her I can't. But she said I had to. I asked her why and she told me that if I didn't stop pushing then I would really tear. So I stopped, cringing in pain, hoping that this would all be over soon. They finally told me I could push again. I think there was one more big push and then there she was laying on my belly. I could see her face because of the way they had laid her on me, but she was there, and that's all I cared about at that moment. Then they had to deliver the placenta. That didn't bother me at all. Anything was better than having to push out a baby again. Doctor placed some warm cloths on me to help clean up so they could see if I tore or not. Turns out I tore a little bit, but I wasn't bleeding so I didn't need stitches. This excited me. They had to put Aurora under the lamp and let her lay there for a while before they could check her weight. She had passed her meconium while she was inside of me, which caused some trauma for her. So she needed to relax and do her thing. About 45 minutes later I finally got to hold her. Overall, it was an experience I'll never forget. I had the greatest nurse because she said I was doing wonderful. I only screamed really bad twice. I was breathing right (which is weird because I never took classes). I really impressed my nurse. Her support really helped too. Afterwards I got to take a shower. Which was amazing. We got moved to another room that night. We didn't go home until Thursday because we were having trouble getting the whole breast feeding under control. My breasts were so swollen that Aurora was having trouble latching on. There was one thing that happened that was really funny though. They say that you should try skin to skin contact where you take her clothes off and your shirt off and lay her on your chest. This helps with bonding and even the dads should do it. Aurora was being fussy so Josh thought that he would try this. Well, she latched on to his nipple! When this happened he had let out a little yelp, if you will. I asked him what happend and he said, "She just bit my nipple!" I found this to be very humorous. We finally got the breastfeeding under control enough to go home. Things have been very different in this household over the past week. But I can say it is a good different. Josh and I are very happy, even though he is sick tonight. Josh has been taking very good care of the both of us. I love him very much. So happy that we finally have our little family that we've always talkeda about :)