Birth Story
Birth Story : Anya Mae
Friday, June 17 and Saturday, June 18
I began feeling contractions that didn’t exactly feel like Braxton-Hicks anymore. They happened when I was sitting still instead of when I moved or walked and didn’t go away if I changed positions. So, I started keeping track just to have a record. They never happened less than 10 minutes apart.
Sunday, June 19
I was able to sleep pretty well and woke up in the morning feeling more of the contractions. They started happening more frequently (5-10 minutes apart) and I kept track of them. My doctor’s recommendations for going to the hospital were contractions 5 minutes apart for 2 hours. So, when that occurred by 3:30pm, we called the hospital to ask their opinion. They recommended that I make the trip. So, by 3:45, we were out the door. We arrived at the hospital and were admitted through the E.R.
We got to the L&D room by 4:00. The nurse checked my dilation and I was 3-4 centimeters. We asked her to tell us for sure if we were staying. She said, “You’re going to have a baby! You’re not leaving.” She got me set up with my IV (worst favorite part of the whole labor) and my blood pressure cuff (second worst favorite). I also had 8 vials of blood taken (and received a great big bruise from that later…yay). We met the doctor on call at the time, and he offered to break my water to get things moving along. I agreed and that happened at 4:40pm (weirdest feeling ever!). Unfortunately, there was a tiny bit of meconium in the fluid, so they were concerned. They checked the cervix again at 5:15, and I was still at a solid 4 centimeters. I was getting contractions a little more strongly at this point and they were happening about every 3 minutes. I met the doctor that works with my regular OB at 6:40pm and she checked my cervix…still 4 centimeters. She mentioned trying pitocin to get things moving, but wanted to give my body a chance to work through it. After her visit, I decided that the contractions were getting too powerful for me and opted for the epidural. My anesthesiologist was fantastic and declared my epidural “perfect” and joked with all the nurses (and told me to name the baby after him). My new nurse for the evening came in and helped keep me comfortable. I got a cervix check from her and…yep, still 4 centimeters.
Around 8:00pm, they noticed that the baby was having trouble keeping her heart rate up during the contractions, so they started me on oxygen. The epidural was great and allowed me a nap until 9:15. At that time, they removed the oxygen and helped me change positions to keep me moving. At around 10:00, they took my temperature and it was running high at 100. I was still 4 centimeters at this time and they asked the doctor if starting pitocin would be the correct course of action. I agreed to the low dose of pitocin and they started that at 10:15. They upped it 20 minutes later and stopped the dosage completely after 10 minutes of that. Taking my temp again, it had dropped to 98.9. A half hour later, pitocin was administered again, and oxygen was still given during this time. My contractions were still the same distance apart and the same intensity. At midnight, the pitocin was turned off and I had a full-blown temperature at 100.5. Which meant I was given an antibiotic via the IV. But, checking my cervix, I was finally moving along with 5-6 centimeters. At 1:15, they turned on the pitocin again and I was at 6-7 centimeters. I slept for a good while and woke up around 3 or so.
The nurse, after I mentioned that I had a slight urge to push at 4:00am, decided to check my cervix again. She expressed with delight that I was finally at 10 centimeters and fully effaced. So, at 4:15, I started my pushing. I pushed for a good hour with the nurse and Scott and the baby moved down a bit so they could see the top of her head. I kept going, and going, and going. The doctor came in and checked to see how much I had progressed. It wasn’t far. The doctor told me that it would be beneficial to turn off the epidural so I could feel the contractions better, so we did that. At this point, I began feeling a pinching sensation under my left ribcage. It turned into a stitch, and then a horrible pain (worse than the contractions before the epidural) where I couldn’t get a full breath. The nurses mentioned it might have been the baby’s foot jammed up into my lung and ribcage. The only thing that helped it was me pushing on my lower ribs with my left hand while pushing through the contraction. Not fun, when you have nurses telling you to hold your own leg. A new nurse came in and had me pushing more aggressively. Still no progress. And still pain. My body below my belly button didn’t have any pain…but my ribs…oh my ribs.
At around 7:30 or so, I started tiring. The pain was so bad in my rib that I couldn’t breathe right and it was making me so exhausted. I think I said at one point to Scott, “I can’t do this anymore.” The doctor came in around 8:00 and told me that she had the lowest c-section rate in the hospital and she was telling me to get a c-section. She didn’t come to this recommendation lightly, but she could see that I was exhausted and not making any progress. I held Scott’s hand and agreed to the section.
They started up the epidural again and started prepping me for surgery. I was wheeled down to the operating room at 8:15. At this point, I don’t remember much. I know they moved me over to a different table and my arms were spread out. They had a screen in front of me. Scott came up with his scrubs on a little bit later. The anesthesiologist told Scott they were about to take the baby out, so he got up to watch. At this point, he says that he will be traumatized forever from what he saw. He describes it as violent and scary. Anya Mae saw the world outside for the first time at 8:52am on Monday, June 20th. They took her over to get her cleaned up and the anesthesiologist was there to tell me where to look. Scott was able to go to her right away. She weighed 7 lbs 13 oz. and was 19 inches long. They brought her over to me and I was able to give her a kiss. She was taken with Scott to the nursery to get all her testing done.
After they left, I slept through my post surgery stitching-up. I was so sleepy and exhausted. I swear they gave me other drugs to help me through the surgery. But, I have no clue. I was wheeled into recovery/post-op and spent time there snoozing while waiting for Scott. Scott actually had made several trips to the post-op area before I got there at 10:00am. Anya was doing great and Scott sat next to me and told me all about her. I was still pretty out of it at this time, but appreciated the company. During his visit to the nursery before seeing me, Scott had nearly collapsed from his own exhaustion and a wonderful nurse told him to go get something to eat. Thankfully, he took the advice and was able to stay with me when I got discharged to go to my post partum room. So, by 11:30am, I was in my post partum room and transferred to the bed I would stay in until I was able to walk the next day.
I got to see Anya very soon after we got to the room. She was doing great and I got to start breastfeeding right then. We figured out a latch and the nurses from the nursery were a huge help in getting the breastfeeding thing going. The lactation consultant wasn’t very helpful, but still had a few tips that were eventually useful. I was able to walk just fine the next day and started feeling my incision later on that day. The pain meds they had me on did just great, though. I was finally able to take a shower on Wednesday which was the best feeling ever. Everyone who looked at my incision exclaimed that it was so great and the scar would barely show. I couldn’t see it (or wouldn’t look at it…ha), so I took their word for it. On Wednesday morning, the nursery called to say that Anya had jaundice. So, they asked if they could supplement her there with formula or I could go down to the nursery to feed her. I said that I’d make the trip, just call me when she was hungry. So, getting me on my feet to go feed her was pretty good for my recovery as well, but I sure missed her being in the room with us. By Thursday morning, her jaundice had gone down a bit and we were ready to go home. She got discharged first, then I got my staples out (all 16) and got taped up. I was discharged soon after and we were on our way home.
Now that it’s all said and done, I don’t regret my decision to do the c-section. I of course wish things would have happened differently, but I understand that my decisions and my body led me on this course. I’m so happy she’s here. The nurses and other staff at the hospital were so great. Everyone was fantastic and helpful. Recovery has been difficult, but I’m getting through it. Anya and I are doing really great with the breastfeeding and learning new things every day.