Cilla Anne's Birth Story!
Cilla Anne Ward
Born: Dec 27th, 2010 at 9:30AM
7 Pounds 1 Ounce
On Sunday evening December 26th, 2010, I was at home and it was Game Night for the guys. We had some pizza for dinner and then I settled in upstairs to play some WoW, while the guys played Hockey. After a few hours I started to have contractions. I had been having them the last few days usually while trying to eat dinner and for a little while afterwards. As one of the guys was leaving to go home for the evening, he came in to check on me and we chatted for a bit. During the chat I realized that the contractions were still coming, but not painful or anything.
After game night Russ and I settled into bed for the evening. I told Russ that I was having contractions and he asked if we should start timing them. I said not really because they didn't seem bad or that close. After watching TV for a little while I realized that the contractions were still there and starting to get a little stronger. We downloaded the contraction timer to the ipod and started timing the contractions at 1:26 AM. The first four were already at 4 minutes apart lasting for about a minute. I was shocked! SO we continued to time them for an hour and they continued on that way and I was starting to get uncomfortable, so I decided to get up and start swaying through the contractions. We did this for a little over an hour. The contractions started to get closer, but since my waters were still intact I wasn't sure I should go to the hospital or not yet. I decided to take a shower before we set off for the hospital. During the shower the contractions were happening about every 2 minutes and lasting for about 1 minute so it was quiet difficult to get things done like getting dressed. Russ had to help me get my pants on and managed to get everything in the car, after talking me into the fact we should go to the hospital.
On the ride there I had several contractions, but kept timing and trying to keep them under control. Once we arrived at the hospital at about 3AM, Russ parked the car and I got out, but he realized he was blocking the ambulance path. There were these huge cement construction blocks out front of the emergency entrance, I was SO hot I basically leaned over one with my head on it to cool down during a contraction. Once he got parked we made the long walk to the maternity ward. I was still having contractions every 2 minutes for 1 minute in length so I kept having to stop. Once we made it to the maternity ward, we experienced the most unpleasant part of my birth...Triage. It wasn't anything really bad, but we walked up to the desk and no one acknowledged us for like ages it seemed. Then they started to ask me questions and when I couldn't reply because of my contractions, they seemed annoyed with me so Russ jumped in and started to take care of things. They put me in a triage area and told me someone would be in shortly to see me. That also seemed to take ages. I had my head in the window pressed against the glass because everything felt SO damn hot. Plus there was an air vent there. While there I kept timing my contractions as a way of distraction until someone came to see me. There was someone just sitting outside my curtain sipping on a straw and ignoring me. Least that is what I was thinking in my head, I was getting angry. Russ was trying to get me to calm down saying someone would be there shortly. Once that finally happened they asked me to lay down to get monitors on my belly and arm. Once they got my blood pressure they decided that they wanted to monitor the baby for 20 minutes so I had to continue to lay on my back. The contractions sucked while laying down. So to manage the pain I took some Morphine and Graval. They also checked me, I was SURE I was further then I was, but I was only at 2-3 centimeters dilated. I was devastated. My contractions were on top of each other. Also I was sure they were going to send me home, but because I had gotten myself worked up my blood pressure was pretty high. They decided to admit me and move me into my labor suite.
I think that was around 6 AM as I had to get blood work done and they gave me a bracelet which had that time on it. Once that was done I was allowed to get up and decided to labor on a ball for a while. The Morphine that I had received before didn't really touch the contractions, but it did help me relax and get focused during my breaks. I really have no concept of time during all of this, but Russ had started the Ipod playing the Lord of the Rings soundtrack and talking to me and the doctors and nurses. I was sitting back on the ball during my contraction breaks, but leaning way forward into a type of squat and breathing through the contractions the best I could. I think it was around this time that I said to Russ that I was going to fold like a cheap suit and ask for pain meds soon, but then something miraculous happened...my water broke! Once that happened, everything seemed to speed up and get more intense. They decided to check me afterwards and I was at 4. My nurse (Megan) asked if I wanted to get into the shower to clean off and relax. While in the shower I started to throw up on EVERY contraction. Also I started to get this immense pressure and the urge to push. I explained this to the nurse and she said try not to push if I could. It was only if I felt the urge to push between contractions that I should mention something. I was starting to get that urge as well. So I decided to get out of the shower and they put me on the bed to check me. I was at a 6 and had about 10 more contractions were the urge to push was becoming uncontrollable. I asked that they check me again, even though they just had checked me because I couldn't NOT push anymore. I was at a 9.5, there was a small part of my cervix that was still in the way, the other Nurse Carrie tried to push the lip of my cervix behind her head, but it would stay. She explained why it was important to try and NOT push until that lip was gone. I did my best for another few contractions, but really it hurt more not pushing, they checked me again and her head had moved passed the lip and she was 'right there'. They said I was free to start pushing. I was on my left side when the grabbed my legs and I started pushing. I guess I was pushing properly, I was grabbing the left side rail and pulling myself for pushing down.
I didn't feel like I was pushing for very long, but they kept saying that the doctor better get there soon. Once Dr. Spence got in the room I focused in on her voice and instructions. She was awesome. She gave me references like "That last contraction, you pushed very well and hard, this one, I want half of that." It really helped. Though thinking about it, I cant remember feeling the contractions to help push her out. I felt a burning and they said the head was out and to stop pushing and the next contraction my uterus did the rest of the work for me and pushed her right out. (They gave me a shot of Pitocin at this point for my placenta). I said, "Holy cow I had a baby." It was 9:30AM. They put her right on my stomach, but she wasn't crying. She had swallowed some amniotic fluid on the way out so they had to suction it out. Russ went to go watch and take pictures and to check on her. I birthed the placenta and the doctor asked if I wanted to see it, I said yes. She also did some checking internally to make sure it all came out and then gave me some numbing stuff and stitched up my skid mark tear.
They finally brought her over to me, Russ and I just sat in awe looking at her. She was 7 pounds 1 ounce and 21 inches long and perfect. We stayed at the hospital until Wednesday evening, she had a little jaundice, but it was improving and they let us go home. She had all of my colostrum and was feeding well. Breast feeding was tough, but we've got the hang of it now. She is gaining weight and doing well minus a little cold she has currently.
And that is my version of the story. Russ will be writing up his version soon and I'll post that as well.
And now for the pictures!
And now for the pictures!
Born: Dec 27th, 2010 at 9:30AM
7 Pounds 1 Ounce
On Sunday evening December 26th, 2010, I was at home and it was Game Night for the guys. We had some pizza for dinner and then I settled in upstairs to play some WoW, while the guys played Hockey. After a few hours I started to have contractions. I had been having them the last few days usually while trying to eat dinner and for a little while afterwards. As one of the guys was leaving to go home for the evening, he came in to check on me and we chatted for a bit. During the chat I realized that the contractions were still coming, but not painful or anything.
After game night Russ and I settled into bed for the evening. I told Russ that I was having contractions and he asked if we should start timing them. I said not really because they didn't seem bad or that close. After watching TV for a little while I realized that the contractions were still there and starting to get a little stronger. We downloaded the contraction timer to the ipod and started timing the contractions at 1:26 AM. The first four were already at 4 minutes apart lasting for about a minute. I was shocked! SO we continued to time them for an hour and they continued on that way and I was starting to get uncomfortable, so I decided to get up and start swaying through the contractions. We did this for a little over an hour. The contractions started to get closer, but since my waters were still intact I wasn't sure I should go to the hospital or not yet. I decided to take a shower before we set off for the hospital. During the shower the contractions were happening about every 2 minutes and lasting for about 1 minute so it was quiet difficult to get things done like getting dressed. Russ had to help me get my pants on and managed to get everything in the car, after talking me into the fact we should go to the hospital.
On the ride there I had several contractions, but kept timing and trying to keep them under control. Once we arrived at the hospital at about 3AM, Russ parked the car and I got out, but he realized he was blocking the ambulance path. There were these huge cement construction blocks out front of the emergency entrance, I was SO hot I basically leaned over one with my head on it to cool down during a contraction. Once he got parked we made the long walk to the maternity ward. I was still having contractions every 2 minutes for 1 minute in length so I kept having to stop. Once we made it to the maternity ward, we experienced the most unpleasant part of my birth...Triage. It wasn't anything really bad, but we walked up to the desk and no one acknowledged us for like ages it seemed. Then they started to ask me questions and when I couldn't reply because of my contractions, they seemed annoyed with me so Russ jumped in and started to take care of things. They put me in a triage area and told me someone would be in shortly to see me. That also seemed to take ages. I had my head in the window pressed against the glass because everything felt SO damn hot. Plus there was an air vent there. While there I kept timing my contractions as a way of distraction until someone came to see me. There was someone just sitting outside my curtain sipping on a straw and ignoring me. Least that is what I was thinking in my head, I was getting angry. Russ was trying to get me to calm down saying someone would be there shortly. Once that finally happened they asked me to lay down to get monitors on my belly and arm. Once they got my blood pressure they decided that they wanted to monitor the baby for 20 minutes so I had to continue to lay on my back. The contractions sucked while laying down. So to manage the pain I took some Morphine and Graval. They also checked me, I was SURE I was further then I was, but I was only at 2-3 centimeters dilated. I was devastated. My contractions were on top of each other. Also I was sure they were going to send me home, but because I had gotten myself worked up my blood pressure was pretty high. They decided to admit me and move me into my labor suite.
I think that was around 6 AM as I had to get blood work done and they gave me a bracelet which had that time on it. Once that was done I was allowed to get up and decided to labor on a ball for a while. The Morphine that I had received before didn't really touch the contractions, but it did help me relax and get focused during my breaks. I really have no concept of time during all of this, but Russ had started the Ipod playing the Lord of the Rings soundtrack and talking to me and the doctors and nurses. I was sitting back on the ball during my contraction breaks, but leaning way forward into a type of squat and breathing through the contractions the best I could. I think it was around this time that I said to Russ that I was going to fold like a cheap suit and ask for pain meds soon, but then something miraculous happened...my water broke! Once that happened, everything seemed to speed up and get more intense. They decided to check me afterwards and I was at 4. My nurse (Megan) asked if I wanted to get into the shower to clean off and relax. While in the shower I started to throw up on EVERY contraction. Also I started to get this immense pressure and the urge to push. I explained this to the nurse and she said try not to push if I could. It was only if I felt the urge to push between contractions that I should mention something. I was starting to get that urge as well. So I decided to get out of the shower and they put me on the bed to check me. I was at a 6 and had about 10 more contractions were the urge to push was becoming uncontrollable. I asked that they check me again, even though they just had checked me because I couldn't NOT push anymore. I was at a 9.5, there was a small part of my cervix that was still in the way, the other Nurse Carrie tried to push the lip of my cervix behind her head, but it would stay. She explained why it was important to try and NOT push until that lip was gone. I did my best for another few contractions, but really it hurt more not pushing, they checked me again and her head had moved passed the lip and she was 'right there'. They said I was free to start pushing. I was on my left side when the grabbed my legs and I started pushing. I guess I was pushing properly, I was grabbing the left side rail and pulling myself for pushing down.
I didn't feel like I was pushing for very long, but they kept saying that the doctor better get there soon. Once Dr. Spence got in the room I focused in on her voice and instructions. She was awesome. She gave me references like "That last contraction, you pushed very well and hard, this one, I want half of that." It really helped. Though thinking about it, I cant remember feeling the contractions to help push her out. I felt a burning and they said the head was out and to stop pushing and the next contraction my uterus did the rest of the work for me and pushed her right out. (They gave me a shot of Pitocin at this point for my placenta). I said, "Holy cow I had a baby." It was 9:30AM. They put her right on my stomach, but she wasn't crying. She had swallowed some amniotic fluid on the way out so they had to suction it out. Russ went to go watch and take pictures and to check on her. I birthed the placenta and the doctor asked if I wanted to see it, I said yes. She also did some checking internally to make sure it all came out and then gave me some numbing stuff and stitched up my skid mark tear.
They finally brought her over to me, Russ and I just sat in awe looking at her. She was 7 pounds 1 ounce and 21 inches long and perfect. We stayed at the hospital until Wednesday evening, she had a little jaundice, but it was improving and they let us go home. She had all of my colostrum and was feeding well. Breast feeding was tough, but we've got the hang of it now. She is gaining weight and doing well minus a little cold she has currently.
And that is my version of the story. Russ will be writing up his version soon and I'll post that as well.
And now for the pictures!
And now for the pictures!