Our Birth Experience
Hello Everyone,
Here is our Birth Story...
Our due date was April 10th, but I ended up going in to be induced after I went 9 days overdue and at my 41 week appointment on Tuesday April 17th I was dilated to 1cm, 50% effaced and at -3 station.
We arrived at NMMC at 7:30 on Thursday evening April 19th and I was scheduled to have a cervical gel applied, sleep the night (to allow it to work on dilating the cervix) and have Pitocin started in the morning to get my contractions started. My initial exam showed I had already dilated to 4cm so the gel wasn't needed, but since I was already in my PJ's and had all my things set up in the room I just stayed overnight anyway and had them start the Pitocin at 6:30am on April 20th. I had my first contraction at 6:35am and our journey was underway. I needed to have an IV antibiotic and since I was already hooked up to the Pitocin there was no opportunity to get into the tub for any of the labor (and that had been one thing I was really looking forward to using for relaxation).
Some of the labor is a little fuzzy for me, but that was because it went so quickly. It took 2 hours for me to dilate from 4 to 6 (I spent most of that on the Birthing ball) and only another hour and a half to get from 6 to 10. Somewhere in the 4 to 6 cm range I had 1 dose of Fentanyl to take the edge off the contractions, that relief only lasted about an hour, but I chose not to have any other drugs after that and I am very happy with my decision. From the first contraction at 6:35 it was only 4 hours and 20 minutes before our baby was born. I was a little scared when my contractions started to be 2 minutes apart and lasting for 1:45, since I hardly had time to take a breath before the next one started. Chris was a great support to me, he was always encouraging me, helping me to relax, and reminding me it wouldn't be long before we would see our baby. He helped keep me focused on positive things even when I was a little afraid. He wasn't the only person I had in the room, my sister (the mother of my 3 yr old neice) was in the corner of the room using our camcorder for us, and my cousin Tiffany who had just had her 2nd child 6 weeks earlier was also holding my hand and encouraging me during the last hour before delivery.
Our nurse had called out to the nurses station to have them let the doctor know we were going to start pushing and within another 2 minutes she called out again and told them to have the doctor come to our room. Our nurse was not prepared for the labor to progress so quickly, since this was my first baby. She had to call a couple other nurses in to set up all the baby things since I was ready to push and she hadn't gotten the chance to get the blankets and the rest of the things needed to examine and clean up the baby after delivery. when the doctor arrived about 15 minutes later I was ready to hurt someone, since I had been told not to push for the last 3 or 4 contractions, but my body was telling me it was definitely time...then the doctor was there so I was given the green light...feet up, 3 pushes, the head is out but the shoulders got stuck, one more push and here she was...our perfect little Alaina Elizabeth Cornick.
Her stats at birth were:
8 lb 11 oz
21 1/4 in
13 3/4 in head
and she had lots of thick dark hair...
Breastfeeding has been going well, and the proof of that is how much she has grown already. She is now one month old, she weighs 10 lb 8 oz, and is 22 1/2 in long. She looks like her daddy's baby pictures, except she has my mouth. She has really long fingers, feet and toes, but with both Chris and me being 6 ft tall we should've expected that.
Here is our Birth Story...
Our due date was April 10th, but I ended up going in to be induced after I went 9 days overdue and at my 41 week appointment on Tuesday April 17th I was dilated to 1cm, 50% effaced and at -3 station.
We arrived at NMMC at 7:30 on Thursday evening April 19th and I was scheduled to have a cervical gel applied, sleep the night (to allow it to work on dilating the cervix) and have Pitocin started in the morning to get my contractions started. My initial exam showed I had already dilated to 4cm so the gel wasn't needed, but since I was already in my PJ's and had all my things set up in the room I just stayed overnight anyway and had them start the Pitocin at 6:30am on April 20th. I had my first contraction at 6:35am and our journey was underway. I needed to have an IV antibiotic and since I was already hooked up to the Pitocin there was no opportunity to get into the tub for any of the labor (and that had been one thing I was really looking forward to using for relaxation).
Some of the labor is a little fuzzy for me, but that was because it went so quickly. It took 2 hours for me to dilate from 4 to 6 (I spent most of that on the Birthing ball) and only another hour and a half to get from 6 to 10. Somewhere in the 4 to 6 cm range I had 1 dose of Fentanyl to take the edge off the contractions, that relief only lasted about an hour, but I chose not to have any other drugs after that and I am very happy with my decision. From the first contraction at 6:35 it was only 4 hours and 20 minutes before our baby was born. I was a little scared when my contractions started to be 2 minutes apart and lasting for 1:45, since I hardly had time to take a breath before the next one started. Chris was a great support to me, he was always encouraging me, helping me to relax, and reminding me it wouldn't be long before we would see our baby. He helped keep me focused on positive things even when I was a little afraid. He wasn't the only person I had in the room, my sister (the mother of my 3 yr old neice) was in the corner of the room using our camcorder for us, and my cousin Tiffany who had just had her 2nd child 6 weeks earlier was also holding my hand and encouraging me during the last hour before delivery.
Our nurse had called out to the nurses station to have them let the doctor know we were going to start pushing and within another 2 minutes she called out again and told them to have the doctor come to our room. Our nurse was not prepared for the labor to progress so quickly, since this was my first baby. She had to call a couple other nurses in to set up all the baby things since I was ready to push and she hadn't gotten the chance to get the blankets and the rest of the things needed to examine and clean up the baby after delivery. when the doctor arrived about 15 minutes later I was ready to hurt someone, since I had been told not to push for the last 3 or 4 contractions, but my body was telling me it was definitely time...then the doctor was there so I was given the green light...feet up, 3 pushes, the head is out but the shoulders got stuck, one more push and here she was...our perfect little Alaina Elizabeth Cornick.
Her stats at birth were:
8 lb 11 oz
21 1/4 in
13 3/4 in head
and she had lots of thick dark hair...
Breastfeeding has been going well, and the proof of that is how much she has grown already. She is now one month old, she weighs 10 lb 8 oz, and is 22 1/2 in long. She looks like her daddy's baby pictures, except she has my mouth. She has really long fingers, feet and toes, but with both Chris and me being 6 ft tall we should've expected that.