Birth Story
Aviendha Sidhe McEnulty was born November 5th, 2006 at 11:20 p.m. At birth she weighed 8 pounds and measured 20 inches long. November 5th was the Hunter's Moon and also Guy Fawkes/Bonfire Day. Her name is pronounced: Aviendha (Avie-en-duh) Sidhe (she). Cyric calls her V and I call her Avie. The first name is a character's name from the Robert Jordan _Wheel of Time_ series and her middle name is Irish for faery folk.
We went to the hospital at around 5 a.m. the morning of the 5th. I had been experiencing prodromal labor for 4 weeks previously. I started feeling contractions that started in my back on noon the 4th but didn't want to go too soon and be sent home (again). I decided to wait and try to sleep to see if they were strong enough to prevent me from getting any rest. Cyric's mother, Susan, has been staying here since the 23rd of October waiting for the baby. We had decided that my sister, Eva, would be the labor coach and go with us to the hospital. When we decided to go, we told both Eva and Susan and they followed us up.
My OB wasn't on call and due to a negative experience with the one on call, I decided to go with the midwife option. I planned on having as much of a natural childbirth as possible, no medication, no interventions, and to deliver in the birthing tub.
I was in a fair amount of pain when I got there. The nurse put me on the monitors to check my contractions and they were strong, lasting about 45 sec and happening every 5 to 6 minutes. She checked my cervix and said that I was only about 50% effaced and one centimeter dilated. They are unable to admit mothers unless they are 3-5 centimeters dilated, but she decided to keep me anyways so that the midwife could take a look at me. She let me go in the jacuzzi to help with the discomfort after being there a while and seeing how bad the contractions were.
While in the jacuzzi my water broke which brought everything up to a different level. The contractions started coming more quickly and I ended up vomiting up all the water I'd drank. They got so bad that I couldn't stay in one position through them and had to flip onto my stomach or my side. I was vocalizing and doing my breathing, but it was very difficult. Cyric and Eva stayed right with me and Susan waited in the room.
At about ten or so, we got out of the tub and went back to the room to see the midwife. She was absolutely wonderful and kind about respecting my wishes and giving me the facts about what was going on. She checked me and I was only at 3 cm dilated, despite my water having broken. They decided to definitely keep me at the point because of the risk of infection. I was have a hard time staying in control of the contractions and with the midwife's recommendation decided to have IV pain medication (fentanyl and nubain) to try to stay in control of the situation. The worry was I wouldn't be able to have the strength to deliver the baby if I stayed in such intense labor without any relief.
I had to mostly stay on the bed due to the IV and my plans of having a waterbirth gradually slipped out the window as I realized I couldn't handle it without the medication. The only thing that helped was Cyric pressing the small of my back during the contraction. I thought that I had a pretty high pain tolerance but this was really, really intense.
They checked me again after ten hours (at about eight at night) and discovered that I still had progressed. I was still at 3 cm and the baby hadn't dropped down that much. The decision was made to put me on pitocin to try to get my cervix to open up. Due to the amount of pain I was already experiencing, I made the very difficult decision to get an epidural at the same time. I had been very against them, but knew that pitocin would increase the frequency and duration of the contractions and didn't believe I could handle them if that happened.
With the epidural, I just sort of drifted away and finally got some rest. Cyric (bless him) went to take a short nap and I think I slept as well. I could still feel the pressure of the contractions but not the pain. Everyone was worried at this point.
The midwife came in at ten to check me again and found that I was still at 3 cm and had made no progress since ten o'clock that morning. She found that my cervix was swelling and my temperature was rising as well as the baby's heartbeat. She recommended a C-section. I asked about the benefits and risks and she was very honest. She really recommended the surgery due to the fact that I hadn't progressed and both Avie and I were showing signs of distress. I decided, with the help of my sister and Cyric, that this was the best option.
She went with me to surgery but had to sign me over to the OB on call. Avie was born at 11:20 p.m., after my being at the hospital for 18 hours and never once being considered in "active" labor. Cyric went with me to the OR and got to see her being lifted out of me. They discovered that her head was tilted at a slight angle and extremely firmly stuck in my pelvis when they removed her. They think that was the reason I never progressed and perhaps the reason why I was in so much pain.
I got to see her before they took her to be weighed and measured. She was born with a full head of hair, screaming, with Apgars of 8 and 9 due to her coloring. Cyric went with her at my request, while they stitched me up. They brought her to me again in the recovery room.
She spent the first night in the nursery, due to the nurses recommendations, because we were both so exhausted. They brought her to me to be breastfed though.
Around day three they found out she had jaundice and we had to stay in the hospital until that cleared up. She had also lost ten percent of her body weight. But they let us go on the 10th, after her overnight stint under the bili-lights. They found out that I am anemic again, which accounts for my dizziness and nausea upon standing.
But we're home again, and despite having exactly nothing happen like I planned (except for seeing the placenta and being able to breastfeed exclusively) this is still the most amazing experience of my and Cyric's life. We're so blessed that Aviendha is fine and healthy and that we had such a wonderful staff during our stay at the hospital. My perspective would have been completely different if I hadn't had such a kind and understanding midwife who was willing to explain things to me and let me make my own decisions.
Today is the middle of our second day home and she's breastfeeding like a champ. Susan has been helping with laundry and cooking and Cyric has been wonderful about taking care of us.
I'm so happy to finally be a mother and to have a beautiful healthy daughter. The nurses say that she wins the most beautiful baby award and and we definitely agree. I don't know how I would have done it without Cyric and Eva both being so loving and supportive.
- Anna, Cyric, and Aviendha.
I've started a new journal, Spooky_mama, for things related to Aviendha, childbirth and rearing, and my family. I don't know how much I'll be posting here and how much there, hopefully a lot more than I have been in the past.
We went to the hospital at around 5 a.m. the morning of the 5th. I had been experiencing prodromal labor for 4 weeks previously. I started feeling contractions that started in my back on noon the 4th but didn't want to go too soon and be sent home (again). I decided to wait and try to sleep to see if they were strong enough to prevent me from getting any rest. Cyric's mother, Susan, has been staying here since the 23rd of October waiting for the baby. We had decided that my sister, Eva, would be the labor coach and go with us to the hospital. When we decided to go, we told both Eva and Susan and they followed us up.
My OB wasn't on call and due to a negative experience with the one on call, I decided to go with the midwife option. I planned on having as much of a natural childbirth as possible, no medication, no interventions, and to deliver in the birthing tub.
I was in a fair amount of pain when I got there. The nurse put me on the monitors to check my contractions and they were strong, lasting about 45 sec and happening every 5 to 6 minutes. She checked my cervix and said that I was only about 50% effaced and one centimeter dilated. They are unable to admit mothers unless they are 3-5 centimeters dilated, but she decided to keep me anyways so that the midwife could take a look at me. She let me go in the jacuzzi to help with the discomfort after being there a while and seeing how bad the contractions were.
While in the jacuzzi my water broke which brought everything up to a different level. The contractions started coming more quickly and I ended up vomiting up all the water I'd drank. They got so bad that I couldn't stay in one position through them and had to flip onto my stomach or my side. I was vocalizing and doing my breathing, but it was very difficult. Cyric and Eva stayed right with me and Susan waited in the room.
At about ten or so, we got out of the tub and went back to the room to see the midwife. She was absolutely wonderful and kind about respecting my wishes and giving me the facts about what was going on. She checked me and I was only at 3 cm dilated, despite my water having broken. They decided to definitely keep me at the point because of the risk of infection. I was have a hard time staying in control of the contractions and with the midwife's recommendation decided to have IV pain medication (fentanyl and nubain) to try to stay in control of the situation. The worry was I wouldn't be able to have the strength to deliver the baby if I stayed in such intense labor without any relief.
I had to mostly stay on the bed due to the IV and my plans of having a waterbirth gradually slipped out the window as I realized I couldn't handle it without the medication. The only thing that helped was Cyric pressing the small of my back during the contraction. I thought that I had a pretty high pain tolerance but this was really, really intense.
They checked me again after ten hours (at about eight at night) and discovered that I still had progressed. I was still at 3 cm and the baby hadn't dropped down that much. The decision was made to put me on pitocin to try to get my cervix to open up. Due to the amount of pain I was already experiencing, I made the very difficult decision to get an epidural at the same time. I had been very against them, but knew that pitocin would increase the frequency and duration of the contractions and didn't believe I could handle them if that happened.
With the epidural, I just sort of drifted away and finally got some rest. Cyric (bless him) went to take a short nap and I think I slept as well. I could still feel the pressure of the contractions but not the pain. Everyone was worried at this point.
The midwife came in at ten to check me again and found that I was still at 3 cm and had made no progress since ten o'clock that morning. She found that my cervix was swelling and my temperature was rising as well as the baby's heartbeat. She recommended a C-section. I asked about the benefits and risks and she was very honest. She really recommended the surgery due to the fact that I hadn't progressed and both Avie and I were showing signs of distress. I decided, with the help of my sister and Cyric, that this was the best option.
She went with me to surgery but had to sign me over to the OB on call. Avie was born at 11:20 p.m., after my being at the hospital for 18 hours and never once being considered in "active" labor. Cyric went with me to the OR and got to see her being lifted out of me. They discovered that her head was tilted at a slight angle and extremely firmly stuck in my pelvis when they removed her. They think that was the reason I never progressed and perhaps the reason why I was in so much pain.
I got to see her before they took her to be weighed and measured. She was born with a full head of hair, screaming, with Apgars of 8 and 9 due to her coloring. Cyric went with her at my request, while they stitched me up. They brought her to me again in the recovery room.
She spent the first night in the nursery, due to the nurses recommendations, because we were both so exhausted. They brought her to me to be breastfed though.
Around day three they found out she had jaundice and we had to stay in the hospital until that cleared up. She had also lost ten percent of her body weight. But they let us go on the 10th, after her overnight stint under the bili-lights. They found out that I am anemic again, which accounts for my dizziness and nausea upon standing.
But we're home again, and despite having exactly nothing happen like I planned (except for seeing the placenta and being able to breastfeed exclusively) this is still the most amazing experience of my and Cyric's life. We're so blessed that Aviendha is fine and healthy and that we had such a wonderful staff during our stay at the hospital. My perspective would have been completely different if I hadn't had such a kind and understanding midwife who was willing to explain things to me and let me make my own decisions.
Today is the middle of our second day home and she's breastfeeding like a champ. Susan has been helping with laundry and cooking and Cyric has been wonderful about taking care of us.
I'm so happy to finally be a mother and to have a beautiful healthy daughter. The nurses say that she wins the most beautiful baby award and and we definitely agree. I don't know how I would have done it without Cyric and Eva both being so loving and supportive.
- Anna, Cyric, and Aviendha.
I've started a new journal, Spooky_mama, for things related to Aviendha, childbirth and rearing, and my family. I don't know how much I'll be posting here and how much there, hopefully a lot more than I have been in the past.