Birth Story
Sophie Lauren Worthington
3/14/05 10:31 pm 7lbs 13oz 18.5" 9/9
On Sunday afternoon, I took a shower to get ready to go to Ryan's dad's house, and while in the shower, I had the worst back spasm and contraction combination I had ever had. I would easily rate it as a 9 or 10 on the pain scale. I almost passed out while leaning over the side of the tub, and after it passed, I cried for a few minutes. Up till this point, my labor had been progressing much as my labor with Korben did: Moderate contractions that would be steady for up to 90 minutes and taper off, and slow dilation and effacement, but progressing along. I was at 3 cm at my doctor's office the week before. I got dressed and headed to Linda's with Korben to visit with the family.
Linda's kids' dad was getting married in a week, with Linda running the wedding, so her cousins were in town, and we had a really nice visit. All through the night, about three or four times an hour, I would have a back spasm that was bearable, and a strong contraction. After a few hours, I stood up, and everyone noticed that the baby had dropped. At nearly 10, I headed home with Korben and went to bed.
I did not sleep well. When I woke on Monday morning, something was different. I was having strong, regular contractions, and they were getting stronger. I went to the bathroom and passed a lot of mucous. I woke Ryan up and told him I thought this might be the day so he should call work. I called my OB and asked to have my appointment moved up from1:50 pm because I thought I might be in labor. They asked me to come in ASAP, at 10:50. I'd been timing my contractions from 9:42, and had had 8 of them in 45 minutes. We piled into the car and ran by Wendy's to get food, since I knew that they wouldn't let me eat if the doctor sent me to the hospital. We finally got into the doctor's at about 11:20, and were seen about 30 minutes later. She checked me, and found me to be almost 5 cm and progressing, so she sent us to the hospital. She said that if my contractions were not regular enough, they would probably augment my labor with pitocin if that was ok with me, and I said it was. We left to go to St. John's, and I called Linda.
We got checked in, and Linda picked Korben up. I was so nervous and excited that the contractions petered out and were uneven and irregular again. They came to draw my blood, which was more painful than almost any other draw I've ever had, and I filled out a bunch of paperwork. My nurse put me on an IV of fluids, which was not bad, despite being at a really awkward angle. After a few hours, they hooked me up to the pitocin, and after a while, I started feeling really anxious. The pain was getting stronger, but I still felt like it was OK, but I started panicking. I started crying and told Ryan that I was scared. I was suddenly terrified of the epidural, more than I was of delivering. But I wanted to have it, because things were starting to get really intense. I asked the nurse to call the anasthesiologist, and Dr. Long came in shortly after. He was very kind and made jokes with me, and I managed to not have a panic attack while he did the epidural. The hardest part about that was that the nurse kept pushing my head down, and the pillow I was hugging would get smashed in my face and I would start having some claustrophobia issues. It was over quickly, though, and although it was a little uncomfortable during the procedure, Dr. Long assured me that I held still better than most patients do. As soon as the epidural started working, my panic and anxiety disappeared, so apparently it was the pain of the contractions that was making me so upset.
Not long after this, Dr. Files came by to check me out, and she broke my water. Things were progressing along wonderfully. At 7, my nurse left and a new nurse came named Judy. She was wonderful. She was a little god-happy, but it was ok, because she wasn't trying to push me to believe what she did. We sat and talked while Ryan sat and read, and that really helped me a lot. I was very bored before she came on shift, and having her there made the time pass a lot faster. Now that I'd had my epidural, I wasn't hurting anymore, but I started feeling a lot of pressure at about 9 pm. I told the nurse about my experience with Korben, so she told me to let her know when I started feeling like I needed to poop, and we'd call the doctor. I said, "Well, I feel a little of that now, but it's not real strong, so let's wait a bit." We chatted some more, and during each contraction, the pressure got stronger. I told her that I thought I'd probably deliver the baby between 10 and 10:30. She looked a little skeptical, but she said, "Given the way your previous labor went, I'm going to go ahead and call the doctor. If it's not time yet, she can wait here for a bit." So at 10, she called the doctor. Dr. Files came in at about 10:15 and checked me, and found me to be just shy of complete, with the baby at -1 station. She got ready, called in the pediatric nurse, and said, ok, let's try giving it a push. Ryan got up and held my left leg way higher and further apart than I'd ever had it during Korben's delivery, and Judy was on the other side doing the same. I pushed, and she moved way down and they could see her. I pushed and she crowned. I pushed gently and her head came out. Her cord was wrapped around her neck, so Dr. Files took care of that and suctioned her mouth and nose. I pushed one last time, and she was out. The pushing stage only lasted for 4 and a half minutes. Judy was astonished that I had actually delivered at 10:31, just like I said I would.
It was very surreal because I had no pain during the delivery. My epidural actually worked the whole delivery, so it was very different from Korben's birth. There were also less people in the room, and I was the only delivery on the floor that night, so it didn't feel as frenetic and zoo-like as it had at Memorial Hermann SE.
Sophie cried, and they placed her on my stomach. I was in shock. I sobbed a couple of times, and they took her to clean her up. She scored 9 and 9 on her apgars, which is great, considering that she was premature - I delivered her at 37 weeks, 3 days, according to my LMP and due date. I'd guessed before her birth that she was going to be about 7 ½ pounds, and she was 7 pounds and 12.8 ounces, but a very short 18 ½ inches. Everything about her is petite - she has tiny hands and feet, and looks much smaller than her weight would lead you to believe. She has a mess of dark hair, and looks more like my side of the family than Ryan's. I was kind of living in a state of shock throughout the hospital stay. I wanted to go home, because I couldn't get comfortable in the bed there, but my doctor asked me to stay at least one more night, giving the excuse that since I'm nursing her, I might need help from the OB nurses on staff.
I had a visit from the phlebotomy staff on Tuesday morning. The guy who drew my blood was not very good at it, and it hurt a lot. I was very glad to see him go. I was less than happy when he came back and told me that he'd somehow managed to lose the vial of blood, and had to do another draw. I said ok, and he proceeded to stick me right in the same place he'd stuck me before, and do another draw, which hurt like a bitch. A few minutes later, another phlebotomist came in and said they'd have to re-do the draw AGAIN because the draw he'd done was clotted. I was nursing at the time, so she said she would come back later. Another woman came as I was preparing for my bath, and she stuck me so bad, three times, and couldn't get anything. I started sobbing because it was just too much for me, and I told her "Can't you at least use a smaller needle or something" and cried for 10 minutes. She finally had to do the draw out of my hand using a pediatric needle. It didn't hurt nearly as bad, but it was still painful. It makes me wonder if they recruit their phlebotomists from the Sweeney Todd school of medicine or what. It was by far the worst part of my whole birth experience this time.
The only issues I had with nursing were when they told me I needed to wake her up to feed her. Sophie does not like to be woken. It would take me 45 minutes to wake her up enough to nurse, and even then, she would just fall asleep at the breast. Once we got home and were able to nurse on demand, things got easier in that arena.
On Tuesday after school and nap, Ryan brought Korben to meet his sister. He came right into the room, saying, "Hi mom!" and grinning like a fool. When he saw Sophie, he stopped dead and wanted to know, "Who's that baby, mom?" I said, "It's your baby sister, Korben." He asked, "What's that baby's name?" I told him that it was Baby Sophie, which he repeated. He then tried to climb into the bed and wanted to hold her. He has not been physically jealous of her, but he has been acting out in other ways. He seems to be OK with the baby, and is especially fascinated by the whole nursing thing. He wanted to know where the baby's bottles where, and I don't think he really understood that there was milk in my boobs for the baby until he saw me pumping for the first time, and then there was direct evidence of the milk.
Ryan has been much easier with this baby than he was with Korben. I'm not sure how much of it has to do with already having been through it once, and this time having a girl, but I'm glad he's more at ease. He actually seems to be enjoying being a dad this time, where before he was just scared and uncomfortable and unhappy about it. I'd say that this has been a much less stressful and easier transition than bringing Korben home was, and now our little family is complete!
For those interested, Korben's birth story is up on September 19, 2002. Sophie was born on his 6-month birthday. :)
3/14/05 10:31 pm 7lbs 13oz 18.5" 9/9
On Sunday afternoon, I took a shower to get ready to go to Ryan's dad's house, and while in the shower, I had the worst back spasm and contraction combination I had ever had. I would easily rate it as a 9 or 10 on the pain scale. I almost passed out while leaning over the side of the tub, and after it passed, I cried for a few minutes. Up till this point, my labor had been progressing much as my labor with Korben did: Moderate contractions that would be steady for up to 90 minutes and taper off, and slow dilation and effacement, but progressing along. I was at 3 cm at my doctor's office the week before. I got dressed and headed to Linda's with Korben to visit with the family.
Linda's kids' dad was getting married in a week, with Linda running the wedding, so her cousins were in town, and we had a really nice visit. All through the night, about three or four times an hour, I would have a back spasm that was bearable, and a strong contraction. After a few hours, I stood up, and everyone noticed that the baby had dropped. At nearly 10, I headed home with Korben and went to bed.
I did not sleep well. When I woke on Monday morning, something was different. I was having strong, regular contractions, and they were getting stronger. I went to the bathroom and passed a lot of mucous. I woke Ryan up and told him I thought this might be the day so he should call work. I called my OB and asked to have my appointment moved up from1:50 pm because I thought I might be in labor. They asked me to come in ASAP, at 10:50. I'd been timing my contractions from 9:42, and had had 8 of them in 45 minutes. We piled into the car and ran by Wendy's to get food, since I knew that they wouldn't let me eat if the doctor sent me to the hospital. We finally got into the doctor's at about 11:20, and were seen about 30 minutes later. She checked me, and found me to be almost 5 cm and progressing, so she sent us to the hospital. She said that if my contractions were not regular enough, they would probably augment my labor with pitocin if that was ok with me, and I said it was. We left to go to St. John's, and I called Linda.
We got checked in, and Linda picked Korben up. I was so nervous and excited that the contractions petered out and were uneven and irregular again. They came to draw my blood, which was more painful than almost any other draw I've ever had, and I filled out a bunch of paperwork. My nurse put me on an IV of fluids, which was not bad, despite being at a really awkward angle. After a few hours, they hooked me up to the pitocin, and after a while, I started feeling really anxious. The pain was getting stronger, but I still felt like it was OK, but I started panicking. I started crying and told Ryan that I was scared. I was suddenly terrified of the epidural, more than I was of delivering. But I wanted to have it, because things were starting to get really intense. I asked the nurse to call the anasthesiologist, and Dr. Long came in shortly after. He was very kind and made jokes with me, and I managed to not have a panic attack while he did the epidural. The hardest part about that was that the nurse kept pushing my head down, and the pillow I was hugging would get smashed in my face and I would start having some claustrophobia issues. It was over quickly, though, and although it was a little uncomfortable during the procedure, Dr. Long assured me that I held still better than most patients do. As soon as the epidural started working, my panic and anxiety disappeared, so apparently it was the pain of the contractions that was making me so upset.
Not long after this, Dr. Files came by to check me out, and she broke my water. Things were progressing along wonderfully. At 7, my nurse left and a new nurse came named Judy. She was wonderful. She was a little god-happy, but it was ok, because she wasn't trying to push me to believe what she did. We sat and talked while Ryan sat and read, and that really helped me a lot. I was very bored before she came on shift, and having her there made the time pass a lot faster. Now that I'd had my epidural, I wasn't hurting anymore, but I started feeling a lot of pressure at about 9 pm. I told the nurse about my experience with Korben, so she told me to let her know when I started feeling like I needed to poop, and we'd call the doctor. I said, "Well, I feel a little of that now, but it's not real strong, so let's wait a bit." We chatted some more, and during each contraction, the pressure got stronger. I told her that I thought I'd probably deliver the baby between 10 and 10:30. She looked a little skeptical, but she said, "Given the way your previous labor went, I'm going to go ahead and call the doctor. If it's not time yet, she can wait here for a bit." So at 10, she called the doctor. Dr. Files came in at about 10:15 and checked me, and found me to be just shy of complete, with the baby at -1 station. She got ready, called in the pediatric nurse, and said, ok, let's try giving it a push. Ryan got up and held my left leg way higher and further apart than I'd ever had it during Korben's delivery, and Judy was on the other side doing the same. I pushed, and she moved way down and they could see her. I pushed and she crowned. I pushed gently and her head came out. Her cord was wrapped around her neck, so Dr. Files took care of that and suctioned her mouth and nose. I pushed one last time, and she was out. The pushing stage only lasted for 4 and a half minutes. Judy was astonished that I had actually delivered at 10:31, just like I said I would.
It was very surreal because I had no pain during the delivery. My epidural actually worked the whole delivery, so it was very different from Korben's birth. There were also less people in the room, and I was the only delivery on the floor that night, so it didn't feel as frenetic and zoo-like as it had at Memorial Hermann SE.
Sophie cried, and they placed her on my stomach. I was in shock. I sobbed a couple of times, and they took her to clean her up. She scored 9 and 9 on her apgars, which is great, considering that she was premature - I delivered her at 37 weeks, 3 days, according to my LMP and due date. I'd guessed before her birth that she was going to be about 7 ½ pounds, and she was 7 pounds and 12.8 ounces, but a very short 18 ½ inches. Everything about her is petite - she has tiny hands and feet, and looks much smaller than her weight would lead you to believe. She has a mess of dark hair, and looks more like my side of the family than Ryan's. I was kind of living in a state of shock throughout the hospital stay. I wanted to go home, because I couldn't get comfortable in the bed there, but my doctor asked me to stay at least one more night, giving the excuse that since I'm nursing her, I might need help from the OB nurses on staff.
I had a visit from the phlebotomy staff on Tuesday morning. The guy who drew my blood was not very good at it, and it hurt a lot. I was very glad to see him go. I was less than happy when he came back and told me that he'd somehow managed to lose the vial of blood, and had to do another draw. I said ok, and he proceeded to stick me right in the same place he'd stuck me before, and do another draw, which hurt like a bitch. A few minutes later, another phlebotomist came in and said they'd have to re-do the draw AGAIN because the draw he'd done was clotted. I was nursing at the time, so she said she would come back later. Another woman came as I was preparing for my bath, and she stuck me so bad, three times, and couldn't get anything. I started sobbing because it was just too much for me, and I told her "Can't you at least use a smaller needle or something" and cried for 10 minutes. She finally had to do the draw out of my hand using a pediatric needle. It didn't hurt nearly as bad, but it was still painful. It makes me wonder if they recruit their phlebotomists from the Sweeney Todd school of medicine or what. It was by far the worst part of my whole birth experience this time.
The only issues I had with nursing were when they told me I needed to wake her up to feed her. Sophie does not like to be woken. It would take me 45 minutes to wake her up enough to nurse, and even then, she would just fall asleep at the breast. Once we got home and were able to nurse on demand, things got easier in that arena.
On Tuesday after school and nap, Ryan brought Korben to meet his sister. He came right into the room, saying, "Hi mom!" and grinning like a fool. When he saw Sophie, he stopped dead and wanted to know, "Who's that baby, mom?" I said, "It's your baby sister, Korben." He asked, "What's that baby's name?" I told him that it was Baby Sophie, which he repeated. He then tried to climb into the bed and wanted to hold her. He has not been physically jealous of her, but he has been acting out in other ways. He seems to be OK with the baby, and is especially fascinated by the whole nursing thing. He wanted to know where the baby's bottles where, and I don't think he really understood that there was milk in my boobs for the baby until he saw me pumping for the first time, and then there was direct evidence of the milk.
Ryan has been much easier with this baby than he was with Korben. I'm not sure how much of it has to do with already having been through it once, and this time having a girl, but I'm glad he's more at ease. He actually seems to be enjoying being a dad this time, where before he was just scared and uncomfortable and unhappy about it. I'd say that this has been a much less stressful and easier transition than bringing Korben home was, and now our little family is complete!
For those interested, Korben's birth story is up on September 19, 2002. Sophie was born on his 6-month birthday. :)