Long story but after 48+ hours of straight labor and a hospital transfer because I was just too exhausted to even see straight - Riley Ann made her appearance today at 8:33 am this morning. We are so happy and excited she finally joined us and she has been a GREAT baby, very relaxed and sleeps and eats on a long schedule - but she is a VERY efficient eater already.
Stats are
8 lbs. 7 oz.
22 inches long
You would never know she weighed that much though, she is so skinny. We have her in a preemie outfit that fits her except for length.
I'll write more later but that is the jist. We get to go home tomorrow on Independence Day!!
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h3...os23/riley.jpg
:
So Tuesday, July 1st, the OB called and wanted me to come in for the 39w appt. (I hadn't made an appt. for this week yet, I normally go in on Thursdays) and since we had to go grocery shopping and be in town anyway, I told them I'd be in.
I had been contracting harder and having more backaches with them as soon as I woke up that morning around 9 but it was bearable, and I wasn't sure I was even in labor at that point. My mom and I went out to lunch and then over to the OB appt. at around 3. By that time, my back was really starting to ache with the (what I thought were BH but probably contractions) and my blood pressure was higher when they checked. The OB checked my cervix and then stripped my membranes without me asking (SO not happy about that!) and I was at 4+, 80%, -1 according to her. After she stripped them, my lower back REALLY started to hurt and the contractions picked way up.
We went grocery shopping after and by the time we got to the register I was having to stop walking through some of them and concentrate. I think they were roughly 5-10 min. apart at that point. They continued all through the night barring about 2 hours in the early morning when I was sleeping on a heating pad in a papasan chair and just was dead asleep. I could have been having them then too, I just was too asleep to care.
I got up around 9 am Wednesday morning and they picked right back up and increased in intensity - about 5 minutes apart. By noon, I emailed Joe (my DH) and let him know I was *possibly* in labor but not to come home, it wasn't serious at that point. My mom filled my fishy pool for me, but I didn't want to get in until I was sure I was progressing. I think around 3ish the pool was ready, maybe a bit later because Joe got home around 4:30 and I was in it then. I checked myself and definitely felt softer and more open than before, between 5 and 6 somewhere. I walked around outside and got in the pool off and on from 4:30 on until 11 and the contractions got harder and harder to manage. Actually - at 7:30 or so I ate a few bites of steak fajita while in the pool, so they weren't too horrible at that point, but still 3-5 minutes apart.
At 10:30/11ish pm my water started trickling. I thought it had totally broken at that point, but little did I know Riley Ann had an Olympic sized pool in there! I thought I just peed myself because I was in the birth pool at that point, but then I realized there was bits of vernix in the water. Yay! Something was happening!
In between 11 and 2 it gets kind of fuzzy for me - the contractions were extremely intense, and although I have a high pain tolerance, I was getting so tired at that point that I was having trouble staying mentally on top of them enough to breathe through them. I tried to check myself, and it seemed like the baby's head was right on the tailbone and couldn't come down more. I couldn't tell how open I was because most of my cervix was still behind her head - the opening was pretty posterior still I guess. I thought I had gotten stuck in transition as the contractions were long and very close together. I started throwing up between 1 and 2 am, and was semi-comatose in between them. I had literally no energy left then and couldn't mentally stay on top of the contractions, and I knew I would have none left for pushing. I did try pushing a little with them to see if I would get an urge to push but no cigar. It did help a little to take my mind off of things though. By 2am Thursday morning, the hospital started looking really nice, but I REALLY REALLY REALLY didn't want the 45 minute drive into it on country roads. That was pretty much the only thing holding me back at that point.
At around 2:30am, my mom and Joe asked me what I wanted to do and I told them to make a decision, I didn't care. Joe said, "We're going in then!" Thank God, because I really don't think I could have done it without the epidural. I was too tense and too tired to relax enough to open up all the way, let alone push a baby out. The ride into the hospital was surprisingly not that bad and only took 20 minutes (thanks to all the green lights we hit!). As soon as I got out of the car at the ER exit, my water exploded and filled the extra heavy pad I was wearing and started running down my legs. There was no doubt about it at that point! The contractions had changed patterns to 3 at a time, and then 3 minutes in between, I guess that is triple peaking? I was probably almost in transition at that point, but my mental state was SO much better since I felt like I was doing something productive.
By the time they got me in the room, the nurse checked and I was at 7 (I think I closed up a bit because I was tense and she was pretty rough). Right before the epi went in, I was shaking and the contractions felt a bit different - I was probably in transition, and looking back had I known that, I could have gone without the epidural. I was parched this whole time and kept asking for water and they would only give me ice chips until I mentioned I was hypoglycemic and my blood sugar was low. They begrudgingly gave me some
apple juice, but I had to fight for it. They finally got an epi started at 4 am and immediately I felt like a new person. I went from 7-9cm laughing and joking between 4 and 6 am and then was complete by 7:30. Honestly, I was probably complete before then, because I was feeling like I could push closer to 6:45 but at that point I wanted to rest more. My waters were gushing out the entire time we were in the hospital - I had no idea there was that much fluid in there! I started pushing a little after 8 and that was NOT fun. I had her out in 5 contractions, about 20 minutes, but the last 3 contractions, she
was sitting with her head right there crowning. I breathed through the 4th contraction so my perineum could stretch and the OB was doing perineal massage. He also gave me a shot of lidocaine at the very bottom, which was nice. The nurse kept telling me to hold for 10 seconds and push, and I just pushed the way I felt comfortable. By the time I got to the 5th contraction, I was like GET HER OUT!!! and gave a huge push and her head came out and I gave a little half hearted one and the rest of her came out. I honestly thought I was going to have to push for a LOT longer. I was expecting 1-2 hours. I did have a nick up top, and a 2 deg. tear below with 8 stitches, but her head was almost 14 inches around, so I figure I got off easy, especially with as fast as she came out!
We did the delayed cord clamping and it was a good thing, because her lungs didn't get squeezed enough with the amount of amniotic fluid I had (she had NO accelerations and no decels of her heart the entire time) and then she came out too fast to get squeezed in the birth canal. She was pinkish when she came out and got bluer and bluer and wasn't breathing at all. All of a sudden she coughed out all this mucous, and I got really worried then because I held my finger undr her nose and she still wasn't breathing. I told the nurse she wasn't breathing and they cut the cord and took her in the side room to be bulb suctioned. Fortunately, they didn't have to tube suction her.
While she was in being suctioned, I delivered the placenta - I think he applied some traction on it though, but not much, because I had a palm sized piece of retained placenta. The doc reached in and got it and there was a huge gush of blood and this is where things get fuzzy for me. I remember telling the doctor that my ears were ringing and then that my vision was getting fuzzy and I needed juice because my blood sugar was low and then I just blacked out. My mom came into the room right then and yelled "What did you do to her??" and got me some juice (thank you mom!). I remember hearing that my
blood pressure was 80/30, and kept asking for juice. Apparently I had a vagal response due to the shock of losing so much fluid at once - I didn't have a postpartum hemmorhage, but it was close. I guess a PPH is 500cc or more and I lost around 450cc. They laid me down on the bed and my mom gave me the juice and I immediately started feeling better.
The doc finished stitching me up - I had a second degree tear at the bottom and a nick at the top - he had wanted to cut an episiotomy but I wasn't going to let that happen. I'm glad in retrospect because I probably would have torn worse if he had. I ended up with 8 stitches and so far they are healing well. I finally got to see my baby again after all that - Joe had been in with her and I am so happy he was. My mom got some great pictures of him with her during that time that are just priceless - you can tell he just fell in love with his daughter right then.
We spent the rest of the day resting and having visitors and ended up going home on July 4th - it was the best July 4th ever!
Stats are
8 lbs. 7 oz.
22 inches long
You would never know she weighed that much though, she is so skinny. We have her in a preemie outfit that fits her except for length.
I'll write more later but that is the jist. We get to go home tomorrow on Independence Day!!
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h3...os23/riley.jpg
:So Tuesday, July 1st, the OB called and wanted me to come in for the 39w appt. (I hadn't made an appt. for this week yet, I normally go in on Thursdays) and since we had to go grocery shopping and be in town anyway, I told them I'd be in.
I had been contracting harder and having more backaches with them as soon as I woke up that morning around 9 but it was bearable, and I wasn't sure I was even in labor at that point. My mom and I went out to lunch and then over to the OB appt. at around 3. By that time, my back was really starting to ache with the (what I thought were BH but probably contractions) and my blood pressure was higher when they checked. The OB checked my cervix and then stripped my membranes without me asking (SO not happy about that!) and I was at 4+, 80%, -1 according to her. After she stripped them, my lower back REALLY started to hurt and the contractions picked way up.
We went grocery shopping after and by the time we got to the register I was having to stop walking through some of them and concentrate. I think they were roughly 5-10 min. apart at that point. They continued all through the night barring about 2 hours in the early morning when I was sleeping on a heating pad in a papasan chair and just was dead asleep. I could have been having them then too, I just was too asleep to care.
I got up around 9 am Wednesday morning and they picked right back up and increased in intensity - about 5 minutes apart. By noon, I emailed Joe (my DH) and let him know I was *possibly* in labor but not to come home, it wasn't serious at that point. My mom filled my fishy pool for me, but I didn't want to get in until I was sure I was progressing. I think around 3ish the pool was ready, maybe a bit later because Joe got home around 4:30 and I was in it then. I checked myself and definitely felt softer and more open than before, between 5 and 6 somewhere. I walked around outside and got in the pool off and on from 4:30 on until 11 and the contractions got harder and harder to manage. Actually - at 7:30 or so I ate a few bites of steak fajita while in the pool, so they weren't too horrible at that point, but still 3-5 minutes apart.
At 10:30/11ish pm my water started trickling. I thought it had totally broken at that point, but little did I know Riley Ann had an Olympic sized pool in there! I thought I just peed myself because I was in the birth pool at that point, but then I realized there was bits of vernix in the water. Yay! Something was happening!
In between 11 and 2 it gets kind of fuzzy for me - the contractions were extremely intense, and although I have a high pain tolerance, I was getting so tired at that point that I was having trouble staying mentally on top of them enough to breathe through them. I tried to check myself, and it seemed like the baby's head was right on the tailbone and couldn't come down more. I couldn't tell how open I was because most of my cervix was still behind her head - the opening was pretty posterior still I guess. I thought I had gotten stuck in transition as the contractions were long and very close together. I started throwing up between 1 and 2 am, and was semi-comatose in between them. I had literally no energy left then and couldn't mentally stay on top of the contractions, and I knew I would have none left for pushing. I did try pushing a little with them to see if I would get an urge to push but no cigar. It did help a little to take my mind off of things though. By 2am Thursday morning, the hospital started looking really nice, but I REALLY REALLY REALLY didn't want the 45 minute drive into it on country roads. That was pretty much the only thing holding me back at that point.
At around 2:30am, my mom and Joe asked me what I wanted to do and I told them to make a decision, I didn't care. Joe said, "We're going in then!" Thank God, because I really don't think I could have done it without the epidural. I was too tense and too tired to relax enough to open up all the way, let alone push a baby out. The ride into the hospital was surprisingly not that bad and only took 20 minutes (thanks to all the green lights we hit!). As soon as I got out of the car at the ER exit, my water exploded and filled the extra heavy pad I was wearing and started running down my legs. There was no doubt about it at that point! The contractions had changed patterns to 3 at a time, and then 3 minutes in between, I guess that is triple peaking? I was probably almost in transition at that point, but my mental state was SO much better since I felt like I was doing something productive.
By the time they got me in the room, the nurse checked and I was at 7 (I think I closed up a bit because I was tense and she was pretty rough). Right before the epi went in, I was shaking and the contractions felt a bit different - I was probably in transition, and looking back had I known that, I could have gone without the epidural. I was parched this whole time and kept asking for water and they would only give me ice chips until I mentioned I was hypoglycemic and my blood sugar was low. They begrudgingly gave me some
apple juice, but I had to fight for it. They finally got an epi started at 4 am and immediately I felt like a new person. I went from 7-9cm laughing and joking between 4 and 6 am and then was complete by 7:30. Honestly, I was probably complete before then, because I was feeling like I could push closer to 6:45 but at that point I wanted to rest more. My waters were gushing out the entire time we were in the hospital - I had no idea there was that much fluid in there! I started pushing a little after 8 and that was NOT fun. I had her out in 5 contractions, about 20 minutes, but the last 3 contractions, she
was sitting with her head right there crowning. I breathed through the 4th contraction so my perineum could stretch and the OB was doing perineal massage. He also gave me a shot of lidocaine at the very bottom, which was nice. The nurse kept telling me to hold for 10 seconds and push, and I just pushed the way I felt comfortable. By the time I got to the 5th contraction, I was like GET HER OUT!!! and gave a huge push and her head came out and I gave a little half hearted one and the rest of her came out. I honestly thought I was going to have to push for a LOT longer. I was expecting 1-2 hours. I did have a nick up top, and a 2 deg. tear below with 8 stitches, but her head was almost 14 inches around, so I figure I got off easy, especially with as fast as she came out!
We did the delayed cord clamping and it was a good thing, because her lungs didn't get squeezed enough with the amount of amniotic fluid I had (she had NO accelerations and no decels of her heart the entire time) and then she came out too fast to get squeezed in the birth canal. She was pinkish when she came out and got bluer and bluer and wasn't breathing at all. All of a sudden she coughed out all this mucous, and I got really worried then because I held my finger undr her nose and she still wasn't breathing. I told the nurse she wasn't breathing and they cut the cord and took her in the side room to be bulb suctioned. Fortunately, they didn't have to tube suction her.
While she was in being suctioned, I delivered the placenta - I think he applied some traction on it though, but not much, because I had a palm sized piece of retained placenta. The doc reached in and got it and there was a huge gush of blood and this is where things get fuzzy for me. I remember telling the doctor that my ears were ringing and then that my vision was getting fuzzy and I needed juice because my blood sugar was low and then I just blacked out. My mom came into the room right then and yelled "What did you do to her??" and got me some juice (thank you mom!). I remember hearing that my
blood pressure was 80/30, and kept asking for juice. Apparently I had a vagal response due to the shock of losing so much fluid at once - I didn't have a postpartum hemmorhage, but it was close. I guess a PPH is 500cc or more and I lost around 450cc. They laid me down on the bed and my mom gave me the juice and I immediately started feeling better.
The doc finished stitching me up - I had a second degree tear at the bottom and a nick at the top - he had wanted to cut an episiotomy but I wasn't going to let that happen. I'm glad in retrospect because I probably would have torn worse if he had. I ended up with 8 stitches and so far they are healing well. I finally got to see my baby again after all that - Joe had been in with her and I am so happy he was. My mom got some great pictures of him with her during that time that are just priceless - you can tell he just fell in love with his daughter right then.
We spent the rest of the day resting and having visitors and ended up going home on July 4th - it was the best July 4th ever!
:
