Birth Story #1

...Most of this is gleemed from an email I sent to a friend of mine--wanting to know what childbirth was "really" like. Ha! As if I could "really" tell her!

I felt "funny" on Dec. 22. I experienced a few contractions in the morning and that night, but nothing regular, but still...I just felt..."strange."

I woke up around 6:30 AM on Dec 23 and made one of my usual bathroom trips. Hmm...bloddy show??? At 6:40 I had my first "real" contraction. I waited till I felt a couple more, just to be sure, before I woke up DH. Then the two of us went into the living room and started timing them. They were four, sometimes three, minutes apart, but only lasting 30-45 seconds. They just felt like *really* bad mentrual cramps at this point and were mostly in my back.

So, it's 7:40 now but the doctor's office isn't open yet, so we call the answering service. Twenty minutes go by, and no one calls back. We call again. The answering service guy puts us through to the office, even though there weren't any doctors there yet, just the receptionist. After she confers with whomever IS around to confer, she suggests we head to the doctor's office--a doctor should be there by the time we get there.

So, we grab the hospital gear and get the doctor's office around 8:20. The door is still locked!

Well, we do eventually get in and manage to see a doctor. I'm only dilatd at 2-3 centimeters! I was so disappointed! I thought surely I'd be farther along than that with the pain I was in! She gives us a choice--go ahead to the hospital where they'll probably make us walk the halls since I'm not too far along, or wait it out at home for a while, then go. I say, "Hospital, please!" Doc says, "Yeah, probably a good idea. With the look on your face, you're probably wanting to start some pain medication, huh?" I didn't argue about it--I was in the middle of a contraction!

We probably got to the hospital around 9-9:30. (I really don't know--my sense of time is really fuzzy at this point. The rest of the day is mostly one big blur to me.) As we're walking into the hospital, I start to feel faint, but I notice it's only when I'm having a contraction. They hook me up to monitor the baby. While all this is going on, I've apparently gone into quite a white, pasty color. Nurse to DH, "Is she normally that pale?" "Um, NO." Well, time for an IV!

I don't have the IV in very long, and I start to feel better. At this point, DH starts feeding me ice chips. I start staring at the corner of the ceiling/walls for a focal point. Through each contraction, I make DH massage my lower back HARD while I rub his arm (think raging Indian burn--poor guy!). He had no hair by the end of the day, but it did actually help me take my mind off the pain (a little).

OK, so they decide that I'm legitimately in labor--I've progressed to 4 cm. They have a room for me, but there aren't enough nurses to go around. There are four other laboring couples there in triage with us ("Full moon!" the nurses all say!). An on-call nurse finally shows up, and we're wheeled into the delivery room.

We get into the room, and I get another lap belt to monitor the baby. (DH is absolutely amazed that he can tell when my contractions are about to hit by reading the monitor. I'm not so amused.)

The nurse fills the jacuzzi for me, and (after taking off the lap belt) I immediately get in. John sits in a chair next to the tub, bending over to rub and put pressure on my lower back. The instant I get into the water, it starts turning GREEN. For the rest of my hospital stay, no one--nurses, doctors, cleaning staff--has any idea WHY. One nurse suggested that whatever cleaner they used was reacting to my blood. The cleaning staff said they've never seen anything like it--ever.

Anyway, now comes in the doctor. She says that she did call us back, but by that time we had already left the house. She had delivered two babies the night before and one already this morning! I guess that's a good excuse for being tardy in her callback, huh?

I'm now at 5 cm, but my water hasn't broken yet. The doctor decides not to break it yet, as the baby's head isn't down far enough yet.

I decide to go ahead and get something for the pain, but I do not want an epidural. I have no idea what they gave me (didn't recognize the name when the nurse said it?), but here's what it does (as she explains), it does NOT ease the pain, but it helps you relax in between contractions. "You're going to feel a little loopy," she tells me.

The nurse sticks the needle in my IV and WHAMMO, I immiately start feeling the effects. Instant sleepiness!

And she was right, the drugs made me drowsy, but I'm sure as hell wide awake for every one of those damn contractions! OUCH!

I vary from the bathtub back to the bed to the rocking chair to the bed to the bathtub (I never once had to "walk the halls," Miss First Doctor!). While in the rocking chair, I feel as if I have to have a bowel movement, and no matter where I go, the feeling does not go away. The next time a nurse checks on me (I'm in the jacuzzi again), I tell her, "I think I'm getting the urge to push, and I *know* I'm not dilated enough yet!" So she gets the doctor again.

When the doctor checks me, I'm only at 8 cm (and the prodding does NOT help the urge to push AT ALL). I ask her to please, please break my water, which she does. She notices a little merconium in the water, so she decides to put on an internal fetal monitor. Yeah, that was fun to get put in place!

Well, the doctor has barely got this thing installed, and the urge to push gets unbearable. My body takes over for my brain and starts "pushing." The doctor keeps telling me NOT to push, or I'll tear myself. So I'm trying to pant through like they teach you in childbirth classes, but then I get all freaked that I'm going to hyperventilate. I said do the doctor, "How much longer, do you think?" "Maybe two to four hours." "There is no way I'm going to make it to two hours! It's too late for an epidural, isn't it?" (I was *mostly* joking.) She did ponder this for a second and then says, yes.

Anyway, I wasn't doing such a great job of controlling my body through all this. I DID manage to get through a few contractions without pushing, but then I started to lose control again. I hear words like "vacuum extractor" and "episiotomy" but none of it is really registering with me. Then it seemed the doctor started to panic. She says, "I need some help in here!" and then the room just filled up with a resident and four nurses.

DH and I had no clue what was going on. The resident has me pull up my legs, but I had no idea why. DH is too busy concentrating on me and trying to get me to control my breathing to notice--plus they have him hold up one of my legs. Then they slap an oxygen mask on my face, stick a needle in me, and start to perform the episiotomy.

And while all this chaos is going on, I'm having contraction after contraction and having more and more problems holding back. "I feel the urge to push again!" I yell. The resident says, "Well, go ahead and push!"

!

So, I start to push. But no one is doing the push count for me. DH is confused and thinks we're still supposed to be doing the transitional/pant breathing. I start to panic, lose my breath, and I wasn't pushing too effectively.

Amazingly, though, with that first push (and few bad ones), the head comes out! DH was a amazed and freaked at the same time, "It was all blue and icky and just kind of...there!" He was freaked, but you should have seen the smile on his face when he told me the head was out.

So, I push more bad pushes, screaming with the strain/stress. One of the nurses starts yelling directions right into my face, and so then I was finally able to concentrate and get some good pushes in.

Next thing I know, DH is saying that the baby is out! Neither one of us noticed the glorious event, we were so busy trying to concentrate on my pushing. We both just happened to look up and see this army of people on the right side of the room (I didn't get to hold the baby right away because they needed to check her due to the merconium in the amniotic fluid). Funny thing, the baby was out for several minutes before I thought to ask, "Hey, what is it?" I had completely missed the announcement that it was a girl!

What I found out after the birth (and we're talking two YEARS after):

1) The baby was in the posterier position. Apparently, this was why I was experiencing such painful back labor. (Although this article, http://www.babycenter.com/0_posterior-position_1454005.bc?page=2, claims otherwise. Whatever, neither one of my other, anterior labors came even CLOSE to touching that pain, nor did I have pain in my lower back.)

2) A vacuum extractor, although discussed, was never used.

Because I've always wanted to....

I'm going to start typing in the birth stories from the first three kids. It's something I've always wanted to put on my Q Collective blog but just never got around to doing. So! Let's get crackin', eh? (And hope blogger cooperates since I'm having problems posting, saving, and editing.)

First *gasp* purchase!

While getting the kids to try on bathing suits for our trip, I was able to nonchalantly walk through the maternity aisle. 50% off maternity jeans?! Well! I quickly grabbed a pair and threw them in the cart. And I don't think any of the kids noticed a thing! Haha!

Saturday several of us from GS got together for a business/pleasure meeting at a member's lake cottage. It was...heavenly. We got to go swimming and kayaking (along with business stuff--bleh!). And...I got to share the new news with my friends (two of them being co-leaders of mine). It's kind of fun to see how different people react. And how some people did not react they way I thought they would--in a good way! It's also interesting because several of these woman had babies at an older age (DH and I have always noticed that when it comes to the parents at this school district, we are actually quite on the "young" side). Anyway, it was fun to share and laugh and once again be reassured that "Everything will be just fine!"

And most of the panic seems to be out of DH's face now....

It really is still sooooo surreal, all of this.

Monday was my first monthly exam, and all is well. Good weight, good blood pressure (already lower than last time--I do get low bp while pregnant.) The doctor asked me how was husband was doing--haha! She apologized because the pap smear (Really, WHY must we go through that while pregnant?) was apparently somewhat "rough" and gave me a pad to wear home. Yikes.... Doc was also laughing and apologizing when I was cringing at the breast exam. Yes, the girls are very, very tender. I was thilled that she was able to find a heartbeat no problem.

I decided not to get any first trimester tests done. I think the things are too inconsistant and not informative enough to be worth the stress. We're flying on faith here! Doc was fine with my decision.

The doc also told me a due date of March 18. This is not the first time in a pregnancy that the girl at the front desk and the actual doctor have given me two different due dates. (When M was born, I was going by the due date I was told of December 23. But when I went into labor on the 23rd, my hospital bracelet and all my paperwork said December 22. So, M was either exactly on time or a day late! Going by M's personality, I say--she was exactly on time!)

I told my father and grandmother about the good news this weekend, and I'm gearing up to tell more folks in the next few weeks (Oh! The sensation this will be!). I think I'm going to see if DH would like to share the news with the kids while we're on vacation in two weeks. It might be nice to tell them while we're all together as a family.

M is suspecting SOMETHING, but I don't know if she suspects a new brother/sister for her! She's noticed I'm tired a lot and that I have been going to the doctor a lot. And when we were at our friend's hotel the other day, she kept asking WHY can't you come into the hot tub? Um.....? Just BECAUSE, OK, honey?

I've had just a tad bit more energy in the last week. I seem to be sleeping a bit better.

I did some digging and found that while I only kept ONE maternity outfit from all those years ago, I did keep all my nursing bras. (I think I thought WHO would want to wear hand-me-down bras?) I don't know if they'll have any support at this time, but I'm glad to see I've at least got something to work with.

I have definitely popped out, but I'm still able to button my capris and shorts. No way I'm trying to wear jeans, tho. So, roomy pants will need to be purchased soon as fall gets here and the weather gets cooler.

Just Plain Tired

I have not been sleeping well at ALL. It doesn't matter what time I go to bed or how late I sleep in. Usually I end up waking up in the middle of the night and not able to fall back to sleep until it's almost time to get up. I end up spending most of my day sitting or lying down on the couch while the kids run around me.

It doesn't help how hot it's been. And I have tried to force myself and the kids outside on a few of the cooler days. We all get bored and tired rather quickly and end up back in the house. I should try to put together more play dates or something for them to at least get them MOVING. I guess we have sort of had some "accidental" play dates. I have watched kids for two friends here two days in a row, but I stayed on the couch while the chaos ensued. I don't think they minded.

The up and down of the weather pressure has also been giving me some major sinus headaches. Teeth-hurting, eye-stabbing pain that has also kept me down for the count. Even if I weren't pregnant, I would have had issue being up and around on those days.

The hunger is driving me nuts, too. I get hungry, but nothing sounds good to eat. I start to eat something, get half-way through it, and then it is no longer appetizing--but I'm still hungry! I am eating mostly carbs (crackers, toast) to fill up those corners--and I'm eating fruit.

I am still pondering when to tell certain folks since I hate to be hasty. I get nervous about telling people--specifically family members--and then have it all crashing down around my ears a week later. If only I could have access to an ultrasound every day just to take a quick peek to make sure that all is going as it should be. But then I'd probably get obsessed and be checking every five minutes. Ah! The uncertainty of the first trimester! Such fun!

Baby Blob

Today was the big ultrasound day.

(I find this fascinating since with my other three pregnancies, I didn't get one until I was 18 weeks along. ALSO, I got an internal exam this time immediately after peeing in the cup--in the past, I peed, then left, then called to get my results, then came in for an appointment within the next 2-3 weeks.)

I've been pretty anxious about this ultrasound, but all turned out well. I saw the Baby Blob on the screen almost immediately, and before I could pick out heads or tails, the technician pointed out the heartbeat. I breathed a deep sigh of relief and then enjoyed the view. Good, strong heartbeat--about 162 bpm. The technician estimated Blob to be about 8 weeks along. This surprised me since according my calculations I'm about 7 weeks. She detected some implantation bleeding, but she reassured me that it's normal (I haven't spotted at all, thank goodness, or I really would have been a big mess of nerves going into this appointment today). Everything is cooking well so far.

I did clarify my LMP with the office. After much thinking and brooding, I think I can pinpoint my LMP to actually be around June 10 (I have a memory of my visit from Aunt Flo starting right when I was cleaning the house preparing for a visit from my mother that night.) With all that, they gave me a due date later than I expected--about March 20.

I also had my "nurse talk" and had to go get a million vials of blood drawn. Now that's all done, I just have to wait two more weeks until my next appointment on August 15.

The kids still do not know yet, and only a couple of friends know. I will have to tell more folks (and sooner than I'd wish!) as plans are getting made for GS and the like, and I know my co-leaders are going to need (and will appreciate!) the heads-up.

Anyway, I don't know how much the kids--or at least M--are already picking up. Mom has spent a lot of time the last couple of weeks taking naps on the couch (oh! so tired!). And M keeps asking, "Are you OK?" "Just tired, sweetie." I am surprised no one has said anything about all these doctor's appointments Mom's been having all of a sudden.