I'm so sorry its taken me so long, but I don't get much time to sit & type (two-handed) no less. Abby is napping in my arms in such a way that I can type it all out and make it work. This whole first time mom thing is real learning curve!
Here is Abby's Birth Story:
October 19th & 20th 2011:
I worked my last day at work and then settled in to wait. My doc told me that most first time mom's run long on their due date so that I might not have the baby until November. That is what we were thinking so H went on business and came back. We were in the process of really getting things situated, cleaned and organized.
We had our 39 week appointment on Wednesday. I had been contracting minorly, but nothing to write home about and nothing I could time. They asked me at my appointment that morning if I wanted to have my cervix checked & I said, "well is that what is normally done?" . I didn't want to have my cervix checked a bunch of different times because that raises the risk of infection etc. I ended up declining and going home.
Well the contractions started getting more intense that evening around 4pm. They were like mild menstrual cramps and somewhat timeable. The doc wanted his patients to get to the 511 rule. 5 minutes apart, 1 minute in duration and lasting this way for one hour. Well mine never seemed to get to that stage. In fact, mine skipped over that part all together.
I was in bed moaning it out. I thinking if I could just make it until the doctor's office opened in the morning that they could check me. Oh man, the pain was so intense. The only good thing about contractions is that you know they won't last forever. They usually only last one full minute. Its getting through that full minute of mind-numbing, uterus wracking, cervix-squishing agony that is so hard. I took my birthing class and natural birth class on Oct. 15! We were late because of H's work schedule etc.
So finally it gets to the point where I can't lay down or sit down during these contractions that are coming 3 minutes apart. I get up during one particular painful episode and hear a popping noise. There goes my waters! So I'm sitting on the edge of the bed in agony and shock. OMFG this is really happening to me! I'm going to have a baby in the next 24 hours. Didn't have time to eff around too much though because the next wave of agony was upon me. So I got up and screamed fuck a lot while I waited for my doc's ER line to answer. I needed to tell them that I was coming to the Women's Center.
H was there timing my contractions, getting me water and rubbing my back/shoulders. I felt so bad for him because he looked like he was going to be sick to see me in that much pain.
Finally they answer and tell me to go ahead in. The car ride was so awful. I had to sit (obviously) and that was the worst part. It was the one thing I didn't want to do. Nothing was comfortable & I literally screamed like you see in the movies for the pain to end.
Got to the women's center and had to press the security button to get buzzed up to 2nd floor. I smashed the button and told them to let me in the door for the love of God. I was in labor.
I get up there and my favorite midwife (we have a bunch) Shevon was on call that night & took me to my labor room. It was so nice! I asked them if they could give me anything for the pain because I was ready to die. They said that they can't do anything until they go through admissions, bloodwork etc.
I'm not normally a verbally abusive or mean person, but holy crap the idea of any more time with this pain was not happening in my mind, but I kept getting wracked with contractions I couldn't give them the proper tongue-thrashing that I felt they deserved. I understand now that they were just following the rules of their job. However, at the time I was really into making the pain stop etc.
Anyway, I lay there in the bed while they get me hooked up to the monitors to see what is going on with Abby. For some reason the straps around my belly for contraction montioring and Abby's heart rate bugged the ever living shit out of me. I kept asking them, "What is this shit? Get it off!". My midwife was explaining that they needed it to keep baby safe and that I had to keep it on.
And OMG the questions. DOB, drugs or alchol during pregnancy? SSN number etc. I was like, "seriously you guys? With all the fucking questions? that is why I called the OB's office because they have all that shit on file so I don't have to deal with BS when I come in."
Poor H was apologizing and letting them know that really I'm not that much of a bitch on a regular basis. By this time the contractions were a steady 2 minutes apart and I was gripping the sides of the bed in complete and utter devastating agony. I used my breathing exercises but those contractions felt like they would go on forever.
After all the admissions Shevon got to doing an internal exam to measure how wide my cervix was dilated. Usually that is the longest (and most painful in my opinion) part of labor. All the contractions push from the top down to propel baby's head into your cervix. The repetitive motion downward causes the cervix to open to eventually allow for pushing.
So she checks me (which btw, is fucking agony and I tell her to kindly fuck off and quit it lol) and tells me that I am 5 cm. At 4 cm you can get an epidural if you want one. I had discussed from the very start of my pregnancy that I wanted to do it as naturally as possible.
However, by this point I am such agony and so tired form contracting all day that I beg for the epdiural. Shevon tells me that it will be 30 mins to an hour to get one because its late. that made me want to cry and give up. I started to panic a little bit because the pain just seemed to be getting worse. Shevon & H talk me through the contractions. Then the dude that is going to do the epi comes in, and Shevon sits to talk to me.
She is like, "I know that you expressed a very real concern for using an epi because of your back problems. I just want to make sure that you are still on board about changing your original birth plan?"
I told her dude whatever just make it end.
So she wants to check me before they have me sit up for the epi. I am 10 cm already! I dialated that much in 1 hour?! Most women take 12-14 hours to go through that first stage. So Shevon looks at me and says, "we can do this naturally IF YOU WANT. by the time you have that epidural actually work you could have your baby. So I decided to tough it out and take no pain meds. They did give me an anti-anxiety drug to make it easier for me to breath because Abby's heart rate kept dropping with every contraction. It would go from 150 down to 70 beats per minute.
An hour after I started pushing Abby was out! I did have a minor tear that needed to be stitched up but on the whole everything went well. Abby had to be taken to the nursery to get looked at because of her pale color and rapid breathing. The delivery was hard on her.
She was 5 lbs 11 oz. Since then she has dropped some weight but we are told it is normal. She had her one week check up and she is doing great!
Since then its been almost 4 months of learning how to juggle everything! Being a Stay At Home Mom (SAHM) is pretty hard! Keeping up with all the housework and tending to Abby at the drop of a hat. You would think it wouldn't be that bad, but it is actually kind of difficult. Oh well, learning is the joy! More later of course!
