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Sunday, July 15, 2007

The Face of an Angel


Out of the womb
Originally uploaded by BigBiteMama
See? I wasn't kidding! Anna was really beautiful at birth. Despite my pushing for 2 hours, her head was perfectly shaped. Her skin was amazingly soft and she had the prettiest colored skin. I took to her immediately, as you might imagine.

The Rest of the Story: The Birth Story, Part 2

Let's see. Where was I? Oh, that's right. On Stadol.

Did I mention I was dilated to 5cm when I came back to the hospital?

Okay. At some point, I was put in a real Labor & Delivery room. With fake hardwood floors, a television, and most importantly AIR CONDITIONING! The triage room was unbelievably hot, so I was finally happy to be someplace that at least had the possibility of getting cool. I think I probably froze my husband to death for a minute or two there.

I really don't remember much during this period. I did get an epidural, despite my previous 9 months of telling everybody how much I didn't want one. The pain was just too much. I could have taken it, but I didn't need to. And I knew that I would have a much better experience if I were comfortable. I was already tired from being up the night before...no need to be sleepy and in excruciating pain.

So, at some point after the epidural, I made it to 6cm. It took forever! Well, not forever, but it did take until about midnight. Now we've made it to July 11! Anna's due date! Our nurse sent Joseph out to the waiting room to update my parents and in-laws on our newfound 6 status when I told her that I was experiencing some...pressure. I asked her if that was normal. She got a puzzled look on her face and decided to check me again.

Lo and behold, I was dilated to 10cm and ready to push! I thought this meant that baby Anna would be arriving soon...like in the next 20 minutes. Um. No. It seems that not all of my water had broken and there was a huge bag (?) in Anna's way. So I needed to push in order to break that water before I could push to bear Anna.

Who knew a bag of water could be so tough?!? I pushed and pushed and it didn't budge. The nurse scrapped it with her fingernail and it didn't budge. I pushed some more. No luck. Finally, Nurse A (Susan) sent for Nurse B (Queena) because Queena had "more luck with her fingernails." Heh. About the time Queena got in front of me and told me to push, that bag of water spewed out of me with a gusto I have never seen in anything short of a powerful waterfall! It was amazing. I was mid-push and the force of that water scared me so badly that I stopped pushing and questioned whether or not that was normal! The poor nurse was soaked from top to bottom. She was so funny - she quietly said, "You're a good pusher."

After that little incident, things went much more quickly. I still pushed and pushed and pushed to get Anna into position. The doctor on call (still the same one who sent me home from our first trip) was called about 2 a.m. I pushed and pushed some more. The nurses started wondering where the doctor was...Anna's head was ready to be delivered, but there was no doc in sight. The nurses eventually told me to quit pushing. That was miserable. The epidural masked the pain of the contractions, but it didn't phase the pressure and pain of the pushing. So to stop pushing and continue that pain was horrible. And I was so tired. I attempted to convince the nurses that they knew more than the doctor and that we didn't need him, but they didn't want to continue without him. Bleh.

The doctor (who only needed 10 minutes of lead time...or so he said) finally arrived at 2:25 a.m. and Anna Claire was born at 2:31 a.m. After her delivery, I held her immediately. She was so beautiful!!! Her one-minute APGAR was a 9. I asked what she missed, but nobody answered me. Her five-minute APGAR was a 10. Perfection.

Again, I'm a bit unclear as to the order of events here. I know that Anna was bathed by Nurse Susan and Joseph got to watch. I nursed at some point. My parents and in-laws all came in the room and met Anna. Joseph fell asleep on the couch while the nurse gave me instructions. I can't remember what the instructions were for, though. Oh, well.

By this point, it's around 5:30 a.m. The baby went to the nursery to be checked out, and I ate a turkey sandwich and some orange juice. I was starved! I slept a couple of hours and then a nurse brought Anna back to us at around 7:30 a.m. And so our happily ever after begins...

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Three Days Old


First family outing
Originally uploaded by BigBiteMama
Perhaps I was a bit ambitious, but I petitioned for a family walk when Anna was just 3 days old. So...the new mama, new daddy, and new nana loaded up the new kid in her new stroller and set off.

We walked for several blocks - up and down several hills. Man, it was hot! Anna seemed to not mind that much -she slept through the whole ordeal. I did worry that she got too hot, though.

I paid for the walk after it was said and done, as I was SORE! Walking so much a mere 3 days after a vaginal delivery wasn't such a good idea. Alas. Live and learn.

Friday, July 13, 2007

The Birth Story, Part 1

I went to bed as normal the night of Monday, July 9, but I just couldn't get comfortable. Being almost 40 weeks pregnant will do that to ya, so I didn't think that much of it. I got up and went upstairs to the guest bedroom as to not disturb the husband. I laid in bed and read Tell No One by Harlan Coben. After a few chapters, I was too uncomfortable to even read. That's when I knew I was in labor because I can read through just about anything!

By this time it is around 11:30 p.m. I went downstairs to tell Joseph that this was IT, but he was too sleepy to be alarmed. I knew that I had a ways to go, so I didn't get too bent out of shape. Finally, though, at about 2:45 a.m. on July 10, I felt that I needed to get to the hospital. The contractions were about 5 to 7 minutes apart and getting stronger. I woke up Sleeping Beauty and we slowly got ready for the 5-minute trek to the hospital.

About 3:45 a.m., we entered the ER doors and I was wheeled away to Labor & Delivery. I was checked, which revealed that I was only dilated to a 1. Heh. But, I was fully effaced. The baby's monitor showed her having some heart decelerations, so I got to stay while the nurses watched the baby's heart more closely. They did let me walk around in an attempt to dilate more.

The baby's heart turned out to be fine, so we were told to go home at about 9:00 a.m. I was still only dilated to a 1. I tried using my best puppy dog eyes and tears to get the doctor on call to break my water and let me stay, but he was having none of it! He did assure me, however, that I was in "real" labor and that I'd be back soon. (That did not stop my tears and I was still mad at him.) The doc asked me if I wanted any pain medication. Because I was mad at him, I said, "No! I'm fine." Yeah right. He replied that he was giving me some anyway. So one shot to the butt and I was outta there.

I had a regular doctor's appointment at 1:15 p.m., so Joseph woke me up and off we went. My hair was standing up and I was wearing a wrinkled t-shirt and dirty shorts. Classy gal. After being checked, it was determined that I was dilated to a 3. Yay! And that I could now go to the hospital whenever I wanted. Joseph and I discussed it, and we decided that we'd go home and stay as long as possible. It was nice just knowing that we I made it to the hospital they couldn't kick me out.

I made the required phone calls on the way home from the doctor's appointment since we knew that labor was indeed imminent. My mom was beside herself! It was such a phone call to make, although I don't remember much of it because I was high on pain medicine. It took my parents a couple of hours to get to our house.

My mom and dad made it to our house around 4:00 p.m. or so. I was sitting in the recliner having contractions. I'd have one every 5 or 7 minutes and they were still getting progressively stronger. I'm such a daddy's girl and my poor dad was sitting on the couch watching all this. He looked like his heart was being shattered with each contraction, so I eventually got up and hobbled, doubled over into our bedroom for each contraction. It was quite a sight, I'm sure!

After about an hour or so of my parents and husband watching me like a boiling pot, Joseph and I decided to make our SECOND trek to the hospital. When we got there at about 5:45 p.m., there was no room at the inn! I had to labor in the waiting room (with a room full of strangers who cheered for me...but still). Then, I got moved into the triage room - which was really the storage room that just happened to have a few hospital beds in it.

At some point, I got shot up with Stadol. I remember working very hard not to say anything stupid, but it was to no avail. I told the "epidural man" that I was on birth control pills during his informed consent speech.

I'll finish up with the more exciting part of this story later...The Actual Birth! Yay!