Ok, I know that some people LOVE hearing about other women's birth stories. I happen to be one of those people, and I love to share mine. So I am going to post Emma's Birth Story and you may feel free to ignore this post if it is to much information for you.
March 12, 2012
I had been contacting ALL day. I am still a week out from my due date, but I am so ready to have this baby. Perfect timing too as Jon's mom is flying home that day. Jon took the kids and headed for the airport, but didn't make is past his stop at the gas station, our car died. I found someone who lent me their car, with a little reservation, as I slipped that I was having contractions. I guess it is a blessing that my contractions don't hurt until the very end when I am pushing a baby out. I grab that kids and head for the airport as I fight with insurance for over an hour. By the time that I am done with insurance, I am sure that I am going to have the baby that night. Jon heads to the mechanics in the tow truck. Alternator went out and the repair is going to be $500. Yeah, not happiness that this expense is occurring before the baby is born, but it can't be helped we have to pay it. Jon's mom stays with us that night as she has a car at our house(it is a manual transmission which is why I didn't take it to the airport).
March 13, 2012
I have visiting teacher to hurry and do today, because I need to get it done before our sweet baby comes or it will not get done. I take Mom Wierschke with me and we complete my visiting teacher before my OB appointment that day.
We get to the OB and I tell her that we had been contracting all day yesterday I am 3cm, she strips my membranes, in hopes that the contractions will continue. I am 39 weeks today.
1pm-6pm: My contractions are off and on, but they are progressive contractions.
6pm-9:30pm: Jon and I decide to go shopping and get the last few things we need for our baby. My mom informs me that I can;t have the baby today, because then she could have a Friday the 13th Birthday. Well it looks like it is a little late for that.
9:30pm-10:00pm We are at Kohls and my contractions have been 2-3 minutes apart. People are looking at me weird, but I guess a lot of that has to do with the fact that I am pausing every few minutes, not from pain but uncomfortable nature of a tightening belly. We buy some University of Michigan clothes,because they are on sale and I love them.
10:00pm-10:30pm I call Triage, and we drive to the hospital. By the time that Triage called me back we are already at the hospital. We are standing in triage and the nurses are rushing a poor pregnant woman to her room. She is moaning and about to deliver a baby any second. I turned to Jon and said, "If they wait until I am like that, then it is going to be to late." As Jon and I know, I don't moan, when I get to the stage where that woman was at, my baby's head is sticking out and we are on the home stretch.
10:45pm: they are monitoring me, I am still 3cm. Grr. I am frustrated, I know how my baby's come and this it typical. the nurses just need to break my water and we will have a baby in 30 minutes. We tell the nurses and midwife this, but naturally they know better than I do. They measure the baby, and estimate 8.5 lbs
11:30pm: After they have monitored us for a while and are satisfied with the Baby's heart rate, they decide to send us home. Even though my contractions are a constant 1-2 minutes apart. When they told us this, the baby's heart rate drops to 50 beats per minute. All of the sudden we have 2 midwifes and 3 nurses in my room. they are frantically trying to get an IV started, which means we are being admitted. After they made the decision to admit us to the hospital, the baby's heart rate went back up and never dropped again. Since I had already had an IV started the chose to continue the admission process, with the blessing of the on call doctor.
March 14,2012
12:00am: We finally get to a room. I tell Jon that I was grateful that the baby's heart rate dropped or we would be going home, not knowing when to return. I know that may sound bad, but my cervix stays at a 3 or 4 until my water breaks, then I go from that to 10cm in about 20 minutes and the last 10 minutes I am pushing. So you can see my concern. I would have labored at home until my water broke and then I would have had a baby in the car or the lobby of the hospital, as it is a 20 minute drive to the hospital. The On call Doctor came in and we laid out our plan of attack. We were going to start pitocin, get an epidural, break my water and have a baby. I told the Doctor that I was grateful that we got admitted because of baby's heart rate, but I that I knew it sounded bad. The doctor's reply was, "Well anything to get past those Triage nurses." Grandma got her way, it is now the 14th and Pi day.
2:30am: Pitocin gets started and anesthesiologist gets paged. You may be asking why I got an epidural. Well that is simple, I have been having gallbladder attack since about 20 weeks. The pain gets really bad, so bad that I almost passed out once. We have decided that I was not going to risk passing out during delivery so we decided that an epidural would be best.
3am: Epidural time. The last time I had an epidural it was a pain to get in and Kate came so fast that it did't have a chance to work. Still after 30 minutes of agony, we get the epidural placed now it is time to rest.
4 am: I have been watching the clock, I can't the epidural has made me itchy all over and if I scratch it make the itching worse. Jon is sleeping, and he is going to need it.
5:45am: the Itching is so unbearable, I just might itch myself to death. The nurse comes in and I tell her what is going on. She goes and gets me some medicine and apologizes.
6:30am: Oh goodness, I am still itching like crazy. The nurse is paged and she gets me some different medication.
6:45am: Ah, I am finally able to get some rest.
8 am: Doctor, Resident, and Med. student shift change. Med student must have missed the memo that I had a rough night and come in to introduce himself. I am half awake and upset.
9:45 am: Doctor, Resident, and Med Student come in and introduce themselves. I make a smart comment about already meeting the Med Student. The Doctor checks me, we are still 3 cm(what did I tell you). They decide to break my water. They measure the baby, and estimate that she will be 8.5 lbs. They break the water, not much comes out, there is meconium in the water. The doctors are surprised at the lack of water that came out. As the Doctors are getting ready to leave I tell them, "Don't go far we are going to have a baby." They assure me that they will not be far.
9:50am: Jon is rubbing my feet because they hurt. The woman in the room next to mine starts screaming. I look at Jon and say, "I am not ready to have a baby." He looks at me and lovingly says, "Well it is a little late for that."
9:55am: My contractions are hurting and I know that I need to be checked. Plus I need more medicine pushed through my epidural. Dang the Doctors they laid me flat and so my epidural is stretch from my toes to my chin. The nurse raises me up into a sitting position and she pages the anesthesiologist and my doctor. The doctors come in and check me, I am 5cm. They leave and I again tell them not to go far we are going to have a baby and the next time they get paged they will need to run.
9:59 am: I have the nurse page for the anesthesiologist again. Where is that woman, I need her NOW!!
10:05am: the nurse pages the anesthesiologist again.
10:08 am: You will never guess that we had to page the anesthesiologist again, but we did. I am trying very hard to focus at this point and have the doctors paged yet again. Jon and the nurse keep me focused, since my epidural is not working right.
10:12am the anesthesiologist finally came and was a little upset that the nurse paged her so many times. I decided not to admit to the anesthesiologist that it was me who made the nurse page her. More meds are pushed through and now I am just waiting on the doctors.
10:20 am: I know that it was only ten minutes since the doctors were paged but that is a long time when you are about to give birth. The Doctors come in and my first question is, "Did you run?" they said that of course they ran, and I was not convinced that they did. they check me, I am a full 10cm. Yep it took me 20 minutes to go from 5cm to 10cm.
10:25am: The Doctors quickly get their gowns on and prepped and before they were finished I was already pushing. I am telling Jon that I am going to scream. The Nurse and Jon both tell me that it is ok if I scream. I resolved right there and then that I was not going to scream.
10:29am: My second push and our baby's head is out. What a relief, and I didn't scream! they suction her and we get ready for our last push.
10:31am: One last push and our sweet baby is born. Guess go around at how much she weighs. The nurse places her on the scale and she is only 6 lbs 5.9oz. I am so grateful she was not eight pounds and the epidural didn't work and I felt everything. We still at that point had not chosen a name for her. Her apgar was the highest of all my kids at 9, she is healthy despite all the crazy drugs I was taking to get through the pregnancy. Now it is time to relax, shower and get ready to introduce her to the kids.
