Lovely Traces: January 2014

So now that Olivia is almost 3 months old… here is the rest of my story. I’ve had a hard time writing it all down. Not because I’ve forgotten but because there are so many things that happened in this 21 ½ hour process. I think another reason this has been hard for me is because this was me at my weakest and most vulnerable. Things didn’t go exactly as I wanted them to but I wouldn’t change a thing and I am so thankful for how God blessed us on this journey.

So I left off with Eliza and me waiting for Andy to get to Jamestown because my water had broke in Pizza Ranch. (Oh my goodness, I still can’t believe that happened!) It really was great to just be able to sit and chat about what was going on with Eliza while Andy came to get me. On the way to the hospital my contractions were coming about 5 minutes apart and sometimes 3 minutes apart. We weren't too nervous though. It was a fun giddy drive.

The original plan was to wait to call my parents until we got to the hospital so that they wouldn’t worry about us on the drive but after what had happened I just had to call home. The funny thing is, I called about the same time I normally do just to chat. So I started off my conversation like I normally do, “Hey Mom, Just calling to say hi.” p.s. When you are 9 days overdue, it’s torture for your parents to have you call just to chat. They will enjoy talking with you but really, they want you to just have the kid! So I told mom how I’d gone for a walk with Eliza that day and how we decided to have supper in Jamestown and she politely listened while rolling her eyes at the fact that I was calling just to chat (I know she did!). And then I finally mentioned how Andy and I were probably on our way to the hospital because my water had broke. =) She screamed with joy and started crying because she was so excited! Then I told her all that had just happened and we had a great laugh together. It was so fun to tell her everything and it made the drive to the hospital go pretty fast.

We got to the hospital at about 10 PM. The midwife that was on call wasn't the one I normally saw and I had never met him before. This made me a little uncomfortable but it ended up being a great experience anyway. We went in and I signed a couple of forms and then a nurse came with a wheel chair and took us up to the 6^th floor. I changed while Andy brought our stuff in and then the nurse took all my vitals and talked us through different things. My blood pressure was pretty high so that was something they monitored very closely the whole time. They also kept checking my feet and ankles because they were so swollen. They said my swelling was a level 3 pitting edema. That means super duper swollen =) I was only 2 cm dilated and not long after we got settled in my contractions were coming about 2 minutes apart which made for a very long night of labor. The nurse said that it wasn’t typical for them to be that close together so early on. I spent a little bit of time in the whirl pool tub which was a little relaxing but then decided to try to get some rest. The nurse suggested that I have a morphine shot and a sleeping pill so I could sleep through the early labor. She said that is normally what they do to help women in labor get some sleep and that once the contractions get stronger I would wake up. She said most likely I would get between 4-6 hours of sleep. At first I said no, but once 1AM hit with no sleep I decided that it would be a good idea to get some rest. So the nurse gave me the morphine shot right in my butt cheek =) and gave me a sleeping pill. At first the shot really stung and then I got really hot and started sweating. She said that was just my body reacting to the morphine. I was able to sleep solid for about 2 hours but the contractions started getting much stronger which kept me awake.

After about 12 hours of labor

So after 3 AM I was awake off and on. I slept a little between contractions and by 6AM I was ready to be out of bed. So I got up and got ready. It was kind of funny to have to stop every few minutes to breathe and sway through my contractions while doing my hair and make-up. After getting ready we walked laps in the hall. It was a funny feeling to be THAT woman... you know... the one in labor, walking around with her hand on her back, stopping every couple of minutes to grab the wall and breath through a contraction while her husband rubs her shoulders. haha. I still laugh when I think about it. Not that I'm making fun of myself or women in labor it's just that it is kind of a funny sight when you think about it! At about 8AM it was time to check my vitals again and my blood pressure was so high that I had to stay in bed. It was hard not to be able to get up and move through my labor.

By 11 AM I was only at a 3 1/2 and Olivia’s vitals weren’t where they wanted them so they started me on pitocin to try to move things along faster. That really kicked my labor into gear and then things got a lot more intense. Remember when I had that contraction that made me throw up when I was still pregnant. Well…. That happened when I was in labor. Luckily that only happened once because that was the only time that I cried during my labor. It is so hard to have no control over your body and to be having contractions and puking at the same time is very overwhelming.

I think it was about 2 PM and I was at a 5 and decided to go in the whirl pool again to try to help my body relax. While in there I started to have the feeling like I was supposed to push. It is one of the strangest feelings and it is so hard to control. I had Andy get the nurse so I could tell her what I was feeling. She told me to try to relax and to try not to push.

Side note: After your water breaks they want you to deliver within 24 hours to avoid infection for both mom and baby. If you don’t deliver within 24 hours then they do a c-section.

So there I was with 20 hours of labor under my belt. (Under my belt, haha) The hardest part of my labor was at this point. I was exhausted and had to fight my body. It was about 3:30 PM. I was only at a 7 and my body was still trying to push. My nurse told me that I really needed to try not to push. This is because the pressure placed on the cervix too early will cause it to swell which is not what you want to happen. This was when we decided that I should do an epidural. I needed my body to relax so that I would be able to get to a 10 and with how slow my labor had been and with having to fight my body I didn’t feel like that was going to happen.

So about twenty minutes later the anesthesiologist came in and we began the process of the epidural. After she was finished and got me laid back and got the medicine started I still felt the urge to push. So they checked me and I was finally at a 10. So literally about 5 minutes after the epidural I was at a 10! It was such a relief to finally be able to push for real and not have to fight it anymore. Fortunately I still had quite a bit of feeling so I could tell when a contraction was happening and knew when to push. At this point the nurses brought in the warming bed for the baby which was sooo exciting because I knew that soon (hopefully) we would have a baby in arms. I pushed for an hour and 10 min and then Olivia was born at 5:10. So about 21 1/2 hours of labor. whew!

As soon as she was born a feeling of relief washed over my body. I was so glad to be done with labor and to be holding this little baby. I actually had a really hard time keeping my eyes open after she was born because I think the relief and exhaustion just took over. It was so incredible to have them lay her on my stomach and to finally have her here. Andy was able to cut the umbilical cord and he was the one that said, "it's a girl!"

She had swallowed a lot of meconium (baby poop) when she came out so they had to suction her stomach and check her lungs. Luckily she didn’t inhale any so she was just fine. When they took Olivia to check her and suction out her stomach my midwife had to kind of message/push my abdomen very hard because my placenta wasn’t detaching like it should and he said that I was bleeding a lot more than I should be. Luckily after a lot of hard messaging it detached and I was just fine. My midwife then showed Andy the placenta and kind of stretched it out and was like, "this was your baby's home for the last nine months." He then went on to talk about how the process of birth is such a miracle. I appreciated our midwife and how he valued life so much!

Finally a family of three!

Our time at the hospital was good and we enjoyed our time together as a family. It was a strange feeling when everyone left the room and it was just Andy, Olivia, and me. It took us a little while to make the decision on her name but when we really looked at her, Olivia Jane just seemed to be perfect. We had two girl names and two boy names picked out so we could have our options when we found out if we had a boy or girl. It was fun to be able to call and text the news to family and friends especially since Olivia kept us waiting for so long!

The next day, Phil, Marissa and the kids were able to visit and then my parents and sister came to see us and then our good friend Toby came as well. It was fun to finally have a baby to show off instead of just my very pregnant self =)

So this is our story. This is how we became a family of three.

Here are some pictures from our stay.