A little background before birth.....
I was originally due to give birth on April 19 and we were so excited. When we thought I was 17 weeks along we went to fetal fotos to find out the gender, Brad was convinced that we were having a boy and I always thought I would have a boy first but I kept telling Brad that there was something in the back of my mind telling me that it might be a girl. The ultrasound tech had such a hard time getting her into a position to see what her gender was and as a result we got to watch her moving around for a while, she was sucking her thumb and grabbing her foot it was so exciting to see our little bambino in there moving around. The tech finally got an image and it was a GIRL! I just started crying, I knew that we were having a baby girl something kept telling me so.
When we went to the big ultrasound appointment at the doctors office we found out I was not as far along as I thought I was and they moved my due date back 9 days to April 28th. Olivia was breach (feet first) for the majority of my pregnancy but my doctor said it was nothing to worry about until my due date gets closer. As my due date approached we were getting more and more nervous about her being breech, I did not want to have a c-section. Finally at my 34 week appointment she was head down and we were so relieved. She stayed head down all the way until birth.
Birth Story.....
I went to my doctor appointment one week before my due date and my doctor tried to strip my membranes, she couldn't get in to do it because I was not dilated at all and only about 30% effaced. I had this whole plan laid out for myself as to how everything would go and this was not a good start. My next appointment right before my due date she was able to get in and strip my membranes because I was 1 cm dilated and still only 30% effaced. I had a lot of contractions that night and thought for sure that it worked and we would be having a baby soon. I had a lot of contractions that next week and my due date came and went. I had another doctors appointment the day after my due date, my doctor stripped my membranes again and I was still about the same progression as my last appointment so we scheduled my induction for that next Monday.
My doctor had conferences she had to be at for three straight days and said that I could wait until that next Wednesday to ensure that she could be there to deliver my baby but I would already be a week overdue and did not feel like there was any way I could wait 3 additional days on top of that. We decided to take a chance and scheduled for me to go into the hospital at 8 pm that next Sunday night because I needed cervical ripening and my doctor was sure I would not have her until Monday, I really hoped that my doctor could be there to deliver her but I was willing to take a chance to have our baby.
We went into the hospital on Sunday night at 8 pm, I was so nervous I had no idea what to expect. I was a little sad that the induction day had come and Olivia had not come on her own, which was part of my plan but just excited to get her here. I got changed and got into the bed, they checked me and I was 2 cm and 60% effaced to start out at. At 9 pm they gave me a small dose of cytotech and I started having contractions within about a half hour, I had back labor and it was extremely painful. I had planned on not having an epidural but I decided to leave it open and make sure I could handle the pain first. I was having contractions for a couple hours and at around 2 am they checked me again and I was 3 cm. My contractions were getting really strong almost unbearable and my nurse kept asking me if I wanted to get the epidural and I said no, I wanted to wait until I was progressed more, I was scared that I would quit progressing once I got the epidural, so my nurse gave me a shot of phentenal in my IV and it was fantastic.
I fell asleep for about an hour and woke up to intense contractions that were coming at 2 minutes apart. I handled the intense contractions until about 5:30 am and finally asked for the epidural, the anesthesiologist that gave me the epidural did a terrible job, it was an extremely painful experience and it ended up not working correctly. The doctor broke my water and started me on pitocin. They checked me and I was 3 cm and 70% effaced. At around 10 am the resident doctor and a medical student checked me and I was 5 cm and 80% effaced so I was progressing smoothly and Olivia had been doing great the whole time. I tried to get some sleep before it was time to have her but it was very difficult because the epidural made me extremely itchy. At around noon I started to feel a lot of intense pain and pressure from the inside and I could feel that Olivia had started making her way down the birth canal with every contraction.
My epidural had numbed my contractions and that was all. I was feeling everything else that was happening to its fullest. As they were checking me they decided that Olivia was turned with her body sideways and not face down like she was supposed to be so I had about 15 different people check me to try and figure out what way she was facing, they even did an ultrasound and could not tell. My epidural was non existent at this point so I was in so much pain. After hours of people checking her position one of the doctors finally reached in and grabbed her head and turned her face down to where she was supposed to be. I was having so much pain and pressure with each contraction that I knew exactly where she was in the birth canal with every contraction. I called my nurse and told her that I was feeling a lot of pain and pressure and she said that I should wait until she gets further down to make my birth easier. I laid there and breathed through each contraction and I kept telling my nurse that I could feel everything and that it was not numb at all. My nurse had me lay with a peanut ball between my legs to open my pelvis and allow her to move down the birth canal a little easier. I laid there for about an hour and started getting really nervous because I could feel her getting closer and closer. I finally told my nurse that she was really close to the exit and someone needed to do something.
The resident doctor came in and checked me since my doctor had not made it there yet, we had no idea if she was even going to make it. Olivia was right there and they had me start pushing right away it was about 5:30 pm. Brad took one leg and the male medical student took the other and the male resident doctor was at the bottom of the bed and all three were coaching and counting for me. I pushed for about a half hour and Olivia had started crowning when my doctor finally walked in and I was so relieved that she had made it. They noticed that I had a bit of a fever so they started me on antibiotics. I continued to push and could feel everything I told my doctor that I was not numb and could feel everything that was going on and the anesthesiologist came in and and gave me more medication in my epidural and it did absolutely nothing. My doctor requested that the pediatrician to be in the room because of my fever. I had the fever because I had gotten chorioamnionitis, its an infection that you get in the uterus when your in labor too long after your water breaks. I continued pushing for about 15 minutes.
Olivia's heart rate dropped to 60 and my doctor told me that I had to get her out and I had to keep pushing and not stop until she was out, I was pushing as hard as I could and her head popped out and her shoulders got stuck, the entire room started panicking and people were filing into the room, they grabbed Brad and tossed him out of the way. My nurse jumped on top of me and slammed down on my stomach really hard and Olivia popped out, they handed her to the pediatrician and they immediately started working on her. I continuously asked people for a couple minutes if she was OK no one would answer me, I could see Brad standing over where Olivia was and he had a panicked look on his face and was crying. Nobody would answer me because they didn't know what to tell me, our little girl was not OK. I actually wondered for a second if we were going home without our baby girl. It took them 5 minutes to get her to start breathing. Finally they started telling me she's OK. I have never felt so helpless in my life. Finally I heard a gargled cry as they were clearing out her airways and felt so much relief. Olivias APGAR scores were 1,6 and 9.
Olivia had gotten stuck, had terminal maconium and was needing antibiotics because of my fever so they needed to take her to the nursery right away to get her started. I got to see her for literally 5 seconds then they took her away. Before we went into the hospital I told Brad that if something did go wrong that he needed to stay with Olivia and not me, so Brad left and went with her. I laid in the room for a couple hours getting sewn up and cleaned up and they finally took me over the mother/baby unit, after about three hours I got to see my baby girl. We had to stay in the hospital for 3 full days because Olivia was on a 48 hour watch because of the infection and she needed multiple doses of antibiotics. I didn't mind staying in the hospital that long because I was so extremely sore and my stomach was very swollen from the trauma of the nurse popping her out the way she did, so it was nice to have the extra help for both me and Olivia for a few days. I am very grateful for the medical team that we had because we are aware that the situation could have easily turned out very different had they not acted so fast to get her out.
Overall I was in labor for 21 hours and pushed for one hour. I had a very specific plan of how I wanted everything to go and the biggest thing I have learned through this whole experience is you can not make plans. Things will go how they go, almost everything that I had a plan for has turned out different, but we couldn't be happier. We have a healthy, happy baby girl and even though her birth turned out differently than I had planned or expected I would do it again for her. I am also so grateful for such an amazing husband who was such a great support in the delivery room and at home and is one of a kind dad. Olivia could not have gotten a better one.
Oh my gosh, I cried through most of this. I am so happy that Olivia is alright and that the both of you are happy and healthy. I can't even imagine! This also makes me grateful that I have to have a c-section.
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