Since my daughter's 7th birthday is quickly approaching, I decided to share her BIRTH day with you all.
Birth Story Part I
I believe last night I left you with my hospital check in. I was placed in triage for the first couple of hours...
first experience with those wonderful hospital gowns, mesh panties (the likes of which I had NEVER even imagined and would prefer to never see again :-)), and OH, let's not forget the test to see if my water had actually broken. If you remember testing pH levels in high school chemistry, well that's pretty much what the nurse did to me. Only she took this tiny little piece of litmus paper and pressed it up between my legs to test the "fluid." Cause you know, first time Moms could be totally wrong about these things.
I mean, maybe I'd just pee'd on myself.
She even announced the result: "Oh, yeah! Your water definitely broke, honey!"
Well, duh! I nearly drowned in my bathroom at home!
I don't remember too much about triage except how much modesty I STILL HAD at that point! Everytime anyone wanted to touch me or move me, I was very conscious of where that hospital gown was (and more importantly, where it was NOT)! I was also very aware of the curtain around my bed, that never seemed to be closed unless I told my hubby to do it.
Eventually we were moved to a labor and delivery room.
By this point, even though my contractions were sporadic, they were quite uncomfortable. I am not sure that Miss Sweetpea had actually "dropped" before this whole water-breaking incident. Either that or I am simply so short-waisted that it didn't matter.
If you don't what that means, just imagine this: the difference between the bottom of my bra-band and my belly-button is shorter than the span I can reach between the tip of my thumb and the tip of my middle finger. Seriously- I just did it. AND at this time, there is "junk" there that needs to go away.
Even with a baby in there, the actual space of my torso is very limited.
I literally felt like she might break one of my ribs! Everytime I had a contraction, it was right under my chest. Not in my lower abdomen, not where I thought my uterus and cervix were located, not in my groin area - UNDER my heart and ribcage.
FUN TIMES! Let me tell you...
Hubby and I wanted to do this with no meds. Or, at least, try it that way first.
When I came to the hospital and got settled, they checked me for dilation and I was maybe 2 cm (that was a stretch- no pun intended!).
So labor went on like this for quite some time.
Keep in mind - one hour of sleep for both me and the Hubs before we were so rudely awakened :-)
My contractions were coming about every two minutes but in varying intensity. I was so tired after a few hours, that I would literally nod off between labor pains. I would be on the edge almost falling over into sleep when WHAM! There's another one...it was the oddest way I have ever tried to sleep, and obviously I didn't really sleep.
EIGHT HOURS later...
I had only progressed by an inch or two.
Because they have this crazy rule about the baby being born within a certain amount of time from when your water breaks, they were getting anxious. Me, I was too ignorant to know any better. I should have voiced my opinion and waited.
Shoulda, coulda, woulda... you know what they say about hindsight.
The nurse and doctor on call told me they want to administer pitocin to speed up the progress. They are concerned because I haven't been handling the contractions all that well so far and, of course, I'm exhausted already. They recommended an epidural.
This was an agonizing decision for me. While I wasn't necessarily opposed to an epidural, I knew hubby had concerns about the baby being born drugged up.
Finally he looked at me and told me to just do it, because there really a lot of reasonable options at this point.
So he AND a nurse had to hold me still while the anesthesiologist (Omgosh- I just checked dictionary.com and I actually spelled that word right on the first try!) inserted theinsanely huge torture device needle into my back.
After that I certainly felt better. It was nice to watch the contraction on a monitor and not feel them at all. Still didn't sleep though...although I have to tonight.
Check back for the rest of the story!
I only WISH I looked that put-together and calm :-)
Birth Story Part I
I believe last night I left you with my hospital check in. I was placed in triage for the first couple of hours...
first experience with those wonderful hospital gowns, mesh panties (the likes of which I had NEVER even imagined and would prefer to never see again :-)), and OH, let's not forget the test to see if my water had actually broken. If you remember testing pH levels in high school chemistry, well that's pretty much what the nurse did to me. Only she took this tiny little piece of litmus paper and pressed it up between my legs to test the "fluid." Cause you know, first time Moms could be totally wrong about these things.
I mean, maybe I'd just pee'd on myself.
She even announced the result: "Oh, yeah! Your water definitely broke, honey!"
Well, duh! I nearly drowned in my bathroom at home!
I don't remember too much about triage except how much modesty I STILL HAD at that point! Everytime anyone wanted to touch me or move me, I was very conscious of where that hospital gown was (and more importantly, where it was NOT)! I was also very aware of the curtain around my bed, that never seemed to be closed unless I told my hubby to do it.
Eventually we were moved to a labor and delivery room.
By this point, even though my contractions were sporadic, they were quite uncomfortable. I am not sure that Miss Sweetpea had actually "dropped" before this whole water-breaking incident. Either that or I am simply so short-waisted that it didn't matter.
If you don't what that means, just imagine this: the difference between the bottom of my bra-band and my belly-button is shorter than the span I can reach between the tip of my thumb and the tip of my middle finger. Seriously- I just did it. AND at this time, there is "junk" there that needs to go away.
Even with a baby in there, the actual space of my torso is very limited.
I literally felt like she might break one of my ribs! Everytime I had a contraction, it was right under my chest. Not in my lower abdomen, not where I thought my uterus and cervix were located, not in my groin area - UNDER my heart and ribcage.
FUN TIMES! Let me tell you...
Hubby and I wanted to do this with no meds. Or, at least, try it that way first.
When I came to the hospital and got settled, they checked me for dilation and I was maybe 2 cm (that was a stretch- no pun intended!).
So labor went on like this for quite some time.
Keep in mind - one hour of sleep for both me and the Hubs before we were so rudely awakened :-)
My contractions were coming about every two minutes but in varying intensity. I was so tired after a few hours, that I would literally nod off between labor pains. I would be on the edge almost falling over into sleep when WHAM! There's another one...it was the oddest way I have ever tried to sleep, and obviously I didn't really sleep.
EIGHT HOURS later...
I had only progressed by an inch or two.
Because they have this crazy rule about the baby being born within a certain amount of time from when your water breaks, they were getting anxious. Me, I was too ignorant to know any better. I should have voiced my opinion and waited.
Shoulda, coulda, woulda... you know what they say about hindsight.
The nurse and doctor on call told me they want to administer pitocin to speed up the progress. They are concerned because I haven't been handling the contractions all that well so far and, of course, I'm exhausted already. They recommended an epidural.
This was an agonizing decision for me. While I wasn't necessarily opposed to an epidural, I knew hubby had concerns about the baby being born drugged up.
Finally he looked at me and told me to just do it, because there really a lot of reasonable options at this point.
So he AND a nurse had to hold me still while the anesthesiologist (Omgosh- I just checked dictionary.com and I actually spelled that word right on the first try!) inserted the
After that I certainly felt better. It was nice to watch the contraction on a monitor and not feel them at all. Still didn't sleep though...although I have to tonight.
Check back for the rest of the story!
I only WISH I looked that put-together and calm :-)
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