Membranes of Steel {Ryleigh's birth story}

Friday, March 30, 2012

yes, i look like a crazy woman!

{so these pictures are from March 17...they are just the last ones I have from when I was preggo. my mom's camera has two from the day before and the day that I was induced}

{I am looking pretty huge! she just went straight out there!}

ok on to the story......

***warning***

the following story is a birth story....there will be details that might be TMI

just saying

6:00 am

it was time to call L&D to see if we could go in for our induction.

nope. no go. {ugh, really?}

they tell us to call back at 8 am. nice, I can sleep longer....i'm not surprised, and am anticipating having this baby tomorrow or the next day considering what happened yesterday.

But they tell us we are a priority now and will be taken in today, just not now because 2 ladies just walked in in active labor. {riiiiight-that's just what i'm thinking}

 8:00 am

drew calls and they say we can go in at 11:30

i'm still skeptical at this point. they'll probably call back later and tell us 2 other ladies in active labor just walked in.

but they don't :)

11:30 am

we get to L&D and fill out lots of forms {signing your life away, you know...}

they bring us back to a suite. and it's pretty sweet. it's actually a very big room {my guess is to make up for the scheduling incident}

I get into one of those lovely gowns that barely cover your bum. really? why is that? with K they gave me two gowns...so there was NO exposure. this one...yeahhhh there was.

I was HOT and sweaty. great. that makes swelling way worse too!

The nurse comes in and asks a billion questions and orders my GBS antibiotics {fun!}

they start an IV {oh how I hate needles!!! and IVs are the worst!!} not only does it hurt pretty badly but it makes my hand feel even more swollen and it hurts in my knuckles to make a fist.

but I havvve to have it.

they mention pitocin and I almost start to cry that second.

I wait until the nurse leaves thou.

drew calms me down, reassures me she can't do it without doctor's orders and they were contacting my midwife before doing anything first.

okay....

I get checked and am 3 cm and 80% effaced....and baby is high :(

no wonder I haven't had any progress

we try walking and getting on the ball to open things up, baby needs to drop!

1:15 pm

{me sitting on the ball, trying to help things progress}

Helene {my midwife} comes in to check me and see if she can just break my water or where we can go from there {finger's crossed there isn't a mention of pitocin!}

4 cm and 90% baby's head is down there enough!

yayyyy!!! she can break my water!!

apparently, I do have membranes of steel......it doesn't break until the 4th attempt! 4! and that's not the most comfortable procedure. just saying.

so we get to put on one of those lovely mesh panties and big ol pad and walk the halls to get things to progress! awesome. bring on the contractions!

I just knew my body would jump start and I would be at a 7 in no time {then 10!}

they want to check baby's heartrate every 30 min, so I walk, get HR, sit on the ball, get HR, walk, get HR. for a good amount of time.

I start feeling contractions! and we are timing them, when we are walking, they are about 2 min apart :) I am super optimistic at this point!!!

{about} 4:00 pm

it's time for some more antibiotics :/

so we get hooked all back up and I have to get in that dang bed and be monitored again.

for some reason...my contractions don't exactly register on the monitors. same thing happened with K.

I was having contractions, frequently, but I wasn't getting any credit for them.....dang!

{about} 6:00 pm

So, I got my antibiotics and then they checked me......
4 cm and baby is high again :(
they think it's time for some pitocin, get some better contractions and baby engaged so I can dilate more.
{sigh} okay.....grrrrr.....once again I'm thinking my body is a failure...I am contracting, they are 2 mins apart.
they hurt. but i guess not enough...
 they start me at a 2 of pit and we wait... 

{drew just gets to chill.}

at this point he is wondering how long it will be....he thought we would be done by 1, maybe 4 

nope. unfortunately not.

we are still in labor-just not "active enough"

they increase the pit to a 3, then 4, then 5, then 6.

{side note: later on it is discovered that the pit was going directly into my hand, not into the saline solution first, then into my hand. I don't know if this makes a difference, or if it's more concentrated this way?? who knows. the nurse also said that most people deliever when the pit is at a 3!!}

9:00 pm

I am having some seriously painful contractions.

I can't get comfy

there is no remedy for the pain.

they kept mentioning the jacuzzi but I still have yet to get in there.

I must be at a 10 because these contractions are coming and coming.....just like they were when I was at a 9 with k.

so they check me......

4 cm and she is high! :(

WHHHAT?!?

not.cool.at.all

how can that be?? what the heck?

why won't she just come down?

ahhhhhhhh....{i'm trying not to cry at this point}

it's painful and i've made no progress.

none what.so.ever

I can't relax anymore. I've tried all the techniques that i've been going over

I've tried different positions and cannot for the life of me figure out what else I can do to make it all complete. 10 seems SOOO far away.....how am I going to get there?? how much longer will it take?

I wasn't expecting to only be at a 4 at this point

I am about to panic

I ask for the epidural

I feel defeated. I really wanted to do this med-free. I didn't want to be in this position.

why can't I relax? I know our bodies are made to do this. I've watched all the documentaries, I've read the books, I'm not sick, I don't need to do this in a hospital.......ugh!!!!

i hate you pitocin!

During this time there was a loss of baby's heartrate. They put me on my left side {terrible for contractions, it was WAYY worse}

there was concern, and we were all worried

it came back though {big sigh of relief}

9:30 pm

the anesthesiologist gets here

I can get off my left side! thankfully!!

I get into position and as one contraction comes and I say okay...."just one more....that's all I have to deal with" nope, it's more like 7. {told you they were one on top of the other}

why does she take so dang long??

it's in and meds are in.....but I still feel everything.

they make me lie still on my back but I can't....I'm having contractions and they still hurt.

oh my....now i'm terrified.

what if it doesn't take??

she ups the meds

and there is no change

she leaves and comes back....with this huge syringe of meds and puts it into the line

we wait.....

and I start to feel some numbness in my toes and my contractions begin to fade

{big sigh of relief}

I begin to notice how cold I am. I have had the shakes since the pitocin, but now I am actually cold too. not just hot and sweaty.

That's when I notice a different type of pain.....

I'm sore....??

my muscles in my head, around my ears and my temples hurt.

my jaw hurts.

my muscles in my neck and abdomen are sore also.

I tell Drew and we come to the conclusion that I had been fighting the contractions this whole time.

I truly couldn't relax

I was so tense that random muscles were so sore from the contractions. Only now that I couldn't feel the contractions I wasn't tensing up anymore. i was actually relaxed.

lovely picture isn't it?
yikes. thanks drew. lol.

I wasn't feeling any contractions, I was relaxed and just waiting....hoping that I would progress some eventhough I was laying here in this bed.
they say that you can lose progress after you get the epidural, especially since you are just laying/sitting there.
if that happens....they might mention the evil c-word!

11:00 pm

the nurse comes in to put in an internal monitor since their machines aren't picking up any contractions.
{weird....I wonder why that is??}
she goes to check me and we are anticipating 5 cm, if that.....
NOPE!
she checks me and says, oh, looks like we won't need it...baby's head is right there. looks like it's time to call the midwife back in!!!
drew doesn't believe her.
he jokes and asks if she is serious....this is really it this time??
yep, it sure is!
awesome!
so they go and call her and we are excited.
we both can't believe how fast things had progressed after that.
They turn off the pit {finally! I hate you evil stuff.} and I request that they turn off the epidural too. She says as long as I don't take an hour pushing.
lol. okay....
I'm shooting for less than the time it took with k {about 40 min}

{about} 11:20 pm

Helene is back and seems pretty surprised that I progressed so quickly also.
She also thinks my body was fighting the contractions and I just needed to relax.
interesting.
drew says we will never try natural again if we have to get pitocin also.
 {that stuff is evil---beyond evil!!, just sayin}
she sets up some stuff....
I try some pushes and the mw is happy about them, she says something like I'm a good pusher...lol.
after about 3 sets of 3 pushes I turn over on my left side
{i swear i almost passed out due to the holding of breath and pushing.....i won't get into weather or not i like that method}
some more sets later she has to cut me :/ not cool. drew says it sounds like cutting cardboard.
ewwwww, i know.
a few pushes later and she is out!

11:46 pm

she was blue looking. 

but cried, so that was good.

I teared up right after i heard her

6 lbs 15 oz
18.5 inches long
dark hair and eyes
10 extremely long toes

my mom came by with k

they were at home, too excited to sleep

I demolished a ham & cheese sandwich, a pudding pack, an apple, and 2 oreos right after

then we got stuff ready to go to our new room!

I could barely sleep.

The nurse was really worried about me and my heartrate being high

she kept asking if I had anxiety or something--i had shortness of breath too

but I felt just fine. 

It was a combination of excited and happy and just wired.

finally, around 3 I slept and so did baby!

she slept for like 4 hours! what?!?!

I love her for that {she gets at least 1-4 hour stretch a night!!}

they took her in the morning for a hearing test & she came back in with a super cute bow on her head!
she passed.
We just love her to pieces!!!!!