Saturday, November 21, 2009

Labor & Delivery story

Well, for those of you who want to know the whole story of Avery’s labor and delivery, read on. If you don’t want to know the details, skip this post.

I went into labor at 2:30am Sunday morning. I woke up to a contraction, and they continued every 10 minutes, all night long. In the morning, I had Caden tell Rob that we were gonna have a baby today. My contractions continued, although I spent a lot of time lying on the couch, and it seemed that they slowed. If I would walk around, they would be more consistent.
At 1:00, Caden went down for a nap so I decided to try as well. I did manage to get some sleep, in between the 10 minute contractions. I got up at 3:00. At that point, the contractions were coming every 3-5 minutes apart. I called Joder to ask if she was ready to have Caden. She came to get him at 4:10. We got to the hospital at 4:30pm.
They brought me to my room right away, and the nurse hooked up the fetal monitor. Babies heartbeat was good. She checked me at 5:30 and I was 5cm. She also told me that she had called my Dr. and she wouldn’t be in till 7. This disappointed me. With Caden, the doctor broke my water as soon as we got there, and the next contraction was so much stronger. I was upset that I would have to go through the next hour and a half of labor without my water broken, thinking that things wouldn’t be progressing as quickly as they could be.
My contractions continued, although not consistently at all. It’d be 10 minutes in between sometimes. It was so different that with Caden. With him, I was walking around the room the whole time, having contractions every 2 minutes. This time, I was wishing that we had brought a game or a movie because nothing was happening.
At 6:45, the contractions were getting worse, although still not very frequent. The nurse suggested I take a shower, as the warmth can help. I was willing to try it because with Caden, it did help. Well, I had a contraction while in the washroom, and because I was so incredibly hot, I ended up throwing up for about 5 minutes. At that point, I decided a hot shower was probably not the best idea so I went back to the bed.
At 7:10 I had 3 contractions almost in a row. I hardly knew where to leave myself. I was ready to ask for drugs. However, with the last contraction, I was feeling the urge to push, so I sent Rob to get the nurse. She came right away and checked me. She said I was ready to go, and to keep pushing. My doctor walked in right after. She broke my water. During the next contraction, I pushed. After it was over, they told me I was doing great. I didn’t believe them. I pushed for 2 hours with Caden, and they kept telling me that it had been a great push. I would ask if the head was out and they said no, but it was still a good push. I got frustrated. I felt like yelling at them that until the head was out, don’t tell me it’s a good push.
So with Avery, when they said that push was good, I asked if they could see the head. She said yes, 1 more push and baby will be out.
Next contraction hits, I push. The head comes out. She tells me to stop pushing so she can check for the umbilical cord. Then gives me the go ahead to continue. 1 more push and she was out. Born at 7:18. 2 pushes. I was amazed how quickly it all went. From us sitting there passing the time, and 8 minutes later we have a baby.
They put her on me right away and cleaned her off. Then took her to do all the things that they do. Apgar score was 9 and 9. She was 8lbs 10oz and 22’’ long. A whole pound less than Caden, but only a ½’’ shorter. No wonder she just slid right out…lol.
All in all, I’d say it was a pretty good experience. A lot different than last time, but I managed to do it without drugs again.
We went home on Monday evening. It was nice to have a night at home, because hearing the constant beeping and the hospital, mixed in with a screaming woman giving birth, doesn’t allow for a lot of sleep.
Avery is doing great. Eating great and sleeping mostly great. She’s a little mixed up with days and nights, but we’re working on it.
I feel completely healed up. And, I only have 10lbs to go to be back at pre baby weight.
Now I’ll leave you with a few pictures, as well as Avery’s birth announcement card.









4 comments:

Kalle said...

She's beautiful! Congratulations.

Stacey said...

Great story! It always amazes me, reading how different every woman's story is. Even between different births. And of course, the end result is a beautiful baby!

~~Mel~~ said...

Congrats! She's gorgeous!

Colleen said...

Thanks for sharing your story! Love how different they all are.