I had my baby! (UPDATED w/ story)

[fashionx]

I will come back later and post the story once we are home tomorrow, but wanted to share a couple photos and the news.

E.va Je.an was born Saturday 7-18 at 12:02pm, weighing 6lbs 14oz, 20 inches long. She's got a beautiful full head of hair and is doing great. Had a long 32 hours of labor, but she was completely worth it! Labor started 7-17 when I was exactly 39 weeks.


UPDATE:
I meant to come back sooner with E's birth story, but the last 2 weeks has been a whirlwind. After coming home from the hospital we had a tough couple days with feeding/latch issues and E's bilirubin levels were borderline high for jaundice, so we were back at the pedi's office every day the first 3 days, testing blood and getting weight checks. She's in the clear now and we had a good 2-week check up today. I'm totally exhausted but loving it. Although she latched for her first feeding after delivery and nursed for 45 minutes, I knew it was a shallow latch and needed some help.

Since she was born on a Saturday we didn't get to see the lactation nurse until Monday on discharge day, unfortunately. Because of that and the need to feed, we had to syringe and then bottle feed during those first days, which made me sad but I was happy and lucky enough to have a good supply and not need to supplement with formula during that time. DH suggested we try a nipple shield and it worked! I went back to see the lactation nurse last week and we determined there's a combination of a slight tongue tie with E and short nipples for me, so she said the nipple shield is ok to use since it's working, and we'll keep trying without to see if she will switch over. But after weighing her before/after feeding she is getting enough to eat. And at her appointment today she weighed 7 lbs 4 oz, so she's gaining and past birth weight which is great.

Ok now for her birth.

I went into labor on Friday 7/17, I was exactly 39 weeks pregnant. At first I didn't really realize what was happening, I lost part of my mucus plug a couple days before on Wednesday, but woke up at 4:15 am feeling crampy and achy, and went to the bathroom - lost the rest of it with the bloody show. I went back to bed and tried sleeping, got through a couple hours and then woke up again around 8am and took a shower, hoping it would make me feel better. I felt kind of better but was still achy. Tried sleeping again but could not get comfortable, and the cramps got worse. I figured I was in early labor and told DH, and canceled a couple appointments I had scheduled for that day - one was just a visit to a friend of mine, who said, "Girl, you are having that baby!" when I told her how I was feeling. Within a couple hours the contractions were *definitely* contractions, and I started timing them around noon, and by 1pm had DH finish packing the hospital bag and call my midwife to check in. I spent some time in the tub, since my water hadn't broken, then moved into the bed on my hands and knees, spent some time on the ball. I was trying to eat since I only had a small breakfast at around 10 and knew I needed the energy. By 4pm my contractions were 4-5 minutes apart, lasting about a minute and were pretty consistent. Then I threw up and knew it was time to get to the hospital, so DH called again and said we were on our way.

We got to the hospital at about 4:30pm. They had a wheelchair waiting at the door (but no attendant), tried using it but couldn't get the wheels unlocked so I walked in instead, through the contractions. Got checked in and went to triage to get checked out, and found I was already 4 cm dilated so I was able to be admitted. I had opted out of cervical checks at my last appointments so not sure how I was before that, but was happy to get in and have my midwife there with us. My plan was to labor without interventions or drugs, and so first I used the ball, and then moved into the shower - having the water hit me on my lower back felt the best at the time. The nurses checked my blood pressure, temperature, and E's heart rate with a doppler every 30 minutes. Around 7pm I got checked again and had progressed to 6 cm. Decided to try out the tub at that point, but decided I preferred the shower. E was facing posterior/sunny side up, so I felt everything in my lower back/pelvis and it kept getting more intense. I was checked again at 10pm and had progressed to 8 cm, so although it was hard I was feeling good about how things were going.

At midnight, was still at 8 cm, and was stilled stalled there when they checked again at 2am. My midwife suggested that breaking my water might help things progress, and I agreed to that. However, the contractions grew more intense but I was still at 8cm at 6am. A second midwife from my practice came in to check in, and they both suggested pitocin, which I was hesitent to do because I knew everything would be more intense and harder to handle and I was already super tired, dehydrated from throwing up several times, and in pain from the back labor. I asked what alternatives were to getting an epidural, and they told me the option but one midwife said it wont do much for the back labor -- this kind of labor is really more suited to an epidural. So after some thought and talking with DH, since I was feeling a bit defeated and disappointed, I decided at this point it was probably best to go ahead with the pitocin and epidural. I got the IV in (took 2 tries! ), and the anesthesiologist came around 7am, and kicked out my husband, did the shot, and I felt better almost immediately. DH came back and found me joking with my midwife and feeling fine. I was worried I wouldn't feel my contractions at all after that, but was happy I could feel them, just without the pain. I had to have the internal fetal monitor on at this point. Then they let us rest and try to sleep for awhile while the drugs did their job. 

At just before 9am they came back and I was given oxygen and told to get on all fours to push, and hopefully get E to turn around as I did. I guess my temperature and blood pressure were rising a bit. I pushed for awhile.. not sure how long at that point. E was progressing down and they could see her head and some hair, but I wasn't making a lot of progress quickly with her. Her position coming out was not helping at all. A third midwife came in (2nd left) to join the first, and explained that they were going to call in the OB on staff to do a vacuum assist, because of how things were going and to make sure E came out without having to do a C-section. I was even more determined to avoid that so I was pushing extra hard so when the Dr came, she was further down but still needed help. He used the vacuum thing and didn't work - so decided that forceps would be used instead. At some point with all of this they also called in the Neo-Natal doctor and a couple more nurses, so there were a lot of people in the room now... 6 nurses, the Neo-Natal Dr, OB Dr, 2 midwives and DH. I pushed and pushed, finally her head came - the cord was around her neck a little so they unlooped her before I pushed out her body. They put her on my chest and had DH cut her cord -- originally I had wanted delayed clamping and cutting but I think they had to get her back to the doctor quickly to check that she was ok, so that didn't happen. She cried and DH followed her to the other end of the room to see her and snap a few photos. She was so alert, came out of me with eyes wide open... and she scored 8 and 9 for her Apgar. 

I then delivered the placenta with help from my midwife. I tore a little bit during E's delivery, and got 3 stitches. After I was stitched up they returned E to my arms and she found my nipple and started nursing. I was kind of in a daze with her while everything was getting cleaned up around me. Everyone said I did great and should be proud. DH asked later if I would do it all the same, laboring myself for so long knowing the outcome, and I said I would. Although the "plan" went out the window, I am proud of what I did and it was all worth it. I knew going into it that my "plan" was really more of a goal, and ultimately I would be happy no matter what as long as she came out and was healthy. 

Sent from my Moto X using Proboards.

Attachments:

[mannah]

Oh my gosh! She is beautiful! Congratulations!!! Love her name too.

[G22]

Congrats!

[konapoppy]

Congrats!!!

[coda]

Congrats!!

[shelbyann]

Congrats!!

[achi]

Congrats!

[liverandonions]

So adorable! Congrats!

[kiddoc]

Congrats!

[lindsaymg]

Your Instagram post made my whole
night yesterday! I am so happy for you!

[starburst]

Beautiful! Congrats!

[Muddled]

Congratulations! Fantastic photos!

[Deleted]

Congrats!

[tiptoetulips]

Congrats!!

[mskitkat]

Congrats! She is just too precious.

[thejackpot]

Congrats!!

[toutsuite]

Congrats!

[D2M]

That chubby little arm! Squeee. Congrats!

[ivy]

Beautiful! Congrats!

[pooh8402]

Congratulations on your beautiful baby girl! And holy head of hair, it's so pretty!

[MrsMB]

Gorgeous! Congratulations!!

Sent from so-called "smart" phone. Please forgive any errors!

[rockinrobyn]

Congratulations!

[tinybride]

Congrats! She's darling.

[ebeth]

Love the name and the hair! Congratulations!

[preppy]

Congrats!! She is gorgeous.

[miamigirl]

Congrats!!

[fezzik]

Congrats!

[fashionx]

Thank you so much everyone!! I'm excited to bring her home tomorrow I'll update with the birth story too.

Sent from my Moto X using Proboards.

[mcfelix]

Congratulations!! Hope you are getting some rest in the hospital before heading home!

[Kit]

Congrats!!