The Birth Story!

Here's the fun stuff! Molly's birth story!

39 weeks, 5 days, still Pregnant!

I had been having contractions about every 5 minutes the day before my due date, and TR and I went into labor and delivery. Of course, as soon as I was in a bed, the contractions all but stopped. Less. Than. Pleased! I was still a 1, so they sent me home. We decided to do all our Christmas shopping that day to try and move things along. I w still having contractions that night, but they weren't as bad so I figured I would go to work the next day anyway. Apparently the office was all very disappointed that I was sent home.

Work was painfully slow on the 22nd due to Christmas and all, and there wasn't much to be done. My contractions were still about 7 minutes apart, but they were becoming increasingly painful. I only worked a half day and asked to go home since there wasn't much to do and I was mildly miserable. I tried to sleep when I got home to no avail. I wrapped presents to put under the tree and tried to keep my mind off my contractions. They still weren't close together and I didn't want to be sent home from L&D again. My visiting teaching companion and I had made plans to visit our sisters that day, and since my water hadn't broken and I could still move I kept the appointments. We walked from one end of the ward to the other, which isn't hard when you're ward is only 4 blocks squared, but for a 40 week pregnant woman, it was much harder than it looked. I'm glad I went though. I love my sisters so much.

On the way home, I stopped at Nate and Jessica's house because Mom was there watching Milo while the rest of the family went to a movie. I dropped by to chat and my contractions were very hard at this point. They were still pretty far apart so I didn't think I was going to the hospital that night. I went home, ate dinner, and TR and I started playing a computer game with each other. I had to stop every few minutes to breathe through a contraction. Around 11:00 pm TR told me that he was going to take me to the hospital because my contractions were hurting me so much.

We got there and checked in, and around 1:00 am, after no progress and a shot of Morphine and phenegren in the hip, I was sent home again to wait it out. Around 4:00 am I was awoken by contractions again and decided to go to the bathroom and get a cold drink of water as that had helped me in the past. I went to the bathroom and found I was bleeding pretty heavily and had passed a couple large blood clots. I started freaking out. I woke TR from his very deep sleep exclaiming that we needed to go to the hospital RIGHT NOW. He asked me if my water had broken and when I told him it hadn't but I was bleeding he was still too dazed to really get the urgency of it. Three contractions later we were in the car

on our way BACK to the hospital.

This time when they checked me I was a three and my contractions were extremely hard, but still five to seven minutes apart. I was worried they were going to send me home a third time, but after monitoring both me and the baby for an hour they decided to admit me. Shortly after that I got an epidural and life was grand.

Shortly after getting the epidural I progressed to a five and stayed there for the next 15 hours or so. I slept a lot during this time, waking to request tiger's blood ice chips and talk to the nurses. The doctor came in around 11:00 am to break my water to see if that would speed things up a bit. She couldn't break it all the way so I was trickling for a while which was a really strange feeling when you know you have a catheter. Molly kept moving, making it hard to track her heart so the doctor changed to the internal heart and contraction monitor which gave me a little more mobility.

After a while, when they noticed my labor wasn't really progressing they decided to put me on pitocin to get the ball rolling. Once the pitocin was started the nurse noticed that the baby's heart rate was dropping with each contraction. Baby girl did not like the hard contractions. While my contractions were getting closer together, I still wasn't progressing. They gave me oxygen to help the baby's heart rate come back up after the contraction had ended.

Molly wasn't bouncing back from those contractions like she should have which concerned the doctor and they took me off the pitocin to see if that helped. The baby responded better, but that slowed my contractions back to five to seven minutes apart instead of two to five minutes apart. The doctor said she wanted to try the pitocin again, starting with the lowest dose and working up to see if it would help the baby get used to it and respond better. Almost immediately her heart rate dropped again and it was clear the pitocin wasn't going to work. At this point I was still a five and 80% effaced. The nurse prepared me for the possibility of a C-section. I didn't want to have a C-section as I knew the recovery was long and hard. At least longer and harder than a normal, vaginal delivery. I prayed for comfort and help in this time.

The nurse wanted to wait another hour to see if I would progress and if the pitocin had jump started my labor just enough that I could do it on my own, but everything was prepped in both the OR and my delivery room in either case. Then a miracle, or what I felt was a miracle, happened. An hour later, after 15 hours of sitting at five centimeters dilated, I had progressed to an eight and was 90% effaced! We waited another hour. I had progressed to a nine and it looked like I didn't need to do a C-section after all. I quietly rejoiced and said a prayer of gratitude.

The next hour was a roller coaster of emotion. The baby was having an even harder time with the contractions, and my contractions were still five minutes apart. A C-section might still be necessary. I was told to be prepared for anything since no one was sure as to what was going to happen. At about 9:00 pm the nurse checked me and I was complete and ready to push. By this time, I hadn't eaten in over 24 hours, I was exhausted both emotionally and physically, and I didn't know what to expect. When the nurse asked me if I thought I would be able to push for the next hour I nearly cried, but I nodded my head. I just wanted to see my baby girl.

I pushed once, and waited the 5 minutes until my next contraction. Then pushed again, and waited. One more time and the doctor could see my baby's full head of hair. TR couldn't yet, but the doctor could. Between two contractions the doctor got ready to deliver. Over the next three or four contractions it became a waiting game since they were still about five minutes apart. Push and wait, push and wait. When Molly finally came out her head was three different levels of coned because of the waiting period.

Finally, at 9:38 pm, after pushing through 6 contractions I heard that sweet baby cry. I never understood why women cried after the birth of their babies. I always wondered why they weren't crying DURING the birth. Once I heard that angel voice, I couldn't help myself. The most exhausting, scary, and rewarding event of my lifetime was at an end and it was totally and completely worth it.

She was finally here. She was beautiful. She was 7 lbs 12 ounces, and 20 and half inches of pure perfection. At first I had a hard time recognizing her. She didn't look like I had imagined her to look and I just couldn't figure out who she was. I cuddled her, I looked at her, counted toes and fingers, and I loved her, but she was a complete stranger to me. It wasn't until after TR brought her back to me after she had been to the nursery that I recognized her so completely and felt a love so deep and radiating that it was almost tangible.

It's only been three weeks, but I can't imagine my life without this sweet spirit! We love her so much as are looking forward to watching her grow and learn and we just feel so lucky to be her parents!

Friday, January 13, 2012