Corinne's Birth Story
Lets see how much time I have while she naps....And yes, grammar and me jumping from past to present tense speak will happen as I do not have time to edit, nor do I really care. And yes, this will most likely get personal and graphic, you have been warned.
5/20/14 Tuesday morning 9am:
I have a doctor's appointment. Thankfully Isaac was able to go with me, because I chose to have my membranes stripped (separating the bag of waters from the uterus lining) which caused some nasty pain and pretty gnarly cramps. I figured I might as well have it done since I was due in 2 days, might as well get a jump start on things. My pregnancy was less than glamerous and I was all too ready to have this girl in my arms already. Since I was only 1cm dilated, the doc said it'd a 50/50 shot if it will even do anything.
Later, I stopped by my neighbors house to borrow her heating pad to help relieve the cramping, she gave me the all knowing look and suggested that labor would be coming very soon.
After taking a few walks with the pup, soaking in a lavender bath, making sweet sweet love to my husband... nothing was happening, just more cramps.
9pm:
That night I decided to treat myself to a delectable drumstick (after my failed attempt to get Isaac to take me to Sonic to get a milk shake). In the middle... literally in the middle of eating the drumstick, and my sentence to my husband, I cried out in pain. I thought maybe I was sitting funny on the couch as the pain radiated through my back. Of course he jumped asking, "Is this it? Are you in labor?" I looked at him, "I've never done this before, how should I know?" I tried brushing it off, but the pain kept coming. I let it go on or about an hour and a half before I sluggishly drag myself upstairs to reference in my pregnancy books what contractions feel like and how far apart they are suppose to be to be considered, "real labor". Then I start timing.
Almost midnight:
At this point Isaac has all but gotten into bed because he had to be up at 5am for a long flight. He asked again if it was real, should he stay up? I tell him it's probably false labor but to be sure I'll take a hot shower then give the doc a call. After throwing a mini fit about him going to bed, he stayed up till I heard back from the doctor. Once on the phone she said the only way to be sure was to come in. I explained that I wanted to labor at home as long as possible, she said it didn't "sound" like I was in labor because I wasn't out of breath. I told Isaac to just go to bed then, and if it got worse I would wake him. Again, he asked if I was sure, and if I thought I was in labor. Again, I said I didn't know, but he probably shouldn't plan on going into work tomorrow either way, but it was probably a good idea for him to try and get some rest if he could because if it was real labor, he would need his rest so he could support me.
I tried to keep moving/distracted and even made myself a couple eggs, the quickest most protein packed food I could think of. After all, once admitted to the hospital they wont let me have any food. I couldn't finish them, I thought I might throw up.
5/21/14 Wednesday 2am:
I can't sit, stand, use my birthing ball, lay down.... nothing is getting rid of this pain. Contractions were slowly getting worse, or maybe I was just sick of dealing with the pain, but they were most certainly not getting closer together. I didn't care, I had enough. At times I would even cry a little because of the pain. I wake Isaac and tell him it's time to go.
3am:
We are waiting in the triage room to see how dilated I am and if they will admit me. I pray they will, and even though I said I was going to try for a natural/drug free labor, those plans went right out the window the second I felt what real contractions were like.
3cm. I went from 1cm that morning to 3cm 18 hours later. Poop. The nurse tells me the doc wants me to walk the halls for a couple of hours and check back in to see if I have dilated any more. They want me to walk?! Ugh!
4am-5:55am:
I walk the halls of the hospital. Perfect time really since there was no one around, except security, to see me/hear me in pain. I must have went to the bathroom a half dozen times or more, lots of blood coming out too since the nurse checked me. Was this a good sign? Who knows, I felt like death. There are times I really thought I would throw up because of the pain. Isaac was great, walking with me and trying to coach me the best he could. My favorite place to walk was the prayer/mediation garden located just outside in a secure closed off area. The night air was slightly cool and the area was peaceful. Time never seemed to move slower than in those two hours. I started to see more and more people, a good sign, it was getting closer to 6am. I figured out a little late, the more I relaxed my body, the less the contractions hurt. Easier said than done. My back would start to seize in pain, and telling myself to "relax relax relax relax" sometimes helped. Isaac pressing my hips together somewhat helped to, but nothing would completely get rid of the pain.
6am
On the dot, I was back in the room ready to be checked. It was a lot harder getting undressed the second time around. What seemed like an eternity later, I was finally told after all my walking, I progressed to 4cm. Just enough to be admitted and not sent home to labor more, although, because it was only a 4, I had the option to go home if I wanted. Heck no! I wanted some drugs and I wanted them NOW.
Isaac told me he was going to text his family and I snapped at him. I really didn't want to worry about keeping people in the loop while in labor, no distractions. We had talked about this before hand too. So I told him if he did, then he had to text my family as well. Other than my mom (lets be real here, if I was going to tell one person what was going on it would be the woman who went through it for me), I didn't really care to keep any one up to date. At one point I even insisted Isaac take my phone away because it was really making me mad (it was enough that I was in so much pain ever 4-6 minutes, I just wanted to rest between).
9:30am:
Not exactly sure why it took 3 1/2 hours later to get my epidural... maybe it was because the staff changed over, or the nurse had to get my room ready, or I had to have IV's put in my and a couple bags of fluid, but the time dragged on and on. Isaac was asked to leave the room while I was have the procedure done. The anesthesiologist was very calm and professional, even when I screamed at him because I could feel the horrific pain in my back where he was inserting the catheter. Very calmly he said he would try again in a different spot. I felt the pain a little, but then the numbness started to take over-first on my right side, then, after adjusting my position, my left side. Interesting, I never went 100% numb like I thought I might (that's only with the spinals), so even though it didn't hurt, I could still pretty much feel everything-minus the pain of contractions.
10am:
Checked again and I have progressed to 5cm, not much progress, I thought. "Get some sleep" they said. Next to impossible with the return of my phone and keeping people up to date, and the nurses turning me from side to side because baby's heart rate kept dropping as she would drop further down.
My friend Maritza was informed of my labor, and quickly came to support me. She's a nurse and has has seen labor first hand, I trusted her as a back up for Isaac. Turns out, she was a HUGE support for me through the entire process, and I felt a lot more secure because she knew exactly what all the medical mumbo jumbo stuff was and could help in ways Isaac could not.
Some time later:
The doctor, Dr Dresher, comes in to check me, first thing she asks, "When did your water break?" I shoot a questioning look over to the nurse, "I have no idea, I didn't know it had." Welp, there's that, I thought to myself. No turning back. I knew that once the water broke, baby had to come within 24 hours. Everyone talks about how labor last a really long time for first time moms, and that much I was not looking forward to, so that brought some relieve, and fear, to me. Fear that if labor didn't progress quickly enough I would have to have more medication, and if that didn't work, surgery.
More time later:
It seemed every half hour or so I was being turned/given oxygen for baby's heart rate that kept dropping. But every time they would just say, oh, looks like she's dropping faster than we thought. And I was dilating "quickly" they told me... at least for a first timer. I had ragging heartburn and took some "cocktail" that tasted like puke to relieve the burn. It didn't help. A little while later, I started feeling really nauseated, so the nurse gave me something to help relieve that and I think it helped a little, but the heartburn was till there making me feel as though I would throw up.
Some time around 3pm:
I think this was around the time I had flowers delivered to me. My mom. She's living in Texas but wanted to do something special for me, so she had a big beautiful bouquet of flowers sent to my room. Perfect timing.
Time to push! I asked the nurse about contractions getting closer together, because it seemed mine hadn't. She said I was right, that they had remained 4-6 minutes apart, but that worked for me. It was somewhat hard to tell when I was having a contraction, but it also seemed as though the drugs were wearing off on my left side because I started to feel sharp pains again. What I remember most about pushing was me being worried about pooping in front of everyone. But these ladies are professionals, they never mentioned a word of it to me (but my husband sure did!). Plus, the heartburn made it didn't want to push because every time I did I though I would thrown up everywhere
Once the nurse brought over a mirror for me to check my progress, that when things got real. I could see my darling little girl's head starting to come out. It was always disappointing when it would go back up again, but this was partially to help with stretching and giving her room, rather than ripping me open. At one point the nurse had to tell me to hold off on pushing so she could grab the doc and the baby nurse. ugh! Talk about anticipation! Luckily it wasn't too long of a wait, before I knew it my little girl's head was out, I could see her cone head and purple scrunched up face, but that was it, because then it was all hands on deck-the mirror was blocked and I was told to stop pushing. "Oh, why would you do that to momma!" the doctor exclaimed. Turns our Corinne was eager to come out and shoved her hand out ahead of the rest of her body causing a small tare. Oh well, I didn't feel it then (but later, you can sure bet I did!)
3:50pm
Then this purple floppy baby was being shown to me, dad cut the umbilical cord, baby Corinne was wiped of and put right on my bare chest, skin to skin. Nastiness and all, she was bar far the most beautiful baby I have ever set my eyes on. Shortly after I felt this warm sensation run down my belly, I thought she had peed on me, turns out it was poop. She pooped a total of about 2 or 3 times while on my chest for 45 minutes. I can't remember exactly how nursing went, I'm pretty sure she latched on. Everything was kind of fuzzy. I remember wanting to cry my eyes out but having absolutely no strength. I couldn't take my eyes off her. They showed me the placenta, I could have done without that, yuck.
I was able to get up after about 2 hours of pushing her out of me. I was shocked to see how much blood continued to come out of me after birth-all normal amounts I was told.
Corinne was wide awake for at least a good three, maybe ever four hours after birth, and she just wanted to eat and stare at me. She didn't make too much noise, which kind of had me worried...that is until the nurses got their hands on her and poked her with all their tests, and gave her a shot, you know, all normal stuff.
I consider myself extremely lucky to have an uncomplicated vaginal birth, considering I probably know more people that don't have that than do.
I still wonder when I'm going to get some sleep from this whole experience, I figure when she's 18/moves out--I have no idea how I had the strength to stay up and alert as long as I did, guess that's a mother thing, right? Even through sleep deprivation and crazy hormones that make me cry at children's movies, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. There are many adventures I have taken on through the years, many different jobs and even college majors, but this is the first time in my life I have ever felt truly fulfilled. Nothing has come to me more naturally than motherhood.
And yes, I will have many more stories of Corinne and LOTS of pictures. I will be one of "those" moms who posts a billion and one pics of her baby. :)
5/20/14 Tuesday morning 9am:
I have a doctor's appointment. Thankfully Isaac was able to go with me, because I chose to have my membranes stripped (separating the bag of waters from the uterus lining) which caused some nasty pain and pretty gnarly cramps. I figured I might as well have it done since I was due in 2 days, might as well get a jump start on things. My pregnancy was less than glamerous and I was all too ready to have this girl in my arms already. Since I was only 1cm dilated, the doc said it'd a 50/50 shot if it will even do anything.
Later, I stopped by my neighbors house to borrow her heating pad to help relieve the cramping, she gave me the all knowing look and suggested that labor would be coming very soon.
After taking a few walks with the pup, soaking in a lavender bath, making sweet sweet love to my husband... nothing was happening, just more cramps.
9pm:
That night I decided to treat myself to a delectable drumstick (after my failed attempt to get Isaac to take me to Sonic to get a milk shake). In the middle... literally in the middle of eating the drumstick, and my sentence to my husband, I cried out in pain. I thought maybe I was sitting funny on the couch as the pain radiated through my back. Of course he jumped asking, "Is this it? Are you in labor?" I looked at him, "I've never done this before, how should I know?" I tried brushing it off, but the pain kept coming. I let it go on or about an hour and a half before I sluggishly drag myself upstairs to reference in my pregnancy books what contractions feel like and how far apart they are suppose to be to be considered, "real labor". Then I start timing.
Almost midnight:
At this point Isaac has all but gotten into bed because he had to be up at 5am for a long flight. He asked again if it was real, should he stay up? I tell him it's probably false labor but to be sure I'll take a hot shower then give the doc a call. After throwing a mini fit about him going to bed, he stayed up till I heard back from the doctor. Once on the phone she said the only way to be sure was to come in. I explained that I wanted to labor at home as long as possible, she said it didn't "sound" like I was in labor because I wasn't out of breath. I told Isaac to just go to bed then, and if it got worse I would wake him. Again, he asked if I was sure, and if I thought I was in labor. Again, I said I didn't know, but he probably shouldn't plan on going into work tomorrow either way, but it was probably a good idea for him to try and get some rest if he could because if it was real labor, he would need his rest so he could support me.
I tried to keep moving/distracted and even made myself a couple eggs, the quickest most protein packed food I could think of. After all, once admitted to the hospital they wont let me have any food. I couldn't finish them, I thought I might throw up.
5/21/14 Wednesday 2am:
I can't sit, stand, use my birthing ball, lay down.... nothing is getting rid of this pain. Contractions were slowly getting worse, or maybe I was just sick of dealing with the pain, but they were most certainly not getting closer together. I didn't care, I had enough. At times I would even cry a little because of the pain. I wake Isaac and tell him it's time to go.
3am:
We are waiting in the triage room to see how dilated I am and if they will admit me. I pray they will, and even though I said I was going to try for a natural/drug free labor, those plans went right out the window the second I felt what real contractions were like.
3cm. I went from 1cm that morning to 3cm 18 hours later. Poop. The nurse tells me the doc wants me to walk the halls for a couple of hours and check back in to see if I have dilated any more. They want me to walk?! Ugh!
4am-5:55am:
 |
| Last belly shot: 39 weeks 6 day |
I walk the halls of the hospital. Perfect time really since there was no one around, except security, to see me/hear me in pain. I must have went to the bathroom a half dozen times or more, lots of blood coming out too since the nurse checked me. Was this a good sign? Who knows, I felt like death. There are times I really thought I would throw up because of the pain. Isaac was great, walking with me and trying to coach me the best he could. My favorite place to walk was the prayer/mediation garden located just outside in a secure closed off area. The night air was slightly cool and the area was peaceful. Time never seemed to move slower than in those two hours. I started to see more and more people, a good sign, it was getting closer to 6am. I figured out a little late, the more I relaxed my body, the less the contractions hurt. Easier said than done. My back would start to seize in pain, and telling myself to "relax relax relax relax" sometimes helped. Isaac pressing my hips together somewhat helped to, but nothing would completely get rid of the pain.
6am
On the dot, I was back in the room ready to be checked. It was a lot harder getting undressed the second time around. What seemed like an eternity later, I was finally told after all my walking, I progressed to 4cm. Just enough to be admitted and not sent home to labor more, although, because it was only a 4, I had the option to go home if I wanted. Heck no! I wanted some drugs and I wanted them NOW.
 |
| trying to relax |
Isaac told me he was going to text his family and I snapped at him. I really didn't want to worry about keeping people in the loop while in labor, no distractions. We had talked about this before hand too. So I told him if he did, then he had to text my family as well. Other than my mom (lets be real here, if I was going to tell one person what was going on it would be the woman who went through it for me), I didn't really care to keep any one up to date. At one point I even insisted Isaac take my phone away because it was really making me mad (it was enough that I was in so much pain ever 4-6 minutes, I just wanted to rest between).
9:30am:
Not exactly sure why it took 3 1/2 hours later to get my epidural... maybe it was because the staff changed over, or the nurse had to get my room ready, or I had to have IV's put in my and a couple bags of fluid, but the time dragged on and on. Isaac was asked to leave the room while I was have the procedure done. The anesthesiologist was very calm and professional, even when I screamed at him because I could feel the horrific pain in my back where he was inserting the catheter. Very calmly he said he would try again in a different spot. I felt the pain a little, but then the numbness started to take over-first on my right side, then, after adjusting my position, my left side. Interesting, I never went 100% numb like I thought I might (that's only with the spinals), so even though it didn't hurt, I could still pretty much feel everything-minus the pain of contractions.
10am:
Checked again and I have progressed to 5cm, not much progress, I thought. "Get some sleep" they said. Next to impossible with the return of my phone and keeping people up to date, and the nurses turning me from side to side because baby's heart rate kept dropping as she would drop further down.
My friend Maritza was informed of my labor, and quickly came to support me. She's a nurse and has has seen labor first hand, I trusted her as a back up for Isaac. Turns out, she was a HUGE support for me through the entire process, and I felt a lot more secure because she knew exactly what all the medical mumbo jumbo stuff was and could help in ways Isaac could not.
Some time later:
The doctor, Dr Dresher, comes in to check me, first thing she asks, "When did your water break?" I shoot a questioning look over to the nurse, "I have no idea, I didn't know it had." Welp, there's that, I thought to myself. No turning back. I knew that once the water broke, baby had to come within 24 hours. Everyone talks about how labor last a really long time for first time moms, and that much I was not looking forward to, so that brought some relieve, and fear, to me. Fear that if labor didn't progress quickly enough I would have to have more medication, and if that didn't work, surgery.
More time later:
It seemed every half hour or so I was being turned/given oxygen for baby's heart rate that kept dropping. But every time they would just say, oh, looks like she's dropping faster than we thought. And I was dilating "quickly" they told me... at least for a first timer. I had ragging heartburn and took some "cocktail" that tasted like puke to relieve the burn. It didn't help. A little while later, I started feeling really nauseated, so the nurse gave me something to help relieve that and I think it helped a little, but the heartburn was till there making me feel as though I would throw up.
Some time around 3pm:
I think this was around the time I had flowers delivered to me. My mom. She's living in Texas but wanted to do something special for me, so she had a big beautiful bouquet of flowers sent to my room. Perfect timing.
Time to push! I asked the nurse about contractions getting closer together, because it seemed mine hadn't. She said I was right, that they had remained 4-6 minutes apart, but that worked for me. It was somewhat hard to tell when I was having a contraction, but it also seemed as though the drugs were wearing off on my left side because I started to feel sharp pains again. What I remember most about pushing was me being worried about pooping in front of everyone. But these ladies are professionals, they never mentioned a word of it to me (but my husband sure did!). Plus, the heartburn made it didn't want to push because every time I did I though I would thrown up everywhere
Once the nurse brought over a mirror for me to check my progress, that when things got real. I could see my darling little girl's head starting to come out. It was always disappointing when it would go back up again, but this was partially to help with stretching and giving her room, rather than ripping me open. At one point the nurse had to tell me to hold off on pushing so she could grab the doc and the baby nurse. ugh! Talk about anticipation! Luckily it wasn't too long of a wait, before I knew it my little girl's head was out, I could see her cone head and purple scrunched up face, but that was it, because then it was all hands on deck-the mirror was blocked and I was told to stop pushing. "Oh, why would you do that to momma!" the doctor exclaimed. Turns our Corinne was eager to come out and shoved her hand out ahead of the rest of her body causing a small tare. Oh well, I didn't feel it then (but later, you can sure bet I did!)
3:50pm
Then this purple floppy baby was being shown to me, dad cut the umbilical cord, baby Corinne was wiped of and put right on my bare chest, skin to skin. Nastiness and all, she was bar far the most beautiful baby I have ever set my eyes on. Shortly after I felt this warm sensation run down my belly, I thought she had peed on me, turns out it was poop. She pooped a total of about 2 or 3 times while on my chest for 45 minutes. I can't remember exactly how nursing went, I'm pretty sure she latched on. Everything was kind of fuzzy. I remember wanting to cry my eyes out but having absolutely no strength. I couldn't take my eyes off her. They showed me the placenta, I could have done without that, yuck.
I was able to get up after about 2 hours of pushing her out of me. I was shocked to see how much blood continued to come out of me after birth-all normal amounts I was told.
Corinne was wide awake for at least a good three, maybe ever four hours after birth, and she just wanted to eat and stare at me. She didn't make too much noise, which kind of had me worried...that is until the nurses got their hands on her and poked her with all their tests, and gave her a shot, you know, all normal stuff.
I consider myself extremely lucky to have an uncomplicated vaginal birth, considering I probably know more people that don't have that than do.
I still wonder when I'm going to get some sleep from this whole experience, I figure when she's 18/moves out--I have no idea how I had the strength to stay up and alert as long as I did, guess that's a mother thing, right? Even through sleep deprivation and crazy hormones that make me cry at children's movies, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. There are many adventures I have taken on through the years, many different jobs and even college majors, but this is the first time in my life I have ever felt truly fulfilled. Nothing has come to me more naturally than motherhood.
Can you tell I've been up for 34 hours?? Yes, I look like death. Oh and look, Corinne is eating :)
 |
| First family picture! |
And yes, I will have many more stories of Corinne and LOTS of pictures. I will be one of "those" moms who posts a billion and one pics of her baby. :)
 |
| Day 2, I finally got to take a shower |
