Hey ladies,
I am a long time lurker, first time poster. I wanted to start keeping up with everyone on the forums now that I've got a little time, 6 weeks maternity leave
First of all, I had an extremely easy pregnancy. No morning sickness, no fatigue, no real swelling of extremities until the last few weeks and no complications for baby.
So I had gone in for what would be my last OB appt on 02/20/12 and it had been decided that if I didn't have her by my due date, we would induce because the doc said I was a little low on amniotic fluid and she was getting to be a bit large and he was concerned about me having her naturally because she might not fit. (I'm 5'4", athletic and thought this statement from him was ridiculous but he does know best.) So on Monday at the appt, she still hadn't arrived and I had, at that point, not had a single contraction, braxton hicks or anything else. My official due date was the following day, 02/21/12. So he checks over his schedule and we plan for Wednesday at 6am. Needless to say, my husband was ecstatic, he had been so ready to meet our daughter.
So we go home and relax, I start making final preparations and packing bags and making a list of duties for the gals in the office then hit the hay.
Around 12:30am the following morning, I wake up fairly uncomfortable and having to use the bathroom frequently. I feel bad because I'm afraid I'm waking my husband up, so I go in and lay on the couch, figuring the bed was just uncomfortable. Well, the uncomfortable feeling went away, then came back, went away and came back and it finally dawned on me that I might actually be having contractions so I started timing them on an app I had downloaded on my phone. They were roughly 7-8 minutes apart and lasting for about 30 seconds. I was so excited and nervous.
So I lay around and actually doze off in between contractions, waking up only to time them when I felt them. Around 5:30am, they are about 3-4 minutes apart, lasting 45-50 seconds long, so I text my mom and let her know how far apart and consistent my contractions are. Around 6:45, they are around 2-3 minutes apart and lasting 1 minute, so I go and finally wake up my husband and let him know how I am feeling. He instantly lights up and goes to start drinking coffee, fully expecting to have a baby shortly
A little after 7am sometime, I have a massive contraction that has me puking in the toilet, the pain was intense, I text my mom and she says to load up and go to the hospital if that is happening. So I calmly (surprised myself even) told my husband to finish up his coffee and lets go to the hospital. While he gets dressed, I pack my bag of stuff and load everything in the car and we head off to the hospital.
We arrive at 7:51am and get checked in, they sit me in the wheelchair and said that we were going to the elevator and which point I had to pull the brakes because I'm extremely clostrophobic. I told them to wheel me to the stairs and let me walk up, which sent my hubby off on a tirade because my contractions were getting intense, but, I was determined. So I climbed two flights of stairs to find out the door to the delivery floor was locked, so we walked back down to the bottom while the nurse found someone to meet us at the top and then proceeded to climb the stairs again.
Once on the correct floor, they had me placed in a post partum room to check how far along and asked if I wanted drugs. Now, originally, I said I wanted to have an epidural available incase the pain was so bad and I told them I would still like to consider some sort of pain relief, but not an epidural because I didn't want anything in my spine. The nurse told me that would be okay but she needed to check me first, turns out, I was dilated to an 8 and my daughter was down and ready to go other than my water sac being in the way.
The nurse got all excited and said we needed to get up and out of the room to a delivery room because my baby would be there any minute, so with my gown half on, they have me walk to the delivery room across the way and start going like crazy to get the bed prepped and ready, all the while, apologizing to me that I couldn't have any pain relief because I was too far along. At this point, the contractions were HORRIBLE, and all in my back, at one point I was frantically telling my husband to get a trash can because I was going to puke. I believe he turned 4 or 5 circles trying to find a regular trash can because there were so many color coded baskets for certain waste all over the room, poor thing.
Next thing I knew, the doctor was checking me and breaking my water and the nurses were telling me how to push and when. As each contraction hit me, I kept saying 'toes, toes, toes, toes' and laughing in my head because my mother had told me to work on relaxing my toes first and then my legs and the remainder of my body to get through the contractions but I always got stuck on my toes.
Somewhere around 8:30am, I started to push as everything was prepped and I was already at a 10 in a matter of minutes. I can say right now that pushing felt a HELL of a lot better than the contractions and I was more than happy to push but wow is it exhausting. I kept apologizing to my doctor and the nurses because I needed to catch my breath and take a break. One of the nurses had to leave to help deliver another lady so my husband got called to hold my left leg down and get off the sidelines to which he quickly jumped at the chance. He then stood there and proceeded to urge me to push and stop taking breaks lol. The doctor at one point looked up and told me that my daughter was not going to fit and he was going to have to cut me, to which my response was to start crying and ask for a c-section. I really didn't want to tear or be cut for fear of how I would 'recover' but another contraction hit me and I said hell with it, I'm pushing. So the doctor did his best to help stretch me and before I knew, out pops my daughters head and they tell me to not push as hard and she would come right now. Now the 'ring of fire' feeling was horrible as she tore me, but I felt the biggest relief and relaxation the minute her whole body came out. That was the best feeling in the world lol. All the contractions stopped and for the most part, so did the other pains.
As they laid her on my stomach and asked my dazed husband to cut her cord, I was in complete awe. I for a while had thought seeing a bodily fluid covered baby laying on my stomach would gross me out but it didn't, it was the complete opposite, I was in love...
The doctor said I had a 2nd degree tear into my taint but he stitched it the best he could and recovery has been decent, I still haven't mastered the courage to look at the damage done but I can already tell that my little bundle of joy was worth it
She was born Sierra Mae, 6lbs 12oz, 19" long at 9:12 am. From start of 12:30 am to 9:30am, for my first and only child, I am grateful for having such an easy pregancy and easy delivery and the support and love of my wonderful husband.
I won't be doing this again but I'm glad I did do it at least once.
Since being born, she has already traveled from Arkansas to Kansas and is quickly building neck strength. At her one week appointment, she weighed 7lbs, 2.5oz and is now 20" long
I can see my ankles again and my feet fit back in my shoes. I've still got a poofy, squishy stomach but am otherwise recovering a lot better than I expected.
I really love my bundle of joy
