Ashlyn Paige's Arrival! - Long

sara~b · #1 August 16th, 2010, 04:33 PM

On August 4, 2010 I went for an acupuncture appointment and made eggplant parmesan according to the Scalini�s recipe. I�m not sure which, if either, did the trick but I started contracting about every 4 minutes after dinner that night. I stayed up the whole night walking and trying to get the contractions to strengthen. Nothing worked and they stayed 3-4 minutes apart the entire night and next day. The next night I couldn�t sleep because of the contractions. After 36 hours without sleep I was miserable and exhausted. I called my midwives and they had me come in to be checked out. Nothing had changed. I was still high, thick and closed. They told me to drink a glass of wine and take a bath. When that didn�t work I took Benedryl. I still couldn�t sleep that night so the morning of August 6, I called the midwives again and asked what to do. I was told to come back in and that I wouldn�t be going home without a baby. I was 38 weeks, 6 days. I tried to tell Shane we needed to go but he wouldn�t wake up so I drove myself to the birth center.

At 10:30 AM on the 6th I saw Kara, one of the midwives, and she examined me to find I was still high, thick and pretty much closed. She wanted to ripen my cervix with Cytotec but I refused. We agreed to try a little Pitocin to jump start things and give it 4-6 hours and if I didn�t progress we would just stop and I would come home. I went to walk the block and eat a light lunch before the hospital would see me at 1:30PM. Finally Shane woke up and had his dad bring him down and drive his truck home. We drove my Jeep over to the hospital and were admitted. At 3:30PM they started Pitocin and at the first check at 8:00PM I was 2-3 CM, 30% effaced and -1 station. That�s when it hit Shane and I that we were really having a baby!

Shane slept through most of my labor and I am so thankful my doula, Beth, was there! She watched stupid comedy shows on the laptop with me and rubbed my back. She eventually broke down and started telling me it was okay to get the epidural but that made me even more determined not to have it! All in all, I don�t know if I would have made it without her.

At 9:00PM the nurse came in and said Ashlyn�s heart rate was a little funny and my blood pressure wasn�t coming down so they wanted me on my left side on oxygen. They also did a straight catheter to get a clean urine sample. At 10:00PM the nurse came back and said I tested positive for pre-eclampsia. The oxygen was removed and I was encouraged to stay on my left side. At 10:50 PM Kara came in to check me and my cervix had slipped back and was too high to find. I started to doubt that induction was going to work at that point and started to beg them to either quit or break my water to speed things along. I was told my cervix was too high to break my water but that they couldn�t let me go with how bad my pre-e was. At 11:50PM I was put on Magnesium Sulfate.

At 2:45 AM the new midwife on duty, Ann, came in to see me. She checked me and I was 3-4 CM, 30% effaced and -1 station. I wanted my water broken but the OB overseeing my midwife said no. At 6:15 AM I was 4CM, 80% effaced and -1 station. The OB still said no to breaking my water and I was MAD! Around 9:00AM I started demanding a check and that my water be broken. I KNEW things would speed up if I could only get my membranes to rupture!

Finally Ann came in and I was 5CM, 80% effaced and -1 station. A new OB was on call and said it was okay to break my water. By 9:30AM I was feeling pushy and Ann checked me. I was 7CM, 100% effaced and +1 station. I started to feel like my hips were blowing apart and my back was breaking. I knew she was coming fast and I started yelling, �She�s coming! She�s coming!� along with a few choice words and moans. At 9:48AM Ann was suited up and ready. She checked and I was almost complete. She pushed a little lip out of the way and I was instantly 10 CM, 100% effaced and +2 station. Ashlyn was barreling out at this point! I screamed at Ann to get her hands out of my ***** but it was just Ashlyn�s head! Six long minutes and 3 pushes later, Ashlyn Paige arrived at 9:54AM on August 7, 2010. She weighed 8 lbs. 9 oz. and was 20.5� long. Her head was 13.5� and her Apgars were 9 and 9.

I guess I started bleeding pretty badly because Ann said I had to get the placenta out fast. She pulled and I pushed and about 5 minutes later it finally pulled loose. I had a second degree tear where my episiotomy scar from Gemma split. Being stitched up without pain meds was almost worse than delivering. Shane cut the cord. Then Shane and my doula, Beth, went with Ashlyn while I was stitched up. I finally got to hold her and try to breastfeed a short while later. I couldn�t believe it was over and she was finally here! She was definitely worth 18.5 hours of labor!