[CandaceDianne]

Lilyan Elizabeth Besse

June 5, 2010

On Friday, June 4th at 6:10AM we arrived at the hospital. We got our room around 7AM and they started the pitocin around 8AM. When they started the induction I was still 1cm but 80% effaced. Around 1PM I started to lose some of my mucous plug, just little pieces of it. Around 5:30PM I was at 2cm dilated but 100% effaced and -2 station. The doctor decided to break my water and they did notice Lilyan had a bowel movement in-utero, but since it was a light green color the doctor said there was no risk of infection. Over the next several hours I had not made any change, but the contractions were getting stronger. I had to moan through most of them. I also had some back labor and whenever I had to use the restroom (which was a LOT due to drinking a lot and the IV) I would have contractions, which was not fun! They gave me some pain meds in the IV twice, which knocked me out. I got some rest, but when I needed the second round, it only took the edge off the contractions, but they were still strong enough to where I couldn’t sleep through them. I am not one to throw up at all, but I threw up several times from the pain medicine (I assume). The urge to throw up just would hit me instantly and I would throw up…so luckily I didn’t have a constant nausea feeling.
Finally, at 2AM I was given an epidural at 2-3cm. I threw up the sour drink they like you to drink before. The epidural itself was not nearly as bad as I thought. Oh was that a heaven sent! I slept through most of the night, but when I woke up my catheter was so uncomfortable that even the epidural button didn’t relieve this discomfort. Around 8:30AM, they wanted to monitor the intensity of the contractions to decide on what to do with the pitocin.
Progress finally started around 11AM and I went from 5cm to 6cm by 11:30AM. The doctor had just finished explaining to us that if I was not at 7cm by 1PM, that we would need to discuss a c-section. When I was 6cm within an hour, I was thrilled; I thought I would avoid a c-section. By 1PM I had hit 8cm and getting nervous and excited…oh and numb from the epidural. 2 hours later I did not make ANY progress. The doctor could feel her head and said she did not have any hair. He also said since her head was elongated in my pelvic bone, a c-section was needed. So after 30-31 hours of labor and exhaustion, I was having a c-section.
They quickly got me prepped for surgery and my nerves were all over the place that I was literally shaking. I was also thankful that it was almost over, I was beyond exhausted. For one who has only had her wisdom teeth taken out and no other surgeries, I was a little nervous. They got me into the OR and everyone was really great! David got prepped and ready and they let him in after they had me ready. They told me to breathe for Lilyan and that it would take 8 minutes to get her out and 30 minutes to get me back together. Since the epidural didn’t take a ‘deep’ enough effect, I did feel some of it….it was actually more of a very bad, constant pinch. I had to squeeze David’s hand through most of the section and breathe a LOT. The team was really cheering me on and helping me get through it. When Lilyan was born, David was so thrilled and over the moon. He saw her come out and was telling me all about it. I was beyond exhausted and in so much discomfort, I couldn’t relax to enjoy the moment. He went to be with her for some time while they finished me up. Eventually that really bad pinch sensation went away and David returned to my side. I did hear her cry a few times and David kept telling me how beautiful she was. I have NEVER been so relieved to be done with something as much as I was when they were completed. After 30 minutes (which was a lot faster than they predicted), Lilyan was born at 3:30PM.
They rolled us back to the recovery station. I was so tired and numb I couldn’t even hold her, which really bothered me but I can’t even begin to explain how fatigued I felt. David walked around like a proud daddy and eventually some family came back one at a time to see her. We were in recovery for an hour and I did hold her for a little bit. She looks nothing like what I thought, not in a bad way either. I really was convinced she was going to be fair skin and bald, but she is the opposite and even better than what I could have ever wished for! She is a nice mix of both sides of the family, but she does look almost identical to my nephew when he was a newborn (David’s sister’s son).
The experience was not bad at all! Laboring was nothing like what I expected, it was much better. It was a long labor, but it was not painful for very long, it was just beyond exhausting. Next c-section, if I have one, I want to be knocked out though. J They did detect a soft heart murmur, which the cardiologist told us has a 90% chance of closing up on its own.
She did have a choking incident on Sunday. A lab technician (whom we thought was a nurse, not a lab technician) came in to draw blood and while Lilyan was screaming, she threw up. She started to kind of choke on it, so David put her on her side. Well, the lab technician asked for her and he thought she knew what she was doing, so he handed her off. When the tech appeared to be clueless and our daughter was going stiff from panic and going pale, David asked her if they needed to call a nurse. When she said yes, I called the nurses. We screamed ‘We need a nurse!’, ‘For mom or baby?’, ‘Baby! She is choking’, ‘Nurse, go down to 219 the baby is choking…get the oxygen ready!’. Those were the scariest moments of my life! The nurse was there in record time and ran back with Lilyan, literally ran down the hallway. I got up as fast as I could (which was still slow) and headed down the hallway. I am crying and a nurse approached me saying she is fine and I see David through the nursery window down the hall with thumbs-up. I cannot describe how scared I was to face the hallway and Lilyan, I feared the worst. I just sobbed and sobbed when they told me she was OK, they didn’t even need oxygen. The nurse said that as soon as they set her down in the nursery she pinked right up and was fine. They did have to monitor her for an hour as routine. That incident scared me so much that I was scared to have her sleep in the room with us that night. I was scared she would choke in her sleep. I sat in front of the nursery window just looking at her sobbing. I didn’t stop crying for a while, even when I went back to the room. I was too worried and the ‘what-ifs’ kept running through my head. Anyway, she was fine. J I really enjoyed the overall experience and the nurses were just awesome in the hospital! We are very blessed!

[pthree]

Thanks for sharing!!

I am glad Lilyan is here and healthy! I'm sorry you could feel them doing your c-section - and that you had to have one in the first place! Yikes. But whatever it takes to get that baby here and healthy!!

How scary about the choking! What was the lab tech thinking?! Why did she ask to help if they didn't know what they were doing? They really could've made things worse!! I am glad everything turned out ok. How emotionally draining, though!

She is absolutely gorgeous

[MommyPoky]

Sounds like you had a loong time in the hospital - so scary about the choking. I'm glad you guys noticed it!

[MommyBeth]

Congratulations! That is scary about the choking.

[fromustobaby]

i'm so glad that she got here safely...but wow, that is a long long labor...

so scary about the choking thing!!

[jensma]

She's beautiful Candace! Congrats!!!

[amonstersmomma]

She is so beautiful I was scared just reading about the choking. I can't even imagine what you were going through!

[~* Liss *~]

Beautiful Candace!! Sorry about the scare!

How much did she weigh?

[MarinaAndCharlie'sMommy]

So sorry you had such a rough time of it. I can't even imagine being able to feel the c/s! The choking incident must have been terrifying! I'm so glad you both are doing so well now. I hope you are having an easy recovery. Lilyan is beautiful!

[*Mommy2Camden*]

Thanks for sharing your birth story!!!! She's BEAUTIFUL! Seems like yesterday that you got your bfp!!! Scary about the choking!!!

[MommaLee]

Sorry to hear about the c-section but at least the experience wasn't bad.

[karenwalter]

Congrats! I'm glad you had a good experience despite the c-section and chocking and everything. Now you get to enjoy that beautiful baby girl of yours.