Sage's Birth Story (very long w pics)
Hi Ladies! We are still in the hospital, but mommy is on a new sleep schedule called pain meds right now, so I have some time to update every one while the baby is in the nursery.
First of all, thank you Shauna for being a wonderful angel!! You are awesome!
On Saturday April 24th, DH finally got off work and we went on an afternoon outing. We went to a place called Smithville, it's like a historic village in NJ. We (well he) had some wine samples, we went to a very nice lunch, shopped, walked and talked. Came home, relaxed, watched a movie. At around 10:30 pm my contractions started. Every 5 minutes apart, for about 45-60 seconds. They were quite bearable for everyone who hasn't gone into labor yet. They felt, for me, just like a painful diarrhea cramp. I did not sleep that much though. I stayed up, watched TV and then at 4:30 am fell "asleep" until about 7am. I woke DH, we took showers and I called the hospital. I really was not convinced I was in labor though. No one in my house had any clue what was going on, my mom came in the room and goes "are you going to the hospital?!" She thought I was silly for going so early, but I had waited it out all night.
So they checked me at around 8:30 am and to my complete surprise I was 2-3 cm dilated and about 90% effaced, baby's head was at a "zero" stage, so she was quite far down there. Thank goodness I had both my midwives there with me. I walked the halls for about 2 ish hours. They checked me again, I was 100% and a good 4 cm dilated. Labor was progressing nicely, so they popped my water, and that's when the OUCH contractions started.
I labored for about 4 more hours unmedicated with pitocin. The contractions were coming every 1 to 1 and a half minutes. I asked for IV meds. It was at that point I knew something wasn't right. My one Dr. came flying in and told me that on every contraction, the baby's heart rate was dipping. He asked me right there and then if I wanted to skip the labor and get the c-section. He THOUGHT the cord was compressed or around her neck. He told me if I was close to 10cm he would deliver vaginally, but at 4 cm he wanted to give me the option now. He also told me if I got the epidural it might speed up dilation and relax me and the baby. So at that time I refused the c-section, mainly because he was leaving it up to me at that point. I broke in and got the epidural. I was SO SO nervous to get one, but let me tell you it was literally easier than getting the IV in my hand. All I felt was a tiny bee sting with the numbing meds, then literally nothing after that. Epi took a good half hour to an hour for the full effect. My right side was completely numb while my left was not so much, but the tilted me up on my side and it evened out.
The mid wives kept coming in and reassuring me the baby's heartrate had stabilized for the time being, and there was a "95%" chance the delivery would be vaginal. This was around 8pm.
I was finally numb, calm and my BP was going down (it was up pretty high due to me having a break down earlier about the c-section suggestion). When the head Dr, Dr. Liu came in and said. Basically, I'm sorry but we have to get you to the OR now. For the passed 2 or 3 minutes baby's heart rate went from about 210-90. He told me they would check me again, if I wasn't close to 10 they needed to get the baby out immediately. I was still at a 4-5 and the baby's head has actually moved UP.
So this is the part where I very literally had a complete meltdown. I had never seriously considered I would be have a section, and it had been my WORST fear from the beginning. Even with me having bypass, I am a huge baby and I hate basically anything surgical/medical. I always get anxiety before surgeries that I am asleep for, and I was positive I could NOT do this. But my mom, husband and Dr told me not only could I do it, I needed to for my little girl.
The anesthesiologist came in and gave me much much stronger epi meds and my legs were numb and paralyzed. Let me just say THANK GOD for my husband and the anesthesiologist. I warned him I was a complete basket case and I would be asking him a ton of questions. He answered everyone of them from the beginning of the procedure to the end. I asked Dr. Liu and the midwife NOT to tell me what they were doing until the baby was coming out. Took a while until they got to my uterus, then I could tell it was taking quite a while for them to get the baby out. Even though I had never done this before, I could tell there was a definite struggle. We heard "it's definitely a girl!" then they rushed her off to clean her in the same room as me. Finally she started crying and was nice and pink in no time.
She was born at 9:31 pm. It took a good 35-40 minutes to fix me and close me back up. This felt like forever because we still hadn't seen the baby. Finally they let daddy hold her and he said "She is totally a Sage." Even during the c-section I could not fathom that I was going to have a BABY after it, but as soon as I saw her, I forgot about being upset because I knew this was all for her. I am the Mom now and my days of only thinking about myself were completely over. I knew that before, I only understood it then. I went into recovery for about an hour. The nurse told me that before my c-section my BP was 175/140, this was because I was such a mess and my anxiety was through the roof. So they made sure my BP was going down. I was still sad I didn't know the baby's weight or height yet and I had not gotten to even hold her.
The pediatrician brought Sage out to me and let me hold her for a split second, but daddy got to hold her for about 10 minutes while we were checking my vitals. He had never held a baby before ever, and he was a natural! My mom was allowed in and the baby was taken for some tests. We learned she was 6lbs 6oz 20 inches long. She is a TINY little peanut!! Her APGAR was 9 both times they did it. Dr. Liu and Kathy the midwife came out and told me there was no cord compression, or cord around her neck. My daughter was in the birth canal trying to come out, not head first, but literally FACE first. With her head all the way back. Had I gotten to 10cm and we started pushing, it would have all been in vain anyway because they would have had to do an emergency section then anyway.
He also told me my uterus was tiny. It was so tight and they had a lot of trouble getting the baby out. We think it was because of the blood flow restriction to my uterus, which we knew about. So he basically said any other future children would need to be a c-section also, and I'm ok with that.
We got to my room and everyone was there to see Sage, and no one knew her name yet. Luckily everyone loved it. I had still not gotten to hold my baby, so they brought her right to me. Then we got to pass her around. She went to the nursery and I went on my morphine pump.
Sage is such an awesome baby! She is SO quite, we had her all day yesterday in the room with us and she only cried when we had to change her diaper. She doesn't even cry to be fed, I literally have to wake her up to nurse her, which is going pretty good by the way. She hates my left breast for some reason but we are working on that lol. We are all completely in love with her, especially my sister, who could have cared less during my entire pregnancy. My mom is in love with her too, she was at the hospital almost all day yesterday. And of course daddy is completely obsessed with her. Everyone says she looks just like me, and I agree, except she totally has my husbands lips and chin. Russell was born with, and had light red hair until he was about 5. So I was convinced Sage would have red hair. But she had a lot of dark brown peach fuzz.
All and all we are doing awesome, pain from the c-section DOES HURT, but all worth it in the end. We are here another night after this and go home on Wednesday. I am a little nervous about having a newborn and recovering but I know I will have a lot of help from my mom, hubby, MIL, sister and cousin. Here are some pics of my baby doll, Sage Heather Kunkelman. I will update again soon!
First of all, thank you Shauna for being a wonderful angel!! You are awesome!
On Saturday April 24th, DH finally got off work and we went on an afternoon outing. We went to a place called Smithville, it's like a historic village in NJ. We (well he) had some wine samples, we went to a very nice lunch, shopped, walked and talked. Came home, relaxed, watched a movie. At around 10:30 pm my contractions started. Every 5 minutes apart, for about 45-60 seconds. They were quite bearable for everyone who hasn't gone into labor yet. They felt, for me, just like a painful diarrhea cramp. I did not sleep that much though. I stayed up, watched TV and then at 4:30 am fell "asleep" until about 7am. I woke DH, we took showers and I called the hospital. I really was not convinced I was in labor though. No one in my house had any clue what was going on, my mom came in the room and goes "are you going to the hospital?!" She thought I was silly for going so early, but I had waited it out all night.
So they checked me at around 8:30 am and to my complete surprise I was 2-3 cm dilated and about 90% effaced, baby's head was at a "zero" stage, so she was quite far down there. Thank goodness I had both my midwives there with me. I walked the halls for about 2 ish hours. They checked me again, I was 100% and a good 4 cm dilated. Labor was progressing nicely, so they popped my water, and that's when the OUCH contractions started.
I labored for about 4 more hours unmedicated with pitocin. The contractions were coming every 1 to 1 and a half minutes. I asked for IV meds. It was at that point I knew something wasn't right. My one Dr. came flying in and told me that on every contraction, the baby's heart rate was dipping. He asked me right there and then if I wanted to skip the labor and get the c-section. He THOUGHT the cord was compressed or around her neck. He told me if I was close to 10cm he would deliver vaginally, but at 4 cm he wanted to give me the option now. He also told me if I got the epidural it might speed up dilation and relax me and the baby. So at that time I refused the c-section, mainly because he was leaving it up to me at that point. I broke in and got the epidural. I was SO SO nervous to get one, but let me tell you it was literally easier than getting the IV in my hand. All I felt was a tiny bee sting with the numbing meds, then literally nothing after that. Epi took a good half hour to an hour for the full effect. My right side was completely numb while my left was not so much, but the tilted me up on my side and it evened out.
The mid wives kept coming in and reassuring me the baby's heartrate had stabilized for the time being, and there was a "95%" chance the delivery would be vaginal. This was around 8pm.
I was finally numb, calm and my BP was going down (it was up pretty high due to me having a break down earlier about the c-section suggestion). When the head Dr, Dr. Liu came in and said. Basically, I'm sorry but we have to get you to the OR now. For the passed 2 or 3 minutes baby's heart rate went from about 210-90. He told me they would check me again, if I wasn't close to 10 they needed to get the baby out immediately. I was still at a 4-5 and the baby's head has actually moved UP.
So this is the part where I very literally had a complete meltdown. I had never seriously considered I would be have a section, and it had been my WORST fear from the beginning. Even with me having bypass, I am a huge baby and I hate basically anything surgical/medical. I always get anxiety before surgeries that I am asleep for, and I was positive I could NOT do this. But my mom, husband and Dr told me not only could I do it, I needed to for my little girl.
The anesthesiologist came in and gave me much much stronger epi meds and my legs were numb and paralyzed. Let me just say THANK GOD for my husband and the anesthesiologist. I warned him I was a complete basket case and I would be asking him a ton of questions. He answered everyone of them from the beginning of the procedure to the end. I asked Dr. Liu and the midwife NOT to tell me what they were doing until the baby was coming out. Took a while until they got to my uterus, then I could tell it was taking quite a while for them to get the baby out. Even though I had never done this before, I could tell there was a definite struggle. We heard "it's definitely a girl!" then they rushed her off to clean her in the same room as me. Finally she started crying and was nice and pink in no time.
She was born at 9:31 pm. It took a good 35-40 minutes to fix me and close me back up. This felt like forever because we still hadn't seen the baby. Finally they let daddy hold her and he said "She is totally a Sage." Even during the c-section I could not fathom that I was going to have a BABY after it, but as soon as I saw her, I forgot about being upset because I knew this was all for her. I am the Mom now and my days of only thinking about myself were completely over. I knew that before, I only understood it then. I went into recovery for about an hour. The nurse told me that before my c-section my BP was 175/140, this was because I was such a mess and my anxiety was through the roof. So they made sure my BP was going down. I was still sad I didn't know the baby's weight or height yet and I had not gotten to even hold her.
The pediatrician brought Sage out to me and let me hold her for a split second, but daddy got to hold her for about 10 minutes while we were checking my vitals. He had never held a baby before ever, and he was a natural! My mom was allowed in and the baby was taken for some tests. We learned she was 6lbs 6oz 20 inches long. She is a TINY little peanut!! Her APGAR was 9 both times they did it. Dr. Liu and Kathy the midwife came out and told me there was no cord compression, or cord around her neck. My daughter was in the birth canal trying to come out, not head first, but literally FACE first. With her head all the way back. Had I gotten to 10cm and we started pushing, it would have all been in vain anyway because they would have had to do an emergency section then anyway.
He also told me my uterus was tiny. It was so tight and they had a lot of trouble getting the baby out. We think it was because of the blood flow restriction to my uterus, which we knew about. So he basically said any other future children would need to be a c-section also, and I'm ok with that.
We got to my room and everyone was there to see Sage, and no one knew her name yet. Luckily everyone loved it. I had still not gotten to hold my baby, so they brought her right to me. Then we got to pass her around. She went to the nursery and I went on my morphine pump.
Sage is such an awesome baby! She is SO quite, we had her all day yesterday in the room with us and she only cried when we had to change her diaper. She doesn't even cry to be fed, I literally have to wake her up to nurse her, which is going pretty good by the way. She hates my left breast for some reason but we are working on that lol. We are all completely in love with her, especially my sister, who could have cared less during my entire pregnancy. My mom is in love with her too, she was at the hospital almost all day yesterday. And of course daddy is completely obsessed with her. Everyone says she looks just like me, and I agree, except she totally has my husbands lips and chin. Russell was born with, and had light red hair until he was about 5. So I was convinced Sage would have red hair. But she had a lot of dark brown peach fuzz.
All and all we are doing awesome, pain from the c-section DOES HURT, but all worth it in the end. We are here another night after this and go home on Wednesday. I am a little nervous about having a newborn and recovering but I know I will have a lot of help from my mom, hubby, MIL, sister and cousin. Here are some pics of my baby doll, Sage Heather Kunkelman. I will update again soon!
MY WLS RECIPE BLOG! -- Check it out http://plusizedbarbie.blogspot.com/
Changed for good
...september 17, 2007...
Changed for good
...september 17, 2007...
I am so glad I am not the only mama who cried while reading this! Your story is beautiful, and I seriously cant believe you were able to post so soon! I was expecting a post in a week or more lol. You rock! Sage is perfect, and you and dad look so happy! Congrats on a job well done! :)
Super proud mommy to Dylan, Owen and Sophia Brianne!
Ack! I can't see the pictures at work! I'm gonna have to break out my cell phone.
I was waiting for Shauna's update and kept my cell phone permenatantly tuned to OH to see how you were doing - I am soooo glad Ms. Sage is here!!!
I had to post quickly even though it's a no-no at work (especially when the big boss is in town !)
*hugs*
Cindy
I was waiting for Shauna's update and kept my cell phone permenatantly tuned to OH to see how you were doing - I am soooo glad Ms. Sage is here!!!
I had to post quickly even though it's a no-no at work (especially when the big boss is in town !)
*hugs*
Cindy
Surgery on 4/25/05 , Dr. Alverdy in Chicago. God Bless the DS !!!
Highest Weight = 412lbs, Surgery Weight = 359lbs, Current Weight = 155lbs (5'7" tall)http://www.picturetrail.com/gid8138761
I had to use the football hold for one of my kids they didn't like one side either. She is beautiful and has a beautiful name. My niece's name is Saige. I miss having a baby. My baby will be 6 on Saturday.
Barb RNY August 4, 2008
PHILIPPIANS 4:13
PHILIPPIANS 4:13 
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