Natalie's Birth Story
I'm running a little late, but finally have it together enough to sit at the computer for more than a couple of minutes.
Monday 9/20 I went into the hospital to start the cervical ripening for my induction. After a minor scheduling snaffu (we showed up at 7:30 but they didn't have me on the schedule till 10), I got settled into the L&D room. My parents were there with me until Jeff got out of class that night. We hung out and watched TV and chatted till around 10pm. The next hour was spent trying to get an IV in me, honestly this was the worst part of the whole experience. It took a whole hour, 3 nurses, 1 anesthesiologist and seven attempts before they finally got an IV going. Around 11pm they gave me the cytotec pill to take (orally) and I was able to drift off to sleep. At the time I wasn't dilated at all, and my cervix hadn't softened yet. At 2am the nurse checked me again and I had dilated 1/2cm and softened up a little bit, so I took the second cytotec pill and went back to sleep.
Tuesday 9/21, the fun began! Pitocin was started at around 7am, and my nurse told me she was going to get me contracting strongly every couple of minutes. Because it was an induction, I had to stay on the monitors the whole time, but I was able to get up and sit in the glider and walk around about a 3ft area. Jeff, Mom and Dad were there and we chatted for a while through the morning as things started to progress. I talked to my doula when they started the Pitocin and she said to give her a call when things started to get a little farther along and she'd come up to the hospital then. Around 10am, I was started to have stronger contractions so I called her back and asked her to come up to the hospital. Since this was my first child, I really didn't have any idea what to expect pain wise, but I was able to sit through the contractions and do deep breathing to help get through them.
Our doula showed up around 11:30am (traffic was horrible of course!) and by that time I was about ready to get the epidural. It took about 45 min to get everything and everyone together for the epidural, and I have to say that was a very long wait (or at least it seemed like the longest wait ever!). My contractions were coming strong and fast (just like the nurse promised), and I think I may have nearly detached Jeff's hand from his arm a couple of times. The anesthesiologist finally got started around 12:15pm and I made a crack about how I hoped my spine didn't disappear like my veins did for the IV the day before. This of course jinxed it, and he had to go in twice to get the epidural done. He was great though, and would stop and wait when I told him a contraction was coming on.
After the epidural started life was much happier! In fact, I never felt another contraction and I think I managed to doze off for a few minutes. Next thing I knew the room was full of nurses, apparently Natalie's heart rate was dropping off periodically, so they put me on oxygen and shifted me around a bit. My doctor came in around 1pm to check my progress and I was 6cm dilated. They put me in the "go fast position", on my right side nearly on my stomach with my left leg up in a stirrup. This apparently mimics the squatting position and helps things move along. We were all still expecting it to take a few hours at that point.
At 2:15pm, the doctor came back in to check me and low and behold I was 10cm dilated and crowning!! She told us we were having the baby NOW! The room again filled up with people, Mom, Jeff and our doula got to stay with me. I got to touch Natalie's head before she came out, and I have to say that was pretty amazing. I pushed 4 times (seriously, only 4 times total) and Natalie Ruth was born at 2:28pm. So from start to finish my labor was only about 7hrs long! I told the doctor if she could guarantee that all future labors would be like that I'd be happy to have more.
Natalie weighed 6lbs 6oz, and was 18 1/2 inches long. Very happy, healthy baby and we are so thrilled she's finally here with us. I'll post some pictures later when I have some time.
Debbi
Monday 9/20 I went into the hospital to start the cervical ripening for my induction. After a minor scheduling snaffu (we showed up at 7:30 but they didn't have me on the schedule till 10), I got settled into the L&D room. My parents were there with me until Jeff got out of class that night. We hung out and watched TV and chatted till around 10pm. The next hour was spent trying to get an IV in me, honestly this was the worst part of the whole experience. It took a whole hour, 3 nurses, 1 anesthesiologist and seven attempts before they finally got an IV going. Around 11pm they gave me the cytotec pill to take (orally) and I was able to drift off to sleep. At the time I wasn't dilated at all, and my cervix hadn't softened yet. At 2am the nurse checked me again and I had dilated 1/2cm and softened up a little bit, so I took the second cytotec pill and went back to sleep.
Tuesday 9/21, the fun began! Pitocin was started at around 7am, and my nurse told me she was going to get me contracting strongly every couple of minutes. Because it was an induction, I had to stay on the monitors the whole time, but I was able to get up and sit in the glider and walk around about a 3ft area. Jeff, Mom and Dad were there and we chatted for a while through the morning as things started to progress. I talked to my doula when they started the Pitocin and she said to give her a call when things started to get a little farther along and she'd come up to the hospital then. Around 10am, I was started to have stronger contractions so I called her back and asked her to come up to the hospital. Since this was my first child, I really didn't have any idea what to expect pain wise, but I was able to sit through the contractions and do deep breathing to help get through them.
Our doula showed up around 11:30am (traffic was horrible of course!) and by that time I was about ready to get the epidural. It took about 45 min to get everything and everyone together for the epidural, and I have to say that was a very long wait (or at least it seemed like the longest wait ever!). My contractions were coming strong and fast (just like the nurse promised), and I think I may have nearly detached Jeff's hand from his arm a couple of times. The anesthesiologist finally got started around 12:15pm and I made a crack about how I hoped my spine didn't disappear like my veins did for the IV the day before. This of course jinxed it, and he had to go in twice to get the epidural done. He was great though, and would stop and wait when I told him a contraction was coming on.
After the epidural started life was much happier! In fact, I never felt another contraction and I think I managed to doze off for a few minutes. Next thing I knew the room was full of nurses, apparently Natalie's heart rate was dropping off periodically, so they put me on oxygen and shifted me around a bit. My doctor came in around 1pm to check my progress and I was 6cm dilated. They put me in the "go fast position", on my right side nearly on my stomach with my left leg up in a stirrup. This apparently mimics the squatting position and helps things move along. We were all still expecting it to take a few hours at that point.
At 2:15pm, the doctor came back in to check me and low and behold I was 10cm dilated and crowning!! She told us we were having the baby NOW! The room again filled up with people, Mom, Jeff and our doula got to stay with me. I got to touch Natalie's head before she came out, and I have to say that was pretty amazing. I pushed 4 times (seriously, only 4 times total) and Natalie Ruth was born at 2:28pm. So from start to finish my labor was only about 7hrs long! I told the doctor if she could guarantee that all future labors would be like that I'd be happy to have more.
Natalie weighed 6lbs 6oz, and was 18 1/2 inches long. Very happy, healthy baby and we are so thrilled she's finally here with us. I'll post some pictures later when I have some time.
Debbi
CONGRATS!! And thats how my first child was LOL. My second was an entirely different story. No pain meds, induction, and me very unhappy. I ended up insisting it was time to push that my doc had me push thru the cervix at an 8 instead of waiting.
~Amanda~
"Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast - you also miss the sense of where you are going and why. "
Make a pregnancy ticker
"Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast - you also miss the sense of where you are going and why. "
Make a pregnancy ticker
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