So, on Friday the 12th, I was having contractions again. It got to the point where I was just standing in the kitchen crying because of the pain, and Levi would alternate between hugging and kissing me and standing five feet away looking terrified. I called Sam and just said "I need help". The crying tipped him off that it was time to head home from work. After a couple of hours, we decided to take Levi to Sam's parents and head to the hospital, though we knew our doctor wouldn't like it: he was in the middle of a 12 hour surgery at another hospital and he works solo... so no on-call doctor available. But I was in more pain than I ever had been with Levi. I was sure I must be quite dilated. Got to the hospital and they put in under observation. I was dilated to a two... that it!...and of course my contractions slowed way down. After a couple of hours, I dilated to a three so they decided because I was progressing that they would admit me. That was around 9pm. The nurse gave me some pain meds so that I could sleep and they's see how much I had progressed in the morning. Well, morning came, but progression didn't! I was still at a three. They had me get up and walk around, then lay down and be monitored. Nothing was happening. I was so frustrated!!! Sometime late morning/early afternoon they put me on Pitocin to get the contractions really going. I've always told people with Levi that the Pitocin didn't make my contractions worse like I had heard they did. I think I know why now.... Pitocin doesn't work on me. They started me out on a 2 (not really sure what that means, that's just what the IV said). My sister called hours later when I still hadn't progressed and said, "Well, do they have her at a 12 yet?" (The highest dose she had gotten, which made her contractions extremely hard and painful.) I was at a 20, and I still couldn't hardly feel a thing.
We were waiting on the doctor to come and break my water. He was supposed to show up between one and two. At four o'clock he still wasn't there. Here I was, doped up on Pitocin and still not progressing. I was BEYOND frustrated and embarressed. The nurse was even trying to talk me into going home... after I had already been at the hospital for 23 hours! We decided that if the doctor didn't show up by 5pm then we would go home. Well, the doctor showed up at 4:30pm (He had a patient in labor at another hospital). He broke my water (I was dilated to a 4, finally... I guess the weak contractions were doing a little something.). As soon as he broke my water, I started shaking. They put in an internal monitor so they could measure how hard the contractions actually were... they were pretty surprised by how intense they were. And the pain was instantly excrusiating. Good thing the epidural guy was on the floor since he had just given another lady one. I got my epidural (not nearly as pleasant an experience as with Levi, but not horrible either) and my entire right side when very numb. My left side was slower to catch up, and a spot on my lower left side of my back felt extremely tender and sore, like an inflamed kidney or something. About 10 minutes later, I started feeling my contractions all over my left side, so the doctor came back in to give me a booster. It worked, I was completely numb except for one spot about the size of the tip of my pinky... weird.
Like I mentioned before, I started shaking as soon as my water broke. By shaking, I mean VIOLENTLY shaking. My shaking caused the bed to shake and all the equiptment. Sam got in bed with me to try and soothe my body. I'm not sure if it stopped the shaking, but it made me feel better. My shaking made it so that they couldn't register the baby's heartbeat, so they decided they needed to put in an internal monitor. I was at a five when I got the epidural, and this was less than a half later. When they went to put in the monitor, they saw that Brinley was crowning. I went from a 5 to a 10 in less than 30 minutes. Crazy, huh? That's why I was shaking so hard. The doctor told the nurse to turn off my epidural, otherwise I'd still be numb long long after the baby came. I gave a couple of hard pushes, but then the doctor told me to just let my body do it itself, that she was coming whether I pushed or not. It was so nice... no tearing or screaming. In fact, there was more laughing and joking around than anything. Let me tell you, it is SOOOO nice to birth a baby that has a small head. Makes recovery a snap.
Brinley's birth had a couple of surprised for us. First, the doctor had me deliver Brinley myself... something I was not expecting and wasn't really sure that I wanted to do, but it ended up being a really awesome experience. They put her right up on my chest, which I always thought was gross, but it was actually a good bonding experience. And Sam cut the umbilical cord, again something unexpected and not exactly wanted, but a good experience.
About two hours after Brinley was born, Sam's family brought Levi to the hospital to meet his new sister. I was fully expecting him to be wary of me because of the IV and hospital bed and everything, but he wasn't. He climbed up and sat next to me. He got a couple of "Big Brother" presents that occupied his attention the rest of the time. He got restless super fast, though, and was anxious to leave. Hospitals aren't very much fun for little ones... or big ones either, I guess.
We had to stay the night again at the hospital, but then we talked the nurses into letting us leave earlier than we were supposed to the next day. Being at the hospital is so boring. It started snowing right around the time that Brinley was born, and then didn't stop for two weeks. It snowed also when Levi was born (albiet that was in March, not December), so we have two snow babies. And we love them both so much! Below is a video of Levi and Brinley right when we got home from the hospital. It is pretty hard to hear Sam, but he is asking Levi where all of Brinley's body parts were (eyes, nose, toes, etc.). Levi pointed to all of them, which surprised us since we'd never played that game before.
5 comments:
Kelsey,
I love hearing labor and delivery stories. They are all so different. I think it is so cool that you got to deliver her. That is so neat. I wish I could do that. I didn't know doctors let you do that. It's too bad you had such a long and frustrating labor. Thank goodness for modern medicine and those blessed epiduals! Good luck to you. Try to get sleep whenever you can, let your house go to pot if necessary for a little while. They grow up too fast, enjoy it. My Nathan is already seeming so big and he isn't even 9 months yet! It's sure fun to keep in touch with your cute little fam. You sure look happy!
Yeah! I have been waiting for you to post some pictures of the new little one. How fun! She is such a cutie!
YAY i have been waiting for the story!!!! I am glad things went well,,,kinda,,, She is a beautiful baby!!!! Congrats!!! I am so happy for you and your family! If you ever need an afternoon with sleepin with you baby, call me and I will take Levi off your hands!!!
I also love hearing labor/delivery stories, especially when I can be expecting my own pretty soon. What an ordeal, but it's all worth it in the end, right? I'm glad that you and Brinley were both safe and healthy. Glad to hear that Levi is doing pretty well with his new sister. I hope Noah is just as good. Good luck with everything!
I'm glad I'm not the only one who loves L/D stories! :) Thanks for sharing yours! :) That's crazy about pitocin not working on you. They gave me pitocin when I was a 9--weird, eh??! (I can hear you now: Yes B! haha the good old times!) But I was super irregular the whole time, so maybe that had something to do with it. That's really neat that you got to deliver her. Did you get paid for it? :)
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