August 25, 2003
The BIRTH story
Well here goes my birth story... My contractions started Monday the 18th at lunch at 10 minutes apart. They stayed consistent for about the next 15 hours. I went to work Tuesday and had contractions all day long about 8-9 minutes apart - WHY DID I GO TO WORK???? Anyway, I'd be in a meeting and have to stop and breathe through my contraction. I honestly didn't think I would go into labor by Wednesday. I mean it was my due date - babies never come on their due date right?
So Tuesday night, we ordered out pizza and I wanted to go walk at Target to help induce the labor. We walked around Target for an hour and a half. The employees must have seen us walk every isle about 6 times. I picked up some magazines thinking that I would be able to read them at the hospital but that didn't happen. We got home from Target and my contractions were getting worse. I decided to take a warm bath to relax - didn't help. So I tried to go to bed. Peter said we could time my contractions for the next hour because I kept begging him to take me to the hospital. So I started reading my book about labor and then the contractions starting getting more intense - really intense but they were still a good 6 minutes apart.
So I called the hospital and asked them when I can come in and what can I do to help the pain. They told me not to come in until I was at 5 minutes apart so I waited about 45 more minutes and they were 5 1/2 minutes apart. That was enough for me. I was in so much pain and my water had not even broke yet. We drove to the hospital- it was about 2:00 am. We had to enter through the emergency room. They wheeled me upstairs to Labor and Delivery. Janice the nurse checked me and said, "Good news, you're dilated to a 3 and fully effaced. You're staying." I said, "Woo hoo!" So they got me all hooked up to an IV and I got my bloodwork done. Then I got an epidural! It wasn't that bad - the worst part was the numbing medicine that burned. I jerked a little - which was a NO NO - but everything worked out okay. My legs started getting all tingly and numb. My right leg didn't take very well to the epidural so I asked for more and they gave it to me. That worked.
I called my mom and Peter called his mom at about 3:30. We kind of tried to relax for a few hours. My contractions were at 4 minutes apart and I couldn't feel them - that was AWESOME! I couldn't imagine what natural childbirth feels like - OUCH! About 6:30 or 7:00 am, the nurse came in and started me on pitosin because my contractions went back to 6 minutes apart. I called her the pitosin happy nurse because within 30 minutes, I had dilated to a 8-9 with a bulging sac. They called my doctor to come break my water. By the time the doctor got there in about 10 minutes, I was at a 10 and ready to push. He broke my water and said, "start pushing". The time was about 9:30 am.
I pushed for about 25 minutes with threats of forceps and more. I didn't realize how long 10 seconds is to hold your breath and push as hard as you can. Wow! They put me on oxygen because they thought I was going to pass out. Further into the pushing, they told me I had a little meconium in my water that broke and that they were going to call the NICU in to check her out after she was born. They also told me that Molly would probably not cry when she came out if she had swallowed some meconium. I was a little scared at that point. So I kept pushing - Peter got a little faint when he saw the head coming out and then turning. We bypassed forceps only to get an episiotomy. What luck! Still didn't feel a thing - gotta love the epidurals!
Finally at 10:11 am on August 20th (my actual due date) Molly Renee Walden was born. The doctor had to tell me to open my eyes to see my little girl. I was still in pushing mode. Contrary to what they told me, Molly did let out a scream. They didn't put her on my stomach right away like I wanted because they wanted to make sure she was okay. All I was thinking was - she's so tiny! And her head was perfectly round and not a cone-head which was great! They took her to check her over and she scored a 9 on both the 1 and 5 minute apgar test. Weighing in at 6 lbs. 13 oz. and 18.5 inches long.
And my great little bundle of joy has arrived. She's so precious.
Posted by Kim at August 25, 2003 12:21 AM