Labor and Delivery Day

The story of labor...
I started having contractions on Sunday morning (the 27th) at 4am. I had them every 10 minutes for 3 hours. They weren't bad, just knew I was having them. I got SOOO excited! :) I woke Greg up and we headed to the hospital. I was nervous and excited, hopeful that this was it :) We got to the hospital and they checked to see how far into labor I was. I was hardly dilated. I was disappointed. But they noticed my blood pressure had gone way up. Like 156/100. This really worried them. They called it preclampsia (or pregnancy induced hypertension/toxemia). It really surprised us, b/c I had just been checked the previous Monday, and my blood pressure was pretty normal. I actually didn't really have any abnormal blood pressure tests throughout my whole pregnancy. I also wasn't swollen, which would be typical of toxemia.

So, the Doc ordered that I go home and be on total bed rest until the baby was due. I was grateful I didn't have months left when they prescribed this. But still disappointed to not be having our little one that day. They told me to get a blood pressure cuff and test at home throughout the day. They said if my pressure got up to 150/100 for a half hour, to come back. Well, it hit that by that evening, and back we went to the hospital. They checked me out again, still hadn't dilated more. The nurse called my Dr. and she told the nurse to go ahead and induce me. When the nurse told me the news, I felt so relieved and SO excited! Relieved, b/c I knew that it wasn't good for the baby if my blood pressure was that high, excited b/c we would get to see our little one in about 24 hours! Wow.

So I called my parents at around 11pm Sunday night, and they drove down from their home and stayed at our house. Greg stayed with me at the hospital.

I did not want them to use petosin (spelling?) so I was very happy when they mentioned that they had a pill that was crushed up that they could put into me and it would gradually get things moving along. They put me on magnesium, (to lower my blood pressure) which made me sick. I didn't like that part very much, but it seemed to level out after about 45 minutes...I was very grateful. After about 6 hours, my water broke on its own. Then the contractions started getting really strong. I was surprised at how quickly that happened. Once it broke I dialed like 3 cm in an hour. While this was happening, I decided to get the epidural, which really wasn't bad. It stung when they numbed me, and I felt some pressure, but it really wasn't bad. The anestisiologist was awesome, b/c he went through everything he was doing with great detail, so I would know exactly what to expect. I ended up telling him I loved him, b/c I was so happy that I wouldn't need to feel the contractions any more.

My nurses was SO great. They were very sweet and cared so much about the baby's health. They noticed that the baby's heart rate would drop after each contraction, so they were hopeful that the epidural would lower my blood pressure. It did, but too much, so they had to give me something to raise it. This was kinda the goal during my labor. To find the fine balance with her heart rate and my blood pressure. That's why they put me on oxygen, b/c she needed more. So, b/c of these factors, I was very worried throughout.

I wanted more pain medicine, b/c I guess I was feeling contractions (I can't really remember why I asked for more) so they gave me a "re dose". Well, that one was a doosie! I DID NOT like it. It made me SO numb, I felt paralyzed, (numb from my chest down). I felt so lethargic and wanted to get some feeling back. At around 10 am, they told me to relax for an hour and let the baby naturally make it's way down the canal. At 11:10, they said I could start to push. I was soooo excited! So, 11:10am came (a really long hour between 10 and 11 b/c I was so excited). I had this idea that I would push for about 15 minutes and she would just come right out...boy, that wasn't quite accurate. :) haha After about an hour my epidural stared to wear off, and I had control over my legs. I was lifting them up, bending them, and resting them between contractions. They were surprised to see me moving so much. I kept pumping my epidural button, but it didn't seem to help. I could feel the contractions coming and they were quite strong. The Dr. came in to check our progress, and then said she's be back in about an hour. That was disappointing. So we kept pushing, Greg fanning me with the hospital folder and giving me "tiger's blood" flavored ice chips (which were actually really good). He was so attentive and selfless through the whole process. Very encouraging during the pushing part too. He told me I was doing a great job. But we weren't making a whole lot of progress, unfortunately. Then they added the petosin b/c my contrations were so far apart. The magnesium is a relaxer, the petosin is a muscle contractor. They had both in the i.v.

Well, the Dr. came after I had pushed 2 1/2 hours but little Kate was just stuck. So, the Dr. said she thought that the forceps would be necessary. I was fine with that, b/c I had seen a video of a birth when the Dr. used it, and it worked out just fine. We were coming on 3 hours, and after that, they start to really worry about the baby's health b/c of all the stress that puts on her. So, forceps it was, and holy-uncomfortable/ painful it became! But she was worth every second of it, or corse. But, lo and behold... after 3 hours of pushing, little Kate Phillips came and it was unbelievable! 2:27pm. I was SOOOO grateful she made it out okay and that we both got through that with out major problems. They placed her on me right away, which I loved. I got to feed her within a half hour. Greg and I spend that time alone with Kate, no nurses or anyone. Then my parents came back in the room and they got to hold her. Then Greg went with her to the nursery and they did all the tests and gave her a bath. I met up with my parents and Greg and Kate in a new room. And that was the wonderful, surprising, amazing experience.

Kate in her new swing. Me and a friend set it up yesterday. She seems to really like it.

They gave us this beanie in the hospital. We love it. It kinda makes her look like Santa's lil' helper. :)

What a cute little one. Seeing me with her really shows how tiny a newborn is :)