This has been a long time coming, 16 months to be exact, actually ALMOST 17 months. Honestly, I have no idea why I've never written out my birth story, however, it's time. :)
My overall pregnancy was normal. We started off a bit shakey, being that we were considered "high risk", not that there was anything within this pregnancy that was "high risk" but because my first pregnancy we lost at 23 weeks due to complications and the next pregnancy me miscarrying at 8 weeks. With that said, we were able to see our baby girl at almost every single appointment and went to various other doctor's and saw her as well. This seriously helped my nerves, beyond belief! I also rented a fetal heart monitor that allowed me to listen to our baby girl's heart anytime I felt concerned, which honestly was daily. I was a nervous wreck, not only because it would be my first child actually born, but because of the other two instances.
At 38 weeks my doctor told me that if we would like we could schedule an elective induction at 39 weeks. I asked all that it entailed, and we decided that we would give it a shot. With choosing an elective induction, we knew the risks that came along with it, but we also knew we would be in a controlled environment and would have the doctor I preferred the most from our OB/GYN practice, Dr. Ralsten. I trusted Dr. Ralsten beyond belief, being that he was there for our last miscarriage, and after the first pregnancy using a different doctor who treated us as if we were just another number, I had an attachment to this doctor, so honestly, I wanted him to be the one there for us on our big day rather than the other 4 doctors within the practice.
We were all set, New Years Eve, 12/31/10 to deliver baby Blake. I was asked to arrive at the hospital at 6:00am. That morning I woke up, showered, and prepared myself for a long, amazing day. My husband and I loaded the car and decided to stop for our last breakfast with just the two of us at Waffle House on the way. We made sure to wake up extra early, just to do this. The ride there was smooth, not a car in-sight, Waffle House breakfast was fantastic, and then we were smooth sailing to the hospital (it's about a 35 minute drive from our house). It was exactly 5:15am when my cellphone rang, and it was a number I hadn't seen before. I typically don't answer numbers I do not know, however, my family and friends were all planning to come to the hospital and wait it out during the labor process so I answered just in case it was one of them. It wasn't. It was the hospital. The nurse on the phone informed me that all the beds in the delivery ward were full. I was not going to be able to be induced. She then told me to give her a call back at around 9:00am and she will let me know if anything changes.
Absolutely disappointed and frustrated we turned around, went back home, and climbed right into bed. I texted my family and friends and informed them of the news. All were let down. My best friend, Jessica, was already on her way down, and decided to just to keep coming and to stay at the house. She lives about an hour north of us. I set my alarm for 8:45am and headed off to bed.
8:45am my alarm goes off, I walk into the bathroom to not wake my husband and call the nurse. She tells me there are still no beds available and that she would call me if anything changed. My heart dropped. What did this mean? I wasn't going to be able to have my baby today? I felt so sad.
The entire day was a waiting game. I kept calling the hospital checking in and heard nothing. Come noon my dr, Dr. Ralsten called me and expressed how sorry he was. He said the only way I could come in that day would be if I were to labor in the hallway, and he knew I wouldn't want that. Which is true. The plan was changed for me to call the hospital the next morning by 7:00am and see if they could get me in. So the rest of New Years Eve we hung out, ate at a Hibachi Grill and just laid low hoping we'd be able to have our baby the next day. It was a total let down. We hoped that somehow I would just go into labor and they'd HAVE to take me. It didn't happen, hahah.
The next morning, bright and early I called the hospital nurse and explained my situation and asked if I could come in. The nurse knew exactly who I was and told me to arrive at 9:00am and I'd be having my baby girl! YAY! We were thrilled!
9:00am we (me, my husband and my BFF Jessica) arrived at the hospital. We walked right into the delivery ward, were escorted to our room and began filling out the needed paperwork. I was given a gown, and then was set up to an IV with Pitocin. About 15 minutes later my doctor came in and asked how I was, then broke my water. What a sensation, LOL. So warm. The doctor asked when I wanted to get started with the epidural and I told him not just yet, I wanted to experience a few contractions on my own, since I never really felt the strong one's before. About an hour passed and my contractions were pretty hefty. I am a total wimp, but wow, can we talk about OW? Anyhow - I told the nurse I was ready for the epidural. I had already dilated 2 more cm, and I was 3cm when I came in.
The anesthesiologist came in to the room and introduced herself and briefly described the procedure. Everyone was asked to leave the room, except for Steve, however, he was asked to move to the other side of the room where he would be looking at my face, and only my face, but not able to touch me. The anesthesiologist prepped my back, and the nurse held my arms in front when I curled over. Once the spinal tap was in I heard a light scream and the anesthesiologist jumped back and was rubbing her eyes. She was yelling that something sprayed her in the face. I didn't know what to think. I was told that my spinal tap went in fine, with no problems but here is this lady that is screaming she was sprayed in the face. (more on this later) Overall, the epidural didn't hurt a bit getting it put in. They number my back directly before inserting the needle and I didn't feel a thing. What a Heaven sent, I felt absolutely no more contractions. I could still feel my legs, however, they were numb, just felt a bit like jello.
Several hours of laboring, family in and out and just chatting up a storm and laughing looking at the screen of my contractions and how close they were together we all awaited Blake's arrival. Come 3:00pm I started to feel my legs again, almost completely and started feeling an urge to push, along with a very strong feeling on my tailbone. I told the nurse and she explained to me that it was completely normal and everything I was feeling was just pressure. I was a bit hesitant but agreed. She told me she would be back in the room by 3:30pm to check my status. Meanwhile, I started to feel more and more of my legs, and the sensation on my tailbone, and was starting to feel pain. 3:30pm rolled around and the nurse was no where to be found. Finally, my dad stepped out of the room and asked the nurse to please come into the room and check me to see my status. My parents, Steve's parents, and Jessica stepped out of the room.
From left to right - Jessica, my brother (Josh), my sister-in-law (Leah), my neice (Maya), My mom, My dad,
Steve's mom, Steve's Dad, and Alex. Lani (my sister-in-law) was taking the photo.
The nurse began to check my cervix, immediately, she said Blake was crowning, and not to push. She ran out of the room and called my doctor and came back and asked me if I was ready to start pushing. I exclaimed, YES!! At this point I was feeling immense pain, pressure and honestly my legs were completely back to normal. I told her once again and she assured me that this was normal and this was just pressure. At this point I looked at Steve, and he knew, this was not just pressure. I began pushing with all my might for several minutes with the nurse. This is really when I wished I would have taken a breathing class of some sort. I was all over the place, straining, and in so much pain I couldn't even concentrate. Suddenly, Dr. Ralsten comes running through the door of my room putting his gown over his scrubs and scoots the nurse out of the way. We push some more, and I screamed, seriously like I was being murdered. Dr. Ralsten looked at the nurse and said "clearly, the epidural is not working". I felt everything. Yes, women have natural childbirth and do just fine, however, 1.) I am terrible with pain, and 2.) when you are expecting no pain and then have pain you don't handle it as well. Steve told me he had never been so upset in his life throughout this process seeing how much pain I was in. At one point I took a look at Steve, crying telling him "I'm pooping! I'm pooping! I don't want to poop on the table!". Yes, my vain self was so concerned about pooping on the table and being embarrassed. Meanwhile, through my screams, and what looked like a murder scene with blood everywhere, my legs spread eagle and countless nurses running in the room I ended up having to have a 2cm episiotomy and have forceps used to pull Blake out. Her shoulders were stuck and I couldn't get her to pass. Dr. Ralsten looked me in the face and said "okay, this is it. last set of 3 pushes, if she doesn't come out we're moving to an emergency c-section". That is all it took. I pushed harder than I ever thought I could for the next three pushes and Dr. Ralsten pulled with all his might with the forceps and out came my baby girl at 4:23pm on 1/1/2011.
Unfortunately, while inside Blake had swallowed some meconium. So immediately after she came out she was whisked away to the table, within our room, to have her lungs suctioned out. As I lay there on the table delivering the placenta and being stitched up my baby girl laid on the neonatal table being worked on by the nurses and Steve standing over by her. I felt so alone and wanted to see my baby girl. Steve kept snapping photos and would run back over to me and show me. He tickled her foot and she immediately was ticklish. She was just beautiful. I couldn't wait to hold her.
After what felt like an eternity, but in all actuality was only an hour I was able to hold my sweet girl. The nurse laid her down on my chest and showed me how to breast feed. It was amazing. She was so tiny, and just so beautiful. Words can not describe this feeling. My baby girl was finally here, through thick and thin - she was here. All that pain was worth every minute, and I would do it again with 5x more pain just to have her in my arms. Such an eye opening moment, life changing.
We spent 2 days in the hospital after delivery, and had numerous visitors. We learned so much from the nurses, from swaddling, to how to feed correctly, to changing a diaper. Such a great experience. On our exit day I complained to the nurse of a headache and she mentioned it to the doctor on call (my fav dr was not on call anymore), and I was given some Tylenol. We went home with our baby girl, loving every minute of it.
When we arrived home I came to find that my 2 dogs (Nollie and Daphne) had somehow gotten out of our fence and were missing. I was hysterical. I drove around the neighborhood for 30 minutes searching everywhere for them. They were gone or so I thought. The next day Steve made some signs and put them around the neighborhood and I received a call an hour or so later telling me that they saw the dogs. I began to place calls to look vets and animal control. My babies had been turned into animal control. I had to bail them each out for $25.00 a piece. Ugh. LOL. But they were home now and my family was complete.
For 2 days following my arrival home I had a horrendous headache that I honestly can not describe to you. I thought I was dying. I couldn't sit up, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat, I couldn't do anything and here I was taking care of an infant. I finally called my sister-in-law to help me and to keep an eye on Blake while I took a nap, or tried to. She told me I should call the OB and see if this was normal. They immediately asked me to come in. I came in and saw the on-call doctor (a different one from before) and was told that I was having this headache due to my epidural and that my spinal fluid sac had been punctured (maybe this is what sprayed anesthesiologist?). I had to go upstairs to another floor and receive an epidural blood patch. Instantly I felt better. I still had a headache but nothing at all like before.
So all and all I had 2 epidurals, an almost natural labor/delivery - but I received the most beautiful thing known - my baby girl, Blake Yvonne Kubon. :)
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