ladyjuliet
I had an unplanned induction on Monday, December 13th (37w2d) because I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia a few days before. I was supposed to be induced anyhow, but at a much later date, because of earlier complications in the pregnancy (I was originally pregnant with twins but we lost one at ~14 wks, blah blah blah).
So Monday morning, I had an OB appt and was sent to L&D b/c my bp checked out super high and it wasn't worth the risk of waiting. I arrived at L&D at 10:30 a.m. and called DH to tell him to leave work and come to the hospital and called my parents to tell them they should probably get on the road soon (a 3.5-hr trip).
Luckily, my favorite OB was delivering that day! But he would only be working till 5:30 p.m. and then my least favorite OB would be there.
By 11:00 a.m., I was in bed and all hooked up to the Pitocin drip. Doc came in to give me my first internal and discovered I was already nearly 3 cm dilated and "conditions" were "favorable" - great news!
At 1:00 p.m., doc came back in to break my water - this was NOT a fun process (not super painful, just very forceful / lots of pressure). I hadn't dilated any farther, so we determined it would probably be a long labor.
I was doing pretty well breathing through the contractions, which were coming every 2-3 minutes and lasting at least 45 seconds each. DH was a great coach and kept me in good spirits, joking around and keeping things as light as possible. He was pretty anxious himself, but stayed well entertained by watching the monitor to see how my contractions were measuring ("Ohhhh, that one must have hurt - it hit 40!" lol).
Around 2:45 p.m., I started having back labor and was suddenly not enjoying contractions as much as I had been. Things were getting serious now. I asked the nurse when I should put in a request for my epidural (which I had planned on getting all along) and she said she'd put the request in for me. At 3:30 p.m., the anesthesiologist arrived to administer the epi.
The epidural didn't hurt as much as I had anticipated, but I definitely didn't expect the electric-like jolts through my left thigh once it was in place. That was pretty interesting. Anyhow, after about 15 minutes, I was all set and feeling warm, cozy, and pain-free.
At 4:15 or so, baby's heart rate started dropping with each contraction. I was told to try lying in a few different positions, but nothing was working. The doc came in and said that was either because we hadn't found the right position or because baby was far down in the birth canal -- and that didn't seem logical. After all, he hadn't planned on doing the next internal for another few hours. They stuck an oxygen mask on me for a few minutes (which looked completely terrifying to poor DH) and I was definitely getting worried about Annabelle...
But he checked and I was fully dilated!! WTF?? When did that happen? lol. I texted my mom to tell her the news and she told me they were pulling into the hospital parking lot (great timing!!). Then I felt it - that urge to push. I told everyone in the room that I needed to push NOW.
DH, doc, and my nurse coached me to push through the next 5 or 6 contractions (and pushing with an epidural *was* a little confusing and difficult, but I got the hang of it by the 3rd contraction, I think). Her head came through and they discovered that the cord was wrapped around her neck (that's what had caused the sudden distress at the end), and it was also around her ankle! The doc had to use the vacuum on her to get her out, too. It was a struggle, but it was fast.
So yeah - 5-1/2 hrs of labor followed by 11 minutes of pushing, and our little Annabelle Louise was here! She was born at 4:41 p.m. and weighed only 4 pounds 11 ounces! (For those who keep track, my 35-week u/s had guesstimated 5 pounds 1 ounce.) She was 17.5" long. The NICU nurses were called into the room to evaluate her, but she was healthy and strong and didn't require any NICU time. Yay!
I did experience a 2nd-degree tear during delivery, but my stitches seem to be healing well. My only real pain is feeling like I was kicked in the crotch (the bony part) with a guy wearing cleats and every muscle in my body aches from being so tensed up. I'm going through about 4 pads a day. Mesh panties are pure heaven. I've snissed twice and have been trying to do kegels as much as possible.
One day, I'll write about my "afterbirth" process. I still have nightmares about it, so I can't handle getting into it much right now. Essentially, the placenta didn't want to come out, and when it did, it didn't come out all in one piece for some reason. So doc was literally elbow-deep up there about 3 times, manually sweeping out my uterus to ensure that it all came out. I "gushed" blood that entire night when the nurses came in to push on my belly to check the bleeding, and I was monitored for 6 hrs after delivery before we could go to the recovery room. I almost had to have a blood transfusion. But everything stabilized by morning. ::shudder::
Long story short (ha!), Annabelle is doing great. We went home on Wednesday morning. Thursday night, she had to go back to the hospital for phototherapy for a bad case of jaundice (due to the terrible bruise on her head from the vacuum delivery), but 14 hours under the lamps healed her up perfectly! So we got to go back home Friday morning and we've just been enjoying our weekend as a family!
DH goes back to work tomorrow and I'm about to test the waters as a SAHM!
Oh, and a few more details - breastfeeding is HARD. Annabelle and I weren't really connecting well with it. We were struggling to latch (I met with LCs while in the hospital) and we were both stressed and frustrated. My milk has come in now and I've decided to exclusively pump. It's been going great and DH is enjoying the opportunity to feed her, too!
And lastly, for those who like to hear weight-loss details -- I was 163 the morning of delivery and by the time I came home two days later, I was 147. Now, almost a week after delivery, I'm 145. My starting point was 125 - not too bad for the first week!
Thanks for reading!
So Monday morning, I had an OB appt and was sent to L&D b/c my bp checked out super high and it wasn't worth the risk of waiting. I arrived at L&D at 10:30 a.m. and called DH to tell him to leave work and come to the hospital and called my parents to tell them they should probably get on the road soon (a 3.5-hr trip).
Luckily, my favorite OB was delivering that day! But he would only be working till 5:30 p.m. and then my least favorite OB would be there.
By 11:00 a.m., I was in bed and all hooked up to the Pitocin drip. Doc came in to give me my first internal and discovered I was already nearly 3 cm dilated and "conditions" were "favorable" - great news!
At 1:00 p.m., doc came back in to break my water - this was NOT a fun process (not super painful, just very forceful / lots of pressure). I hadn't dilated any farther, so we determined it would probably be a long labor.
I was doing pretty well breathing through the contractions, which were coming every 2-3 minutes and lasting at least 45 seconds each. DH was a great coach and kept me in good spirits, joking around and keeping things as light as possible. He was pretty anxious himself, but stayed well entertained by watching the monitor to see how my contractions were measuring ("Ohhhh, that one must have hurt - it hit 40!" lol).
Around 2:45 p.m., I started having back labor and was suddenly not enjoying contractions as much as I had been. Things were getting serious now. I asked the nurse when I should put in a request for my epidural (which I had planned on getting all along) and she said she'd put the request in for me. At 3:30 p.m., the anesthesiologist arrived to administer the epi.
The epidural didn't hurt as much as I had anticipated, but I definitely didn't expect the electric-like jolts through my left thigh once it was in place. That was pretty interesting. Anyhow, after about 15 minutes, I was all set and feeling warm, cozy, and pain-free.
At 4:15 or so, baby's heart rate started dropping with each contraction. I was told to try lying in a few different positions, but nothing was working. The doc came in and said that was either because we hadn't found the right position or because baby was far down in the birth canal -- and that didn't seem logical. After all, he hadn't planned on doing the next internal for another few hours. They stuck an oxygen mask on me for a few minutes (which looked completely terrifying to poor DH) and I was definitely getting worried about Annabelle...
But he checked and I was fully dilated!! WTF?? When did that happen? lol. I texted my mom to tell her the news and she told me they were pulling into the hospital parking lot (great timing!!). Then I felt it - that urge to push. I told everyone in the room that I needed to push NOW.
DH, doc, and my nurse coached me to push through the next 5 or 6 contractions (and pushing with an epidural *was* a little confusing and difficult, but I got the hang of it by the 3rd contraction, I think). Her head came through and they discovered that the cord was wrapped around her neck (that's what had caused the sudden distress at the end), and it was also around her ankle! The doc had to use the vacuum on her to get her out, too. It was a struggle, but it was fast.
So yeah - 5-1/2 hrs of labor followed by 11 minutes of pushing, and our little Annabelle Louise was here! She was born at 4:41 p.m. and weighed only 4 pounds 11 ounces! (For those who keep track, my 35-week u/s had guesstimated 5 pounds 1 ounce.) She was 17.5" long. The NICU nurses were called into the room to evaluate her, but she was healthy and strong and didn't require any NICU time. Yay!
I did experience a 2nd-degree tear during delivery, but my stitches seem to be healing well. My only real pain is feeling like I was kicked in the crotch (the bony part) with a guy wearing cleats and every muscle in my body aches from being so tensed up. I'm going through about 4 pads a day. Mesh panties are pure heaven. I've snissed twice and have been trying to do kegels as much as possible.
One day, I'll write about my "afterbirth" process. I still have nightmares about it, so I can't handle getting into it much right now. Essentially, the placenta didn't want to come out, and when it did, it didn't come out all in one piece for some reason. So doc was literally elbow-deep up there about 3 times, manually sweeping out my uterus to ensure that it all came out. I "gushed" blood that entire night when the nurses came in to push on my belly to check the bleeding, and I was monitored for 6 hrs after delivery before we could go to the recovery room. I almost had to have a blood transfusion. But everything stabilized by morning. ::shudder::
Long story short (ha!), Annabelle is doing great. We went home on Wednesday morning. Thursday night, she had to go back to the hospital for phototherapy for a bad case of jaundice (due to the terrible bruise on her head from the vacuum delivery), but 14 hours under the lamps healed her up perfectly! So we got to go back home Friday morning and we've just been enjoying our weekend as a family!
DH goes back to work tomorrow and I'm about to test the waters as a SAHM!
Oh, and a few more details - breastfeeding is HARD. Annabelle and I weren't really connecting well with it. We were struggling to latch (I met with LCs while in the hospital) and we were both stressed and frustrated. My milk has come in now and I've decided to exclusively pump. It's been going great and DH is enjoying the opportunity to feed her, too!
And lastly, for those who like to hear weight-loss details -- I was 163 the morning of delivery and by the time I came home two days later, I was 147. Now, almost a week after delivery, I'm 145. My starting point was 125 - not too bad for the first week!
Thanks for reading!