Enter a Heading
I had a relatively easy pregnancy in pregnancy terms. I got a lot of UTI's at the beginning and kidney stones a couple of times but, nothing that couldn't be managed. Well, I'm pretty sure at the time I thought I was dying but, looking back on it now it doesn't seem so bad. The only real complication I had was gestational diabetes. I really blame that one on it being girl scout cookie season the month I was tested for it. Oh yeah, and the fact that my pregnancy craving was chicken fried steak. With a bunch of bad eating habits I failed my one hour screening and had to do the three hour screening.. which I failed again. It was around this time I decided to change OB's too. I mean change doctors and maybe the GD will go away, right?!
All that to say we talked about induction at about every appointment because my new OB didn't want me to go to 40 weeks. GD babies get really big and there's other health benefits to having them come a bit earlier but, you definitely have to find the right balance because most of the time GD babies lungs develop a little slower as well.
I was doing weekly sonograms towards the end of my pregnancy and they were predicting Aspen to be an 8.5lb baby. Not terrible but, my dreams of having a six pounder went out the window. My new OB, whom I loved by the way, like, I want to have another baby so I can go hang out with him, wanted to induce me at 39 weeks but, was going to be on vacation that week so we scheduled the induction for 39 weeks 3 days since my sonograms were looking good.
I went to my weekly appointment at 38 weeks 5 days and saw the nurse practionner that day. I went for the biophysical profile sono and the sonotech asked me if I felt any different.. I mean I felt pretty pregnant. Is that a feeling? The nurse practioner came in and told me my amniotic fluid levels were low but, after discussing with another doctor they thought it was probably ok and that I should come back on Monday for another sono (this was a Friday morning).
I went home not really that worried. Hey, I'm not really a worrier - I think I'll live longer because of it. I was supposed to go into work but, I was feeling kind of crummy so I just grabbed my lap top and wrote a lot of emails. I had big plans for the weekend, finishing the nursery, making freezer meals and last date night before baby. A doctor from the practice called and said they had sent off my sonogram to a specialist to read and that the specialist would reccomend delivering the baby immediately.... he mumbled off a bunch of medical jargon I had no idea what he was saying and I finally asked what he would do if I was his wife or daughter. I really wanted to wait until the following Wednesday until my OB was back in town but, I was going to spend the weekend in labor and delivery being monitored and it was all going to end in induction anyways so, I took his advice and said I'd go in then.
Baby daddy got home from work, we showered, threw the last few things in our hospital bags and went to dinner. We got to the hospital around 7:00pm and I'm pretty sure I was naked by about 7:03pm and all my dignity was already out the window. I was only dilated to a two when I checked in.
I liked the idea of no epidural because I had read all the side affects and c'mon who wants a complete stranger poking around on their spine with the risk of paralyzing you if they sneeze but, I when I got kidney stones I was ready for an epidural then. So, I decided if I couldn't even handle kidney stones there was no way I was going to handle a natural delivery. Pretty much both options sucked in my opinion. I went with the riskier option to get out of a little pain and I don't regret it one bit.
They inserted the foley tube around 8:00pm. I was prepared for this to be terrible because someone had told me this was the worst part of their labor and delivery. It didn't feel great but, I didn't find it that painful. Around 10pm my nurse stepped out for the first time since we had checked in and I decided to go pee for the 10th time. When I went to the bathroom the foley tube fell out and there was soooooo much blood. I screamed for the nurse who came in and was all excited.. LADY I'M BLEEDING TO DEATH and you are excited?! She assured me this was a good thing and meant I was progressing quickly and could start pitocin earlier than anticipated.
They broke my water for me. I hadn't done any research about labor because it gave me anxiety but, this is the one thing I would do differently next time and not let them break it. The reasoning is it may help you progress faster. They started me on pitocin around 9:00pm or 10:00pm (the original plan was 3:00am or 4:00am so this was exciting!). I was committed to not getting an epidural until I had felt strong contractions and I was pretty anxious all night. I stayed at a 5 and was not progressing at all (this is what the foley tube mechanically did for me). Baby daddy was in the corner snoring and I was in some freakish pain with back labor. If there ever was a time I was annoyed at him this had to be it. When my contractions hit a 9 and were about a minute and a half apart I asked for my epidural. The anesthioligist came in around 3:00am and spent what felt like eternity on my spine. I got weird tinglings down my right leg which pretty much sent me into panic mode. He had to reset it once initially. This was definately the scariest part of all of labor. Once it was all set they came back a bit later to make sure I was numb. My right side felt like a 600lb whale I couldnt move and I could still feel everything on my left side. This was the weirdest lopsided feeling ever. He gave me different, more powerful medicine and came back and it still hadn't worked. I almost gave up but, decided to let him mess with my spine one more time. Thankfully, this time worked!
Around 6:30am I was still at a 5 and baby girls heartrate was plummeting with every contraction. They had me try different positions that wouldn't put her in so much distress and were getting ready to put fluid back up me to give her a buffer and dial back pitocin. I asked the nurse if I could poop first and exactly how that worked. She laughed and checked me again and I had jumped to a 10 and it was GO time!
The on call doctor at the practice was already on the way to the hospital to check on me ad shift change was happening at 7:00am. I remember there being soo many people in the room which, I said my entire pregnancy I was going to limit it to the bare minimum but, I really didn't care at the time. I was too busy taking selfies and posting them on snap chat with captions like "ABOUT TO START PUSHING".. priorities people.
The nurse asked me if I knew how to push. LOL. NOT. A. DANG. CLUE. She suggested I do a practice push and Aspen almost fell out. Everyone rushed to get their personal protective gear on, one push later and Aspen entered the world. Yes, you counted right - two pushes! Jud and I discussed it beforehand and he was suppose to stay up at my shoulders but, when the doctor asked if he wanted to see the head he broke my "birth plan" and looked. I'm really not making fun of people with birth plans. I'm making fun of myself for my lack of one.
Aspen was born at 7:11am at 6lb 7oz and 19". I knew babies looked weird at first but, I didn't think you were suppose to think your baby looked weird. Well, she did. It took me a hot minute to bond. I did and then thought she was the most beautiful thing in the entire world.
Originally the doctors thought we weren't going to start pitocin until the morning and she wouldn't be born until the afternoon or evening so we had Shianne, our photographer scheduled to show up the next morning so we missed all the action photos.
