My due date came and went, and Tony and I went to the doctors for a post due date decision appointment. Sadly, at my 38, 39, and 40 week appointments, Baby W wasn't making any progress toward labor. So at our February 22nd appointment, we decided to schedule an induction for February 25/26. I prayed that the labor gods would intervene and get my labor going before our induction... Tony and I walked the galleria mall, took multiple walks a day, ate spicy food... No dice. So on Tuesday 2/25, I called the hospital to check that we could head in, and we left for the hospital at 6:30 that night. It was very anti-climactic, my parents brought us dinner and everyone knew baby W would be arriving in the next day. I was emotional... It was a nerve wracking thought that the time had come and our lives were about the change forever!
When we arrived at the hospital, we had a lovely nurse, Eileen, who got me going with paperwork and settling down for the night. Oddly enough, once I was hooked up to the monitors, it said I was having minute long contractions two minutes apart. Despite this, I wasn't actually in labor because I still hadn't made any progress. My midwife, Kim, came in to place the cervidil, an induction medicine, and Tony and I settled in for the night. In retrospect, this was the worst part. I hated the belly monitors, couldn't get comfortable, barely slept, had to pee constantly, and then finally started to feel some contractions. Honestly, I think Tony had it worse... A tiny pull out chair bed. Poor guy!
In the morning I felt much better, the cervidil was out and I was able to take a nice long hot shower before starting the pitocin. Throughout the whole labor experience, Tony was a lifesaver- kept me laughing and focused. It was quite comical when I started flooding the delivery room during my shower. After the shower, I got my IV hooked up (ug) and they began the pitocin. Real contractions started then.
By 10:00 things started to pick up. Kim suggested we try a foley ball to get me to dilate. I had dilated 1cm over night, and the foley ball would get me at least to 4cm. This combined with the pitocin got
things moving, and I had a solid two hours of real good labor. The first hour wasn't bad at all- I spent most of it standing at my bedside rocking and trying to use gravity to my advantage. I was still smiling in between contractions!
The contractions were becoming much stronger and I had to really focus my breathing on each one.
After two hours I was begging for a change... I could feel the foley moving down on every
contraction, I just wanted it out. I either wanted to get up or get some pain meds. Luckily my midwife came in to check me at this point and to take out the foley. When she took it out, it had already been dislodged, my water had broke, and I was measuring around 6cm. A successful two hours!!
An hour later, Dr. F came in... And in the two hours since getting to 6cm, I had stalled. At that point with the strength of my contractions and the rate I was going, I should have been ready to push. After discussion, we decided to give it one more hour to see if anything magically snapped into place, or else we would do a c-section. This was NOT what I wanted, and there were definite tears involved, but I knew we had to do what was best. Lo and behold, an hour later, and the baby only started to cone... Her skin was pulling downward but her body wasn't moving into place. So c-section it was!
Another anesthesiologist came in to give me more numbing meds before moving to the OR. Tony suited up in a dashing bunny suit. He was looking good! Our parents and sisters had arrived and were in the waiting room at this point. It was nice that Tony could run out to talk to them and let them know what was going on.
Around 4:00 I was rolled into the OR, put on the table, meds in place, and a team of doctors got to work on me. Tony sat with me at my head, and I was grateful for the medication- I didn't feel a thing except for some tugging and pulling. Within minutes, 4:16 to be exact, baby W was out, Dr. F announced "it's a girl!!!" I was beyond shocked and elated and cried with joy. Tony and I both said "Vienna Marie!" Tony stepped out of the room with Vienna, and they weighed her- a whopping 8# 11oz!
She had a head full of hair- definitely a mini momma! While doing the weighing and everything, Vienna took her first poop. Tony gave me the play by play while the doctors stitched me up. I was bummed we didn't get it immediately do skin to skin time, but I was stuck in crucifix position for about 20-30 min. Tony did get to hold Vienna the entire time they stitched me up, and I got to touch her with one hand.
The next few days ran into a blur. A brief summary;
Thursday: Over night Wednesday-Thursday we opted to send Vienna to the nursery. It was a great decision because we got a decent amount of sleep to prepare us for the marathon that was the rest of the hospital stay. Nurses constantly coming and going, trying to feed on demand, it made the days a blur! In the morning, the nurse came to take out my catheter, and I was begging to have my IV out. I was sick of it being in my hand! Luckily it was all out by noon and I was feeling much more like myself- except for the crazy swollen feet! I even started to walk around.. It was tough to stand up straight but at least I was moving around. And the more I moved the better I felt! We had a few visitors throughout the day- but it was snowy and frigid...single digits again! What a crazy winter!
Friday: Thursday to Friday night we opted to keep Vienna in the room. Beast feeding had seemed to go well for the first 24 hrs, but took a turn for the worse over night. I was in a lot of pain trying to feed, and we luckily had a phenomenal lactation consultant come work with us Friday afternoon. Her name was Alaine and she was magnificent! She got us back on track, and we've been going strong ever since. Friday was another blur of feeding, diaper changes, visitors, and me trying to walk around and get recovered. I even got to take a shower so I was feeling more and more normal. One thing I was grateful for with the c-section was the recovery- my belly was sore and walking was a little difficult, but bathroom time was a breeze compared to what I was expecting with a natural birth.
Saturday: We were so ready to go home! Vienna and I each got seen by our doctors, got our discharge orders, and then all of a sudden it was go time! We got Vienna dressed, Tony went to load the car, and the wheel chair for mom showed up. We were so happy to go home... And truly embark on our I new adventure!
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