Happy Birthday, Ellie!

So, Ellie is finally here!  And, as promised, here is her birth story.  Sorry if I share too many details, but part of the purpose of this blog is for my own memory, so you can just skip the parts that you don't want to read :-)

Ready to go to the hospital!

We went to the hospital to be induced on the afternoon of Thursday, January 3rd.  Everything got started really quickly, which kind of surprised me.  We no sooner got checked in than they were gowning me up and getting ready for the application of the cervical ripening balloons.  I was still assessed as being absolutely 0 cm and 0% effaced and at -5 station.  That's pretty much as unfavorable for delivery as you can be.  The balloons were the second most painful thing that I experienced the entire time I was in the hospital.  And, of course, they couldn't give me any pain meds in advance.  I got some morphine afterward because I was so uncomfortable and was able to sleep for 12 rather fitful hours.  

First thing in the morning, Dr. Crawford came to get the next step started.  There are 5 doctors at the practice that I went to and you rotate through each of them for your regular appointments so that you are comfortable and familiar with whoever happens to be on call to deliver you.  Unfortunately, between her maternity leave and an emergency that called her out of the office, this Dr. was the only one I hadn't yet met. Good thing she was awesome!  She took out the balloons, which was a HUGE relief, but then checked me and found out they had only dilated me 2 cm or so.  Yippee.  Not enough to break my water, but enough to start the pitocin.  So we got that hooked up and running at about 8:00.  They had to call the IV team to get my IV started and they ended up putting it in the most uncomfortable place on the SIDE of my wrist.  I kept complaining about it, but no one seemed to think there was anything wrong with it until it was taken out after delivery and the needle was BENT!  Yeah, pretty uncomfortable, but still not the worst pain I experienced.

So, contractions started hard and fast pretty much right away.  Every 3-5 minutes or so until 5:00 when the Dr. came in to check my progress.  2.5 cm and she hadn't descended at all.  Great.  So they killed the pitocin for the night and I was finally able to eat some solid food.  You see, when they have you on pitocin, you are on a liquid diet in case the drugs make you sick.  Blech.  The rest of the night, Andy and I just hung out watching TV and playing UNO.  It was kind of fun there for a while.  Then the contractions spontaneously started back up.  YAY, I'm in actual labor!  Well, no, not really.  They were just stress contractions from the day full of chemically induced ones.  

After not really sleeping the rest of the night, they checked me bright and early and I had made zero progress.  Bring on the pitocin!  I survived most of the day  of that before breaking down and talking to a nurse about pain management options.  I was dead set against an epidural just because I had heard some horror stories about what can happen when they go wrong.  But I was in so much pain and only dilated to 3 cm and STILL not descended.  Now if you only read that sentence, it sounds like I really wussed out in a fairly early stage of labor.  But induction is not normal labor.  I promise.  I haven't experienced normal labor, but all of the experienced individuals I spoke to (including all the medical professionals at the hospital) have assured me of that.  There were no small contractions to start with to get your body used to the process.  Basically, they give you late stage labor contractions from the very beginning.  Plus, at this point, I had been in the hospital for 48 hours.  I was desperate.  There was also a lot of talk about potentially needing a c-section eventually, so it was better to already have the epidural than need the c-section and have to rush it.  So after a long, emotional talk with my AMAZING nurse Amanda (who is herself 33 weeks pregnant), I asked for the drugs.  

Within 30 minutes, the anesthesiologist was there getting me all prepped.  Andy was allowed to stay, which made everything so much easier.  The pain was not NEARLY as bad as I thought it would be.  The most painful part was the initial injection of medication and that wasn't even all that bad.  Minutes later, there was sweet, sweet relief.  This was roughly 3:00 in the afternoon, if I remember correctly.  I was even feeling good enough that my mom and sister came back to see me for a few minutes!  After the epidural was able to take full effect, the Dr. came in to check me and break my water to speed things along.  Turns out it was already broken and I was dilating fast!  By 4:00 I was 5 cm and by 4:30, I was up to 6.  One more check at 5:00 put me at 10 cm and ready to push.  Um, holy cow.  As it turns out, the epidural is what my body needed to be able to relax and let the contractions work.  

So, the pushing was weird.  I still had some sensation in my lower half, but it was like when your foot falls really fast asleep - you can still move it but can't really feel it there.  I figured it out though and pushed for about an hour straight.  She didn't really budge at all.  So, they left me alone for an hour and sat me upright to [hopefully] allow gravity to help.  It didn't.  Things were looking more and more bleak.  I needed to be on oxygen to help keep Ellie's (and my) heart rate stable.  We pushed for a while longer and still didn't make any progress.  So there was another tough decision to be made.  Either use the vacuum to help or just skip straight to c-section.  Now, I was cautioned against the vacuum.  I knew what it entailed and I didn't like the idea of it.  But I had come so far and made so much progress and pushed so hard that I just couldn't stand the idea of skipping straight to the c-section.  So, vacuum we did.  Dr. Crawford laid out her ground rules for me: we try for 3 contractions of 3 pushes each and if the vacuum slips off twice or she still hasn't come out by the end of those 9 pushes, we go to c-section.  Period.  Ok, I think I can handle that.  Just get her out of me!  

Brand new: 4 lbs 14 oz, 18.5 inches long

She was born at 7:47 pm, on the last push of the second contraction.  I was one contraction away from the c-section.  That's cutting it close, so to speak.  Regardless, she was born screaming and with eyes wide open, ready to face the world.  And in that moment, I didn't really care what all had happened.  My daughter was here.  Of course, it was an emotional moment.  Andy and I both cried and cried just to see her.  Then came the hard part.  The nurses whisked her away and gave her APGAR scores of 9, which is excellent.  They then had to do a more detailed assessment because she weighed less than 5 pounds.  Everyone was so shocked at how tiny she was and that she looked so perfect in every other way.  This hospital doesn't handle pre-35 week deliveries because they don't have a full NICU, so they very rarely see babies weighing less than 6 pounds, let alone less than 5.  Dr. Crawford even came back the next morning to take a picture with her because she was the 'cutest little peanut she ever saw'!  

Tiny Peanut!

All was well with the world, until they took away the epidural.  Even that wasn't so bad, but they wanted me to pee before I could move to my postpartum room.  Doesn't sound too difficult, does it?  Been in bed all day long, being pumped full of fluids, peeing should come easy.  Not so much.  Couldn't do it because of the swelling.  So they had to use a catheter on me.  And that was the worst pain I experienced.  Actually, it's the worst pain I have ever experienced.  I screamed and screamed and probably scared the crap out of the girl in labor next door.  They gave me some Vicodin, but it didn't kick in until after we had made the switch to the other room.  Once we got there though, I was finally allowed to hold her again.

Meeting my daughter

It was after midnight.  Mom, my sister, and Andy's dad came over for a short visit to meet Ellie and then the excitement was over for a while.

Meeting Auntie!

 The rest of the hospital stay is kind of a blur.  Our last night there was particularly difficult - Ellie stayed in the nursery between feedings so that we could actually get some rest.

Meeting Grandpa

Discharge day was hectic and frustrating trying to fit everything in before we could leave.  She had to undergo a test called the 'car seat challenge' because she weighed less than 5 pounds.  They strapped her up to heart and pulse-ox monitors and then stuck her in her car seat for an hour and a half and just left her there to make sure she didn't die.  It was excruciating.  I took an extra long shower because I couldn't handle hearing her scream.  She passed with flying colors though and was allowed to come home in the car seat, which was good news for us.  We had our meeting with the lactation consultant, which was very educational and encouraging and met with the Nurse Manager for a lot of other baby education before we could leave.  We made it home at around 5:00 on Monday evening - a full 5 days after we initially checked in to the hospital.

Car Seat Challenge: Accepted!

We were so blessed to have my mom stay with us through Thursday evening to help us catch up on some sleep and get into a bit of a routine.  I don't know what we would have done without her.

Snuggles with Grandma!

That first night was awful.  We couldn't get her to sleep or eat or anything.  She acted like she was hungry, but wouldn't eat.  In the morning, I had an emotional phone call with the awesome lactation consultant at the hospital and she sent us to see the doctor that afternoon.  We found out that Ellie had already lost another 5.5 ounces and was quite seriously jaundiced.  We ramped up the feeding schedule and eventually got a bili-blanket for some light therapy and we are now back to a happy level.  Our 1 week well-baby visit also showed that she was back up to her hospital discharge weight, so we fully expect her to be above her birth weight by her next appointment next week.

Mommy & Me ready to go home!

Basically, we're starting to get into a nice little routine, which makes me so so happy.  We are still waking her up to eat every three hours to help her pack on some weight, so the sleep intervals are short, but at least it's a schedule.

First Family Picture!

And on Saturday, she turned one week old.

One-Week snuggles with Daddy

In some ways, it seems like forever ago that we were seeing her face for the first time.  In other ways, I can't believe that it's been a week already.  I guess that's pretty normal though and I will be feeling like that for the rest of my life.  She has totally captured our hearts in the most wonderful way.  So that's the story of Ellie's life so far.  I can't wait to see what's to come :-)

Hi, I'm Ellie and I'm so happy to meet you!