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April 2, 2011 was the due date. St. Patrick's day I had a prenatal appointment. The doctor checked me and said, "You're a centimeter and your membranes aren't thinning ." I was disappointed because I was done with being pregnant. I had two weeks and a few days until my expected due date (EDD) and was wondering if I would be able to make it. My body was feeling old and tired. Rolling over in bed was a five step process and my hips made a loud popping sound, every time. I was exhausted, miserable, moody and huge. My belly was huge and my nose was huge and my face looked puffy for the first half of the day. When I picked up Zarina from Lori's (a.k.a. my lifesaver and wonderfully considerate, helpful friend; who did so much for me, but would say she was never doing enough) I looked at her calendar and said, "I can't be pregnant for another two weeks. This baby needs to come early."I wouldn't be pregnant for another 14 days. It took 19 days.
I only gained 15 pounds, even though a McDouble became my after dinner snack of choice when it was 8:30pm and I craved more protein and calories. I had at least one a week the last 2 months, and it increased to two or three burgers a week the last month. Besides the hamburger craving I ate a fairly healthy diet. I was walking, but my hips were so sore that I couldn't go very far.
March 31st was an unhappy day. That Thursday the doctor told me I would likely go over my EDD. I was still only one centimeter with no effacing. We made an appointment for the following Monday. I was also instructed to schedule an ultrasound before the doctor's appointment so he could have an idea of how big the baby was. I was feeling rebellious and had a "who cares" attitude, so that weekend I stopped keeping the daily the "fetal movement counts" log. (I was reprimanded at the Monday appointment.) Over the weekend I had contractions, but nothing regular.
Monday, April 4th, the ultrasound estimated the baby was 8 lb. 15 oz., +/- 7 oz. I thought I had (finally) lost my mucus plug on Sunday evening (gross detail, but a necessary progression towards having a baby). I was therefore understandably surprised when the doctor said I was still only a centimeter (I almost cried) and had me schedule a Thursday appointment.
A few weeks earlier, while talking with Brien on the phone, I had asked for a blessing, but it never happened. We just kept forgetting or would remember and one of us would be asleep. Late that Monday night I stopped him from crawling into bed and he gave me a quick blessing. It was mostly for comfort, but he also said that my body would do what was needed for me to have the baby soon.
The next day I let Brien go to work, even though he had previously requested to have it off, since the baby should have arrived by then. That morning I finally had a sign that I was effacing. I was so happy, or maybe just relieved. Lori took Zarina to story hour, and my mom happened to call during that time. I told her how I was hopeful that something would happen later that night. Throughout the morning I was having some contractions, but nothing strong, and not close enough together to tell if they were regular. The contractions tapered off completely by noon.
Around 2:30 or 3 pm I started having contractions again. If walked around I was almost guaranteed a contraction. When I relaxed in the recliner they were about 20 minutes apart, but they didn't seem regular. At 4pm I called Brien and asked him to come home from work since I just felt like I shouldn't be alone anymore. I considered dropping Zarina with a friends and going to the doctor's office really quick, but decided against it. At 5pm we left to get some dinner from McDonalds (there aren't many fast food options here) and then we stopped by the convention center to vote in the local primary elections.
When we returned home I sat on our giant exercise ball and read about labor in my pregnancy book. It seems silly, I know.
(With Zarina I didn't experience what I would consider "real" labor. I was dialated to a 4, than a few days later I was a 6 and the doctor checked me in and hooked me up to some pytocin since my contractions were so slight.)
Just before 6pm I decided I should start tracking my contractions. My doctor had told me that if I had 6 in an hour I should go in. Around 6:45pm I had my 6th contraction, so I said to Brien, "I'm going to the bathroom and then we should go to the hospital. Get Zarina ready." He said, "Okay," so I was confused by the noise of the two of them playing and chasing each other around the house. I came out of the bathroom and said, "What are you doing? We need to go to the hospital now." He had only heard the "get Zarina ready" part, and was trying to tidy up her room, not get her out the door.
We left a few minutes later. Dropped Zarina off at Lori's (to a confused husband) and drove the 5 minutes to the hospital.
Brien had to slow down for the potholes, because it hurt terribly when he went over them.
At 7:05pm I signed a form at the admitting desk and then rested my head on the tall counter while I experienced a contraction and waited for the employee to bring around a wheelchair. We had her hand us a vomit bag and Brien got to wheel me around a few corners, our hospital is really small.
The nurses had me lay down on the cushioned chair (think a dentist's chair without the arm rests) and nurse 1 started monitoring the baby, but not me. They asked about my contractions, I gave them the old information that I had tracked at home. Nurse 2 then asked about how far apart my contractions were since I had checked in. I looked at her and said, "I haven't been keeping track since I got here." All I could think was that by going to the hospital wasn't I turning that responsibility over to them? Nurse 2 went to call the doctor. I asked and nurse 1 had been monitoring the baby for 17 minutes and I had experienced 4 or 5 contractions. Nurse 2 returned and said my doctor wanted my to drink lots of water, because dehydration makes contractions feel more severe. I was given a cup for a urine sample. When got up and down or walked I had contractions, and now I had the great opportunity to walk across the hall and pee in a cup.
It wasn't fun.
They had me drinking water, I said I felt nauseous, but had to keep drinking anyways. I got to use the vomit bag I requesting from admitting, and astounded Brien and the nurses by the sheer volume. We stayed in the fetal monitoring room, Brien was back in a corner for most of the time. After I threw up I wasn't allowed any more liquids and they needed to hook my up to an IV. The first attempt to poke my right hand didn't get a good vein, but I had an ugly bruise for a few weeks.
The room quickly felt like a circus. I had a nurse close to the fetal monitor, another nurse examining my left hand for my IV, someone from the lab about to draw my blood, and I was trying to hold still since two people were wanting to stab me with needles, on opposite arms and I was about to experience a contraction. (The IV was put in my left wrist, it was serious, unexpected pain since I thought she was going to poke the back of my hand.) Brien and another nurse were also in the room.
No one had checked my dilation and my water hadn't broke. They would ask questions and I was only capable of moaning a one or two word response. In between contractions I told Nurse 1, "I wasn't going to have an epidural, but I've changed my mind."
The doctor arrived around 8:30pm, I think, maybe later. He cheerfully said, "So mom, you want to tell me what's happening?" As a contraction started I moaned out, "No!" The nurses filled him in and then he checked my cervix. He said, "She's an 8-9, lets get her down the hall." I cried out, "No, it's too late for an epidural!"
Then something amazing happened, I felt a strong urge to push. (During Zarina's delivery the urge was never this strong.) I told the doctor and he reminded me that I couldn't push until they told me too. I had help to stand up between contractions and was transferred to a wheelchair to head down the hallway to the one labor and delivery room in town. (There are four recovery beds in the maternity hallway.) I had to stand again to get onto the L/D bed. It was about 9pm when we arrived in the room.
I laid on my side and said a few things without thinking. Stuff like, "I'll never do this again," and "I can't." It was strange that when I was asked to do something I would just say, "I can't," even while I was following their directions and moving around. Brien was very supportive, loving, and considerate.
Things were finally ready for me to deliver, and I was disappointed to see someone we knew from church in the room. There were so many people in the room, I think 6, but it's hard for me to say because I was laying there with my eyes closed experiencing contractions and trying not to push.
On the first push, my water broke like a water balloon. I yelled as I pushed because it felt good to yell with the contraction. My eyes were closed and I kept pushing and yelling, even though the contraction finished, because it hurt to have the baby where she was and I wanted her out now! I thought, "I can push her out without a contraction." I realized I was wrong about that and stopped yelling and pushing. Dr. Lee reached up towards me and said, "You need to calm down. All this yelling and standing up in the stirrups won't help get the baby out."
I wanted to tell him I was calm, just inexperienced. I wanted to say that I was the one in labor and I could make as much noise as I wanted to. Instead I said, "Okay."
The next contraction I pushed, hard and quiet, and the head and shoulders came out. Dr. Lee wiped her down thoroughly and told me not to push on my next contraction. I tried to stay relaxed and breathed through it. The next contraction I pushed and the baby was out.
It was 9:11pm. We had Poppy Ellen Park.
I held Poppy for a few moments and then handed her over for cleaning and measurements. 20.25 inches long and 9 lb. 3 oz. You often hear people say that they forget how little a new baby is. We did not feel that way about our Poppy.
During the pregnancy Zarina kept saying, "When the baby pops out . . ." and she did pop out.
Brien brought Zarina over the next day. She was happy that her sister had blue eyes and kept saying, "She is the cutest baby."
Brien and I love that we had again had the cutest baby ever.
2 comments:
I read the entire thing...sounds like it was great! I love that your water broke when you were pushing...that happened with Charlotte too and I highly recommend it!
I love it. :) She's adorable!
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