Aurelia Robin's birth story

So this is about 14 weeks late...but I had some free time and wanted to write down all the little details before I forget them. :)

At my 40 week check up, Dr. Mercado and I decided to schedule an induction for Tuesday, Nov 19th. By then I would be nearly 41 weeks pregnant, and we were both hoping I'd go into labor naturally before then. But that last couple of weeks was misery. I was super swollen, and I'd had a couple of headaches that gave them pause for concern about possible pre-eclampsia a few weeks prior. So in combination with the swelling, she thought it would be wise to have baby girl make her entry sooner rather than later.

So the weekend came and went, no signs of labor other than off and on contractions that never got to a timeable frequency (they tell you to wait for 1 every 5 minutes lasting one minute). I did have a nice day Monday with my dad and stepmom, who had flown in Sat afternoon. We went to Paisano's for lunch and a little bit of shopping at a local fair trade store named Kretyen and Target. That was about all I could handle. :) We grabbed dinner at McAlister's where I actually ended up running into my supervisor at the hospital, so I filled her in that the next day would be the big day. 

Tues morning I woke up around 6 am after barely sleeping. It was just too hard to sleep knowing that next day I would be meeting my daughter face to face for the first time! Could you sleep knowing such a major life change was on the horizon? I was a huge bundle of nerves and excitement. Our hospital bags were already packed so really all we had to do was feed the animals and get ourselves ready. I got dressed, put on make up, and tried to eat breakfast. I think I managed half a piece of toast and some milk-I can't eat when I'm that anxious! At 6:45 my lovely friend Pamela showed up. I had asked her if she'd be willing to braid my hair for me. I wanted it out of my face for active labor so I wouldn't have to worry about it being in the way, getting sweaty, etc. She came over early and did an amazing job! (The braids stayed in place perfectly for over 15 hours!) We chatted while she expertly pulled my hair into the braids and having her there helped calm me down (some). She even let me drink some of her latte. Nice friend. :)

We were supposed to be at the hospital at 7:30 am. We ended up getting there around 7:40...we'd underestimated morning traffic! But it wasn't a big deal. It's not like they were giving away our spot. We gathered all of our bags, pillows, etc and trekked up to the 3rd floor, where labor and delivery is located. The hospital recently added more security measures to this wing so you have to be buzzed in. It was strange to say "Hi, I'm here to be induced!" The last time I'd been up here, it was to visit my friend Emily, who'd had a sweet baby girl about 6 weeks prior. This time it was my turn!

We got checked in at the nurse's station and my nurse for the day, Debbie, led me to my room. We were put in room 335. She instructed me to put on the hospital gown and she would be back in a few minutes to go over paper work. I honestly couldn't tell you what I signed...I'm sure there were liability releases and things like that. She came back with my hospital bracelets! I had a bracelet that indicated no allergies and two other bracelets that would match up with baby girl.

Shortly after 8 am Dr. Mercado came in so she could sign off on the order to get me started on pitocin. She grabbed my hand and asked how I was doing. Ready to get this party started! At that point I noticed the white board across from me...under "today's goal" it said "have a birthday party!" Too cute. She said she'd be back later in the day. She was on call that day so I felt really positive going into it knowing she would be the one to deliver my baby.

A nursing student named Brady came in to put in my IV. It didn't take the first time she tried, so Debbie helped instruct her and they got it in by my wrist on my right hand. Between 8-8:30 am was when we officially began my labor induction with the first drip of the pitocin. Whee!

The first few hours laboring hurt, but were manageable. What helped was for me to be quiet during a contraction and breathe slowly. I didn't want anyone talking to me or touching me in the middle of them. I think at one point I snapped at Michael to leave me alone when he was trying to rub my foot. Poor guy! My friend Anna showed up sometime around 9:30. She was there for moral support and to help guide me with pushing since we weren't too sure if Michael was going to do it (he's a little squeamish around blood). I wanted to walk around and sit on the exercise ball, but each time I would try, baby girl would move from the monitor that was recording her heart beat. And that would set off an alarm. And then a nurse would come in, and I'd have to get strapped back down again. So after a few times of that I said forget this, and just got back in bed.

I learned a little while later that baby girl was face up, so that was why most of the pain I'd been feeling was in my back. I was brought a delicious "lunch" tray of apple juice, jello, a frozen icee, warm broth, sprite...an all liquid diet. Super. I quickly discovered how much more I enjoyed the cherry jello than the lime jello. My sweet nurse made sure to keep me stocked in apple juice and water so I'd stay hydrated. 

Debbie came in to check me in the noon-ish hour and she said I was at about 3 cm dilated. I came in at about a 2, so that was disappointing to me for over 4 hours work. She spoke with Dr. Mercado, and she decided it was time to break my water!

Sometime between 12:30-1 Dr. M came to my room to break my water. The tool looked like an extra long crochet hook. I don't remember it hurting, just more of a 'pop' feeling. And then the flood came. It made sense later, looking back at my swollenness-but a LOT of the weight I gained was water. It was a little embarrassing to be honest, sitting there in the bed feeling like I was peeing myself. And it just kept coming! Dr. M said it was the most water she'd seen in a while. Go me? Michael and Anna seemed to be amused. Once I got all cleaned up it was time to see how this would progress things.

Oh my. Shit. Got. Real. The contractions picked up tenfold in intensity, and it hurt. Lots. I think I lasted maybe an hour and then asked/begged for an epidural. The back pain was just too much for me. And I couldn't move from my bed, which made it even worse. Who knows...if there's a next time, and I go into labor spontaneously, maybe being able to walk around/use the ball would help. But sitting in bed in agony wasn't for me.

It took about half an hour for the anesthesiologist, Dr. Schmidt, to arrive. To this day I tell people I could sing songs about her. I didn't care how long of a needle she had to use, I was just like, let's do this thing. Now. The feeling of relief once it started to take effect was magical. My legs felt tingly, and then heavy...kind of like what novocaine feels like if you've had dental work, only much better. The pain was no longer there. Pretty much from the waist down I was good and knocked out. 

Shortly after that, somewhere around 2:30-3pm, Debbie brought in a peanut shaped yoga ball. She called it the peanut and propped it between my legs and put a blanket over me. She said this would help open my hips to get my cervix in gear, because I was still only at 3 cm. She said to get some rest and she'd be back to check on me in a couple of hours. We dimmed the lights and turned the tv volume down low. I closed my eyes and tried to rest. I think I may have fallen into a light sleep. At the very least, I was able to rest my eyes and without the pain of the contractions, I was so much more relaxed. I told Michael and Anna to go and get themselves some food, at this point I didn't care if they ate in front of me. Michael went down to the hospital cafeteria shortly after 5:30. A few minutes later, Debbie came back in to check on me. She did a cervical check and looked at me with a shocked look on your face. "You're complete!" she said. Anna and I both looked at each other, stunned. Whaaaaaat?! None of us were expecting it to move that quickly. I had gone from 3-10 cms in roughly 3 hours. Go peanut!! She said she was going to call Dr. Mercado and let her know. As she stepped out of the room, Michael came back in. He thought Anna and I were playing a joke on him. Haha, nope. Surprise, buddy!

Dr. Mercado wanted me to rest for another hour so that baby could lower a little bit more before pushing. At 7, Debbie's shift had ended, so we sadly said goodbye to her and met her replacement, Jill. Jill checked me at 7:30 and confirmed with Dr. Mercado that we were okay to begin to start pushing. Hooray! Baby time!

She came in a little bit later and was with me for about 20 minutes helping to coach me, but then she had to run back to her office. She had left her iphone charger there and was on call that night, so she needed to go get it before her phone died. So Jill and Anna continued to help me with pushing. The epidural, as it turns out, was the most perfect labor tool for me, because I could still feel pressure and felt my body telling me it was time to push. I just didn't feel the intense pain I felt prior to having it placed. Jill coached me on my breathing so that I was breathing out during each push, which made it easier to get through them. I pushed from 7:30-8:30, and then Jill abruptly told me to stop pushing. At this point she said baby was right there and if I pushed any more, she'd be born without Dr. Mercado and Jill would be the one catching her. So she got her aide to run out and get her and we hung out as best we could for a few minutes. Trying to not push sucked! Luckily it wasn't too long before Dr. M came running back in. 

20 minutes later, at 8:50pm central time, Aurelia Robin Rowland was born! She started crying not long after coming out, and Dr. Mercado placed her on my chest. I was in complete awe of this tiny, perfect little baby girl. No crying, surprisingly! I couldn't stop smiling. Michael followed her around while they got her cleaned up, weighed her, etc., and Dr. M stitched me up and delivered the placenta. I ended up with a minor level 2 tear. Michael cut the umbilical cord. I had wanted to wait until her cord stopped pulsing, but there was pretty much no cord blood left! The entire thing was nearly white. This was a sign my body was ready to get her out, and why I believe I might have naturally gone into labor anyway either this day or the 20th. From start to finish, my labor was about 12.5 hours, with 1.5 hours of pushing.

After pictures, calling our families, and posting her arrival on Facebook (naturally) we still had to wait a little longer for the epidural to wear off before we could be moved to our recovery room, where we'd be staying the next couple of days. Anna offered to go get us some food and since I hadn't eaten anything except jello and half a slice of bread all day, we took her up on it. She brought me a big mac around 10:30 that night and I swear, it was the best tasting burger of my life! Dad and Vicky came by to visit-they were super anxious to meet their granddaughter! 

We finally got into our recovery room (340) right before midnight and settled down for our first night with our little girl. Having her here with us was, and continues to be, an amazing, thrilling journey. Overall I'm very pleased with my labor experience. The only thing I wish could have gone differently is that I would have liked to labor longer out of bed. I think I may have been able to go longer without the epidural that way. But honestly, I think getting the epidural and how much better I felt probably contributed to my cervix dilating. The most important to me is that Aurelia arrived healthy! She had great apgar scores of 8,9,9. Our little peanut was 7 lbs, 9 oz, and 20.5" long. We just love her to pieces and as of this writing, she is a curious, talkative, feisty 3 month old with light blue eyes and red(!) hair. 

Some pictures...

 

Holding Aurelia for the first time

The equipment used to monitor her-uterine contractions, her heart beat, and my blood pressure

Ready for a baby!

Anna was a HUGE help during the labor process. Love her!

Sweet husband of mine, rubbing my feet!

Dad and Vicky stopped by earlier in the day to wish me well. Nov 19th is their wedding anniversary!

Proud dad-to-be

Best buds! By this point I think I was feeling more pain, hence my 'not excited' face

After epidural. Let's do this!

Immediately after giving birth. I think Dr. Mercado was stitching me up in this pic, hah.

Brand new baby girl!

He is so in love.

So is her "Aunt" Anna!

A couple of days later in her going home outfit.