The Birth Story

DISCLAIMER: LONG and detailed and from the best of my memory
Thursday Dec 16th was my last doctors apt and my cervix was completely closed.. my sister arrived on saturday the 18th and we started doing all kinds of crazy things to get my labor started.. jalapenos, hula-hooping, crab walking, hiking, up and down the stairs, scrubbing the floor..i had pretty regular contractions that saturday night but nothing real- she then checked me on monday morning and i was dilated to a 2.5. she strippped my membranes on monday and that started some bad contractions that evening but again nothing regular. so at that point i was over trying to do anything i could- i mean nothing i had tried had worked besides i think people just tell others the very last thing they did before they went into labor and blame it on that! so It all REALLY started on wednesday night december 21st. My mom and I went to go hang out with my sister at her house. I was sitting on her living room floor doing some butterfly stretches when all of a suddden I felt like i wet my pants.. i had not wet my pants the entire pregnancy so i thought this was super weird.. so i ran to the bathroom and kinda was freaking out.. uhhhh britt, ash, someone come here... so they both ran in the bathroom and there was this green fluid all over my underwear... "what is it?!" both britt and ash started screaming and jumping and very excited and then told me it was my water with thin meconium in it. This was at 9:25 PM- we needed to go to the hospital right then. I called Jason (he was at my house with my dad) and told him my water broke and he needed to get my hospital bag and go with my dad and meet us at the hospital. On our drive down to Kaiser in Vallejo, ash called down and they were super busy(but they saved me a room)! we got there and i got all hooked up to the monitors and then they needed to start my IV.. but i was very swollen. It was AWFUL- 3 different people had to try and finally on the 4th try they got an IV in.
my battle wounds
They started antibiotics and let me chose whether i wanted to try to let contractions start on their own or start pitocin right away. we decided to try to let contractions start and maybe get some sleep but start pitocin in the morning. i slept on and off from 12-430 and no contractions were starting so we started pitocin at 5 am. i didn't feel any regular contractions until about 6 am. slowly they started to get more and more painful. i tried and tried to breath through them but by about 7 there was no way and i was in tears through everyone. i called the nurse and she told me to try to wait longer. so i called my dad- he came in and told me there is no point in waiting if i wanted an epidural. so he checked and i was still 2.5 cm dilated but called to get the anesthesiologist. they were on shift change but as soon as they could they would come give me and epidural. in the mean time the nurse gave me some IV fentanyl but right before i got up one last time to go to the bathroom- the fentanyl helped some but made me feel so loopy and out of it. Finally by about 8 am they started to get ready for my epidural- everyone had to leave the room but I had this wonderful nurse who held my hand and talked me through it all. The anesthesiologist was amazing. I did not feel a thing and it she got it in right away. I was expecting this immediate relief from the pain of contractions but then she said she hadn't given me the loading dose yet.... she then gave me the dose but told me it would take about 5 contractions for me to really feel relief. those were the longest 5 contractions ever. finally i was feeling great by about 8:30 and then they placed my catheter and checked me again and i was at a 4. everyone came back in and decided that my dad would head back to work and my sister would go to her apt she had. they left and i was able to fall asleep. Ashley arrived at the hospital at about 9:45 and saw that baby girl was having some decels. I was waking up at this point and she went to find a nurse to check me. the nurse came in and said "well (long pause) you are 100% effaced and about a 8, no a 9. yep a 9." that had happened a lot quicker than anyone had expected. ashley quickly called my dad and sister to get back asap. They hurried and got back to the hospital by about 10:45. by this time i was complete and just waiting. i started slowly pushing about 11:15 then about 11:30 i really started pushing- while i was pushing her heart rate kept dropping- everyone looked worried but whenever i would ask everyone would tell me nothing was wrong (until after when my dad admitted that he was a little nervous) i think about 11:45 my dad had to use the vacuum. he vacuumed her a couple of times and then she was born at 11:57! They had previously warned me that since there was meconium in my water they may have to take her right away if she didn't start crying so they could prevent her from swallowing meconium- well my little girl started squealing right away . They immediately placed her on my chest skin to skin. It was the most amazing experience to have my sweet baby Hazel right there with me on the outside they dried her off and put blankets over us all while she kept pooping so they continued to clean her up while Jason and I enjoyed and cried and cried.. That moment didn't seem to last long enough. I delivered the placenta and got a few stitches. I didn't tear in the front or back but to the side(?) i kept asking what degree of a tear but apparently it is no degree when you tear like that(? i'm still confused about it all haha) and then my umbilical cord was crazy weird. check out THIS post about it- SO crazy! the body is truly AMAZING. Then my sisters helped her latch for a little and then I just got to snuggle and kiss her they did her assessment all while she stayed right on my chest. An hour or two later Ashley was able to give her her first bath and did her footprints! They then gave her vitamin k hep b and aquamephyton eye drops and then she got passed around. Then I was moved to a post partum room about 3. We were discharged the next morning about 11 am. Hazel is now a week old and we are adjusting as well as we can. As much as my breasts have been so sore it is such a fun bonding time to be able to be breast feeding. We have our first pediatrician appointment next thursday and then head back home a few days after that. It is so much fun to see Jason with Hazel. He watches her like a hawk. he always wants to hold her and always wants to make sure he watches everyone who is holding her. It is so sweet.