My obstetrician, Dr. Uohara
Pushing
Trying to get Lydia to turn around... (it didnt work)
Just born...
My baby girl is here!!
Girly Parts
Look at all that hair!
Lydia turning pink....
Baby was due on September 22nd 2001 - I watched that day come and go! I knew I was going to be overdue, I had not had a single Braxton Hicks contraction or any sort of pain for months and nothing seemed to be changing. At 11 days overdue I had a check up with my doctor and again we discovered that I remained at a fingertip dilated, 0% effaced and -3 station. Things were defiantly NOT moving along.
I had gotten really depressed after about a week of being overdue. Now at almost 2 weeks overdue I was so ready for something to happen. Though I really hated the idea of being induced I didn’t like the idea of being pregnant any longer either – I wanted to see my baby so much! My Obstetrician who had previously not even mentioned inducing me FINALLY asked me that question "So what do you want to do now?"
Being that my amniotic fluid levels were fine, baby was looking good and my blood pressure was okay I could have gone on being pregnant longer. I really didn't consider all of this at the time - first words out of my mouth were "PLEASE GET THIS BABY OUT NOW!"
I really thought he was going to say something like "Come back on Monday " or "Come in tomorrow" - it was Wednesday midmorning. Instead he says "Come back and check into the hospital at 3pm"
My Obstetrician's office is an hour from my house so there was no way I was going to drive all the way home - an hour and back - for nothing. I had been driving around with my bag packed in my trunk for a month!! Instead I just waited. I drove up to my mom’s office at the National Park and had lunch to kill time.
At 3 p.m. Wednesday October 3rd I checked myself into the hospital alone.
We started my induction with Cervadil, which is a Prostaglandin gel that helps the cervix dilate. All of Wednesday night I had mild but painful contractions. 12 hours after my first dose of Cervadil I was 1-2 cm and around 60% effaced.
At this time they administered another dose of Cervadil and again we waited. My mother came to the hospital right after this. It was now 7am Thursday morning. All day Thursday I slowly dilated. All back labor. Periods of contractions at 1 minute apart for an hour or more - then slower contractions at 5-10 minute apart. I walked, took a shower, sat around - waited!
I got Stadol twice in this time period - threw up both times but managed to get a couple hours of sleep. I had now been awake all day Wednesday and Wednesday night - and now most of Thursday too.
At 5 p.m. they came in to check me again and remove the Cervadil - I had almost completely effaced but only dilated to 3-4 cm. This is 24 hours into labor. The first 24 hours were long, the contractions hurt a lot but they were not unbearable and I had been able to cope quite well after getting some sleep.
Now that I had FINALLY reached 4 cm it was time for the Pitocin.
Before they began the IV with the Pitocin I decided to get the Epidural. The contractions from the Cervadil hurt enough to scare me of what Pitocin contractions would be like! With the Epidural in place and some faith that I could now rest I went to sleep.
Around 2 hours after getting the Epidural it began to stop working. Gradually on my right side I could feel the contractions. I would page the nurse and tell her I was in pain. She in turn would go bolus more medication into my Epidural. After about an hour of this dance between the nurse and me they called the anesthesiologist back into my room. He too, failed and the Epidural stopped all together. I was at this point around 7-8 cm.
My water bag was bulging and they decided to break it. From then on it’s kind of a blur to me. I remember grabbing the bed and crying because the contractions hurt so badly. Nothing helped not even breathing or panting. Of course because of the Epidural I was not allowed to walk or move from the bed.
When the nurse told me I was 9 cm with a lip left I began to push. I thought I was going to poop on the bed - I had to push so badly. They then moved me into the delivery room.
3 hours go by of hard pushing and excruciating pain in my groin. The baby was LOP (left occiput posterior), which means facing forward and to the left. Because she was LOP the hard part of her head was pushing against my sacrum causing back pain and when I pushed her head pinched against a nerve in my leg causing the awful pain in my groin. The fact that she was LOP is also the reason my dilation was so slow, it was also partly to blame for why it was so hard for me to push her out.
Push, push, push - it felt like forever. At one point my IV came out and for 15 minutes my labor stopped. The nurses had not noticed and I had gone to sleep. Once they discovered why the contractions had stopped they got the Pitocin going again and things got rolling. Baby had now been in my birth canal for 2-3 hours.
Eventually my Obstetrician came in and sat down, gave me my Episiotomy and rotated Lydia's head. About 30 minutes of pushing and she was about to be born. With a little more help from my OB she finally crowned and 32 hours after the first contraction she was here!
He placed her on my belly as soon as she was born and I rubbed my hands all over her back. She was so warm and slippery. The took her over to a table to get her to cry. I watched them clean her off and she pooped on the table. Several minutes passed before someone asked, “What is it?” and the nurse said, “It’s a girl!” of course that shocked everyone in the room! I was ecstatic – I had wanted a girl so much! The nurse put her in my arms and I nursed her for the first time. It was amazing to see my baby after all those months of waiting.
She was born 13 days overdue, October 5th 2001 at 1:56 am, a total of 9 lbs. 7 1/2 ounces.
I have never been prouder of anything in my life. Labor was so amazing - I don't think there is anything more empowering on earth. It’s an experience I relive in my head all the time – nothing in the world can describe what its like to see your child for the very first time… it takes your breath away.
