Nora's Birth Story

I've been having so much fun snuggling my little bunny, but I want to write out the birth story before I start forgetting the details.  It wasn't AT ALL what I expected. ;-)

So the OB and I decided to induce at 39w4d because I'd been having contractions that were 2-3 minutes apart for days, and the baby's movement had slowed down considerably.  We both thought that a low dose of Pitocin would be what my body needed to go into labor and deliver the baby.  How wrong we were!

I got to the hospital at 7:30a.m. and got all checked in.  Everything looked great; my blood pressure was good, baby's heart rate was good, we were chatting and laughing with our (super awesome!) nurse.  I was still just 1cm dilated and 50% effaced, and still contracting but they weren't painful really.  They start the Pitocin around 9:30a.m. and increase it every half hour.

The contractions got a tiny bit stronger, but nothing even close to unbearable and I could tell it was mostly in my stomach and not in my lower uterus/cervix.  After being on the maximum amount of Pitocin for 10 or 11 hours (I can't remember exactly) I was still at 1cm and 50% effaced.  So the OB decided to turn off the Pitocin and insert Cervidil to help soften my cervix.  I got 2 doses of that overnight and was checked again in the morning.  No change.  Still 1cm and 50% effaced.  At this point it's been 24 hours and I haven't been allowed to eat anything since 6a.m. the morning before! 

The OB decides to start the Pitocin again, and I get up to a 14 on that.  20 is maxed out, and I can tell the contractions still aren't the right kind and aren't strong enough.  I'm really starting to think that this is going to end in a c-section.  After 2 or 3 hours of being on the Pitocin with STILL NO CHANGE, the OB decides to break my water.  It's the last step before a c-section and I'm praying it works.  It has in the past; once my water is broken things go really fast.  But it hurt like CRAZY cuz I wasn't dilated much.  He does manage to do it (and I manage not to pass out from the pain).

And lo and behold, it works!  By now I'm 26 or 27 hours into labor and haven't eaten and am tired.  But contractions really start picking up and they are the real deal and painful.  I'm using my Hypnobabies techniques, but the contractions are really starting to hurt and I start crying.  Not sobbing, but quietly crying, with tears running down my face.  I didn't know it at the time, but Josh noticed and went out and told the nurse we were going to have a baby soon. ;-) 

So she comes in and the contractions are one on top of the other, with only 30 seconds in between.  And they HURT.  Like, really bad.  So I ask to be checked and I'm only 3cm and 60% effaced.  WHAT!?  If this is how bad it hurts at 3cm, there is NO WAY I can make it to 10.  So I ask for IV meds and the nurse goes out to get it.  But then the next contraction hits and holy moly it hurts so so so so bad! So I tell Josh never mind, run out and tell her I want the epidural! 

He does, and 10 minutes later the anesthesiologist comes in.  By now I'm writhing in pain on the bed, I can not find a position that helps alleviate the pain of the contractions, I'm begging them to turn down the Pitocin and I'm throwing up.  I get situated to start the epidural and he swabs my back with iodine and puts the sterile plastic sheet on it.  And suddenly there is just so much pain and pressure! I'm telling the nurse there is pressure and they're asking if they should go ahead and do the epidural or if I need to push. I'm so confused, because I was literally only 3cm just 20 minutes before and don't think it can be time to push already, and I just want the pain to go away.

But with the next contraction there is no guessing... she is coming!  My body plus the Pitocin was like a freight train.  I have never experienced anything like it.  My body was pushing with all it's might and there was not  a thing I could do to stop it.  There was no doctor there; they called out into the hall and a midwife came in and basically just watched as Nora came flying out. ;-)

It was all so fast and intense and crazy.  I couldn't believe it.  I went from 3cm 60% effaced to holding her in my arms in about 40 minutes. 

So, I got my natural delivery, but it wasn't at all how I pictured it, LOL! 

Nora came out wide eyed and calm and didn't cry.  She was just calmly looking around with her beautiful open eyes and was such a tiny thing!  She weighed 6lb 1oz and was 19 inches long.  She is a very happy, calm and contented baby.  I love, love, love snuggling her and all the kids fight over whose turn it is to hold her. ;-)  She is nursing very well and pretty much put herself on a 3 hour schedule.

I'm so incredibly thankful and glad she is here, safe and sound, and I feel immensely blessed. 

We named her Nora, which means "honor" and her middle name is Kristine after Josh's mom who had a brain tumor.  It took forever and ever to find the right name, but when we did, we knew it was perfect. :)