Thursday, May 6, 2010

Mother's Day Mania...Birth Story!

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This so super appropriate for today, considering it's Rory's birthday! (Special birthday post is in the works. :))

I was due on May 3. I went to the doctor on Friday, May 1. I was completely closed, no efacement, no dilation, NOTHING. The only thing my dear darling doctor gave me as hope was that Rory was dropped. (Well, he said "the baby" because we don't know the sex! CRAZY.)

Yippee. She'd been dropped for like three weeks. Give me a break.

So I had to wait. BUT! The good thing is he gave me a plan, the plan was wait until Friday, have a non-stress test and get induced if she didn't come by then. A long term plan, but it was a PLAN and it made me feel better. I knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel of pregnancy. I. Was. Huge. HUGE!! I didn't have any swelling though, thankfully. I did have major sciatica problems but that was all. HUGE and sore. Tired. Ready for baby.

On Tuesday, el Cinco de Mayo!, I was sitting out on the porch, watching Dave work in the garden, crying my eyes out because I was miserable. It was a beautiful, breezy day. Dave, my darling husband, suggested getting wings and fries from my favorite dive bar for dinner. It was AMAZING. We watched 3 hours of Extreme Homemakeover and gorged ourselves on hot wings and greasy fries. (Hot wings are key here, people. Spicy foods!) Dave fell asleep early, I couldn't sleep at all. I was uncomfortable and hot. We had the AC blasting, but I was still sweating. At midnight, on the dot, I had my first contraction. It was mild and I wasn't really sure it was a real deal. I let Dave sleep. Another at 12:30 exactly and again at 1:00 am. BAM. I knew that was it at that time. I kicked Dave and made him get up. I laid in bed for a while, took a shower and then. All hell broke loose.

I went out to the living room and called my mom. My contractions were 4-5 minutes apart. One would be hugely strong, the next more mild, then back to hugely strong. I was a little confused as to what was going on with my contractions. I thought it was all one long contractions and told the midwife when I called they were about 10 minutes apart. (Not true!) She advised me to labor at home as long as I could stand it. I made it until about 6 am, then I felt really nauseous and lightheaded. We headed for the hospital, 35 minutes away. (Gotta love living in the forest!) We made it, I checked in and got hooked up.

The nurse came in a checked me.

Are you ready for this?

Seriously brace yourself.

6.5 hours of strong contractions, 4-5 minutes apart...and I was less than 2 cms!! WOOOOOOHOOOO. Barf.

They let me labor on my own for a while, a few hours. They gave me a Pit drip after a while, nothing major happened. I asked for an epidural at noon. They checked me at that time and I was 6 cms. I didn't care, I had medicine. (Seriously, the epi is not bad at all. Get one!)

I watched Top Model with my sister, laughed with Dave, made fun of my Dad, the usual. I labored away, watching the monitor and laughing. They broke my water around 4:30 pm, hoping it would help speed things up.

They checked me at 6:00. I was still at 6! Six hours later of pit and breaking my water and absolutely nothing happened. Rory wasn't descending, I wasn't dialating, nothing. At that time, they made the decision to go to a C-section. My body was starting to show signs of serious exhaustion (hellllooo..this was hour 18 of contractions ever 4-5 minutes!) and before something had the chance to go sour, we figured it was best to get Rory out and me recovering.

They prepped me so fast, I barely had time to get nervous. The nurse gave me that nasty stomacch neutralizer shot and away I wheeled! Once in the room, I got my spinal block. And it didn't take. They gave me the scratch test and I still felt it. Like hardcore. Waited a few minutes, tried it again, STILL felt it.

I had to be put to sleep. I didn't all together mind though, because I was scared out of my mind that I would feel something! (haha) I was sad that Dave wouldn't be in the room when the baby was born, but we both understood it was best for me and the baby.

I fell asleep blissfully and at 6:50 pm, a baby was born!

Rory was wheeled in her isolette (Precuation, nothing more) to the nursery and got to meet her Daddy! It was love at first sight, for sure. :)

I woke up a little later and Dave was there, telling me she was a girl. Coming out of my fog, I thought he was talking about our dog and I said "Yeah I know." Dave laughed and said "No the baby! Do you still want to name her Rory?" And after that, it was love. <3

3 comments:

Mama M. said...

Oh, Kate! Look at that sweet little babe!

So many women tell me that when it came right down to it, they were ready for the c-section after laboring for hours and hours!

She's gorgeous!

And, Happy Birthday to her!!!!

Laura said...

I just shed a tear.

Lynn said...

She is adorable!! I got to do a birthday post today too as its my son's 2nd birthday. YAY!

I have enjoyed reading your blog and am now following you! I have a competition dancer myself and its nice to see your perspective on competitions!