Lillian's Birth Story

40 Weeks, 4 Days: Heading to the hospital!

I've been thinking about this post for the past week and a half, and just haven't really had a chance to sit down and write it all out.  Lillian is 2 weeks old now, but we have only had her home for one week.  Here is her birth story.

I went in for my 40 week check up on 4/1.  My doctor had been talking induction the week of April 1st if we hadn't had a baby by then, and I wasn't very happy about it.  Since there was no change from the last 4 appointments, we were definitely going to have to be induced by Sunday the 7th.  Mark and I went back and forth about what day we wanted the induction - unfortunately, there were no openings on either of the days we wanted.  We either had to wait until the 7th, or be induced on the evening of the 4th and deliver without Dr. Embry.  I decided I wanted to get it over with, so we picked the 4th.  

I started work on 4/3, knowing it was my last day before starting my leave, and I was anxious.  We had to be at the hospital at 5 PM on the 4th, so we planned on cleaning, doing some laundry, and just relaxing on our last night/day at home.  Around 12:45 PM on the 3rd, I felt like I was leaking, and I wondered if my water had broken.  I wasn't sure, so naturally, I googled it to find out what it felt like.  At that point, I decided it was just normal discharge (gross, I know) and went back to work.  I kept feeling like I was leaking, so I kept running back and forth to the bathroom and a little before 1, I called Mark and told him I wasn't sure, but I thought my water had broken.  He told me to call the dr. because they could check for sure.  I went to the bathroom and was calling the dr. when I stood up to pull up my pants and my water broke all over the bathroom floor!  I hung up and called Mark back immediately and told him it was baby time!!!  He was in a daze, and asked if I wanted him to come home now, or wait until he got off work!  I yelled "Of course you need to come home now!!!"  I called work, my mom, the doctor, and texted my brother and sisters (my dad was still working, so my mom called him).  Dr. Embry wanted me to come in as soon as Mark got home, so I finished packing our bags and started to make cookies for the nurses.  

We got to the hospital around 3 PM and I was admitted and put on the monitor.  I was still only 1 cm dilated, so we started walking as soon as I could get off the monitor.  I wanted to be mobile for the delivery, and free to move, sit, bounce, do whatever.  Around 6, the nurses checked me again, and there was still no change.  Dr. Embry said I could walk until 8 PM, and if I was still only 1 cm, they were going to start Pitocin to get things moving.  She was concerned about infection since my water broke but I wasn't progressing.  Usually they like a baby within 24 hours of your water breaking.  I had until 1 PM to get that baby out or we would start discussing c-sections. 

At 8 PM, there was still no change, so I was put on Pitocin.  No more walking around for me.  I needed to be on the monitor continually.  I could sit/stand next to the bed, or be on the ball, but I had to be hooked up.  The nurses really tried their best to find baby on the monitor in those positions, but our baby was stubborn, and would only cooperate when I was in one position on the bed.  If I moved, she disappeared from the monitor and the nurses would come in again and spend a half hour trying to get me in a good position to monitor her.  Those were the longest hours of my life.  I wasn't opposed to getting pain medicine or an epidural, but I really wanted to try going natural, and laying still in one position was not going to be the best way to do that.  Around 6 AM, I caved and asked for the pain medicine.  I could get it once an hour.  It lasted for 45 minutes.  At 6:45, I was begging for another shot.  The day nurses came in around 7:15 with my 2nd dose and asked how I felt about an epidural.  At that point I was all for it.  I was only 3 cm dilated and couldn't move to alleviate the pain, so at 8 AM, the anesthesiologist came in and gave me the epidural.  It felt great and worked like a charm.  

A little before 10 AM, Dr. Embry came in to check me, and I was only 4 cm.  She thought it could possibly be another 8 hours or so and decided to talk again around 6 PM if there was still no baby.  At this point, the nurses were checking my temperature every 1-2 hours since they were concerned with infection.  They came in around 11 to check on me and I told them that I kept feeling like I had to pee, even though I had a catheter in (for the epidural).  They made everyone get out of the room so they could check me, and I was shocked when they said I had gone from 4 cm to 9 cm in an hour!!  I did a few practice pushes, and then we let the baby descend on her own for about a half an hour.  At noon, they checked me again and I was 10 cm... it was time to start pushing!! 

The nurses paged my doctor and while they got everything set up, I pushed and pushed.  Around 12:30, the nurses were paging Dr. Embry repeatedly, and I knew we were close to having a baby!  Dr. Embry made it just in time... a few more pushes, and Lilly's head was out!  The cord was wrapped around her neck, and Dr. Embry tried to slip it over her head, but it was just a little too short, so Mark cut the cord then, and I pushed once more and at 12:44 PM on April 4th, after just shy of 24 hours of labor, she was out.  It was so amazing to hear "It's a girl!"  They put her on my chest and almost immediately they took her away, and I knew something wasn't right.  They took her over to the bassinet and started cleaning her up and working on her.  They paged for more nurses, and finally a neonatologist.  The whole time, I just wanted to see my baby and know she was ok.  It was so scary and all I could do was lie there and cry while the doctor finished up working on me.  

The neonatologist came over to explain what was wrong.  Her heart rate was very high and she was breathing very fast, so they needed to take her down to the NICU to check her out.  It was possibly just from the stress of birth, but they were concerned with infection since my water had been broken close to 24 hours.  I got to hold her for a few minutes, and introduce her to my family, but then they took her away again.  Mark went down to the NICU with her and took pictures while they weighed and measured her.  I knew she was ok and her daddy was with her, but I was so upset that I couldn't be with my baby.  

Almost everything that I had wanted for our birth didn't happen, and all the things that I didn't want to happen did, but in the end, I wouldn't change it one bit.  We ended up with a beautiful baby girl, and I love her more than I ever imagined was possible.  I never knew I could love my husband more than I did before Lilly, but every day I fall even more in love with him as I see him fall in love with our daughter.  I am so very blessed.