Monday, February 11, 2008

From Whence She Came

So, here's how it went down:

Thursday, February 7th, I had an appointment at 3:45 pm. I was being quite optimistic and hoped that mentioning to the OB that my parents were coming for the weekend and that it would be a great time to have a baby, he'd go ahead and get me scheduled.

Well, it went better than expected.

After weighing me (I was 184) and taking my blood pressure (which was a little higher than usual because our master bathroom shower needs to be fixed and short of gorilla glue, the only way to fix it is to replace the whole shower faucet plumbing), the doc did a quick internal exam and said that I was dilated to a 4 (which is 2 cm further along than I was last week). He said he'd go "get on the horn" and schedule me at the hospital.

Five minutes later, he walks in the room, hands me my chart and says, "Go to the hospital now."

Ummm...I think my brain just fell out of my head!

We had X-man with us so we headed back to our house (thankfully only about 10 minutes away from the hospital) and got my bag and X-man's bag. On the way there, we called our friends and arranged for them to come get X-man so he could stay with them that night.

We got to the hospital around 5:00 pm and at 6:00 pm, my OB came and broke my water. The contractions started coming pretty strong then and I said that I'd be ready for the epidural (my nurse called it a happy-dural) any time. She had to get some fluid in me to avoid a blood pressure drop when I got the anesthesia. At 6:30 I asked how much longer I'd have to wait on the epi and she said that she'd call the anesthesiologist at 7:00. Holy Moses that's a long time! She also said that she was a little concerned that as soon as I got the epi I'd go really fast and the baby would be born quickly. At 7:15 he finally got there (thank the good Lord above!) and it took 15 minutes to get the area prep'ed (we had to wait on a few contractions to finish) and then get the IV in. At 7:30 I got the epi and it kicked in by 7:45. About 10 minutes later, the nurse checked me and I was already at a 9. And then the baby's heartbeat dropped. I could tell she was getting nervous.

After a few seconds of the decelerated heartbeat, she picked up her phone and said, "Nurse help now." Instantly, 3 nurses came in the room. One put an oxygen mask on me and two rolled me over to my left side (trying to get the baby to "fix" her heartrate). No worky. Poor TC. I can only imagine how he was feeling. He said later that he was just glad they didn't wheel me out of the room and leave him alone or tell him to leave the room all together! I was trying to stay calm. I mean, if there's going to be a problem, the hospital is the best place, right?

The nurse had already called my OB and he said if they have to have the baby without him, go for it (apparently some OB's aren't as laid back as him and wouldn't have wanted the nurses to deliver). I pushed a few times and out came baby Buttercup's head. She had her cord pretty tight over her neck/shoulder and the nurses finally just cut it. One more push and out she came. With a blue face. And not crying. At 8:13...not long after I got the epi!

I won't say that I wasn't screaming inside, but the nurses weren't acting anxious. I rubbed her on the back and then they took her and cleaned her up. And she started crying and I felt much better!!

The OB got there just in time to sew me up (I tore...and the nurses can't do episiotomys). Buttercup pinked right up and all was good.

Until I tried to feed her. She just didn't know how to do it (and adding to my anxiety was the fact that I did know how to breastfeed and I remember having a hard time with X-man). However, the nurses and the lactation consultant didn't seem worried about her eating pattern. And she lost 8 ounces over the course of two days which was only 6% and well within normal.

She's eating very well now and I think we're getting it down!

X-man loves his sister and says her name really well. He loves to kiss her and it has to be kisses right on the lips. It's so cute, too, because he comes right in and says, "Mmmmm" while he kisses her.

X-man turned two today and I'll have to post about that in another post. But I wanted to update with the birth story before I forget it all!

10 comments:

Amanda Fortney said...

Oh my goodness! I'm so glad everything turned out ok! That would have been so scary!

Now you need to post some pictures of that baby girl!!!

And happy birthday to X-man!

NJMomof5 said...

Martha,

WOW!! I'm so glad that all turned out great! She is adoreable! Take care of yourself and get some rest while your Mom is there to help. You deserve it!

Congratulations to your family!
Mary

Anonymous said...

Wow, what a story!! Thank goodness all came out fine in the end!!!

~~~ Lisa (from MZ)

SarahB said...

Oh wow, that must have been a frightening couple of seconds before she cried! So glad you are both doing well and I look forward to more precious pictures!

Belated birthday wishes X-man!

MommyLuv said...

Wow...what a story! I am glad that you and her are great!!! I can't wait to meet her. Our daughters will only be a month apart.

Jessica said...

OMG! She came QUICKLY!! :) How long was your labor with X-man? Curious to see if it was a lot faster with Avery. I bet you had to be so nervous when she wasn't crying at first...that freaked me out with Eli too. So glad all is well though and she's feeding good now. So....where are the pics of your beautiful girl?! I can't wait to see her!! Congrats again!!

And please send X-Man Happy Birthday wishes from me!!!

Becky said...

thumbs up on the healthy baby and loving 2 year old big brother, but thumbs WAAAY down on the torn vag. owee!

Kristin, Rod, and Victoria said...

Happy birthday to X-Man!

About the delivery - wow! At least the epi kicked in before the delivery. So glad Buttercup perked up right away.

Re: the episi - my SIL just had a baby, and the docs told her they prefer NOT to do them - to just let the body 'give' where it's naturally gonna give!?! Happy healing either way on that front.

Congrats again.

Amanda Fortney said...

i'm sure you're incredibly busy right now, but pictures please!!!

DBN said...

Congrats! I am glad it all worked out and your beautiful baby girl has arrived!