Happy Birthday Isabella!
My Birth Story
Around 1:30 am on the morning of Sept 8th (which is a REAL strange coincidence, since this is exactly the same time labor began when I was pregnant with Connor), I felt the need to poo. I had been pooping more than usual for 3 days in a row, so I had a feeling labor was gonna start any day now. Anyhow, I go to the bathroom and right after I'm done, I just felt really anxious. My hands felt really clammy and it felt like there was a chill going through my whole body. I drank 2 full glasses of water and started having contractions. I just felt like I was freezing cold and really anxious. My heart was beating super fast and I started feeling nervous. I called Jeramy at work at around 1:45 AM and told him what was going on. I didn't want to go to the hospital quite yet because I was just so unsure about what was going on...even though I had that feeling. I just KNEW it was time. So I told him I'd call him back. I started timing the contractions and they were like 10 mins apart. I was a little bit hesitant though since I wasn't experiencing any REAL pain yet. About 20 mins later, I called him back at work and told him I think it's time. He had already called his parents (who live right down the street) and they were just waiting for my phone call. The doctor told me to just go into the hospital, considering my history of a quick labor...better safe than sorry. I was really nervous about the whole thing and even then, that whole epidural idea was starting to look really good (even though it wasn't in my birth plan). Isabella was moving like crazy in my tummy too so that's why I was just thinking I was just feeling uncomfortable. But then again, my stomach kept tightening up for longer periods of time which wasn't normal, so I guess it was time!
J's parents came over and his dad brought me to the hospital while his mom stayed with Connor at the house. I think J's dad was more nervous than I was! We got to the hospital at around 2:30 and got into a room right away. At that point, I wasn't feeling clammy or nervous anymore. J's dad to go pick J up from work (since he had carpooled) so I just sat there thinking "PLEASE GOD, don't let this baby come anytime soon". Well, I think God was listening intently at that time since Isabella took her sweet a$$ time! LOL!
By the time J got there, my contractions were 5 mins apart and I was still 4 cm dilated. I had gone to the doc a few days ago and was measured at 4 cm, 80% effaced so in the back of my mind, I was gonna go from 5 cm to 10 cm in no time, just like I did with Connor. Boy was I wrong!!!
Dr. Yin was going out of town that day so she stopped in at 6:40 am to see how I was progressing. She offered to break my water to speed up the process but I refused. I figured it had only been 5 hrs so no big deal. I'll probably be pushing in another hr, right? WRONG! I’m kinda bummed Dr. Yin didn’t deliver my baby, but then again, oh well. Around 8 am, I was finally 5 cm dilated. By that time, I was already over the whole waiting process. My contractions subsided and were sporatic by that time. They went from 5 mins apart to 3 mins apart then 8 mins apart, then all over the place. That’s when I thought…”Could this be false labor?”
The nurse came at 11 am to ask if I wanted to have my water broken by Dr. Storrer (the doc on-call). I refused. I just thought that my body would progress naturally by itself, but by noon I was so tired of waiting already (yes, I have no patience) so I told them that we’d go ahead and rupture my membranes. Dr. Storrer came in at 1 pm and broke my water with this long “knitting” needle. (It’ll be awhile before I start knitting again, that’s for sure! LOL!). It was the yuckiest feeling ever. This huge gush of water came and it just felt like I kept peeing my pants for like 2 hrs. YUCK. At 3 pm, I was 6 cm dilated.
Around 5 pm, the nurses checked me again and I was 7 cm dilated. WOO HOO! I walked around some to try to progress my labor and the contractions were coming on strong by then. I was still able to deal with the pain so it wasn’t a big deal, but I just kept thinking “What if I stay at 7 cm for several hours then 8 cm for a few more hours? I wouldn’t be able to handle that!” They had offered to give me pitocin earlier that day and I refused. I have just heard WAYYYYY to many horror stories about it, so no way. They had offered me an epidural at 5 pm and I refused then, but by 6 pm, the contractions were just getting stronger and stronger so I finally gave in and asked for one.
The anesthiologist Dr. Sherman was one funny guy. He was like, “It took you to get to 7 cm to figure out you wanted an epidural? Sheez. Don’t worry, this is gonna be the best ride of your life. You’re gonna wanna have more babies after this.” HAHAHHA! Other than the epidural shot (which was the most painful thing I’ve ever had to endure, plus the fact that I was getting contractions at the same time…”Don’t move” they said, I wanted to punch them), the whole epidural idea was a GREAT one. I was squeezing J’s hands soooooooo hard, I almost broke them! I was crying so hard by then. I was thinking what a mistake! But when the drugs finally kicked in…HOLY MOLY! I was in heaven. I can’t believe I waited that long for an epidural! I felt like I was in LA LA land. So for the next 2 hours, I just laid there as happy go lucky as can be. Actually, I was pretty happy and smiley all throughout the whole day, so I must admit I’m pretty damn proud of myself.
Anyways, I started feeling some pressure in my butt area right after they gave me the epidural. I couldn’t feel a damn thing anywhere in my lower half though. My legs, my butt, my waist area were all numb. They kept asking me to move (which was kinda dumb on their part, don’t you think?!?) and I thought I was but I barely moved. I did alright though considering. Makes me real thankful for having a normal, healthy body. I can’t imagine what it would really be like to be paralyzed! The nurse checked me at 9 pm to put an internal monitor in and that’s when she realized the baby was already at a +3 station. She kinda gave me a freakish look and said “OMG! The baby’s coming!” Next thing I know, Dr. Storrer came in along with 2 other nurses and they told me to start pushing. They had a hard time telling me WHEN to push since my contractions were coming in waves at 1 min apart. I pushed once (or what I thought was pushing, I couldn’t feel a darn thing!) and Isabella’s head came out. I didn’t realize what was going on until Jeramy started crying and everyone started yelling “SLOW DOWN! She’s already out!” Dr. Storrer didn’t think the delivery part was gonna be that fast, she hadn’t even put on her gown yet and gotten their medical table out yet. After they got everything laid out, they told me to push again and Isabella was completely out.
The doc laid her out on my belly and she just looked amazingly beautiful. She had vernix all over her face and body, and we were all gooey from touching her…but she just looked perfect. Just perfect. Anyways, I thank God for having such a beautiful, normal healthy little girl. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. We are so happy to have her here. Our family is now complete!
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