I woke up on Thursday around 4:30 AM with pretty bad cramping and a feeling that I was leaking fluid. I decided to head downstairs to get some water to see if the cramping was false labor. They say drinking water and moving around will stop false labor. Well, nothing I did worked and I was pretty sure it wasn't just urine coming out of me (I hoped it wasn't - usually you know if you're peeing yourself). Around 5:30 AM I was still leaking a lot of fluid so I woke up Tom to figure out what we should do. I decided to take a shower first to relieve some of the pain from the cramping. Once I was dressed, I called the doctor to see if I should go to the hospital or wait for my 8:00 AM appointment with Dr. Wertheim. Dr. Pickford told me I needed to head into the hospital because it sounded like I was leaking amniotic fluid. So, while Tom showered I finished packing our hospital bag and made sure the cat had enough food for a few days. Tom went to pack the car and came back in announcing that it had snowed - luckily not too much, but we thought it was funny. We took off for the hospital around 6:50 AM.
And this proves that my child will be a good listener - we arrived at the hospital during Free Valet hours. We just pulled up to the front, got our stuff out and went in. Plus, we had pre-registered, so we only had to sign a few papers before we were sent up to Triage. The Triage nurse had me get in a hospital robe so she could begin the exam. She hooked me up to two monitors - one to monitor the baby's heartrate and one to measure the length of my contractions. Since I wasn't having regular contractions, she also had to do a swab of the fluid leaking out of me to determine if it was amniotic fluid. The swab would then go to the lab and we would get the results 20 minutes later.
Luckily for me Dr. Pickford walked in during that swab and put the kibosh on the wait since I was "actively leaking". Unfortunately I was only 1 cm dilated, but I was 60% effaced. For those not familiar with those terms, dilation refers to the opening of the cervix and effacement is the thinning of the cervix. Dr. Pickford gave me the option of laboring on my own for a few more hours or starting a Pitocin IV to speed up the process. I had read (and heard) that Pitocin induced contractions were very hard and painful and I really wanted to try to get as far as I could without an epidural. I chose to labor on my own in the hopes I would make some progress. The nurse then gave me some of the sexiest panties I've ever seen - these mesh granny panties - PLUS a diaper sized pad to put in those hot panties. Once I got all dolled up we were off to Labor and Delivery (L&D).
We really wanted to call people when we were on the way to the hospital, but decided to wait until we were admitted just in case it was a false alarm. Once we were settled in the L&D room we started making the calls to friends and family. Around 8:30 AM Aunt Peggy arrived, which really helped distract me. I had packed a bunch of entertainment for everyone - the laptop, handheld games, crossword and Sudoku puzzles. I must say that the Women's Center of Fair Oaks hospital is pretty nice - they have free WIFI, cable TV, "on call" food ordering and a great staff. We were all able to get online to email people and update blogs. I had an IV antibiotic started because I tested positive for Group B Strep.
Dr. Pickford came in around 11:30 AM to check me and I was only at 2 cm so she suggested they start the Pitocin IV. I knew they were concerned with infection since my water had already broke so I agreed to start the IV. My nurse, Anna, started the IV and told me she would increase the Pitocin every 15 minutes until my contractions were 2 minutes apart and really strong. I was fine for awhile without any pain meds - the contractions were like bad menstrual cramps. Anna came in around the time they started getting pretty bad (an 8 on a scale of 1-10) and told us about the plane in the Hudson River. I tried concentrating on that to take my mind off of the pain of the contractions, but it wasn't working. I had Tom applying pressure on my lower back during each contraction to try to relieve the pressure. I rated these as a 9 on the pain scale and called Anna in to see what my pain relief options were. I could either get an IV pain med that would just make me groggy (and the baby, too) or I could go for the epidural. I really didn't want anything that would effect the baby, so I chose option 2.
The anesthesiologist came in around 2:00 PM and explained everything to me - although at that point I didn't care what he was saying. They let Tom stay in the room while I got the epi which made me feel better. Anna showed me how to sit - on the edge of the bed, hunched over - which let me tell you was sooo hard to do through each contraction. As the anesthesiologist was placing the catheter he said, "That will probably be the last contraction you feel" - music to my ears. After the epi was placed Anna inserted a catheter since I couldn't control my bladder anymore. What a weird feeling to be peeing and not feel it at all - I only knew it was happening by looking at the catheter line. About 10 minutes later I was nice and comfortable and only felt pressure in my butt with each contraction.
After Anna placed the catheter, Dr. Pickford came in and checked my progress and said I was at about 4 cm dilated. She guessed I would be fully dilated by 6:00 PM. Aunt Peggy and Tom's dad came back in and we hung out for awhile until it was time for me to be checked again. Around 5:00 PM, I was starting to feel pain with each contraction so Anna checked me. She looked up and said, "You won't believe this - you're fully dilated." I couldn't believe it - I was going to have the baby soon. She had the anesthesiologist come back in and administer more meds for the delivery. Anna told me she was going to give Dr. Wertheim a heads up that I was almost ready (Dr. Pickford went home around 4:00 PM) and that we would start practice pushing at 5:45 PM.
Practicing pushing wasn't that hard at all. Anna and Tom held my legs up on their arms and had me push through a 10 count 3 times for each contraction. As soon as they saw the tip of her head, we stopped and Anna went to get Dr. Wertheim. She came back and said we would start pushing for real as soon as Dr. Wertheim came in. Anna was supposed to go home at 7:00 PM, but told us she would stay for the baby's birth. Around 6:30 Dr. Wertheim came in and I started pushing. I was really encouraged when the doctor told me I was a good pusher. Because Tom was holding one of my legs up he had a pretty good view of everything going on at the "business end." Going into this whole pregnancy I was positive that I didn't want him to see anything, but once we were in the moment I loved that he saw her being born. AND he wasn't grossed out at all - at least that's what he says.
Once the baby's head was about to come out, Dr. Wertheim gowned up and got ready to deliver the baby. He was doing a perineal massage during each push which helps stretch out the skin without tearing. All of a sudden I saw the baby's head come out - it was so bizarre - grey and slimy. The doctor had me pause and then slowly deliver her shoulders and the rest of her body. I am so grateful for that because it really helped me come out without an episiotomy or external tearing.
As soon as the baby was out, Dr. Wertheim cleaned the baby's mouth and nose and at 7:07 PM announced, "It's a...girl!" They put the baby on my chest and I immediately started crying - I just couldn't believe how much I loved this little girl. Tom then cut the cord and they took her to clean her up, weigh and measure her and check her out. Tom went over and took a ton of pictures of her while I was delivering the placenta and getting checked out. I ended up with a small tear in my cervix and a 1st degree internal tear. Apparently a TON of stuff came out of me after the placenta was delivered - they had set up a huge plastic bag at the end of my bed to catch all of it. I didn't even notice it, and Tom didn't say anything to me, until they were cleaning up the room. Once the baby was cleaned up, they brought her to me and put her skin to skin and then we tried breastfeeding right away. Tom went out to let everyone know it was a girl and then once I was dressed, everyone came in to meet Stasa.
Our little girl, Anastasia Lee, is perfect. We could literally hold her and watch her all day - she's just that cute.
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