Birth Story

So, Friday night we finally finished the baby room. It looks great! Anyway, Chuck says to me ‘now if you go into labor at 2 in the morning, the nursery is done’. That was midnight. Two hours later, I felt contractions… not strong, just there. So I ask Chuck the time and he’s like ‘why’? When I told him I thought I was in labor, he was quick to find out that it was 2:03am.

We headed to the hospital at 4:30 as my contractions were already 4 minutes apart. When they checked me they thought I was practically there as I was completely effaced. She checked again and found me 2 cm… the fact that the baby was so low and right there threw her off.

Labor wasn’t bad… at first. And the whirlpool tub was great! Unfortunately when I got to 9 or 9.5 cm, the contractions were too much for me to breathe through anymore, and my body was tensing up and not finishing the dilation. Now anyone who knows me knows of my fear of needles… and the idea of one in my back terrified me. Well, the options we were given were the spinal and Demerol, which meant giving a needle to baby to counter the effect of the drug. So, hubby made the decision for me. I was to have a spinal. And to be honest, I’m glad we did. I fell asleep after it was administered which was around 4pm… I don’t remember exactly. Then within minutes my body was pushing. They checked me, I was ready, and away we went. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the moment I heard them say “It’s a girl”. I wanted to cry and collapse and everything all at once. That was at 5:32pm. Then we had complications.

I did tear a little, but didn’t need stitches. It still hurt like crazy. And the placenta wouldn’t come out. It took an extra hour and a lot of blood, and I needed the IV. I was able to nurse afterward, and she nursed really well, which was great. Afterward though, I couldn’t do anything else but sleep. I couldn’t even get up because the room swam like crazy. Then I had problems emptying my bladder and they were talking about using a catheter. I prayed like crazy that I would be able to go on my own, and thankfully I did. In the end, everything was ok.

I couldn’t eat anything all day Saturday, and Sunday I only had very little to eat. Monday I ate much more, but got sick over the night into Tuesday. We figure I had a fever as I thought Chuck was Marin and was going to roll off the bed, or that he would roll onto her, although she was in the bassinet. My milk came in that morning, and my cold came back full force that day too. And Marin got jaundice… so that made things even more difficult. Thankfully mom came down Wednesday and helped me out. I’m feeling better today, but I’m actually eating again which helps, and Marin is feeding really well again (I put her in the sunshine today a couple of times to help with the jaundice). The public health nurse came down yesterday which was nice. She’s coming down tomorrow too. It was good to know that I was doing things well, and her suggestions to help me feel better were great to hear, and when I did them it really helped.

I’m currently feeling a bit sick, but I think sleep will help. So, I’m going to head to bed. Thanks to everyone for their prayers and well wishes!