Chandra
12-03-2004 Friday, 04:51 PM
Loralei’s Birth Story
So, I’d been doing some cleaning Monday, nothing hard core. Mostly folding laundry and organizing things. Paul was on his way home. He’d stopped to get a hair cut and pick up something for dinner. Taco Bell. I had a "Stuft Burrito". I started having what I thought were just really hard Braxton Hicks contractions when he had called to ask what I wanted for dinner.
After he’d gotten home and we’d started to eat, I had a couple contractions I had to breathe through. So I decided it might be time to make sure I had a bag packed for Angelica. I went upstairs to grab some things and had a couple more contractions that I had to breathe through so I sat down, timed a couple of them at 7 apart, and IM’d Monette to warn her that we might be dropping Angelica off. This was about 720pm.
So just to make sure I time some more but these were around 9 min apart. So I thought it must be false labor and continued to time them. The contractions would range from 9 to 13 min apart but last anywhere from 1 to 2 min. So after about 2 hours of that, I had the OB paged because the contractions were getting more painful but were not really increasing in frequency or becoming consistent. The OB said that she couldn’t be sure and that if I felt I needed to be evaluated that I should just go to Lake Pointe. This irritated me a lot. For some reason, I felt her answer should have been more definitive.
Around 10:30, I’m standing there after having talked to the OB staring at the ceiling while breathing through another weird random contraction when I turned to Paul and said, "Screw this, let’s just go to the hospital and they can either give me an answer one way or the other." We decided to just take Angelica with us and call Monette once I’d been checked out.
11pm, Once there and in a room, the contractions were around 7 min apart, radiating around my back, 7 min apart, and lasting for 2 min. I figured either I was definitely in labor or if not after the first bp reading 150/80, they weren’t going to let me leave anyway. I had Paul call Monette to come get Angelica before the nurse had actually evaluated me. The nurse came in and did her checks and I was 4 cm dilated, paper thin, and at a +1.
I’m having these horrible pains in my back during contractions and it’s only easing up between to the point that I didn’t want to lean up against anything or have anyone touching my back. When I was having a contraction, I was sitting cross-legged on the bed, leaning forward, using my hands to lift myself off of the bed, and staring up at a random point of the ceiling while trying to breath for 2 minutes at a time. 30 mins of this, I decide there’s no way I can do it without help and the epidural can’t hurt as much as the back pain I was already having and I was ready to cry as it was. I get Paul to have the nurse page the anesthesiologist and Monette arrives and picks up Angelica. (I have some wonderful friends.)
In the mean time it’s about midnight, I’ve gone from 4 to 7. The back pain was horrible. It was taking everything I had to just breathe during the contractions. The anesthesiologist shows up close to 1220, preps me, and has the epi in by 1230. The initial stick hurt but not as much as lying on my side which involved part of my back touching the bed while he was doing it. Once the meds were in, I was way more relaxed. I still had to breathe through the contractions but I could actually lean back. Nurse Joni checks me as soon as the Dr is done. 9 cm!
15 minutes later, I’m 9 and ¾ and while she’s checking I have a contraction and my water breaks on her hand. I still have a lip of a cervix though. If I hadn’t had the epidural what Joni did next would require at least a punch or two, with my next contraction she stretched my cervix to ten cm, as it was I grabbed her shoulder. That did not feel good. Suddenly, LOTS of pressure and I’m suddenly getting the urge to push! So, Joni runs and gets the Dr and the other nurse.
They prep while I’m trying to breathe through and finally I say, "I can’t wait anymore!" Dr Poole looks up and says, "Then go ahead and push." 4 LONG pushes and the baby’s head comes out. She immediately started to cry. 1 more push and out pops A BABY GIRL at 12:57 am! I had a couple small tears and no episiotomy.
Our beautiful Loralei entered the world screaming at 12:57 on 11/30. 8 lbs 15.2 oz, 14 in head, 15 in chest, and 20 ½ in long.
So, I’d been doing some cleaning Monday, nothing hard core. Mostly folding laundry and organizing things. Paul was on his way home. He’d stopped to get a hair cut and pick up something for dinner. Taco Bell. I had a "Stuft Burrito". I started having what I thought were just really hard Braxton Hicks contractions when he had called to ask what I wanted for dinner.
After he’d gotten home and we’d started to eat, I had a couple contractions I had to breathe through. So I decided it might be time to make sure I had a bag packed for Angelica. I went upstairs to grab some things and had a couple more contractions that I had to breathe through so I sat down, timed a couple of them at 7 apart, and IM’d Monette to warn her that we might be dropping Angelica off. This was about 720pm.
So just to make sure I time some more but these were around 9 min apart. So I thought it must be false labor and continued to time them. The contractions would range from 9 to 13 min apart but last anywhere from 1 to 2 min. So after about 2 hours of that, I had the OB paged because the contractions were getting more painful but were not really increasing in frequency or becoming consistent. The OB said that she couldn’t be sure and that if I felt I needed to be evaluated that I should just go to Lake Pointe. This irritated me a lot. For some reason, I felt her answer should have been more definitive.
Around 10:30, I’m standing there after having talked to the OB staring at the ceiling while breathing through another weird random contraction when I turned to Paul and said, "Screw this, let’s just go to the hospital and they can either give me an answer one way or the other." We decided to just take Angelica with us and call Monette once I’d been checked out.
11pm, Once there and in a room, the contractions were around 7 min apart, radiating around my back, 7 min apart, and lasting for 2 min. I figured either I was definitely in labor or if not after the first bp reading 150/80, they weren’t going to let me leave anyway. I had Paul call Monette to come get Angelica before the nurse had actually evaluated me. The nurse came in and did her checks and I was 4 cm dilated, paper thin, and at a +1.
I’m having these horrible pains in my back during contractions and it’s only easing up between to the point that I didn’t want to lean up against anything or have anyone touching my back. When I was having a contraction, I was sitting cross-legged on the bed, leaning forward, using my hands to lift myself off of the bed, and staring up at a random point of the ceiling while trying to breath for 2 minutes at a time. 30 mins of this, I decide there’s no way I can do it without help and the epidural can’t hurt as much as the back pain I was already having and I was ready to cry as it was. I get Paul to have the nurse page the anesthesiologist and Monette arrives and picks up Angelica. (I have some wonderful friends.)
In the mean time it’s about midnight, I’ve gone from 4 to 7. The back pain was horrible. It was taking everything I had to just breathe during the contractions. The anesthesiologist shows up close to 1220, preps me, and has the epi in by 1230. The initial stick hurt but not as much as lying on my side which involved part of my back touching the bed while he was doing it. Once the meds were in, I was way more relaxed. I still had to breathe through the contractions but I could actually lean back. Nurse Joni checks me as soon as the Dr is done. 9 cm!
15 minutes later, I’m 9 and ¾ and while she’s checking I have a contraction and my water breaks on her hand. I still have a lip of a cervix though. If I hadn’t had the epidural what Joni did next would require at least a punch or two, with my next contraction she stretched my cervix to ten cm, as it was I grabbed her shoulder. That did not feel good. Suddenly, LOTS of pressure and I’m suddenly getting the urge to push! So, Joni runs and gets the Dr and the other nurse.
They prep while I’m trying to breathe through and finally I say, "I can’t wait anymore!" Dr Poole looks up and says, "Then go ahead and push." 4 LONG pushes and the baby’s head comes out. She immediately started to cry. 1 more push and out pops A BABY GIRL at 12:57 am! I had a couple small tears and no episiotomy.
Our beautiful Loralei entered the world screaming at 12:57 on 11/30. 8 lbs 15.2 oz, 14 in head, 15 in chest, and 20 ½ in long.