Eva's Birth Story

I keep thinking that I need to write this before any of the details get fuzzy, but I am still in shock about how it all went down. If I didn't have a sweet little baby here next to me, I might wonder if I dreamt it all. When you read this, you'll probably think...sounds pretty normal to me. That's just it! After how dramatic I was about delivering my first baby, I fully expected to be dramatic about this one. I was geared up for it! And to my pleasent surprise....it wasn't that bad. ;)

I went in for my final doctor's appointment on Nov 7th and my doctor told me that I still wasn't dilated at all. He asked me if I wanted to go ahead and have a baby the next week (at 39 weeks) and I very much said yes. So, I checked into the hospital on 11/13 to start the Cytotek process and begin my induction. I was able to check into the hospital, fully prepared. Bags packed, camera in tow, clean house, & freshly painted finger and toe nails. Ridiculous in the scheme of things, but hey--it was nice. So anyway, I got to the hospital at 8 pm, and was due for my first Cy.totek dose at 10 pm. Prior to that I changed into the lovely buttcrack gown, had my blood taken, peed in a cup and had 234 hospital bracelets attached to my arms. Oh and then there was the IV. I got that too. All of it was pretty uneventful. BUT, when it came time for my cervix pill, the nurse checked me and said I was dilated to a 3! WHOA! I was pretty certain that I don't dilate without drugs. That had proved to be my thing and I was just surprised that one week made that much difference. Nevertheless, I was supposed to have 2-3 doses of cervix pill and she immediately knocked it down to 1 dose because the others weren't necessary if I was dilating on my own plus it could cause the baby distress.

So, 10:00 pm was my first dose. She came back and checked me at 1:30 am and I was at a 4. So no MAJOR change, but a change nonetheless. They had tried to give me an Am.bien like they did with my first birth and I turned it down this time. Sleeping doesn't happen anyway when someone is running in and out the door checking you for dilation and checking your vitals and I just wanted to do the least amount of drugs possible, EXCLUDING my epi.dural. :)
Nurse comes back in at around 4 a.m. and starts my Pitocin. I am still dilated to a 4 and just barely feeling contractions. She tells me that my doc said I could have my epi whenever I was ready. I decided to hold off for awhile. (with my first baby I got it when I was at a 3) By 5 a.m., I was requesting it. My nurse suggested that I take another form of pain meds until the epi guy could get there, and I refused. Less is more. By the time he got there...close to 6 a.m., I was uncomfortable. Not writhing in pain, but ready for some relief. So he gives me the epi, all goes smoothly with that except that it hurt worse this time than I remember last time, but whatever. They put in my catheter. (eww) My doctor arrives at 6:30 a.m. By this time the pitocin was cranked up high and my contractions were about 2 minutes apart, but my legs were numb so I was alright. Haha. At 6:30 he broke my water. I was still dilated between 4-5 and my Mom and MIL had started to text JT around 7 a.m. to check out the situation. He just told them to take their time. I was between 4-5 and had been for awhile. We were geared up for a long day ahead.

So, around 8 a.m. or so, I start feeling major pressure. It was taking my breath away, but once again NOTHING like what I felt with Isabel. When the nurse comes in, I tell her I am feeling a ton of pressure and she checks me. I am at a 9!!!!! A 9, I said!!!! In one hour I had gone from a 4/5 to a 9 and she tells me just to let her know when I am ready to push. My parents and in-laws had JUST arrived and about peed themselves when I told them what was up.
They stayed in the room for like MAYBE 30 minutes and I kept feeling the pressure but it didn't seem to be getting worse. Finally, I was like...hmm, maybe I can push now?? So my family leaves the room at about 9 a.m. The nurse comes in to check me and I am fully dilated and probably had been for a little bit. I get the go ahead to push and after about 3 sets of pushing, they are calling for the doctor and telling me to hold off on pushing. (will never understand why they tell you this, as if you have any control) Dr. M comes in the room I do 1 1/2 more sets of pushing and then I have a baby on my chest. 9:21 a.m!!! It was INSANE how quickly I was able to push her out. 15 minutes of pushing versus the 1 hour and 45 minutes I pushed with Isabel.
So, like I said our family leaves the room at 9 and by 9:40 or so they are standing right back in the room with me.

But of course I have to bring SOME drama to the table. When Eva arrived she was making a little bit of a grunting noise. I would have thought nothing of it, because it sounded exactly like every other newborn I have ever heard, but the nurse heard something I didn't. So they ran a tube down her throat :( and sucked out some bloody fluid that they said she had swallowed. We wait a few minutes, she is still grunting, and so they whisk her off to the NICU to "check things out". My family comes into the room and the nurses have told me that within a couple of hours they will bring her back to me after they make sure everything is okay. I get a shower, get moved to another room and still haven't heard anything. My new nurse who I called "Jessica Simpson" behind her back, because I still to this day have no idea how she is an RN or obtained a job, had no idea at all what I was talking about. She kept asking dumb questions like, "So you had a baby this morning?".....seriously. I was not that nice to her I don't think. Eventually I felt bad because she was super nice....but she was super dumb and they weren't bringing back my baby and she had no idea what was going on. So, about 2.5 hours after birthing an 8lb 6 oz baby, having an episiotomy, and being stitched right back up, I am marching full speed down the hallway to demand answers from the NICU people. I was just super irritated about the lack of communication. If my child needs observation, FINE, but you need to keep me informed. I had literally seen her for like 10 minutes before they took her away. And now I had visitors showing up and no baby to show for my efforts. And nothing to tell anyone. I stomp right into the NICU, get rude with the secretary, and then stand with my arms crossed next to my baby waiting for a nurse to come fill me in. Finally, I get her NICU nurse to agree to call me as soon as they know something and to give me a time frame on when she would see the Pedia.trician.

Long story short, they did x-rays and took blood and everything was perfect. After ALLLLL of that they determined that I have a "noisy baby". SIGH. They finally brought her back to my room at 4:30 p.m., 7 hours after I gave birth to her!!! And we got to go home the very next morning. SUPER short hospital stay, especially considering I didn't even see her much the first day of her life.
Disclaimer: I know I am so blessed that there was nothing wrong with her and that her stay was one day. We did the 10 day NICU stay with Isabel and it was horrible and I still knew I was blessed that her issues were so minor when there were babies fighting for their lives in there. I don't want to sound like a total butt. I KNOW that we were lucky. My problem was with the communication of the staff. Just wanted to clear that up.

My Mom and I keep discussing how weird it all was. Super short labor and super short stay with a long day in the NICU in between. We had all of these people wanting to visit on Thurs night and Friday day, and we were home well before then. It was just weird. Good weird, because I didn't want to be in the hospital, but still....weird.

I have had people ask me why I think this time was so different than the last. Well, it was my 2nd baby and I am sure that had something to do with it, but also I had WAY less drugs in my system. Last time I had gotten sick and threw up while I was in labor...not this time. Not even queasy. This baby was still a big baby, but quite a bit smaller than my first and her head was over an inch smaller than Isabel's. I would imagine that made a difference too!


My healing process has been about the same both times. It's been 10 days and I still have pain, but it gets better every day. My stitches should come out soon if they haven't already. The difference has been that I have to care for a toddler while trying to heal. Goodness. Underestimated that part for sure.

All in all, I ended up with a beautiful, healthy baby girl. A short and "easier" delivery. And a very short hospital stay. So thankful.


Introducing to you....

Eva Jasmine

11/14/12 9:21 a.m.

8lb 6 oz, 20 3/4 inches