Catching up . . . last weeks of pregnancy and labor & delivery

Carolyn is at Mom's house this week, which is giving me the opportunity to get caught up on some things. And getting caught up on my blog is one of the things on my long list! This will be a pretty long post so feel free to skip to more interesting parts.


PRE-TERM LABOR


The last weekend in March I had some bleeding and an increase in contractions after a busy Thursday that included doing splits with the Sister missionaries. I laid low that weekend, which wasn't too terribly hard because Mom was headed up our way anyway and just came here first before heading to see Dan & Amy.

I did fine for 5 days after that, then the Friday before Easter I had 50 contractions in the space of 2 and a half hours. Not good. They weren't painful, but still, not good. So I decided I had better call my OB. I spoke with a nurse and she said to just watch it, go to modified bedrest, and go to the hospital if things changed or got worse. They eased up a bit for a while but by Sunday night they were back and I was feeling some pressure so I decided I better just get checked out. I was just past 34 weeks at that point. Dr. Sand was really mad that the nurse hadn't talked to him about it when I called initially because he would have wanted to see me sooner. He was pretty surprised at how strong my contractions were, and they decided to keep me over night to monitor them and monitor the baby. I left Monday morning with terbutaline, still a very thick cervix (barely 1 cm and 25% effaced), and instructions to come right back if I had more than 4 contractions in an hour.

Delayna (the most amazing friend ever. Seriously) came to help me for a couple of days and took over the care of B. Mind you she was only 7 weeks behind me in her own pregnancy. I went back to the hospital Monday evening because they were picking up again, but my cervix hadn't changed so they said I was okay to go home and just to keep resting as much as possible. The next morning at my OB appointment my cervix had ripened just a bit more, so it was apparent that I needed to keep resting. Bedrest with a 2 year old is a joke. Good thing Dr. Sand doesn't believe in total bedrest . . . he says strict bedrest where you only get up to pee hasn't been proven effective and that it makes you weak. So from then til 37 weeks I did bedrest as much as I could. We had some meals brought in, and various people from the ward took B to play, which was the most helpful thing. She really was understanding about the whole thing and trying to keep Mommy and Clarissa Baby healthy, but let's face it: 2 year olds need to play and run!


37 WEEKS


At 37 weeks we decided if she came at that point we were okay with it, so I returned to a normal activity level, which was a very welcome change! I got more things ready for her arrival, and most importantly, got in a lot of quality time with my B girl. I felt really great. My back didn't hurt constantly, my hips got sore from sleeping on my sides but after being up for an hour or so it went away, blood pressure was still fine, and my swelling showed up as soon as I was on my feet again but it was way better than it was with Carolyn. Everything was, really. I was sleeping well and feeling great!

As the days and weeks went by, I made no cervical progress at all, which was really funny. First my body was trying to kick her out, then it just hit a plateau and stayed there. Tonia, the midwife who delivered me, went on vacation as I was hitting 39 weeks so I was nervous that she wouldn't make it back in time, but she did. We started talking about inducing because I was ready to go, Clarissa was big and healthy, and I was nervous about having a violent delivery again. Well, terrified is a more appropriate word haha. I was hoping for Thursday the 6th but the hospital said they had too much going on that day but they could squeeze me in to get started later that day (Wednesday the 5th). So we said yes and started getting things together. Mom was on her way to watch B, and Delayna and Amy were making preparations to leave. Then I got a call from Tonia saying that the hospital said I would have to wait til Friday afternoon (unless of course I went into labor naturally). We went to a Cinco De Mayo party that night, which was a nice distraction. We got to see some friends, eat good food, and B had a ton of fun playing outside. Mom was here when we arrived back, and we spent the evening looking at old pictures and videos of B as a baby. Celebrating her was the perfect way to spend my last night as a mother of 1.


LABOR AND DELIVERY


At 3:30 Thursday morning, I woke up with cramps. Sure enough I had more pain during contractions, and things didn't slow down in the bath. I had lost my mucus plug already, and at that point I was having bloody show. So at 4:45 I called Amy, Delayna, and Tonia. Things moved pretty fast with B, so we were expecting this to be a short labor - consequently Amy and Delayna got ready and left as soon as they could. At 7 things had stopped progressing, so I called Tonia and she told me to meet her at the office at 9. I felt like an idiot but I knew that earlier that morning I was having real early labor. Delayna took me to my appointment and Amy met us there. I was at a 4 or 5 and 50% effaced, and while Tonia was examining me, my water magically broke! (Wink, wink) :). So I mopped myself up and we all walked over to the hospital.

I checked in and got taken to one of the smaller recovery rooms because my birthing suite was being cleaned. In our tiny hospital there's no guarantee that you will even get one because there are only 3. The day that I had Carolyn I got the last one arriving at 10:30 a.m. and with Clarissa I arrived at 9:45. It was a crazy week at the family birthing center. For 4 days they had nothing. Literally not a single patient. Then on Wednesday they were totally over-run! So I am glad looking back on it that I didn't go in on Wednesday because I wouldn't have received the individual care that we usually get here.

The nurses blew 2 veins trying to get my IV in (I tried to warn them . . . sigh), then they finally got it. I was transferred to my suite at noonish I think, and by that time I was starving. It didn't even occur to me to eat before I saw Tonia at 9, and with my adjusted anatomy I just can't not eat especially if I am trying to do something insanely hard like push out a baby! The nurses hooked me back up to all of the monitoring equipment as soon as I got into the suite and I after I asked if I could eat they brought me jello. Delayna and Craig were going to sneak me something substantial anyway, but then Tonia came in and I asked her if I could eat and she said yes I could eat and ten proceeded to tell the nurses to leave me alone and quit fussing because I was low-risk and needed to be free to walk around or do whatever I wanted. Tonia is a rockstar :D!

Mom & B came to visit as well which was nice because we were all gone by the time they woke up. B was very prepared for Clarissa's birth but I wanted her to see that I was in the hospital and being very well taken care of and that it wasn't a scary thing. Craig & Delayna brought back lunch for everyone; I had a chicken salad from Wendy's. I proceeded to eat periodically throughout the day which turned out to be a very good thing as time went on with no baby. By 2 pm I hadn't made much progress so they started me on pitocin. They do a very small dose for 30 min, wait for 15 to see if anything is happening, and then very gradually work up from there.

I ordered my epidural pretty early. I was uncomfortable but not in a ton of pain. But with pitocin the crazy contractions can come on very suddenly so I wanted to be ahead of it. I have decided I like getting the epi sooner than later. With B I was dilated to a 6 and miserable. I had a contraction while getting my epi, and any woman who has gone through that knows how HARD it is to hold perfectly still during a contraction, especially with back labor which NO ONE should have to go through ever! Anyway, holding perfectly still was way easier this time. Granted I was much more aware of the sensations but it is more uncomfortable than painful. He had to stick me twice because they first time he didn't hit any spinal fluid. It took immediately, which was awesome. I had some numbness in one leg but none in the other which was kind of funny. I felt the tightness with each contraction but no pain, and every time I started feeling any pain at all I hit my button for an extra little dose. The day wore on, the pitocin kept getting upped, and still nothing. Crazy! It was making me contract but that's not what I needed help with. I was having tons of strong contractions already, hence the bedrest! I need help with my cervix and it just would not budge. Finally when they got to the max dose, things started moving.

It had been several hours since my epidural by this point, and I started feeling pain. Like, real pain. Not good. I was in so much pain with B that I pushed way too hard way too fast and I really think that had a lot to do with why I tore from here to Timbuktu. The nurses couldn't figure out what was going on so they paged the anesthesiologist. He discovered that my bag of epidural fluid that goes in at a slow, constant rate was empty and sure enough I hadn't had ANYTHING for 45 minutes to an hour. He gave me a booster but it didn't do anything, and I was getting really nervous because by that point I was 9 cm and 85% effaced. After a few minutes he came to the rescue and gave me a stronger booster which was AWESOME. I didn't feel any pain but as the time came closer to push, I started feeling more and more pressure. Clarissa's heart rate climbed a little with those final contractions but if I talked to her and rubbed her it went down. What a sweet girl. I remember telling the nurse Kayse that I felt like there was an anvil on my pubic bone. When it was time to push, Tonia was an amazing coach. I pushed through 5 contractions and rested for 1 in between. She told me when to push hard and when to do little grunts, and Craig also told me when to slow down. I was lying on my side to avoid unnecessary pressure on my perineum. On the clock it was about 15 minutes later that she was born, but only 4 minutes of pushing. I had a few surface tears that healed up in 2-3 days and one 1 inch tear right where an episiotomy would have been had I requested one, but it was much shallower than an episiotomy so I was glad I didn't ask for it! That one did require stitches, but 10% of what I had with Carolyn.

They gave her to me immediately, and she grabbed on to my finger with one hand and my night gown with the other. It was so sweet :). Her cry was so much softer than Carolyn's it was almost comical. She got pretty upset when to took her away, but calmed right down as long as Craig talked to her. That was really amazing to see: the stark difference it made for her and how much it comforted her. She was really easy in the hospital, and has been for the most part really easy since then too. She earned the nickname "Little Miss Perfect".

They kept me on pitocin through the night to get my uterus to shrink faster. I didn't sleep at all that night beyond 20 minutes a couple of times because I was in so much pain so I told the nurses I didn't want any visitors Friday morning so I could try to rest. I am not supposed to take ibuprofen, and they percocet they were giving me didn't cut it. Next time I am definitely going to pack my own heating pad because the nurses really can't give you anything because of liability issues with burns and such. One nurse, Kayse again, bent some rules a little which I loved her for. And I loved the huge whirlpool tub in my suite. That was what brought me the most relief, and I used it 7 times within the first 24 hours. Seriously. Eventually I was so exhausted I decided to take 1 ibuprofen with my percocet each dose, and that did make a difference. We had various visitors, and we came home Saturday evening. I was lucky that they didn't kick me out of the suite. Apparently one woman had to give birth in an operating room on Friday because there was just no where else to put her. 9 babies were born in 30 hours starting Wednesday night, which is a new record for Ellensburg!

Carolyn loves her and is a great big sister. She loved to share her toys with her, hug her, kiss, her, and give her her binky. She also checks to make sure I am taking care of her when she cries, which I think is so sweet. Last week at Amy's we were in the basement and she heard Clarissa crying from upstairs and yelled down the stairs to make sure I was holding her and helping her. Carolyn is acting out because of the transition, which is totally expected and natural, but she hasn't asked to take the baby back tot he hospital or anything like that :). They are both such sweet little spirits and we are so blessed to have them in our home.