welcome niblette! (a birth story of epic proportions)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/boodafli/sets/72157606971201691/
(some gooey pix in that link--might trigger).
so. friday, my ctx were down to 2 mins apart, lasting btween 50 and 70 seconds each. i didn't feel pushy, but my mom and gene were both having heart attacks, b/c of the 'timing' thing. whatevs, i agree to go to the hospital and get checked, but tell them if i'm not at least 5 cm, i'm bringing my monkey ass home.
we go, they put me on a monitor (standard for VBAC here) and since i'm now on my back, ctx space back out to 5 or so mins apart. still strong and regular, tho.
eventually, my doc gets there, checks, and i'm only 2 cm.
she says baby looks good tho, and i decide to go home. i was already scheduled for an NST/BPP on saturday anyway, b/c that was the 41 week mark. so she said keep that appt.
go home, sit on birth ball. ctx come back, faster, but each time i check, there's no progress.
get up early, go to the chiro. he does some websters, and spends a ton of time 'opening' the pelvis. ctx stay steady, but increase in pain intensity.
head to the hospital for the tests. the NST is still picture perfect reactive, so they send us to the u/s tech. she's just supposed to measure fluid levels, but agrees to show us the baby if she can get a good view, since niblette wasn't cooperative during the 20 week u/s. so, she shows us the butt, and the belly, and the ribs, and one hand/arm, and the feet and legs. and then she's like, 'she might be too far down for a good face shot, but we'll try.' she succeeded, and there was niblette. with her arm over her head.
at least now i know why the 3 weeks of contractions never resulted in meaninful labor.
so at that point, i'm like, okay. the chances are, i *could* deliver her vaginally. they'd prolly have to break her arm or her shoulder or something, but i could do it. is it worth it to me to do that? no.
so while we're going back over to talk to the doc, i tell gene that we're going to go ahead and have the section, and he's like, are you sure there's no way to get her to move? and i was like, i don't think so. and i don't want to risk it. i mean, if her arm doesn't move--and we go for vaginal, and end up with a section anyway, how badly have we injured her arm?
get back to the doc, and she's like, 'well. your NST and AFI are fine. what do you want to do?' and i'm like, i want the section! and she's like, what?! since when? and i'm like, since her hand is all the way over her head! (i guess when they just check fluid levels, they don't note positions in the report, cuz she didn't know that. ) so my choices were that night, or wait till wed.
i'm not one of those people who's a big fan of being pregnant, so we went with saturday night. b/c i'd had breakfast, we had to wait till 6pm that evening to get the show on the road, so she let us go home for a few hours, which was nice.
so we get to the hospital, that evening, and get the show on the road. the plan is, the doc will tell gene right before she delivers niblette, so he can stand up and take pix. so, she says 'get ready!' and he stands up, and i'm waiting for the flash to go off.
and waiting.
and waiting.
and waiting.
and then i hear the doc say 'get the vacuum!' and i'm like, dude. it's a giant hole. wtf do you need a vacuum for? i don't say any of that outloud tho. and then i hear her say 'push push push' and i DO say 'are you talking to me? cuz that's not funny, yo' outloud. but it turns out she was talking to the three people who were putting their full bodyweight into pushing niblette out of my uterus. so i hear this hssssssssss pop! hsssssssssss pop! and it turns out that because niblette has a full head of hair, the vacuum keeps popping off. oy. so this went on for what seemed like EVER, altho i'm sure it was only 2 or 3 minutes. and then finally, i hear hsssssssssssssssss pop! SCREAMING crying!
oh she was pissed coming out. but out she came, via an EXTREMELY assisted c-section. 9 pounds, 2 ounces. 21 inches long. and...a 15.5 inch head.
anyway, the doc milked the cord before she cut it, (cuz she knew we wanted to let it finish pulsating, and while they can't do that in the OR, she did everything she could to keep it as close to that as possible.) and then she cut it super long so the ped could finish milking it, and so that gene could make the final, closer cut. she held niblette up over the curtain, and let me touch her face before she handed her off to the ped, and after they did the initial exam and stuff, they gave her to gene, and the drug guy took pix of the three of us together, and we were able to spend about 5 minutes together, before gene went with her to the nursery. he got to go IN the nursery this time, and he gave her her first bath, and stayed with her for the 2 hours of stitching up/recovery time i had. she was born at 7:54, and i had her in my arms by 10. (which is a far cry from the six hours between when i had peanut, and met her.)
she's nursing like a champ, and has already blown through the colostrum and brought my milk in. (srsly. she latched on at 10:30 saturday night, and unlatched around noon on sunday.)
she's sleeping well, eating well, and overall, making me fall head over heels in love everytime i look at her.
i feel like i've been run over by a bus. you can see the beginnings of some bruising where they pushed on my stomach, and taking a deep breath and laughing are still things i can only do right after the percocet kicks in, but it's okay.
with peanut's section, i felt like i had let the doctor make a really important decision FOR me. with this one, i feel like i made the decision, with the doctors help. in so much as i wanted the VBAC because i thought it would bring a little peace or closure or whatever, to the regrets i have over not being a bigger advocate for peanut--this section did the same thing, i think. because i know that, in this case, i totally made the right decision.
am i sad that i missed the wriggly gooey newborn on my belly sensation? yes. but other than the exit method, my doctor and the team at the hospital totally followed my birth plan 100%. (altho, after her enthusiastic delivery, i did opt for the vitamin K shot, because she had lots of little bruises on her head from the vacuum.)
so. i'm happy with this, all the way around.
(some gooey pix in that link--might trigger).
so. friday, my ctx were down to 2 mins apart, lasting btween 50 and 70 seconds each. i didn't feel pushy, but my mom and gene were both having heart attacks, b/c of the 'timing' thing. whatevs, i agree to go to the hospital and get checked, but tell them if i'm not at least 5 cm, i'm bringing my monkey ass home.
we go, they put me on a monitor (standard for VBAC here) and since i'm now on my back, ctx space back out to 5 or so mins apart. still strong and regular, tho.
eventually, my doc gets there, checks, and i'm only 2 cm.
she says baby looks good tho, and i decide to go home. i was already scheduled for an NST/BPP on saturday anyway, b/c that was the 41 week mark. so she said keep that appt.
go home, sit on birth ball. ctx come back, faster, but each time i check, there's no progress.
get up early, go to the chiro. he does some websters, and spends a ton of time 'opening' the pelvis. ctx stay steady, but increase in pain intensity.
head to the hospital for the tests. the NST is still picture perfect reactive, so they send us to the u/s tech. she's just supposed to measure fluid levels, but agrees to show us the baby if she can get a good view, since niblette wasn't cooperative during the 20 week u/s. so, she shows us the butt, and the belly, and the ribs, and one hand/arm, and the feet and legs. and then she's like, 'she might be too far down for a good face shot, but we'll try.' she succeeded, and there was niblette. with her arm over her head.
at least now i know why the 3 weeks of contractions never resulted in meaninful labor.
so at that point, i'm like, okay. the chances are, i *could* deliver her vaginally. they'd prolly have to break her arm or her shoulder or something, but i could do it. is it worth it to me to do that? no.
so while we're going back over to talk to the doc, i tell gene that we're going to go ahead and have the section, and he's like, are you sure there's no way to get her to move? and i was like, i don't think so. and i don't want to risk it. i mean, if her arm doesn't move--and we go for vaginal, and end up with a section anyway, how badly have we injured her arm?
get back to the doc, and she's like, 'well. your NST and AFI are fine. what do you want to do?' and i'm like, i want the section! and she's like, what?! since when? and i'm like, since her hand is all the way over her head! (i guess when they just check fluid levels, they don't note positions in the report, cuz she didn't know that. ) so my choices were that night, or wait till wed.
i'm not one of those people who's a big fan of being pregnant, so we went with saturday night. b/c i'd had breakfast, we had to wait till 6pm that evening to get the show on the road, so she let us go home for a few hours, which was nice.
so we get to the hospital, that evening, and get the show on the road. the plan is, the doc will tell gene right before she delivers niblette, so he can stand up and take pix. so, she says 'get ready!' and he stands up, and i'm waiting for the flash to go off.
and waiting.
and waiting.
and waiting.
and then i hear the doc say 'get the vacuum!' and i'm like, dude. it's a giant hole. wtf do you need a vacuum for? i don't say any of that outloud tho. and then i hear her say 'push push push' and i DO say 'are you talking to me? cuz that's not funny, yo' outloud. but it turns out she was talking to the three people who were putting their full bodyweight into pushing niblette out of my uterus. so i hear this hssssssssss pop! hsssssssssss pop! and it turns out that because niblette has a full head of hair, the vacuum keeps popping off. oy. so this went on for what seemed like EVER, altho i'm sure it was only 2 or 3 minutes. and then finally, i hear hsssssssssssssssss pop! SCREAMING crying!
oh she was pissed coming out. but out she came, via an EXTREMELY assisted c-section. 9 pounds, 2 ounces. 21 inches long. and...a 15.5 inch head.
anyway, the doc milked the cord before she cut it, (cuz she knew we wanted to let it finish pulsating, and while they can't do that in the OR, she did everything she could to keep it as close to that as possible.) and then she cut it super long so the ped could finish milking it, and so that gene could make the final, closer cut. she held niblette up over the curtain, and let me touch her face before she handed her off to the ped, and after they did the initial exam and stuff, they gave her to gene, and the drug guy took pix of the three of us together, and we were able to spend about 5 minutes together, before gene went with her to the nursery. he got to go IN the nursery this time, and he gave her her first bath, and stayed with her for the 2 hours of stitching up/recovery time i had. she was born at 7:54, and i had her in my arms by 10. (which is a far cry from the six hours between when i had peanut, and met her.)
she's nursing like a champ, and has already blown through the colostrum and brought my milk in. (srsly. she latched on at 10:30 saturday night, and unlatched around noon on sunday.)
she's sleeping well, eating well, and overall, making me fall head over heels in love everytime i look at her.
i feel like i've been run over by a bus. you can see the beginnings of some bruising where they pushed on my stomach, and taking a deep breath and laughing are still things i can only do right after the percocet kicks in, but it's okay.
with peanut's section, i felt like i had let the doctor make a really important decision FOR me. with this one, i feel like i made the decision, with the doctors help. in so much as i wanted the VBAC because i thought it would bring a little peace or closure or whatever, to the regrets i have over not being a bigger advocate for peanut--this section did the same thing, i think. because i know that, in this case, i totally made the right decision.
am i sad that i missed the wriggly gooey newborn on my belly sensation? yes. but other than the exit method, my doctor and the team at the hospital totally followed my birth plan 100%. (altho, after her enthusiastic delivery, i did opt for the vitamin K shot, because she had lots of little bruises on her head from the vacuum.)
so. i'm happy with this, all the way around.
posted by boodafli at 9:40 PM
1 comments
