The Birth: How it went down

Sorry for the lengthy absence from the internet, dear readers. I finally had my baby on Sunday 1/22. She weighed 8.85 lbs and was 21.25 inches long. I am still mastering the art of typing while breastfeeding, so I apologize in advance if this post ends up having a lot of typos.

So on Saturday in the morning, I worked on some STATA code, and got my first loop to run. Then in the afternoon, I hung out with my friend M from med school in the afternoon. We talked about a bunch of things, some baby related, some not. She left at about 5:30, and then Luca and I had dinner and watched How I Met Your Mother reruns.

At 9:30 we decided to walk the Boo. We'd had freezing rain all day, and it being West Philly, a lot of people hadn't bothered to salt or shovel their sidewalks, so the going was a bit treacherous. Still, it felt good since I'd been cooped up inside all day. We got home at around 10, and I felt this pretty strong cramp in my lower back and abdomen. It wasn't horrible or anything, it was just different than the cramps I'd had before.

So while Luca went and did the dishes, I watched a little more tv. About 15 minutes into the show, I felt kind of a pop and a squirt. Like I'd peed on myself, only I hadn't been moving around so I was a little surprised that this had happened then. I went upstairs to the bathroom to clean up and pee, and more fluid came out, but not THAT much, so I still wasn't sure whether my water had actually broken. When I came back down to finish my episode, it happened again. And now I'd started having regular contractions, but not that strong.

So, this was all at about 10:20 Saturday night. Between 10:20 and 11:00, I kept having mini-contractions, so I alerted Luca to what was going on and decided to take a shower (best decision EVER). We'd been told to wait to come in until my contractions were 60 seconds and 3-5 min apart for at least 1 hr. Mine started off at 60 seconds each at 2:30 apart, and just kept getting stronger.

So, at 12PM we came to the hospital. And I was 100% effaced, but only 1cm. So I waited for two hours so they could see whether my contractions were actually doing anything. Wow were those a painful 2 hrs. But the baby looked great on the monitor.

2 hrs later I was 6cm, so I guess I really was in labor,

:-)

Then I got admitted, and as soon as I got back to my room, my water broke FOR REAL. I have to say though that I had enough pain that the fact that I was sitting in a giant pool of amniotic fluid didn't bother me in the least. I requested an epidural, and was told that there was a line and that it might take as long as 3 hours to get one, which at the rate I was progressing was likely going to be too long.

I did end up getting on about 90 minutes later. Holy mother of God were those a painful 90 minutes. If I'd had to deliver without one, I suppose I could have, but WHY on earth I would have wanted that is beyond me. I also discovered why they tell pregnant women to breathe a particular way: screaming does nothing and actually made me feel worse.

The anesthesia resident gave me an absolutely fantastic epidural. I still felt some pain and pressure, but the edge was taken off. I could still move my legs and feel them, but had very little pain. I was 9 cm by the time they were done and told to nap/relax. I think the labor floor was pretty busy on Sunday and they had several emergencies, so I waited relatively comfortably and took a nap sitting up trying to dilate the rest of the way to 10 cm.

At some point it was determined that it was time to push. Which I did for three hours. They tried rotating my baby in my pelvis (not fun -- I can only imagine REALLY not fun without an epidural) a couple of different ways to get her to come out, and tried having me push in several different positions, it was determined that her position was unfavorable for a vaginal delivery. She wasn't in any distress, but she just kept getting hung up on my pubic bone. So we decided to go forward with a c-section. Since both ORs were already busy with other patients and my baby wasn't in any distress, I took a 2 hour nap, and then they got me ready to go back. I needed it. At that point I'd been awake for almost 40 hours straight and was feeling a little loopy.

The c-section was a lot of pushing and pulling, and not the most comfortable thing in the world, but really not a big deal at all. I just remember feeling really cold and shaking a lot, which was also due to the anesthesia. It took 7 minutes from skin incision to having her out, and I could hear her strong cry from behind the blue curtain. Then someone called out, "It's a girl!" and I remember feeling so happy. The pediatricians worked on her (APGARS 9 and 9), and my husband got to hold her. It was a little surreal -- I kept thinking WOW I'm a mom now, but it didn't really hit me until I got back to the room.

We got to do skin to skin contact right away, and tried to get her to latch on my breasts, which she did on the third try! This girl is a champion sucker, that is all I have to say. We did the left breast and then the right, and my friend M came down from the 9th floor where she was on call that night (M is a resident where I gave birth) to visit me. She was so sweet, and it was awesome to be able to have such a close friend and my husband in the room right after delivery. Then my parents came and the nurses bathed our daughter while she was in the room with us. She HATED the bath and cried like she was being tortured. My dad took a video of it, and you can just see how furious and indignant she was.

Then my parents got to hold her, and we talked for a bit while I waited to regain feeling in my legs so they could transfer me to the post-partum floor. Luca also cried a couple of times, which was really sweet. My husband is such a cutie.

Then my parents went back to the hotel and we transferred upstairs. She roomed in with us that night, which turned out fine in the end, since she was so sleepy from just having been born, and we breastfed her a bunch of times.

I am really happy with my experience. I had the most awesome L&D nurses and the Ob/Gyn resident who took care of me was really great also, and the nurses on the post-partum floor have been really helpful as well. In fact, we've probably only met one provider we didn't like so far, and that very well could have been because we aren't sleeping all that much at this point yet and have gone through periods of tired & crankiness.

Things that have surprised me..... How much I love breastfeeding her. Luca even said that he was a little sad that he is a man and doesn't get to do this. And I agree! Maybe it's all the post-pregnancy hormones talking, but I love the way it makes me feel. I got lucky and she started off latching like a pro, so my nipples have not been that sore yet.

I was surprised at other parts of the process too. I was surprised that my labor was as chill a process as it was, even though ultimately we ended up with a c-section. I got a lot of useful coaching (though no cheering!), she was just positioned a little transverse, and so could not descend easily. I was surprised that I didn't care that Luca was the first one to hold her, or that he ate several meals in front of me and I didn't care at all even though I was NPO or ice chips only. I was surprised at how well I was still able to move my legs with the epidural, and I was surprised at how controllable my pain was with breathing only before I got it (though I would still never choose to go sans epidural -- it is truly an amazing technology!). I was surprised at how nice and helpful all of the staff were, and I have to say vis a vis being told I was fat by the outpatient people? I would TOTALLY go through this again if I got to have such a wonderful L&D experience.

I have also been surprised at how much I love taking care of my daughter, and how relaxed it makes me feel. I don't even mind when she cries, and though I'm certain I will mind at some point, it's been really satisfying to figure out different things I can do to soothe her. I love skin to skin time. I love that last night I figured out how to do the side-lying hold and could kind of doze off a bit while she ate. My little girl has a champion appetite it seems and is just as awake and alert at night as she was when she was on the inside.

My only curiosity is this: Do you ever feel this way again if you have more than one child? Or is it different with every one? Luca said today that he had started thinking, "We should have done this YEARS ago!" to which I said, "Well, we probably could have done it one year earlier, but I think it was nice to have a year or two to experience just with each other after I'd switched from MD-land to PhD-land.

So, that's where we are! Tomorrow we're likely going to get discharged home, and that's when I'm guessing the real fun will begin. Wish us luck!

Here's a picture of her right after she latched on for the first time.