I had to be at Moore Medical Center at 7 o'clock in the morning to get checked in and ready to be induced for labor. My mom, Grandma Carrie, and Dale's mom, Grandma Belinda both met us up at the hospital that morning.
Once we got checked in we were taken to room 202 where our nurse Melissa was waiting for us. Melissa would be our nurse for the delivery and the rest of the day until her shift was up. She was a very calm, quiet, and nice nurse. She got me set up on the monitor and got my iv started, which I was not excited about. Lucky for me it didn't seem to hurt near as bad as I thought it would. She then got me hooked up to the medicine to start labor. By this time it was 8 o'clock.
At about 8:30, Dr. Fletcher stopped in and broke my water to get everything going faster since I was barely having contractions from the medicine. This was not a pleasant experience. It didn't hurt at all. It was just extremely uncomfortable because here I am in nothing but a hospital gown with a puppy pee pad underneath me and leaking fluid that I have no control over. It feels like you peed your pants and you just have to sit there in it.
Not long after my water broke I started to feel the contractions start. To make me a little more comfortable Melissa started bringing me some pain medicine. At this point in time I was still completely set on not getting an epidural. More time continued to go by and I continued to dilate at a good pace with the contractions getting stronger. I would recommend taking the prepared child birth classes for the breathing techniques. Your throat will be sore after all is said and done from the heavy breathing, but they really did help. The pain pill they gave me was helping some, but it was also making me really tired.
By about 12:30 or so I was starting to be in pain and was only dilated to a 6 almost a 7. My contractions were starting to come on more frequently and a lot stronger than before. Then by 1:30 in the afternoon I was in pain. My contractions were one after another with no break. They were hurting me so bad that I was crying and couldn't communicate very well because I couldn't see I was in that much pain. I was so glad that I had Dale there by my side the whole time because I needed his hand to squeeze. I thought for sure by that time I had to be almost fully dilated. The nurse checked though and I was only at a 7. At that point, they would not be able to give me anymore pain medication because it could affect the baby. As much as I wanted to be able to do everything naturally, I just couldn't handle it. Dale, knowing this, told the nurse to bring in the anesthesiologist because I would need an epidural to be able to get through the rest of the delivery.
After that I don't remember much else or how much time really lapsed. Lucky for Brooklyn, her daddy took video after I received the epidural. I didn't want it because I am terrified of needles. However, I was in so much pain from the contractions and so distracted with getting through them that I did not even notice when the anesthesiologist put the epidural in. The only thing that went wrong with it came later after Brooklyn arrived. The tape that they used to hold the tube in was the strong adhesive tape that my skin is allergic to, so for about two days after, if not longer, you could tell where my epidural was on my back.
After the epidural was given to me, the world was great! I didn't like the fact that I couldn't feel my legs or move them on my own, but I wasn't in anymore pain almost immediately. The doctor was still in the room when I asked when I would have my next contraction and the nurse told me I was having one right that moment, a big one, and I didn't feel a thing. It was great. My mistake was taking the last dose of pain medication and then getting the epidural because I was so relaxed and then the last does of medicine made me sleepy, so I was out. Dale has video of me talking that I don't even remember.
It was about 1 o'clock when I got the epidural and it didn't take long after that when the nurse came in and checked and said I was fully dilated. They called Dr. Fletcher to come deliver Brooklyn. While we were waiting for the doctor to arrive, the delivery nurses had me try to practice pushing. Since I couldn't feel anything from the waste below, they wanted me to try to see if I would be able to push and know what to do. I gave three practice pushes and the nurses told me that was good and to stop. I had no idea what I was really doing, but apparently, Brooklyn was ready to come out and had started to crown at that point. They were afraid if I practiced anymore that I would deliver her before Dr. Fletcher arrived.
Dr. Fletcher finally arrived about 3:22 in the afternoon. At that point she didn't even have her gloves all the way on before she told me to go ahead and start trying to push since I was having a contraction at that very moment. I started to push and she was like "WHOA! OK hold on." Then she told me to give it one more push and Brooklyn was born! I was so happy that she came out as easy as she did. I was so afraid they would have to use the vacuum or forceps to get her out. Instead she came out so fast that the doctor wasn't even prepared and the nurse with the camera couldn't even get there fast enough since they video tape (G rated) the birth.
When Brooklyn was born she came out crying at 3:25 in the afternoon. She wasn't even all the way out before she started crying. I was in such shock at what I had just done that when Dr. Fletcher plopped Brooklyn on my belly all blue and slimy and crying, I didn't know what to do. I was so overwhelmed with emotion that I froze. I think I remember trying to cry tears of joy, but at the same time I was terrified because she was so tiny and I was so afraid to touch her because she just didn't seem real. Then another part of me was very freaked out because she was blue and that was one thing I didn't know to expect and I was afraid something was wrong with her since she was blue! All together though, it was just the best feeling ever knowing that I just brought the most beautiful six pound, three ounce, twenty inch long miracle into the world.
Dale got to cut her umbilical cord and then followed her over to the warming station with the nurses where they cleaned her up and took care of her. He then got o cut her umbilical cord again since they didn't catch it on taped the first time. He got most of everything they did to her on tape and took a bunch of photos. It seemed like it was taking forever for them to get her back over to me. Dr. Fletcher was talking to me about how everything went but I couldn't focus because I was too busy trying to watch Dale and Brooklyn. I do remember her telling me hat we made the right decision by delivering her early because my fluid was lower than they thought. She said the fluid I lost when she broke my water was it and that usually there is more fluid after the baby is born. In my case there wasn't anymore fluid. She told me had we waited longer like we were thinking about doing so she would come on her own, that it would have put her in danger.
Anyway, the whole time Brooklyn was at the warming station she was crying. I remember thinking to myself, oh my God... if she is that loud now, I am in trouble. Lucky for me, she is just the opposite now. She was very frustrated that day though being passed around so much with everyone there to see her. By the end of the day, Dale, Brooklyn, and I was all exhausted.
Dale and I got to hold Brooklyn to ourselves for about 5 or 10 minutes before we opened the door and let my mom and Belinda in to see her. We wanted the grandmothers to have some special time with her by themselves before the rest of the family, who were all there ready to see her, came in. They were in just as much awe with her as Dale and I were. I found out later from Dale's Uncle Raymond that they were outside our room with their ears to the door and started crying when they heard her cry.
After they had their time with her, we let everyone else in to see her. I can't even begin to list everyone that was there. Partly because there were so many people, and then also because I was still pretty drugged up from the medicine still. Eventually everyone left though and things started to calm down. Dale stayed the night and slept in the chair in the room, helping me with her throughout the night. She slept on me that night because I did not want to put her down. Nurses came in periodically throughout the night to check her vitals and to take blood work and make sure I was doing ok. It was nice having a button to push whenever I had a question about something or thought that something was wrong.
The next day was pretty mellow. My mom came up and held her so I could get some sleep, then Belinda came up later to help out also and help us get home that night. We were only in the hospital for a little over 24 hours. We would have been gone sooner but we couldn't get Brooklyn to poop. Turns out she was jaundice and the nurses had to mess with her to make her poop. Other than that one problem, everything else checked out great for me and for Brooklyn. The pediatrician came in that morning, December 3rd to check her out. She passed her hearing test and the doctor, doctor Reba Beard, said she looked great. We were originally going to go with Dr. Harmon as her pediatrician but have since decided to stick with Dr. Beard since she has seen Brooklyn from day one and knows about all the issues that we have had with her since her birth, which I will go into at a later time.
The 3rd was kind of an overwhelming day that seemed to go by too fast though. I got my complimentary back massage, which was SO nice. Dale and I also got a steak dinner, which was built up to be way more than it should have been. It wasn't all that great, but it was food. That was luckily our only meal we actually had from the hospital. When it came time to leave, I wasn't ready. It was scary to me because I wasn't going to have a nurse that I could just press a button and they would be right there.
That is basically it though. I'm sure I am forgetting something but that is the gist of it all. Looking back, everything seems like one big blur, but it was one of the best days of my life and I am so happy and grateful that Dale and I have such a healthy, happy, beautiful baby girl!
Love,
Jennifer
No comments:
Post a Comment