Friday, May 2, 2008

Hannah's Birth Story - May 02, 2007

I guess I'm feeling "birthy" right now :) I thought I'd share my kids' birth stories. However, I just realized that I never really wrote Hannah's birth story! How can that be???? I will do the best I can 4 1/2 years after the fact.
I was quite nervous about labor, and didn't expect to handle any pain well. Even at 39 weeks pregnant I was perfectly happy to remain pregnant indefinitely! Around 4:30 pm, on October 22, 2002 (3 days before my due date), I had my 39 week appointment with my OB. I suddenly blurted out "I'm ready to have this baby!" and we scheduled an induction for one week later. I knew that I didn't want to be induced before my due date, but finally wanted to meet this baby girl I'd been carrying around for so many months.
That night around 8pm, I had a sharp pain in my cervix. This was the worst pain I've ever felt in my entire life, and I was stuck in a contorted position unable to move from the pain. It lasted 20-30 seconds (probably less!), but it felt like a long time. I was terrified that labor would be like that!! The next morning, at 4:30am I woke to hear and feel a "POP!" This was my water breaking, though it didn't all gush out at once. I woke Pete up, called my mom, and called the hospital. Everyone said to go to the hospital right away. I wanted to take a shower, wash my hair, and eat some breakfast first. I took a shower, but decided not to wash my hair. I was way too nervous to eat, so I skipped that too. I was ready to GO, but Pete was on the computer cancelling his class for the day.
We got to the hospital around 5:30am, and I wasn't having contractions yet. I got an IV put in and was resting in bed when my mom arrived around 6:30am. Mild contractions started around 8am. My dad, brother, nephew, and neice had arrived by this time. My dad was acting like 10 year old, and I got pretty crabby with him. We sent them to our house to get them out of our hair. Around 9:30 my mom noticed that I was tensing up my entire body every time I had a contraction, and thought I should ask for an epidural soon. I thought that was a good idea since I had no desire to feel any pain.
The nurse checked my cervix, and I was 4 cm dilated at this point. The anesthesiologist came in and started setting up. This guy had the best bedside manner! He was great. However, he was unable to find my epidural space, and after three failed attempts he decided to give me a spinal block instead. I ended up numb from my shoulders down... not quite what I was looking for, but no complaints since I wasn't feeling pain.
Nothing of interested happend for quite a while...
Around 3pm my sister arrived. Not long after, I started feeling pain in my upper thighs. Unlike epidurals which are on a continuous pump, spinal blocks wear off. I asked for the anesthesiologist to come give me some more drugs. The nurse checked me and I was complete so she thought I should start pushing. No WAY was I going to push!!! The anesthesiologist gave me something, but it never touched the pain I was feeling. Going from numb to pushing a baby out is NOT the best thing to do. The nurse and my mom coached me through half an hour or so of pushing, which I faked because I wasn't ready to push. THEN around 3:30 I was ready, and I pushed with every contraction. Sometimes I even got two bouts of pushing in during a contraction.
Hannah Elizabeth was born at 3:52pm on Wednesday, October 23, 2002. She weighed 5 lbs 13 oz and was 19 inches long.

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