Short Story of a LONG labor.

So....to continue the arrival of our little girl, the contractions never stopped. We made it to the doctor on Tuesday and I was truly hoping he would admit me to the hospital. We threw our bags in the car just in case. I was 2+ centimeters and he said I probably wouldn't make it to my due date. ***side note--I would like to know the precise way they are measuring how dilated you are. There's no ruler, just a guess it seems to me. Hmmm...*** I asked him about the recommendation for an induction because of my baby being on the large side, and he said I was already in the laboring process and that the ultrasound is just an estimate. (HA!) So, he sent me home with a prescription to help me sleep.

I was totally exhausted and a little upset we couldn't get this show on the road. I think a friend must have read my mind and offered to bring dinner by for us. (btw, thank you soo much!! We'd been eating cold cereal for dinner the last couple nights. Not that I don't like cold cereal, but a real meal was truly appreciated.) So off to bed I went after a fabulous dinner and my magic pill. It unfortunately turned out not to be so magical after all as I was up most the night breathing through more contractions. I didn't think much about them at first because they had gotten progressively stronger every night but by 2am I couldn't lay down anymore. I started pacing the hallway trying to get some relief and at around 3:30 I was so sick of it we went to the hospital. This time I was sure they would keep me.

So we called them up and off we went. It's a good thing we did call because by the time we got there, 3 other women were on their way. They went from a quiet evening to a labor and delivery room so full they had a lady waiting in the nursery. The nurses decided it was the barometric change from a hot summer day to a foggy fall one. Whatever it was I was happy to hear I was dilated to a 4 and having a baby!!!

It was a little surreal at first...(okay, it's still surreal almost two weeks later as I type with my left hand holding a sleeping girl in my right.) But I was actually glad to have gone a few days before to the hospital because all the check in info was already done. The nurse then asked me about my birth plan and I must have been a little out of it because this is what I told her...

"HAVE A BABY, BE PAIN FREE."


It makes me laugh now, because truly that's about as far as I had thought things through. I was going to go without drugs as long as possible and then have an epidural, but when I got to the hospital I was so exhausted that they gave me something through my IV to take the edge off so I could get some much needed rest. I finally felt some relief and got some rest between the nurse coming in and out checking things. My doctor came in at about 9am on Wednesday and broke my water and things started to progress a little quicker. The anesthesiologist was hanging around labor and delivery around 11am so I figured I may as well get it over with. I was expecting an epidural to hurt a lot, but really, the IV hurt worse. After that I was pretty relieved and just slept and relaxed. I actually began to feel a little guilty that I was feeling so fabulous while in labor.

The nurses continued to check me and each one had the same comment after telling me how dilated I was. "WOW, she's got a lot of hair!!" they'd say. I was dilated to a 10 about 3pm but they decided since I didn't feel any pressure yet that they'd let my baby continue to work her way down with the contractions that were still coming at a decent pace.

I had had two great nurses so far but a little after 3 I had THE WORST NURSE EVER!!! I am still contemplating writing a complaint letter about it. She had me start pushing about 4pm and I pushed like my life depended on it. After about 5 pushes, she left the room and told me to just keep pushing as I felt contractions. Are you kidding me?? This is not how they show it on A Baby Story! I had no idea what I was doing. She then would check the monitors, type some stats in her computer and then about every 15 minutes, see how I was doing. I began to feel super sharp pains on my left side that she told me was "just pressure honey" like I was some naive teenager having a baby. Trust me, I know the difference lady! Anyway, I finally told her to find the anesthesiologist because my pushing wasn't very effective with the pain that had now spread across my whole abdomen. I couldn't get a deep enough breath to push because the contractions hurt so much. The magic man came and saw that I was still on the lowest drip on the machine and cranked it up one notch...ahh, relief. And yes nurse Beth, I still feel pressure--THAT was not it.

I was so grateful for a staff change at 7pm. I had been pushing with Beth for 3 hours and was making minimal progress trying to figure out how to push as she moved me into different positions with not much advice. I ended up with the nurse that had checked me in at 4am. It was nice to see a friendly face and she was excited to be able to help finish the job she started. I ended up pushing another hour and a half and with each contraction that came I was nervous I wasn't strong enough to deliver my baby and have to have a dreaded c-section after all this work. So after 4 1/2 hours of pushing I finally said I didn't want a c-section, but I was keenly aware of the circumstance. She said I was pushing the baby down with each contraction, but just minuscule amounts. She got the doctor on call and they decided to use a vacuum to help get her out. I was thankful there was an end in sight as my lovely Beth said I would probably only be pushing for an hour. (psshh!)

So in came the doctor and the respiratory therapist and some additional nurses. This was it! I gathered the last ounce of energy I could find for the last few pushes with the vacuum. It took a little longer than anticipated as the vacuum kept losing suction because our baby has so much hair. Finally, at 8:55 our little girl was born! The whole room gasped as the doctor put her on my stomach and they saw how big she was. I remember thinking, "Holy cow! No wonder I couldn't get her out of me!"




They began cleaning both her and I up and it was funny to watch everyone lingering in our room waiting for them to put her on the scale. People were guessing in the 9 lb and 10 lb range and I was still in shock. Literally. I couldn't keep my body from shaking uncontrollably. I realize now how severe the situation was as normally they wouldn't let a woman go that long before performing a c-section and once they realized her size, they REALLY wouldn't have suggested a natural delivery.


Yes, you read the scale right. 10 POUNDS 9.2 OUNCES!!! And check out her hair!!



We laughed about naming her Ally--for "finally she was here" and then Bessie because of her enormous size. She didn't look like any of the names we were thinking about. I envisioned this tiny little frail baby and instead was looking at a severely cone-headed 3 month old! (normal baby cone head + vacuum sucker = keep that beanie on please!) Both of our parents had been waiting at the hospital since I began pushing and they were growing increasingly nervous as each hour passed by. They were as relieved as I was she was here and healthy and excited to meet a new grand-baby.

We stayed 2 nights in the hospital--not my favorite place to hang, but I needed the time to recover--and finally brought little Avery home Friday after trying on a few different names. It was the weirdest thing strapping her into her car seat and driving away from the hospital.




We're all doing well now. Adjusting to our new life that is forever changed. We're happy and healthy and EXHAUSTED, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.