After my relatively pain-free delivery, I had a few minor issues.
We had the first hour of skin-on-skin time, then Liora was weighed and measured, then she got to have more bonding time. She actually started nursing! Way to go little girl! For a long time. There was apparently some crisis in the maternity ward, so I stayed upstairs an extra half an hour. The whole time she was drinking!
Mom and my SIL had been waiting the whole day for the news and the OK to come. The showed up around 5:30. It seemed like I had just got in my room. I know my food had just arrived. By food I mean 4 slices of bread with 2 pieces of cheese and 2 slices of meat, a mini salad and a piece of fruit. I was ravenous! Thankfully I had asked mom to bring some food and she had chicken tandoori that I later ate.
Mateo was so excited to meet his sister. I feel like I was kind of out of it during that visit. I could not really hold Mateo, because I was still connected to the IV and I did not want to move around much, because I had not been cleaned up and the epidural was wearing off, so I just was not feeling myself.
Once I ate and they cleaned me up and helped me get into PJs, I felt 'the urge.' To me this was a VERY good thing! With Mateo I could not feel anything for a while and it made things kind of complicated. I really wanted to go pee, because I knew it meant I could get my IV out, I would not have to be 'emptied' later and just in general, the sooner, the better!
I was scared because of what happened with Mateo. Rightfully so. Even though I had eaten and had something to drink and stood up very slowly (and then sat down to try again), I still passed out while on the toilet. Just what I did not want to do!!! I walked very slowly with hubby and the midwife holding me, sat down, heard some tinkling which made me very happy and then I mumbled something and then I was off in some far away place, no idea where I was. When I came to there was another midwife and the bed was pushed to the door. I nearly passed out again just taking the 2 steps from the toilet to the bed. Kind of embarrassing, but I am used to passing out by now. Only this is the worst it has ever been. Hubby and my mom said it was really scary looking. That my head rolled back and then I suddenly jerked up. Thankfully Mateo did not see it, so he was not scared.
They decided to leave the IV in a bit longer for the extra nutrients or something, but it was out before bedtime. Yippie!
When the doctor came to examine me that night, she told me that I had a hematoma that did not look good. I am glad I could not see what it looked like. Every midwife that checked on me during my stay would comment on it. My doctor came specially to check on it a few times. She wanted it to go away on its own and was hoping she would not have to open it up. I am glad she made that decision! It was uncomfortable, but not unbearable at all. I had painkillers every few hours, so it did not really bother me.
Liora was born Thursday afternoon and we went home Monday morning. By the time I left, the hematoma was down and spreading out. I decided that getting an episiotomy is better than tearing! I think the doctor was able to put it in a less irritating spot or something, because although I feel discomfort, it is nothing like the first time. I could not walk normally for a month! By the time I left the hospital I was walking fine. A little slower, but I even stopped at the grocery store on the way home. Liora is 2 weeks today and I already have been on a few outings!
My experience is that the 2nd pregnancy is harder, but the birth/recovery is easier.
Showing posts with label birth story. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birth story. Show all posts
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Birth Story Pt. 1
*Typical birth story warning*
**This may sound funny, but my whole birthing/hospital experience was in Dutch, so I am actually 'translating' my experience. Excuse me if something sounds funny**
As any of my readers know, I was 8 days overdue. Scheduled to be induced on day 9. I had REALLY hoped labor would start, but it didn't.
I actually was able to fall asleep fine. Hubby apparently had a harder time. However, I woke up around 5:00 and could not fall back to sleep. We got up at 6:30 to leave at 6:45. Everything was packed and I was not dressing to impress. I grabbed a bagel and later wished I would have made a huge breakfast.
We were told to arrive at 7:15 and were a few minutes late, but it did not matter. It felt so strange to be walking into the labor/delivery part of the hospital feeling no discomfort! We went to the receptionist (who was turned out to be our midwife for half of the day) and she showed us our room and told me she would come back in a few minutes after I changed and if I wanted, I could insert an enema myself. She showed up around 8:00.
First she did an exam (I was still at 3 cm) and tried to break my water (the doctor 'prescribed' this). However, she said there was not very much water by the baby's head, so she did not want to try too hard. The plan was if my water broke, labor could spontaneously start. That not being the case, she went on to get my IV in place for the Pitocin. This turned out to be one of the most painful parts of giving birth! In spite of my veins being beautiful, they were not very slippery. She poked me 4x before calling her colleague to come help. Thankfully the 5th try it worked! I had bruises until a few days ago.
I think it was about 8:30 once I was hooked up to everything. My doctor was starting her shift I think, so she came in to examine me again and also tried to break my water, but did not succeed. Liora came out with some scratches on her head, so I think one of them scratched her head with the crochet-needle-looking tool!
At this point it was actually kind of boring. I had the fetal monitor on and another monitor to measure the contractions, my IV and the automatic blood pressure cuff, so there was no walking around for me. I was in bed, just waiting...no contractions. FINALLY around 10:00 I started having contractions. By 10:20, they turned down the dose of Pitocin, because it seemed like I may have started labor 'on my own' or 'with a little help.'
I told the midwife early on that I wanted an epidural (after having my membranes stripped twice, I was not sure I could handle giving birth. Those were the most 2 painful things of my LIFE!!! With Mateo it put me directly in labor, but with Liora it did nothing). Contractions were fine and the midwife came around noon to say the anesthesiologist was on the floor, that maybe it was a good time for the epidural, because if they had to call him again, he may not be in time. I was at first hesitant, but said 'sure, why not?' It was about 30 minutes until he came and when he did I was READY! It is pretty scary to get one when you are having major contractions. They waited just until one ended, but still I had one while he was doing it. The nearly-instant-relief...aaahhhh, so nice! Something I thought was neat was that my IV thing had this little connector, so the liquid I had to have while having the epidural, could just be plugged into the same tube as my Pitocin. No more pricking!
At 1:00 I was still 3-4 cm, having contractions every 2 minutes (but not really feeling them). I was getting annoyed at that point, that I didn't really seem to be progressing. Hubby was served a nice meal and I was advised against eating, should I need to push in the next few hours. I did eat some of the little snacks I brought. I then, believe it or not, dozed on and off for a bit. I was a nice, warm, floaty sleep that actually kept being interrupted by the blood pressure cuff and the monitors that kept sliding off.
At 1:30 the doctor came back and I was at a 4-5. at 2:15 they said I was a good 5, thin cervix, baby was descending and the head was forming, possible around 4pm. (I am reading off hubby's Skype updates to mom...)
20 minutes later they came in and said I could probably start pushing in 10 minutes! When they (intern and new midwife) left the room, Hubby asked "What does that exactly mean?" I answered, "I guess things finally started moving." Oh, I need to back up! I called them in the room, because I was starting to feel more than I had felt, so I was worried the epidural was wearing off even though Hubby assured me he could see the thing and it still had lots in it. They checked and said that the epidural was fine and maybe I was ready to push.
They came back around 3:00 I guess. Earlier on they had already set up for delivery. When they came in they pulled out the leg things from the bed and said we would do some practice pushes, so we would be ready when the doctor came.
I was not completely numb like with Mateo, but I could not exactly feel when the contractions would start, so the midwife told me when to push/breathe. We did a few practices before the doctor came in and then I just continued doing what they said. I know it sounds strange to some, but I could not feel that I was pushing. With Mateo the doctor said I was making no difference, I just had a red face, but apparently this time it was working what I was doing. I was starting to laugh actually because I was making pushing sounds and faces and it just felt like I was FAKING! The midwife, intern, doctor and hubby all were very encouraging! At one point the midwife helped push once and the doctor told me the head was there. After that the doctor told me suddenly "Don't push until I say. Do your 'puff' breathing." Then I heard *snip.* So glad I did not feel that! I think it was the next series of pushes that Liora was there!
She was born at 3:27. To me it seems to go very fast, but a few times they mentioned "how long you pushed." To me it seemed fine. She flooped out the doctor handed her to me and I said (In English, because you resort to your mother tongue under pressure), "The cord!" It was wrapped twice around her neck. Scary! The doctor very calmly took care of that and then she said "There's poop!" This again scared me, because I thought she had done it inside and would need to be sucked out. They were not communicating as much at this moment, because they were cleaning it up. I still thought it was inside and did not realize she was doing it as we spoke. A LOT! Like TONS! She was just wiped off and my stomach as well and she started all over again. At this point it was good there was an extra set of hands in the room to help change the gloves, hand some stuff, etc.
It seemed like I laid there with my legs up in the air forever, but I am so glad I did not feel what was going on. Since I had my baby, I did not really worry what they were doing. The placenta came out and was good and then I got some stitches. I actually do not know how many.
All in all, it was a very fine experience! Being induced went much better than expected!
**This may sound funny, but my whole birthing/hospital experience was in Dutch, so I am actually 'translating' my experience. Excuse me if something sounds funny**
As any of my readers know, I was 8 days overdue. Scheduled to be induced on day 9. I had REALLY hoped labor would start, but it didn't.
I actually was able to fall asleep fine. Hubby apparently had a harder time. However, I woke up around 5:00 and could not fall back to sleep. We got up at 6:30 to leave at 6:45. Everything was packed and I was not dressing to impress. I grabbed a bagel and later wished I would have made a huge breakfast.
We were told to arrive at 7:15 and were a few minutes late, but it did not matter. It felt so strange to be walking into the labor/delivery part of the hospital feeling no discomfort! We went to the receptionist (who was turned out to be our midwife for half of the day) and she showed us our room and told me she would come back in a few minutes after I changed and if I wanted, I could insert an enema myself. She showed up around 8:00.
First she did an exam (I was still at 3 cm) and tried to break my water (the doctor 'prescribed' this). However, she said there was not very much water by the baby's head, so she did not want to try too hard. The plan was if my water broke, labor could spontaneously start. That not being the case, she went on to get my IV in place for the Pitocin. This turned out to be one of the most painful parts of giving birth! In spite of my veins being beautiful, they were not very slippery. She poked me 4x before calling her colleague to come help. Thankfully the 5th try it worked! I had bruises until a few days ago.
I think it was about 8:30 once I was hooked up to everything. My doctor was starting her shift I think, so she came in to examine me again and also tried to break my water, but did not succeed. Liora came out with some scratches on her head, so I think one of them scratched her head with the crochet-needle-looking tool!
At this point it was actually kind of boring. I had the fetal monitor on and another monitor to measure the contractions, my IV and the automatic blood pressure cuff, so there was no walking around for me. I was in bed, just waiting...no contractions. FINALLY around 10:00 I started having contractions. By 10:20, they turned down the dose of Pitocin, because it seemed like I may have started labor 'on my own' or 'with a little help.'
I told the midwife early on that I wanted an epidural (after having my membranes stripped twice, I was not sure I could handle giving birth. Those were the most 2 painful things of my LIFE!!! With Mateo it put me directly in labor, but with Liora it did nothing). Contractions were fine and the midwife came around noon to say the anesthesiologist was on the floor, that maybe it was a good time for the epidural, because if they had to call him again, he may not be in time. I was at first hesitant, but said 'sure, why not?' It was about 30 minutes until he came and when he did I was READY! It is pretty scary to get one when you are having major contractions. They waited just until one ended, but still I had one while he was doing it. The nearly-instant-relief...aaahhhh, so nice! Something I thought was neat was that my IV thing had this little connector, so the liquid I had to have while having the epidural, could just be plugged into the same tube as my Pitocin. No more pricking!
At 1:00 I was still 3-4 cm, having contractions every 2 minutes (but not really feeling them). I was getting annoyed at that point, that I didn't really seem to be progressing. Hubby was served a nice meal and I was advised against eating, should I need to push in the next few hours. I did eat some of the little snacks I brought. I then, believe it or not, dozed on and off for a bit. I was a nice, warm, floaty sleep that actually kept being interrupted by the blood pressure cuff and the monitors that kept sliding off.
At 1:30 the doctor came back and I was at a 4-5. at 2:15 they said I was a good 5, thin cervix, baby was descending and the head was forming, possible around 4pm. (I am reading off hubby's Skype updates to mom...)
20 minutes later they came in and said I could probably start pushing in 10 minutes! When they (intern and new midwife) left the room, Hubby asked "What does that exactly mean?" I answered, "I guess things finally started moving." Oh, I need to back up! I called them in the room, because I was starting to feel more than I had felt, so I was worried the epidural was wearing off even though Hubby assured me he could see the thing and it still had lots in it. They checked and said that the epidural was fine and maybe I was ready to push.
They came back around 3:00 I guess. Earlier on they had already set up for delivery. When they came in they pulled out the leg things from the bed and said we would do some practice pushes, so we would be ready when the doctor came.
I was not completely numb like with Mateo, but I could not exactly feel when the contractions would start, so the midwife told me when to push/breathe. We did a few practices before the doctor came in and then I just continued doing what they said. I know it sounds strange to some, but I could not feel that I was pushing. With Mateo the doctor said I was making no difference, I just had a red face, but apparently this time it was working what I was doing. I was starting to laugh actually because I was making pushing sounds and faces and it just felt like I was FAKING! The midwife, intern, doctor and hubby all were very encouraging! At one point the midwife helped push once and the doctor told me the head was there. After that the doctor told me suddenly "Don't push until I say. Do your 'puff' breathing." Then I heard *snip.* So glad I did not feel that! I think it was the next series of pushes that Liora was there!
She was born at 3:27. To me it seems to go very fast, but a few times they mentioned "how long you pushed." To me it seemed fine. She flooped out the doctor handed her to me and I said (In English, because you resort to your mother tongue under pressure), "The cord!" It was wrapped twice around her neck. Scary! The doctor very calmly took care of that and then she said "There's poop!" This again scared me, because I thought she had done it inside and would need to be sucked out. They were not communicating as much at this moment, because they were cleaning it up. I still thought it was inside and did not realize she was doing it as we spoke. A LOT! Like TONS! She was just wiped off and my stomach as well and she started all over again. At this point it was good there was an extra set of hands in the room to help change the gloves, hand some stuff, etc.
It seemed like I laid there with my legs up in the air forever, but I am so glad I did not feel what was going on. Since I had my baby, I did not really worry what they were doing. The placenta came out and was good and then I got some stitches. I actually do not know how many.
All in all, it was a very fine experience! Being induced went much better than expected!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)