Can you believe it?! {birth story edition}

I just have to write down all of the crazy things that happened during my hospital stay.  There were lots of mistakes made, in my opinion/experience, and if this was my first birth, I wouldn't have known to speak up.

• I was never given a hospital gown.  They are ugly as sin, but decidedly more comfortable than laboring and delivering in your underwire bra and husband's t-shirt.  After Poppy was born, the realization that they were never going to give me a gown was sinking in and I asked for one.  
• I was never offered meds after birth.  No pain relief or any of the other NECESSARY ones...I knew enough to ask for them and was given oxycodone.  Sweet relief!  
• No squirt bottle.  No pads.  Nothing was offered to me until I spoke up and told the nurses that I was going to shower (hint, hint!).  For real.  
• The skin-to-skin time had to be demanded.  That Southern nurse had a great accent, but terrible bedside manners.  She, nor any of the other nurses, asked me what my plan was for after the birth.  Although Poppy was swamped by the four specialists at birth, once she was cleared, the l&d nurses kept her and started doing their clerical work/baby measurements before letting me do skin-to-skin with her.  After my mom was like, "Um, you need to have your baby back."  
• That dang Southern nurse came in TWICE to take my baby.  Once for a bath and then again for the hearing test.  I never just give my babies to the nurses.  Ever.  So Poppy was never bathed and I went with her for (both) of her hearing tests.  
• The nurse hadn't added the mattress to my bed after the birth.  I didn't have to leave the room after delivery, but there were supposed to be changes made to the room to make it less labor-ish and more recovery-ish.  Didn't happen until that night at the shift change at 7pm after I had asked for a pillow to sit on because my nether regions were so uncomfortable.  
• This is really just my speculation, but something was up with that epidural...it just wasn't right!

So there it is...my list of gripes.  If I ever get pregnant again, I'll switch doctors just to avoid that hospital.  I'd do it all over again for little Miss Poppy Ballerina, though!  She really is an angelbaby...probably my payback after my monsterbaby Scarjo!  ;)

Poppy Ballerina: a birth story

Let me preface this by saying that my birth plan was simple.  I was to be very medicated.  Extremely medicated was even better.  With my first baby, I was induced 5 days late and given my epidural at 2cm dialated.  I felt nothing when she was born.  That was my goal for baby 2's birth...

On November 1 at 2:40am, the contractions were so strong, they woke me up!  They were lasting about one minute and coming ten minutes apart, which was great, but I knew to wait until 5-1-1 (five minutes in between them, lasting one minute, after one hour of contractions) to go to the hospital.  Just when I was about to wake up Tyler, 80 minutes later, the contractions started getting further apart.  Twelve minutes, fifteen minutes, twenty minutes...until I was getting them about once every hour.  This continued for the next day, through the evening.  I was contracting through Alyssa/Grammum visits, getting Scarlett ready, and a trip to the playground.  It made for a very long and uncomfortable day.

That night, we did our normal bedtime routine with Scarlett, but as she slept beside me, I was timing my contractions.  When I think back to this, I'm happy because my contractions were a distraction to the fact that it was the last time I would put Scarlett to bed, just the two of us.  I had been dreading this night since February, but at that moment, I was thinking about getting to the hospital to get my epidural.  No time for me to be sentimental!

By 2:00am, my contractions were coming regularly, so I knew it was time to shave my legs, so I hopped into the shower!  After I was clean and ready to go, I called my mom to have her come stay with Scarjo.

A few minutes later, my mom arrived.  We chitchatted to the background noise of Nashville while Tyler got last minute things packed into the jeep.  Then we were off to the hospital...!

The roads were empty at that hour; it felt surreal that it was finally time to go.  I had envisioned that ride for the past few months, wondering when it would happen and what it would be like.

We pulled into our normal parking lot, parked, and walked the fairly long distance to the doors only to realize too late that they were locked!  (I will say that Tyler offered to drop me off and then park, but I insisted that I could walk.  I didn't want to be a drama queen about my contractions that were now coming every 3 minutes.  I was convinced that I was still in early labor.)  Our hospital closes up shop at 8pm.  After that, you must be buzzed in through the ER entrance.  (This was a different process than what we went through at our last hospital where Scarlett was born.)

When we got off the elevator on the 2nd floor, it was quiet and calm.  I felt a little silly because I was convinced that I was probably only two or three centimeters dilated.  With Scarlett, my labor was forever, so I was prepared to deliver the next night.  Maybe.

Well, we approached the nurses at the front desk, and I said, "I think I'm in labor."  They escorted us to the nearest room, #5, and gave me a cup.  When I was back from the bathroom, the nurse, Tina, told me to lay down and she hooked me up to monitors and took my blood pressure.  Being nervous and still contracting, I asked her if they were going to admit me.  She said, "Honestly, if you were really in labor, you wouldn't be able to talk.  You're smiling and chatting.  You're probably not in labor.  BUT, some people surprise us."  Then she went about her business getting things together around the room.

To say I was crushed would be an understatement.  I had been contracting irregularly since Halloween night and then regularly for a few hours.  I was over it.

Even though she doubted me, Tina had me take off one leg of my jeans to check me.  Much to her surprise, I was SEVEN CENTIMETERS dilated!  Woohoo!!!  Take that!  Well, that's what I thought in my head!  She was so shocked that she had the other nurse, Amanda, come a check to make sure she was right.

Once it was confirmed I was in active labor, they started the process of admitting me.  I was adamant about receiving an epidural, so they started fluids and contacted the anesthesiologist.  The whole thing was going on as I was just focusing through each contraction.  They were really great about stopping their questions and waiting silently for my contractions to end.  Though they also were starting to say things like, "You're doing really great, you could do it without an epidural." and "You're already 7cm, I'm not sure we'll be able to get you the epidural before you're ready to push."  I was not hearing any of it.  I wanted my drugs!

Things started happening really quickly at this point and are sort of jumbled in my memory.  This is how I remember the sequence of events...

My anesthesiologist arrived.  He was a very elderly gentlemen who had rolled out of bed to get to the hospital.  He seemed like it was just a walk in the park for him and was very nonchalant about everything.  My blood pressure dropped way too low, so Tina was pumping me full of something to bring it to normal levels.  There were three nurses and the delivery doctor (not my own or one who I had ever met before -- disappointing) all standing around my bed watching my machines.  Freaky!  But that wasn't the worst part.  After a while of my blood pressure fluctuating from normal to scary low, they decided to turn off my epidural.  I cried.  And then the contractions started coming and I was shaking all over.  Transition.  I cried some more.  Then everyone left except Tyler and the new nurse from the shift change at 7am.  This new nurse was a traveling nurse from down south with a beautiful accent, but not much knowledge about the hospital.  She was there one minute and replaced by yet a different nurse the next minute.  I was 9cm dilated and this strange nurse was telling me to push.  I found out later that they were hoping it would raise my blood pressure, but at the time, I was so frustrated and confused.  I just cried and half-heartedly pushed.  I remember I kept asking why I was pushing and asking them to turn on my epidural.  No one was there and the new nurse had no idea what was going on with me.  Finally, my original nurse came in with a new anesthesiologist who gave me a shot of something magic that made my contractions painless.

I stopped pushing.  My Southern nurse came back (she had had a migraine and needed meds) and the new anesthesiologist came and approved turning back on my epidural.  Then they checked me.  I was ten centimeters, but I had felt them checking me and started to panic.  Dr. Stein came in and reassured me that I was numb, I'd just feel pressure when the baby came out.  This was not very reassuring after she started talking about how she hadn't actually had children, but her friends had kids and they were pretty much her own.  Not. The. Same.

It was time for me to really push at 7:40am.  Everyone left but Tyler and my Southern nurse.  I pushed and pushed and pushed.  At about 8:30, Tyler informed me that Mary was in the waiting room and Scarlett was on her way with my mom.  That just made me want the whole ordeal to be over with.

One second, the nurse was telling Dr. Stein that it'd be a little while longer, then she walked to the machines to look at something.  I just kept pushing every time I felt like I had to, but didn't tell anyone.  (It was weird that I was laying alone on the bed with just Tyler...)  Then the nurse came over and saw the baby's head -- she called for the doctor!

It was go time; one push later and head was out!  As the shoulders came out, I stopped pushing, but everyone screamed to keep going.  That dang epidural was not working and I could feel everything!  But a few seconds later, the baby was out!

At the time, I was oblivious to this, but apparently the baby had had a bowel movement during delivery after her head was out.  They were concerned, so as soon as she was born, Poppy was rushed to the heater and four nurses worked on clearing her out and making sure she was okay.

Poppy was fine, but unfortunately, we missed out on those first few moments together.

Poppy Ballerina was born at 9:00 am on November 2, 2012.  She was 7lbs. 11oz. and 20 3/4" long.

No cutting the cord for Tyler -- he was fine with that as long as she was okay!

 Mary came in right after she was born!  Scarlett, Alyssa, and my mom came 20 minutes later.  That whole morning was spent just introducing Poppy to her cousins and skin-to-skin time with me.  Perfect!

Alyssa was fascinated with Poppy from the very beginning!

Poppy brought her big sister gifts!

Alyssa is a fan of baby Poppy!

Big cousin Lulu with Poppy! 

Happy, happy, happiness!!!  I'll save the Negative Nelly things about the hospital and nurses for a different post...!

Birth Story {Fifteen months later}

Here is my birth story, {almost} 15 months later.  I am really happy to have it all written out for Scarlett to read someday.  I am also sharing some SCARY ugly pictures of myself.  (Thank goodness I don't look like this anymore AND they're really great motivation to sticking with my calorie counting!)  You've been warned... 

We were ready!

The last picture on the right was taken right before we left for my 41 week appt

Monday, January 18, 2010

My sister was living in Texas at the time, but came up to Maine for Christmas and Scarlett's birth, so she was with me as I drove to my 41 week appt for an ultrasound.  (My first due date was January 17, but at my 20 week ultrasound, it was changed to the 13th.) During the ultrasound, the technician explained that the baby was fine, but there was low amniotic fluid and she wasn’t taking consistant breaths. When there are two or more things from a checklist that doctors go by that are not okay, the doctor told me, then they’re likely to induce. They sent me straight to the hospital for a non-stress test and to start the induction process. I wasn’t really feeling nervous at this point because I was too excited! We were driving the jeep and it had really started to snow! We called Tyler on the way to the hospital. He was about a half an hour away and just had to finish up, and then he said he’d meet us at the hospital. Because they made me go straight to the hospital, all of my things were still at the house. (When we had left for my appt, I never in a million years thought that I would have to be induced.  I was 41 weeks pregnant, so I'm sure when I thought I'd be having the baby!) We called my mom to have her meet us at the hospital too.

I had pre-registered the Tuesday before, so when we arrived at the hospital, we took the elevator straight up to the 3rd floor and by 1pm, I was all hooked up to the IV. Having my IV put in was SO painful! An older nurse, Annette, came in to do it. She decided to try putting it into my arm, but couldn’t find the vein. Next, she put the needle into my hand. This time it worked—thank goodness.

My mom and Mary were there for the IV and a few minutes after it was in, Tyler showed up. He had brought me a Subway BMT because that’s what I’d been craving for so long, but it had been off limits to me during pregnancy. He was clearly celebrating just a bit prematurely (Did I mention that we had opted not to take childbirth classes?!  Clearly, someone needed them...!)   I had decided not to take the classes because they seemed too expensive for something that I had witnessed 20 months earlier when my sister had her baby and thought I knew exactly what would happen.  This is not always the case, but luckily for me, it turned out that Molly and I did in fact have similar births.

So here I was hooked up and hanging out in a post-delivery room because the labor & delivery rooms were full while Tyler left to go drop off his IRV (work vehicle) and pick up my car. When he was gone, a L&D room opened up and I was officially registered and given a room. Once I was settled and Tyler was back, Mary went to the house to get our overnight things. It was really a waiting game at this point; my doctor just had to actually start the induction. At 5pm, Dr. Griffin induced me using a balloon thingy (nice technical terminology, huh?!) that was placed in the cervix and began contractions. My contractions were so painful, and I had planned on having an epidural, so as soon as the doctors would let me, I wanted it! Around 8pm, I was 3cm dilated and in quite a bit of pain, so they called Dr. Landry, the anesthesiologist. I kicked everyone (even Tyler) out of the room because I was just nervous about the needle; I didn't want an audience. It was WAY less of an ordeal than I had imagined it to be. He inserted the needle into my back, I felt a painful twinge down my entire right side, told him about it, and he adjusted everything, so that the pain went away. I didn't feel my contractions at all after that!

Hand IV=PAINFUL

I labored throughout the night while trying to get sleep. My mom and Tyler both stayed at the hospital and slept in chairs. The night nurse was my favorite, but I cannot remember her name. She gave me my catheter, which I had also been wicked dreading, but it was as uneventful as the epidural!  That nurse just did a really great job of keeping me calm and upbeat – even in the middle of the night!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

By 6am, I was ready to get this whole labor process over with, but Dr. Mullally (the on-duty doctor that day from my OBGYN office) didn’t check on me until 8 o’clock. I was getting restless, but the epidural was doing it’s job, so I felt no pain. I was only 5cm when I was eventually checked, so it was decided that I was going to get some pitocin. We waited and waited until it was finally started. Dr. Mullally came back to touch base and let me know that she had a c-section to perform, but that she would be back later to check me. With the epidural and pitocin going, all I had to do was wait and entertain my guests! My sisters, Molly and Mary, had brought labor essentials (hair clips, chapstick, tons of fashion mags, and candy, which Molly ate!) and we just chit-chatted all morning into the afternoon. The swine flu was causing panic around this time, so the hospital policy only allowed a patient to have three guests at a time and NO children under 16 unless they were a sibling to the new baby.  With Tyler and my mom being permanent visitors, only 1 of my sisters was allowed at a time.  We followed the rules mostly, but as it became closer to delivery, we just broke the law and snuck Molly in! 

A medical student checked me around noon and told me that I was 8cm. I had been checked less than an hour earlier by the nurse and had been told that I was 6cm, so I found it very hard to believe that I had dilated 2 cm in less than an hour, so I asked the nurse to check me again. Sure enough, I was right! I felt so discouraged because even though I knew it couldn’t happen that quickly, I still had felt hopeful that it may have. I asked to not be seen by that medical student again as she had done other things that were rubbing me the wrong way all morning, the incorrect cervix check was all I could take!

Around the same time that this mishap had happened, the baby’s heartbeat started to drop. Since I was on an epidural, I could barely move, so two nurses came in to roll me into different positions that the baby “liked.” A HUGE concern for me all along had been that they wouldn't like the fact that I couldn't move because I was so numb and would turn down my epidural, so while they were rolling me around, I tried to use my mind to remember how my legs would feel moving and then try my hardest do those movements, so the nurses didn't realize exactly how numb I really was!  I was FREAKING OUT about the erratic heartbeat; I really thought I would be forced into an emergency c-section.  (But I was so uneducated, what did I know!?) Tyler had gone out to the waiting room to see his parents (only 3 visitors at a time...his parents were not in the top 3) The nurses gave me an oxygen mask to wear that just made me worry even more. It was a terrifying half hour, but finally her heartbeat regulated and was beating at a normal rate. Phew! I was crying because the nurses had even called Dr. Mullally to check out the situation.  Once Dr. Mullally arrived, she checked the situation on the monitors and told me that everything was okay.  She was so calm and sure of herself - it made me feel so much better that she wasn't concerned about the baby.

I felt my water break around 2:30pm and by 3pm, I was fully dilated and ready to push! My mom, Mary, and Molly stood behind the curtain, but stayed in my room.  I had really planned on having at least my mom in the room for the delivery, but that was when I thought my modesty would be out the window.  In my completely numb state, I was not about to flash my lady bits and hairy legs to anyone who wasn't necessary.  (In my defense, I had not been planning on having the baby so soon.  The plan was to shave for the poor delivery nurses!)  Behind the curtain, my mom and sisters were giggling and having a party, so the mood in the delivery room was very happy and excited!  Tyler and my nurse, Tammy, each held a leg.  We had to watch the monitor to tell if I was having a contraction (they MAY have been catching on to how completely numb I was by this point...) and I pushed with all I had.  My sister, Molly, had pushed for 30 minutes with her baby, so I was out to beat her!  Unfortunately for Scarlett's head, I ended up pushing for an hour.  At 4:01pm, Katie Scarlett came out!  Dr. Mullally put her right on my chest. I just stared at her, taking her all in, talking to her, and describing her features to my family through the curtain.  Tyler kept asking the nurses and doctor if I was alright - I think the amount of blood he saw freaked him out a little!  Scarlett was crying when she came out, but once I started talking to her, she just stared at me and made the funniest face. I felt so much relief and I was just so happy that she was here.

After I delivered the placenta (It's very really weird looking; I asked to see out of pure curiousity!), I was stitched up. I told Dr. Mullally not to worry about using a numbing shot (AFTER she already had...clearly still numb from my epidural) though I'm not sure what I was thinking because the epidural was wearing off and recovering is the worst part of the whole experience!  My mom had tried to warn me, but I was too freaked out by the thought of the "ring of fire" to care about the aftermath...little did I know...!

I tried nursing for about an hour. Scarlett never latched on, but at least we did get skin-to-skin time. Then my mom and sisters came in to see her. They helped me gather my belongings and carry them to my recovery room while Tammy brought me to the bathroom.

Once I had gone to the bathroom and Scarlett was all wrapped up after having been weighed, measured, and checked out by her pediatrician, Dr. Stone, we made our way to the recovery room. Tyler, Tammy, Mary, Molly, my mom and I all walked together. Mary & Molly left, though, to go get me some much-craved Subway turkey subs while the rest of us got me settled. 

Auntie Mary & Katie Scarlett!

Auntie Molly & baby Scarlett

grumpy old man.



After everyone left, Scarlett and I got into bed (Tyler was sleeping on the pull-out couch - lucky guy!), and I looked down at my swaddled grumpy old man baby and couldn't believe that she was all mine and that the nurses were just leaving her with us!  It was the most surreal, wonderful feeling in the world!  We left the hospital on Thursday, January 21, 2010.

The day we went home!