Details of Ellie's Birth Story

I keep returning to my blog knowing how badly I want to share Ellie's birth story.  However it was pretty intense and a lot of it, I don't know if I really want to share on the internet for everyone to read the specifics.  Some people are not like me and are okay with hearing details.  Even the personal bodily function kind. ;p

However I'll list a few things to explain how things are going.

First off, Ellie is two weeks old today!  Where did the newborn go???  I feel like we already handed the newborn over and now we have a baby.  We're noticing changes already.  We love her so much!!  But let me tell you...she gave me quite the ordeal to bring her into this world!

I'm not even going to go into the nine month of pregnancy.  I think you all already know how the pregnancy went from past posts.  However if you don't remember, you can always click on a post from the side bar from the months of February through September of 2012.

Anyways, back to her birth.  Ellie was healthy and everything.  After that appointment of finding out we had to be induced, we got prepared for being at the hospital and finally meeting our daughter!  Once at the hospital, October 3rd, 2012 we got set up and I got an IV.  Remember this post?  I was so concerned about the doctor.  However the doctor was INCREDIBLE!!!  (ahem, I actually wished I had him from the very beginning.)  God is so so SO GOOD! :D

He checked me and decided to start the Pitocin.  My contractions became more regular but didn't really get any stronger.  They felt like my usual intense "girl cramps."  Yes, uncomfortable and I took the time to carefully breathe with them, but I was so used to uncomfortable cramping that it was not a big deal.  However I wanted Ellie to get closer to her Exit.  The doctor was so nice and wouldn't break my water.  Since I had so much in there, he was afraid it would cause the cord to come out before Ellie would, and then I would have to be rushed in for a C-section.  Thank you Lord for his wisdom!

Hubby-Me-My sister


The nurse (who I absolutely LOVED!) continued to mention how my contractions lasted a long time and they were close together.  Awesome.  They will only get worse (more intense) as the labor continues....so I was preparing myself the whole day.  I had family with me during the day.  We played Five Crowns and they were pretty surprised nothing was progressing.  By the evening the doctor had checked again and I hadn't made progress so the plan was to do Cervidil, which would help get things moving.  If nothing happened they would check me again at 8am (Oct 4th) and break my water....

It was hard to hear nothing was progressing.  But little did I know what was about to BEGIN.  He gave me the Cervidil (which wasn't a big deal by the way) after they let me eat dinner.  They gave me a sleeping pill so I could sleep since I would need the energy.  However once my family (and labor supporters besides Jon) left, my contractions picked up.  Yes, they were still close together and long however much more intense.  As time went on they got so intense I had to keep reminding Jon I needed his help during them.  I felt like there was no break between them.  (Later he told me they were two minutes apart or less.)  However in his mind he was thinking "sleep until they come in at 8am to check me."  So we had brushed our teeth and he was in pj's and ready to fall asleep.  I kept disturbing him asking for his help and he didn't realize what was going on.  We were both not prepared for labor to pick up in the night so we weren't even thinking of calling family to let them know my labor was progressing.

I threw up.  Ugh.  Reminded me of pregnancy.  However I still didn't think of telling Jon "Call my mom!"  For some reason my mind was so not focused.  All I could do was deal with the long, fast coming contractions.  Midnight until 2am I seriously can hardly remember anything.  Jon and I once in awhile would talk about labor days after and I could remember bits and pieces.  (God's gift to women I guess.)  Jon even helped me relax by rubbing tennis balls and I could hardly remember I had him do that!  Poor guy!

It was 2:30am.  I told Jon "I WANT TO PUSH!"  He asked the nurses if I could.  Then asked me, "Should I call and let people know?"  Oh my goodness, yes!  I was so side tracked.  I forgot to remind him to call family!  So the nurses checked me (in which I don't even remember them checking).  And they both said, "She can push!"  They helped me hold my legs and I got to push!  I remember the contractions were so close, I had no break to relax between pushing.  I was so exhausted.  So tired.  Ellie, thank the Lord you are so cute!

I got to break my own water! :)  (Jon could add some notes at this part I'm sure.)
My mom came at some point.  She later informed that she was running down the hallway and heard a baby's cry and was worried she had JUST missed it.  But then she heard me yelling and she knew she hadn't. :)  I also heard later that Jon had never heard me yell like that before.  I know I had never heard me yell like that before.  However, how else do you respond when you are pushing out a human without any meds?



So I did get the natural birth I wanted, for the most part.  It ended up being wonderful.  But I didn't tell you what happened after Ellie came into this world.
So I started pushing about 2:30am and she was born at 3:07am.  Yeah, she came fast!  Which meant lots of tearing.  (Okay I wont share any more details.)  I'll just say I had to go in for surgery and they gave me meds to knock me out.  I returned to my room and got to hold my baby (this time I remember but hardly remember anything after I pushed her out).  My mom and sister helped me nurse Ellie for the first time since I was so weak and the meds for surgery were still in me.

Finally, done :)


Because of all the tearing they later found out my hemoglobin count went way low and I was anemic.  Which pretty much means I have no energy at all.  The first time I went to the bathroom after labor I passed out three times.  Which was kind of crazy, because I had no idea that I had lost so much blood and was weak.  Thankfully I had a nice nurse during that time and she got extra help and helped me back in bed.  They gave me oxygen and I just remember really wanting to sleep.  I hadn't slept for SO long.  I was so exhausted.  Jon later mentioned when he went in to check on me in the bathroom with the nurse he saw me and I was so white.  He was very concerned but the nurse had him stay out of the bathroom so the other nurses could help "wake me."

I can write another post about the rest of our stay at the hospital.  But I can give a short explanation until then:
Lots of discomfort.
Couldn't move with out help.
Wasn't even able to watch my baby's first bath even though it was done in our room (but had hubby video tape it because I had to stay in bed).
Was given two units of blood to help my hemoglobin level or else I wouldn't be able to go home.
Enjoyed nursing my daughter and saw how great hubby was with her.
Was so thankful for a wonderful husband who helped me take a bath and wash my hair.

the end.  we were so glad to go home on Saturday. :)


Comments

  1. wow mary thats rough. glad you got to do it naturally. Ellie is very precious, and i hope you recover quickly...
    -erin bradley

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Erin. :) I hope I recover soon. I can't wait to go back to normal, well as normal as I can get.

    ReplyDelete

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