A few weeks ago, I was having trouble falling back to sleep after catheterizing Anara and I started having some anxiety about childbirth. I started thinking about how I wanted this labor/delivery to be and remembering Violet's birthday. I don't think that I have ever recorded the details of Vi's birth so I decided to blog the details as well as I can remember because I know they will get hazy and I want to remember. If you aren't into birthing details or are easily repulsed by female things you may not want to continue reading.My mom was here for one night only and I was 4 days past my due date. We decided to try out some acupressure points and other natural induction methods. I was pretty skeptical that any of these things would work and I don't necessarily accredit my late night water-breaking to our intervention (I had to go sometime), but it was an interesting coincidence. Nate went to our Wednesday night House Church meeting at the Wiesman's house and then Nicole and Joel stopped by afterwards to see how things were going.
I wasn't able to fall asleep or get comfortable that night and for some reason Nate and I were up late talking. I went to the bathroom around 1:30am and I noticed a small popping sensation. I wasn't gushing or anything but decided to use some nitrazine paper to determine whether or not it was amniotic fluid. Sure enough it turned royal blue and I paged my OBGYN. It wasn't a normal water breaking experience and I didn't even leak on the way to the hospital. Since there was no watery mess I decided to shower and get ready before leaving the house. We arrived at the hospital and they confirmed in triage that my water had broken. I was admitted around 3:30 or 4:00.
Around 5:30am the on-call MD decided that I need pitocin because I wasn't having consistent contractions. I started pitocin and we (Nate, my mom, and Christina) played Phase 10 and hung out for the next several hours. Nate's brother, Joel, came to hang out with us at the hospital. After about 5 hours, I was contracting but I wasn't really having those breaks between contractions that you are supposed to use to gear up for the next one. It felt like I was having one giant, continuous contraction. At 11:30 we decided to try the epidural. This was not quite the savior I had imagined. I had a "hot spot" on my right side and still felt everything the same as before. I was having my mom apply extreme counter pressure to the right side of my back during every contraction. The anesthesiologist gave me some additional fentanyl to try and take care of the hot spot and this caused my blood pressure to drop. I remember crying to the nurse that if I fell asleep I would stop breathing. I felt like my breathing was no longer involuntary and I was having to tell my body to keep breathing. They gave me ephedrine to bring my blood pressure back up.
Finally about 2:30pm I was dilated and we were ready to do a couple practice pushes while we waited on my OB to arrive. I pushed a couple times and saw Vi's dark hair. We waited until my Dr. got there and then I was able to continue. I am not sure how accurate this is but it seems that I only pushed through 3 or 4 contractions and there she was. Violet was born on April 28, 2005 at 3:42 pm. She was 8lbs. 9 oz. and 21 1/4 inches long. I had an episiotomy and ended up with a 2nd degree tear. When Violet came out, Nate saw the swollen underside and said, "It's a boy" and my mom said, "It's a girl" and the doctor said, "I am the doctor I will decide." My doctor said that happens all the time ;) We had decided on the name Violet for sure but were still discussing boys names during labor.
We had originally planned for just Nate and I to be present during the delivery but in the middle of things I had a "more the merrier" perspective and ended up letting my mom and Christina stay in the room. This time Christina will most likely be delivering the baby and I am still thinking the more the merrier.
Violet only lost 6 oz. before she started gaining. Nursing wasn't easy or natural for me and I white-knuckled it for 6 weeks. I joke that Violet's 1st solid food was scabs. I ended up nursing Violet for 16 months (obviously it got a lot easier after the initial 6 weeks). I had weird hormone swings in the days after the birth that I am not willing to call baby blues because they were short lived and seemed to be somewhat cyclical with other physical symptoms.
And that is pretty much what I remember from Violet's delivery. Feel free to add details in the comments if you have memories that I haven't included.
9 comments:
What's your due date again?
I had the same popping sensation when I went to the bathroom & then my water broke! I wonder if that happens to a lot of women when their water breaks??? Thought I'd share!
I remember it a lot the same way. It was probably the most wonderful memory of my life. While I "really enjoyed my labor and deliveries" (yes I meant that). It was even more wonderful being there for my daughter's. And what a coach Nate was. Even though he kicked us all out once, he let us back in. While I am very willing to take care of the girls during next next birth if it comes down to Nate or I. I will take volunteers.
This baby is due November 14th - only 53 days to go...
Although I wasn't there for the delivery, I am told you said to Joel during your continuous contractions, "don't tell Nicole that it's this bad." What is more telling is that even though it was that bad in the moment, you were eager to do it again!
I can't wait for this one, and I know that it will be a great experience. He/she just can't come into this world before the evening of Oct. 31st :) It was fun reliving Vi's birth and fun to see what a chubster she was at birth (not fun for you at the time, though)!
I love birthday stories! I wish I could add to the memories, but I didn't get the pleasure of meeting little Violet until she was about 4 months old...and she slept through our entire breakfast at The Bongo Room on the seat!! If only they would do that now!
Might I add that you look gorgeous in that picture Amanda.
One good grandfatherly "Harrumph!"
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