Our Dynamic Life: July 2014

To make a long story short, this pregnancy was not the easiest nor the healthiest for me, but our baby girl seamed to make it out of it all perfectly. Due to the complications associated with this pregnancy, we chose to set an induction date, July 11. Being induced wasn't really what I had wanted but it all made sense. So yesterday, July 10th I had a Dr appointment and had my Dr strip my membranes. I was dilated to a 3-3.5 at that time so I figured that it wouldn't hurt to get them stripped since we were going in the next morning to be induced anyway.

After the appointment, I didn't really want to go home yet so we took Maia to the park and walked around. I was hoping that it might help put me into labor but also it was good for Maia to get out and play. We then headed home to Maia down for a nap and finish up the last few things that needed to be done for the baby.

Around 10 I started having contractions but they were all over the place and didn't feel like they were doing much. With this pregnancy I have had a bunch of contractions for weeks and weeks so it was pretty easy to ignore these ones. So I decided to shower and then we headed to bed. I had a hard time falling asleep because of contractions and finally I drifted off but then one woke me up around 2. So I got up used the bathroom and then went back to bed, where I was luckily able to go back to sleep. We woke up around 4 ish and got ready to go. We dropped Maia off at the White's house, which I am very grateful for their friendship and their willingness to take care of Maia. (I'm also very grateful to all those who have help throughout this pregnancy and have offered their help).

After dropping Maia off we headed off to hospital. I was still having contractions but I didn't think too much of it. We got checked in and set up in the room where they hooked me up to the baby and contraction monitor. They checked my cervix and found out that I was dilated to almost a 5, so I was already in labor. I didn't realize that all the contractions I was having were actually doing anything! Around 7:15 they stared pictocin to help my contractions. I have to say that when people say pictocin makes contractions stronger they are not kidding! About an hour after getting the pictocin I was in a lot of pain and the contractions were making me shake a lot. I didn't know how long this labor was going to be and I didn't want a repeat of Maia's delivery so I opted to get an epidural. My way with dealing with pain is to tense up and "grin and bear it" which I have learned doesn't help during contractions.

I have to say I always wanted to do it without an epidural but at the same time, some wise mother once said, that the whole goal of labor is to end up with a healthy baby and it doesn't matter how that baby comes into this world as long as everyone is healthy in the end. This has helped me get past the mommy guilt of using an epidural.

After the drugs started working they layed me down on my left side and they gave me a button to push if I needed more medicine. I noticed that my left side numbed up really well but the right side didn't get as numb. I'm not sure if it is because of where they placed the epidural in my back or if it was because they placed me on my left side after the epidural was placed.

After about 20 min, the nurse came in and wanted me to roll onto my right side and said the dr would be in shortly to check me and break my water. Within about 5 min of being on my other side, I started to really feel the contractions on my right side and I was thinking that my epidural was starting to not work. I then turned to Sean and said, it felt like there was something coming out of me and told him to call he nurse. My water then broke and when the nurse came in she stared off by telling me she didn't think my water had broken. I asked her what explained the rush of water I just felt and so she checked again and she said she saw some of the membrane and then she quickly went to go get the dr. Dr. Keder came in and checked me and told me I was at a ten and a -2 station. She told me not to push so she could get dressed and ready to deliver the baby. Once I was allowed to push, I only had to push for about 5 minuets and then we were introduced to our beautiful baby girl, born at at 9:35 am.

I didn't get to hold her right away because they had to check her oxygen levels and I guess she needed a little bit of oxygen to get her going. After a few minuets though they said she was all good and they weighed her in at 7 lb 5 oz and 20 inches long. This seamed like a long time before I got to hold her, which was ok because the dr took a while to sew me up. Since Kassia came so quickly I tore in several places. When I finally got to hold her, they placed her on my chest, skin to skin. They wanted Kassia to be on my chest for a couple of hours before nursing to help with her blood oxygen levels. Having her there was a little piece of heaven and having Sean next to me made it perfect. I'm grateful for that one on one time with her.

After I was allowed to nurse her, the nurses then came and took her to the nursery to finish up her newborn stuff and the nurse told me I had to use the bathroom before they would transfer me to my room. I knew my legs were still a little numb but I thought I could still walk. So with the nurses help, I took a couple steps but my legs were not going to hold me. Before I knew it the nurse was pretty much throwing me back onto the bed. She said it was easier for her to do that then do all the paper work for a fall.

They ended up getting me a wheel chair to transport me to the recover rooms. They really wanted me to use the bathroom so luckily by that time I was able to walk on my own accord. Soon after they brought Kassia back into the room. They had to give her a little bit of oxygen while in the nursery and she came back with an oxygen monitor on her. They were a little worried about her oxygen levels so they were being cautious.

The alarm on the monitor kept going off because she would move and set it off. Sometimes it was because her oxygen levels had dropped but mostly just error. She only had to wear it for the first day which was nice.

Looking back, I am so very grateful that everything went as well as it did. I remember thinking, I could do this again, which for me was a huge blessing. We truly were blessed to have such a beautiful healthy baby girl.

We didn't do a ton for the forth as I was very pregnant but we did go to a parade in upper Arlington with some friends. The Rigdon's live just around the corner from the parade path and the Sunday before the parade they told us where we should go and lay out our chairs. People in Upper Arlington really take this parade serious! We thought that putting our chairs out when we did would be early enough but it was a tight squeeze.

On the Forth we went over to the Rigdon's house for breakfast and then headed over to the parade. They have a son about Maia's age and it was fun for them to play together a little bit.