So I had a baby. Ah! She is amazing and perfect and oh my gosh I love her so much. I want to start doing monthly update posts because my memory is crap lately and I want to remember these things. But for now, here is her birth story.
At my 39 week appointment my doctor scheduled my induction
for three days later. (I had gestational diabetes, which usually means you get
induced by 40 weeks if you don't go into labor naturally) Brian and I had both
assumed that they would make me wait till 40 weeks to be induced, so we were
both really excited and terrified that it was going to happen so much sooner.
We spent the weekend sleeping in, doing some last minute cleaning and
organizing, and going on our last date night as non-parents. We arrived at our
5:30 induction appointment on Sunday night excited and nervous and anxious to
meet our baby girl.
We checked in, joked with the nurses, and started to get
settled into our room. I've never had to stay in the hospital for anything, so
it was pretty weird to get dressed in the hospital gown and settle in to the Labor and Delivery room for what
I assumed would be hours and hours and hours. (spoiler alert. I was wrong) I
got my IV (ugh, I hate that part so much) and they set up everything to monitor
Norah's heartbeat and my contractions (which I was apparently having? But I
couldn't feel them yet). At that point I
was feeling really nervous. Everything was getting pretty real and I was
feeling rather unsure about my ability to actually deliver a baby sometime
soon. Luckily the nurses were really great and lightened the mood. I also had a doctor duck in and ask if I had gotten pregnant spontaneously which Brian and I both cracked up
about.
A nurse came in to do a quick check on the baby's position.
He chatted with us and felt around my stomach and left without much comment. I
remember telling Brian that I was assuming she was still head down since he
hadn't said anything. Foreshadowing! Soon after a couple nurses came in with an
ultrasound machine to double check her position and said she was most
definitely breech.
Bummertown.
That obviously changed things induction-wise. We decided to
try and have them manually turn her from the outside. If that worked, we would
proceed with the induction and if it didn't we would decide where to go from
there. We had gotten some really good tacos right before coming in (shout-out to Taqueria 27), so we had
to wait three hours for my food to be more digested before they would start
trying to move her. (There is a very slight risk of placental abruption or
causing fetal distress from trying this, so I had to be ready for an emergency
c-section. Which means...no food for a certain amount of time) We let our
families know what was going on and then half-watched some tv until it was baby
moving time.
The baby turning attempt was pretty miserable. It hurt the
most of any part of my labor experience and didn't end up working. At the end
of the second attempt to turn her when the pain was the very worst, I had a bit
of a breakdown and started sobbing. It just hurt so much and I was disappointed
that it obviously wasn't working. I also think the pain meds they had given me
made me extra emotional (I was similarly weepy after getting my wisdom teeth
out). The staff were all so supportive and gave us a few moments to be alone. (The
anesthesiologist, who I had not 15 minutes earlier had a perfectly calm and
rational discussion about the possibility of getting a c-section with, was understandably
confused and concerned when he came to check in and I was having a melt-down.)
Brian was able to calm me down and helped me wrap my mind around this change of plans. I
was mostly sad that a c-section greatly reduced my chances of being able to
hold and nurse my baby right away. But we decided to move forward since it was
very unlikely at that point that Norah was going to turn herself around before
my due date.
From there things moved pretty quickly. They told us it
would probably take a couple hours to get everyone assembled for the c-section.
Originally, they had talked about us
coming back the next day, so I was really happy things could get going that night.
I really couldn't stand the idea of leaving the hospital still pregnant. Instead
of a couple hours, only 15 minutes had passed when they came to let us know we
were ready to go! It's still crazy to me how fast we went from trying to move
her manually to Brian walking me down to the surgery doors. I remember sitting
on the bed, trying to curve my back correctly to get the spinal and thinking how
strange it was that this sterile white room was where my baby was going to be
born. It was entirely different than I had pictured it. I had honestly barely
even considered the possibility that I would need a c-section. After the spinal
(which I don't remember hurting at all!) I was laying on the bed and being
prepped and waiting anxiously for Brian. As soon as he was cleared to enter and
got seated by my head, I felt safe and ready for our baby girl to come. We sat
and talked for what seemed like only a minute. I hadn't really felt the pulling
or tugging I had been told about, so I assumed they were still waiting to get
started. Imagine my surprise when the surgeon announced that we were about to
have a baby! Brian watched her come out (butt first, like a real lady) and I
swear I didn't breathe till I heard her cry. Which she did! Loudly! I followed
suit (not as loudly).
Brian announced to me that she had a lot of dark hair and
that's when I felt like this was definitely my baby. Even though Brian and I
had both been born with blonde hair, whenever I had pictured Norah, she had
dark hair. Mother's intuition? Me just wanting a dark-haired baby? Who knows.
Norah was checked and cleared pretty quickly, so Brian got
to bring her over to me. I was beyond relieved that she didn't have any
complications and have to be whisked away. Seeing my sweet and amazing husband holding our daughter was one of the greatest things ever. It still is. I'll be honest and say I didn't feel
an immediate bond with Norah like some people talk about. However, I was totally fascinated with this
squishy new person. They soon placed her on my chest (I got the skin-to-skin
experience that I had mourned the loss of earlier!) and I got to have my first
cuddles with my Norah Jane. She was perfect.
Things definitely didn't go as we had planned, but I'm
actually thrilled with how they turned out. The hospital staff was so amazing
and reassuring, and they made the entire experience the best it could have
been. If I had gone into labor naturally and she had been breech things could
have been much scarier. As it was, I got to meet my baby much sooner than I
expected. And I didn't have to feel a single contraction! And most importantly
we got a healthy adorable baby girl who is ours forever. I really can't believe
how lucky we are. And that's really all I can ask for in a birth experience.
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| Norah Jane Walker September 21, 2014 11:51 PM 7 lbs 5 oz 19 inches |
