Birth Story

I'm going to try to remember best I can what happened the day Kendall was born. So as Jason had previously reported in another blog entry---On Tuesday, Dec 9th, I got to work and I started having trouble seeing clearly & kept seeing lines in front of my eyes for like 30 minutes. This is a sign of preeclampsia, which the Dr had been looking for. I called my Dr, even though I was going to see her that day anyway, but I wanted to see if they'd want me to come in earlier. But my Dr was in surgery, so no such luck. Jason decided to take me to my appt that day cuz he was afraid I was going to have vision problems again. We get to my appt. They take my blood pressure 3 times and it was high every time. This is the first appt my blood pressure had been high. So of course they are concerned. Jason leaves the room to go to the bathroom and while he's gone, my Dr comes in to talk to me. She tells me this is the sign they were looking for (high blood pressure) & I was going to be induced that day. Otherwise there is danger of me having a seizure. Jason comes back in the room in the middle of the conversation. Of course, I am terrified at this point. I did not expect to have a baby or be induced that day at all. I hadn't even packed a hospital bag!! The Dr leaves the room and I start bawling cuz I'm so scared. I get myself together and we go talk with my Dr for a few more minutes and then the nurse walks us over to the hospital. Luckily my Dr office is right at St Luke's so we didn't have a far walk. I'm very glad Jason came with me to my appt that day. So anyway, we get over there maybe around 2 or 2:30 and I get admitted. I have to answer a bunch of questions & get in a hospital gown. Jason leaves to go home & pack some stuff for our hospital stay. At 4 pm, a nurse comes in to start my pitocin and my magnesium (I guess high blood pressure patients are put on this). The IV insertion hurt really bad. I think she had trouble finding a vein cuz I was so swollen. I also have to say at this point, I'm between 2 & 3 cm dilated. I'm also scared I'm going to end up with a C-section since many inductions do lead to them. Once the pitocin and magnesium started, that meant I was going to be in bed til I had that baby. Fun. I also had an internal contraction monitor. Jason brought "Big Daddy" with Adam Sandler so we watched that. I was told I was suppose to stay calm cuz of my blood pressure so they didn't really want me talking on the phone or doing anything that would stress me out. I think I was still like 3 cm dilated when they decided to break my water at like 8:30 pm. That was a weird feeling. Just a stream of water. Contractions really weren't all that bad yet after they broke my water. It was neat to see the contractions monitored on the computer screen. At about 11:30 pm, the contractions were starting to get more painful and I was having trouble relaxing and resting cuz of them. I decided at this point to get my epidural. I think I was 4 cm dilated. The anesthesiologist comes in and administers it. Ahhhhh, relief. I love epis. I recommend them to anyone. I don't think I could have survived the night without it. It didn't even hurt that much either. I thought the IV insertion hurt more. I was then able to get a little rest. It was cool to look at the contraction monitor and see I had a "big" one and I couldn't even feel it! I don't remember much else after this. I know at one point I start feeling contractions during the nite and kept pushing the button to give myself more epi relief and it wasn't working. Turns out the bag had run out. So anesthesia came back and gave me a new bag. PHEW!! I know I was checked a few times during the nite to see how much I was dilated. I remember at the shift change in the morning, I was 8 or 9 cm & they were calling my dr to report my progress. The nurse told me I was gonna start pushing soon. I was glad at this point becuz I was having a lot of pressure in my back area and I was getting uncomfortable. So anyway, I started pushing at 8:30 am and Kendall was born at 9:24 am. The nurse said I was a really good pusher. I feel proud of myself. I was so scared of the whole birthing process and yet, I did it. I did have a small episiotomy to help get her out. The first thing I did when I saw her come out was look at her face (and I thought she's cute!), then I looked down at her genitals. and saw she was a GIRL!! haha. They took her to clean her up while I got some small stitches. I know I said this in a previous post, but she was 6 lbs, 1 oz, 19. inches long. She scored a 7 and a 9 on the Apgar test. My blood pressure continued to be high pretty much the rest of my hospital stay. I was monitored like every hour for it. They were also concerned becuz I was not urinating, so I had to have a catheter in place. So I had all this stuff still hooked up to me even the day after I gave birth. I'm now on Procardia for my blood pressure. Hopefully I won't be on it for long. I still have swollen ankles and legs but have somehow already lost 20 lbs. YES!!! I'm sure a lot of it is IV fluid. I've been doing fine, I'm sore and have back pain, but I guess that is to be expected. Breastfeeding isn't going that well yet. Kendall mostly eats formula along with the small amt I'm able to pump. Hopefully that will get better in the next couple days. Jason and I love our new daughter and it will be fun to experience all kinds of new things with her. I'd also like to say that Jason has been awesome. I love him so much. I feel very lucky to have him. I'm just suppose to be taking it easy so he's been doing pretty much everything. He's been great with the baby too. It's so cute to see your husband with your daughter. Overall, St Luke's was awesome and I wouldn't hesitate to give birth there again!