Avery's Birth Story

Well it's been 10 days since Avery's arrival into our lives.  Let me give the update on how she got here.

On Saturday the 18th of January, I started having really bad lower back pain.  I just assumed it was because I was up and about cleaning, baking, organizing etc. to keep myself busy, so I thought nothing of it.  Sunday I woke up and still felt pretty awful and the back pain persisted.  I stayed home from church just for a rest and by the evening I started having some timeable contractions.  They ranged from half an hour to 2 hours apart, so I knew it was possibly the start of labour, but that I had a long way to go.

I had a doctor's appointment at 11am on Monday and was still having sporadic contractions.  When they checked me at my appointment they said I was 3cm dilated and sent me home.  I decided to go to my mom's place because she has a jacuzzi and we wouldn't have to fight rush hour traffic if we had to go back in to the hospital that evening.  I took a nap when we got there and by 2pm I was having contractions fairly strong, but manageable.  They ranged from 2 minutes apart to 10 minutes apart and were consistently 45 seconds long.  My OB had told me to wait until I felt them coming every 5 minutes for an hour, so we just waited.

By 5:15 my mom came home and I was in a lot of pain every time I had a contraction.  Every time I tried to go to the washroom I would start a contraction.  By 5:45 I had had 3 consecutive contractions and I had had enough.  I told my mom that I was in enough pain that I thought we should go to the hospital.  So off we went.  By 6:15 I was checked in to pre-admission and introduced to the resident on call that night.  They did an internal exam and asked me "when did your water break?".  I told them I wasn't aware that it had.  "Well, I can feel your baby's hair, so your water is definitely broken".  News to me!  Turns out the tiny gush I felt at one point in the afternoon around 4pm (I thought it was just a bit of incontinence) was my water breaking.  Baby had plugged the outlet so no other gushes were felt after that.

After an hour in pre-admission I was dilated enough for them to admit me into labour and delivery.  They had me hooked up to monitors checking the intensity of my contractions.  It was a scale from 0-100.  My baseline was sitting at about 50 and when I had a contraction, some of them were off the scale above the 100 mark.  It was pretty insane, but really cool to see on the screen.

I had planned on trying to do a natural birth with no drugs, but my contractions were so painful and I started throwing up during them that by 8pm I opted to get an epidural.  The anesthesiologist was so busy that night that he didn't end up showing up until 9:30pm.  Jon held my hands while the doctor tried to place the needle.  He commented on my spine being crooked and he missed the mark the first time he tried.  So he tried in a different spot on my spine instead.  That time it worked and within minutes I was pain free.  It was glorious.  I felt nothing from my breasts down.

Me after my epidural

The relief I felt was soon overcome by sleepiness so I tried to rest while I could.  They gave me oxytocin to speed up the dilation and kept me on IV fluids to keep me hydrated.  It was a bit frustrating not being able to move around and being stuck in bed, but I was able to update the extended family via facebook and email during the whole labour process, so that was pretty cool.

By 3am I was fully dilated, and they discovered that Avery was positioned badly and her head was on an angle in my pelvis and wasn't moving down.  So, they brought in a specialist and turned her.  They had to push her back up into my uterus in order to turn her properly, so that was a very strange feeling.  I was grateful for the epidural then!  They then decided to wait a few hours to let her contract downwards on her own before getting me to push.  They said that by about 6am we would start pushing, so I had a timeline.  I tried to rest some more, but I was getting too excited and scared about what was to come.

I pushed from 6am to 7:08am when Avery was born.  She had the cord wrapped around her neck and if I had taken any longer to get her out she may have been a C section baby, but the doctors were amazing and my L&D nurse was a huge help and encouragement.  I ended up with second degree tearing, since Avery had such broad shoulders that they had to reposition her again on the way out.  They took her away immediately so I didn't even get to see her.  I heard her whimpering so I knew she was alive, but I could only see her legs over at the examining table.  I think at one point I was so upset that I didn't get to see her that they brought her over so I could say hi and see my daughter before they took her away again for further testing.  She was apparently very white, likely from the cord being around her neck, so they just wanted to make sure she was ok.  It was about 15 minutes before I finally got to hold her.

Me holding Avery for the first time

She was beautiful.  I couldn't believe that I had given birth to her.  It all seemed worth it in that moment.  It's been 10 days since then and she has proven to be a wonderful baby.  She barely cries, and is easily comforted.  She loves being held and cuddled, and spends a lot of time sleeping on her daddy's chest while I take naps.  I've healed really well, and within 4 days all my swelling had gone down and I was back out and about.  Even with being sore and tired and healing I have felt better than I have in months.  The elation I feel every time I hold my little girl is indescribable.  She is awesome.

EVICTION NOTICE

My uterus has just put out an eviction notice for baby.  She has about 10 days to get herself vacated from my womb on her own before my OB will do it for her.  I had been having contractions off and on for about 2 weeks now, but still nothing.  Saturday and Sunday were especially difficult and I had LOTS of Braxton Hicks.  So, yesterday, I decided I would take some castor oil in order to help labour happen.  Well, 27 hours and many bathroom trips later, I feel pretty good...but no contractions.  Guess baby isn't ready yet.  I may try again in a few days.  Anything would be better than induction, in my opinion.

On Monday I had my 40 week appointment.  My BP was the lowest it's been thus far at 100/60.  I'm totally relaxed and just ready for her to come already, so that's probably why.  I don't have anxiety, and I'm just bored.  All the baby things I had to do are done.  I even detailed the car last night and installed the car seat.  They offered to strip my membranes on Monday to get labour started, but I said no.  I've heard it can be painful and I hadn't hit my due date yet anyway.  My OB scheduled an ultrasound for Friday morning, just to make sure baby is still doing fine and to make sure we don't have to induce her early.  She's still squirming around in there, so I'm sure she's doing great.

My belly has dropped even more and now looks like I'm a basketball smuggler.  I've been trying to be active and walk around a lot to help my body get ready, but it makes me sleepy.  I've been sleeping about 8-9 hours a night (minus bathroom trips) and 1-2 hours napping during the day.  I had resisted for a long time because I didn't want to throw off my sleep schedule, but many moms have assured me that I should sleep when I feel tired because you never know when labour will start or how long it will be.  One day at a time.  At least I have the assurance that I will meet my baby girl sometime in the next 10 days.  Exciting!

Baby is Comfortable

Just got home from my 39 week appointment.  According to my OB, baby is quite comfortable where she is.  Her heartbeat is between 140-150bpm and she's still head down and facing the right way.  She's still squirmy and I get her bum or her knee poking out on a regular basis.  I occasionally get elbows to my hips too, but not very often.

Everything on my end is good too.  My fundus height is still growing and I'm sitting at 40cm this week.  I finally hit my 20lb mark of weight gain, but everything else is still really good.  My bp this morning was 112/68, so that was fantastic.  The doctor actually said "I'm sure we'll see you at your appointment next week", so she even thinks I'll at least reach my due date (the 15th) or go overdue.

I've finally got the nursery all finished, and I think it looks really good.  I've already been spending time hanging out in there and getting used to the setup.  I made a make-shift bed on the floor in there, since I'm not sure baby will be able to sleep in our room with Jon's snoring (lol) so I will want to be close to her for nursing purposes.

I'm finally starting to get bored with my time off.  I've made a bunch of freezer meals, and cleaned everything, organized everything, and done all the laundry, so there's really not much for me to do during the day.  And I don't like going out because I don't want to go into labour without Jon nearby.  Also, if I go out alone and go into labour, I can't drive myself so I'd be stranded.  It's tricky.

The waiting game is on.  We'll see how it goes!

2 Weeks left! (Hopefully!)

Only two more weeks until my due date!  I am anxiously awaiting this little girl.  Jon and I have been discussing names, but we won't decide on anything until after we meet her in the hospital.

She started dropping into my pelvis around the 19th of December, and it has been an immense relief.  I can breathe better, her feet are out of my ribs so the intercostal muscles are finally healing, and I can eat more.  I definitely feel more pressure in my pelvis and sometimes pain in my pubic bone, but it's mostly not that bad.  However, it has made me start waddling like the uber-pregnant lady I am.  It's hard to walk when you have a baby's head sitting between your legs, let me tell you.

I've had a much harder time sleeping lately, and I'm up every 2 hours in the night to pee.  I've also finally started swelling like crazy.  Just before Christmas it started.  My fingers are like sausages and my ankles are swollen and my legs discoloured and splotchy.  I keep drinking lots of water and it seems to help a bit, but I'm still swollen.  Thankfully there is still no protein in my urine and my blood pressure is still excellent, so no risk for pre-eclampsia.

I'm back to wanting naps during the day, but I try not to give in most of the time, because then I have a harder time sleeping at night.  I should take the naps when I can in the coming weeks though, so I'm properly rested for labour.  I've been stocking up on freezer meals for after baby comes so I don't have to worry about cooking, so that's what's been keeping me busy lately.

I'm also having doctor appointments once a week now, so that keeps me motivated.  I tested positive for group B strep, so I'll need to have an IV during labour.  Other than that, everything is good.  My BP was 122/74 on Monday and everything looks good.  Baby is in the proper position and seems to be happy.  Very strong heart beat.  She's been in the same position now for about a week.  Her bum is on my left side with her feet in the middle of my ribcage and her knees on my right side, so she's on an angle with her head down.  I constantly feel her knee moving back and forth on the one side.  She also keeps pushing her bum outwards and making Braxton-Hicks happen.

I'm pretty tired, lethargic, and not very motivated to do much these days, since being on my feet for more than 10 minutes makes me have contractions, but I'm getting things together and I feel confident that everything will go just fine.  Baby will be here soon!!