December 4th, 2019 – 38 weeks, 6 days
3:30 PM -
I had an appointment with my OB to determine how
we were going to proceed. We had decided
on an induction a few weeks before, as she did not want me to go past 39 weeks,
due to complications and risk factors associated with Gestational Diabetes and
Hypertension of Pregnancy during the last week of pregnancy. Tanner and I went in, and Janessa was in
position, but had not yet dropped, and I was dilated less than 1 cm. Dr. Brewer decided to bring me in later that
night to begin the induction process.
We went home, had dinner, and loaded our hospital bags into
the car. My mom, who would also be present during labor and delivery, would
meet us at the hospital. As we drove, a
sense of excitement and apprehension filled my soul. We were checking into the hospital, and when
we left, we’d be parents! – This thing we had dreamed about, hoped for, prayed
for – finally upon us.
8:00 PM -
Check in, get settled, meet the nurses. The whole thing felt surreal. Once we got settled, our nurse, Amy, gave me prostaglandin
to begin the induction process. Once
that got started, there was nothing to do but wait. I probably should have slept, but I was too
excited, waiting for labor to begin.
Around 11 pm, I started having small irregular contractions. Since I was already at the hospital, I didn’t
need to time them…but I did anyway.😉 In a
strange way, I couldn’t wait for labor to progress, and finally get to meet my
baby girl!
I finally fell asleep around 3 am, and slept until 7 am shift
change.
December 5th, 2019
7:00 AM–
Shift change.
Our nurse’s name was Terri (she was AMAZING💓). She checked on my contractions, and I was
dilated about 2 cm by this point. Dr.
Brewer came to check in, and told us to continue as we were until 2 pm. If I wasn’t showing significant progression
by then, we would start the Pitocin.
Nurse Terri looked over my birth plan – I had left everything on the
table as far as pain management. My plan
was to start with no pain meds, and see how things progressed. Nurse Terri talked with Tanner and me about
different ways to manage pain naturally – breathing, labor ball, leaning,
etc. I remember being so glad that she wanted to help me "do labor" naturally as far as I was able. She told me, "I love that you left everything on the table. Your body has all the tools to be able to do this naturally, but also know that if you want an epidural, that is 100% your decision. You know your body and your own pain tolerance. Do what is best for you and your baby."
11:00 AM–
Still in early labor. Mom went out to get lunch for her and Tanner.
My contractions were probably a 3 or 4 out of 10 at this point. I soaked in the labor tub for awhile and just
savored the time with Tanner.
1:00 PM–
Dr. Brewer did an exam, and I was still only dilated
about 2.5 cm. We decided to begin Pitocin
in an hour. I got my “last meal” before
baby – clear liquids – jello, chicken broth, etc. So filling….not! Ha!
2:00 PM–
Began Pitocin.
Oh man – once we got going, I went from 3 cm to 5 cm pretty darn
quick. The contractions quickly became
more regular and intense. Tanner was by
my side every moment, Mom filling in when Tanner needed restroom breaks, but
otherwise it was he and I. As my pain
jumped to 5/10 and 6/10, nurse Terri brought me a yoga ball, and taught me to
gently rock side to side with each contraction to help with the pain. She helped me breathe through each contraction and helped Tanner coach me through. (I honestly don’t know what I would have done
without her).
4:00 PM-
Increased Pitocin.
Contractions came even more intense and closer together. To help manage my pain, Terri raised the bed,
so I could lean over and support my weight on the bed. I held (squeezed) Tanner’s hand and listened
to the playlist I had made for labor, and tried to breathe and focus through each wave of pain. People say that labor pain is difficult to describe, and it’s true. Not exactly like terrible cramps, but sort
of. It’s strange – pain yes, but pain
that is leading to something wonderful.
4:30 PM –
Dr. Brewer called and
planned to come break my water around 5:30.
At 5:20, I felt something funny and told Tanner, “Um, I think my water
*gush* ….just broke.” 😮(Possible TMI – my
water breaking is by far one of the WEIRDEST sensations I have ever
experienced. It’s nothing like in the
movies – a little splash and then done.
No, it just kept going!). About 2
min after my water broke, Dr. Brewer came in.
I remember apologizing for making a mess on the floor, and she just told
me, “There’s a reason we don’t have carpet in here.”😂
5:30 PM –
After my water broke, within about 2 contractions my pain
went from 7/10 (wow this sucks, but I can get through it), to about 15/10 – (Oh
my gosh, someone has 2 chisels and they are trying to rip my pelvis apart). I
couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. I began
to cry with every contraction.
At this point I turned to Tanner and said – “I can’t. I want
the epidural.”
I turned to Nurse
Terri, through tears and searing pain “Please. Give me the epidural.”
She told me that the process would take about an hour before
the anesthesiologist would be able to administer the epidural. They attached a bag of fluid to my I.V. and
began the process (When she told me it would take an hour, I said, “Fine. Then
I want an epidural an hour ago.)
While we waited, Tanner helped me push through each
contraction. They were about 60-90
seconds long and coming every 2 min, giving me 30 seconds between each
one. (Around this time, Riley and Alyssa stopped by to deliver something to my mom. Riley came in, heard the crying and hightailed it out into the waiting room😆) Dr. Brewer came to do another
exam. We began to notice that with every
contraction, Janessa’s heart rate dipped significantly – from the 140s down to
110 and even all the way down to 90 a few times. As the contraction waned, her heartbeat would
jump back up. Dr. Brewer said that
sometimes this is caused by the cord getting pinched when the fluid is
gone. She did a quick procedure to mimic
the fluid being back in the uterus. She
explained that right now, the dip in Janessa’s heart rate wasn’t distress, but
more like holding your breath with each contraction. However, even after the procedure, Janessa’s heart rate
continued to dip each contraction.
The anesthesiologist finally arrived. He worked quickly and
efficiently to give me the epidural. The
worst part was the contraction that came on right when he needed me to be
perfectly still. There was a lot of
screaming (Riley said they could hear me from the waiting room) and although I
don’t recall, Tanner says there was a fair amount of swearing as well. 😂 Other than that, the epidural went off without
a hitch, and within a few minutes, my pain subsided significantly.
6:30 PM –
Even with the epidural, Janessa’s heart rate continued to dip
with each contraction, and it seemed like it was taking longer and longer to
come back up. Dr. Brewer came in to do
another exam. I was dilated 8 cm, but
Janessa had not begun to drop to where she needed to be yet, and her head was
tilted slightly, meaning I likely had several hours of labor/pushing left. Dr. Brewer took a look at the heart rate and
the general trend, and said that what she saw pointed toward an issue with the
placenta – namely, a quickly expiring placenta.
She presented us with our options: 1). Keep laboring another 30 to 60
min and see what happens. Janessa was stressed, but not in distress yet. We
could continue to labor to see if she progressed, turned her head, etc. 2). Opt for a C section. I looked at Tanner, and we both looked at Dr.
Brewer and said, “Do the C Section.”
From the moment we made that decision, a heavenly peace fell
over my body. In that moment, I knew it
was the right decision.
7:00 PM – Shift change (of course, I would make a decision to
do a C Section right at shift change).
Nurse Amy took over and Terri filled her in on the day’s events. As Dr. Brewer prepped the O.R., the anesthesiologist
came to prep me for anesthesia (at this point, I was grateful we had gotten the
epidural, as it made the transition to C Section much quicker and easier.) As
everyone got everything ready (Tanner changed into scrubs, Nurse Amy got me
ready, etc), I kept my eyes on the heart rate monitor, and willed the heartbeat
to come back up after each contraction. At one point, one of the nurses looked
at the anesthesiologist and said, “Are they ready yet? We need to GO.”
8:00 PM –
They wheeled me into the O.R. and moved me to the surgery table.
The anesthesiologist administered the anesthesia, and I couldn’t feel a thing
from my chest down. He was
wonderful. He kept watch over the
curtain and let us know exactly what they were doing.
8:17 PM –
The most stressful part of the day for me was from the
moment they made the first cut, to the moment I heard Janessa’s first
cries. And they were beautiful – strong,
loud, healthy cries. Our baby girl was
finally here! At last I had given
birth! Tanner went to watch while they
cleaned and wrapped her up. The moment
they first put her in my arms is one I will never forget. All the heartache, the tears, the waiting,
the pain, the stress, all of it melted away in that one, sweet moment. I held her on my chest (with Tanner’s
support, since I couldn’t feel my arms), and breathed in the moment and cried,
and laughed and gazed at my daughter in wonder and awe.
Shortly after, Tanner took her back to our room to meet
Grandma and Grandpa Anderson, as well as Riley and Alyssa. After coming back to the room, even with the
delirium from fatigue, anesthesia and morphine setting in, I could not get
enough of the baby snuggles, of knowing this was MY daughter, the one we had
waited so long for. Worth it all – the waiting,
the wondering, the labor and birth.
As it turned out, the decision to proceed with the C section was the right one. Janessa had the cord wrapped around her neck a few times, but more startlingly, when Dr. Brewer pulled Janessa out, my placenta came right out with her. It was completely DONE. Had we waited, she would have gone into distress as the placenta continued to expire and we would have ended up with a crash C section or possibly losing her entirely. Furthermore, after considering how the birth process had gone, and the fact that Janessa had never engaged or dropped, it is likely that my pelvis was too small for her to have passed through (we have a history of this issue in my family - it's actually the reason that my own birth was via C section). I am forever thankful to God for the wisdom of my OB. From beginning to end of pregnancy she listened, took every precaution with all of my risk factors (PCOS, Gestational Diabetes, Hypertension), and researched to make sure she could present me with all of the options available to me.
It was surely a crazy day, from a slow start to a whirlwind
finish, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
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