Eleanor was born on March 13, 2011 at 5:02 pm. I can't remember too much of the day, but I'll try to recap what I can remember here.
On March 11, I thought I must be going into labor. I was having contractions that definitely hurt and they were about 3-5 minutes apart. I called my sister to come to my house and called the midwife at the hospital to ask if I should come in. She told me that if the contractions had been going on for at least an hour, to come in, so we did.
When we got there, they hooked me up to a monitor and decided that the contractions weren't consistent enough and sent me home. I was so disappointed! They suggested I take an Ambien and get as much sleep as possible as I would probably be back the next day.
I took the Ambien and slept. When I woke up, the contractions were much more mild. I spent the day watching MST 3K with Scott hoping the contractions would come back. Well they did! At first I didn't want to say anything to my sister or call the midwives because I thought they felt the same as before. But eventually, it was obvious. So I called Teresa again and when I felt like she was probably getting close to my house, I called the midwives to let them know I was coming in.
We got to the hospital and I couldn't even make it through the door. Teresa sat me on a bench and got me a wheelchair. She got me up to labor and delivery and the next thing I remember is being in a bed hooked up to monitors again. I cannot remember getting into the gown or anything.
After this it gets hazy. I was so sure I'd be able to do this naturally. But I couldn't deal with the pain at all! I just know that they were gonna send me home to deal with the labor unless I wanted meds for the pain. I chose narcotics and an epidural!!!
Next thing I remember is holding Teresa's hands and making some kind of crazy "lalala" noise to avoid hearing the epidural. Let me explain this... I was there when Teresa got her epidural and it made a crunching noise. I almost passed out right in her hospital room! So that was what I was most afraid of at this point. Hearing that and passing out. I get queasy even now just thinking about it!
After this, I remember my tongue feeling cold and actually tasting the meds they were pumping into me. And from that moment until about 4:30 pm, life was gooooooood!
I guess I should mention that when I got to the hospital, I was dilated to between 2 and 3. By 7 am I was dilated to 5. Things seemed speedy and we thought she'd be here by lunchtime. But then I just stopped dilating. So the midwife ordered pitocin. Just a little bit, to get things moving. It worked, I went from 5 to 8 within a couple of hours and from 8 to just under 10 in less than an hour (I think this is all correct. If it's not, it's close). At some point before I reached 8, or maybe just after, the midwife told me to call her if I either felt like I needed to poop, or if there was an urge to push that I couldn't control. I remember the contractions getting stronger and more uncomfortable. I remember thinking I was being wimpy and that I shouldn't call them yet cause I could still control it. But then I remember starting to panic and telling Teresa, "I think I need to call them now." I don't remember if I called the nurse, or Teresa did. I just remember them telling me not to push, and then that I could bear down a little to get through the pain, but not actually push. I remember the midwife telling me to, "ride the contractions like a wave" and wanting to scream, "I'm not at the f@#king beach!"
Finally they were telling me to push. At the beginning of the contractions, I was supposed to take 2 deep breaths and then push as hard as I could, take another breath and push again, and take another breath and push one last time. I remember thinking, "I cannot do this for very long so I'm gonna push harder than anyone has ever pushed!" Instead of pushing three times per contraction, I was pushing 4 or 5 times. I was pushing so hard I thought my eyes were gonna explode!
I remember a few times screaming, "Are you serious?" and, "Oh my God, you've got to be kidding me!" as I attempted to push her out. At one point I said, "she's gonna come out looking all tiny, but it's a lie!!!"
Well at 5:02pm, she did come out... but she wasn't tiny! She was 8 pounds and 9 ounces! I'm really glad I didn't know this going in. I would have been terrified. A few different midwives and a doctor have said that bigger babies are actually easier to deliver. Maybe this is true, but my mind was prepared to deliver a little baby and that's what I told myself while I was pushing. "Rhiannon, she's little, just push her out!"
There was meconium in the amniotic fluid, so when she was born, instead of being able to hold her and breastfeed her, they had to take her from me almost immediately to make sure she didn't aspirate any of the fluid. I got to hold her for a moment, but that was all at first. Luckily, she was fine and once suctioned, I got her back. She took awhile to find a nipple, but once she did, she latched right on! She ate for about 10 minutes at her first feeding!
I really don't remember too much after this. I know I was in that room for a couple more hours before I went to my
prison cell hospital room.
Well that's the story of how she got here. I'll blog more about the days in the hospital and what it's been like here at home later.
