April 25, 2011

• Layla’s Birth

  

  Layla Grace Miller was born April 25, 2011 at 8:51 PM at 40 weeks 1 day gestation, weighing 7 lbs 15 oz, and was 19 1/2 inches long.  

  I started having regular contractions that would stop during the night about three days before Layla was born.  The first day they were about 7-9 minutes apart and mild.  The second day they were about 15 minutes apart and strong, but still painless.  The third day, Sunday, her due date, starting in the afternoon, they were about 15-20 minutes apart and strong and painful.  

  The confusing part for me was that I needed to get to the hospital within four hours of her birth, to get an antibiotic for the baby, since I had tested Beta Strep positive.  With Zion, I had delivered him about twelve minutes after arriving in the hospital.  But my labor had been different with him.  I felt confused having strong contractions that were so far apart from each other.   However, because of the nature of the contractions, I could tell that it was simply a matter of time…the question was, however, how much time.  That night?  A day?  Two days?  More?  We decided to go ahead and call Mom to come out; she got here a little before midnight on Sunday night.  

  I woke up at around 3:30 AM with a really strong contraction, and knew it was probably time to go to the hospital.  My contractions were coming every 7-9 minutes; they had told me to come in when they were around ten minutes.  We got to the hospital around 4 AM…to discover I was only TWO CENTIMETERS DILATED.  I. could. not. believe. it.  I had been 2 centimeters in the office the week before.  I was very bummed and very discouraged and even more confused about when to come in.  However, an hour later I was 3-4 centimeters, and they admitted me.  YAY for progress!!!

  But things kept going soooo slowly.  I am sure it was because of the fact that she was posterior.  I would have contractions about every 7-15 minutes, and some of them really hurt and them some of them were just mild.  Mid-morning I was 4-5 centimeters dilated.   Early afternoon I was 5-6 centimeters dilated.   Finally, at about 3:30 PM, I was starting to just feel mental and physical tiredness over the slowness of the labor, especially not knowing how much longer it was going to take.  After talking to Tim, we decided to ask the nurse-midwife to go ahead and break my water.  She had offered earlier, but knowing much MUCH MORE INTENSELY PAINFUL contractions are after your water has broken, I had declined, as she had said that it would “speed up” labor, but not necessarily make things happen super fast.  Ennnhhh – not good enough for me.  As the afternoon wore on, I had also experienced a growing anxiety about the pain after my water broke – I was already hurting enough, thank you, and things were going SO SLOWLY as it was.  

  I decided this:  I had been through natural childbirth already, and was glad I had the experience.  This time, if I decided I wanted pain medicine or even an epidural, that was ok too.  Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.  I wasn’t planning to go the natural route for anyone else but myself and the baby, and if “myself” needed some pain relief, then I would get it.  The hardest part was feeling like the nurses and midwives were rooting for me to go natural, and I felt like I would be disappointing them a little bit if I asked for pain relief, but I reminded myself that I was the one having to go through the experience, not them, and it was just fine to ask for what I needed.  

  The nurse-midwife came in and broke my water.  I was 7 cm dilated.  And yup, the contractions they were doozies.  But I found them bearable.  Umm.  For a while.  My contractions continued to get closer together – every 5 minutes, then eventually about every 2 minutes.  SEVERAL HOURS LATER (lol) around 6 PM, I called the nurse in, and as soon as she came in and asked what she could do for me, I said, “I need some encouragement!” and promptly burst into tears.  I was just about to the end of what I felt like I could take.  I hoped that I was feeling that way because I was in transition, but when she checked me again, I was still 7 CENTIMETERS DILATED.  Arrrrggghhhhhh.  That was it.  I asked for pain medicine.  

  It didn’t make a dent.  I asked for an epidural.  Thankfully, the anesthesiologist had not gone home yet, and was there very quickly to stab my spine with a long needle.  Lol.  I remember watching epidurals in nursing school, and being like – ain’t no way I’m getting that done ever.  But, there comes a point in labor when sometimes you’re like – I don’t particularly care if I am paralyzed in a freak epidural accident, I just want the PAIN TO STOP!!!!!!!!!  And instead of slowing my labor, contractions actually picked right up, coming faster and harder and I couldn’t feel a blessed thing.    Actually, I could feel the contractions sometimes, but more of the strength aspect instead of the pain aspect.  I was glad that I could feel something instead of nothing, because it helps a lot when it comes to pushing.  

  When I was about 9 cm dilated, the nurse-midwife started me on Pitocin to help in the pushing process…and at around 8:15 PM or so, it was time to push.  And then…her heart rate dropped.  They stopped me from pushing, turned me on my left side, stopped Pitocin and reanalyzed.  ”Looks like we have some cord compression,” the nurse-midwife said.  Tim and I exchanged a look.  That morning we had gotten a text from our friend Diane, which said basically, “If you need a C-section, don’t be afraid of getting one.”  I immediately had Tim call her back.  I wanted to know the full story behind that comment, since if Diane gets an impression about something, you are wise to sit up and take notice.  She told Tim that she had been praying that the baby would turn from posterior to anterior and she had a check in her spirit and she saw a picture of the umbilical cord.  She said that she didn’t know if that meant that the cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck or what it meant.  And she hadn’t wanted to scare me – she just wanted me to be open to a c-section if I needed it.  So when the nurse-midwife started talking about the cord, I was emotionally prepared for whatever needed to happen to get this baby out safely.  

  The baby’s heart rate was not doing so hot on my left side.  They switched me up again, putting me on my hands and knees.  I could hear the drop in her heart rate.  It was all I was listening to.  At one point it seemed really low.  There was controlled anxiety in the room.  They were having me push, trying to get the baby out ASAP.  A nurse ran into the hall from my room and yelled down the hallway – “Page Dr. Gupta STAT and get an OR team up here STAT!!”  Tim could not hardly take the tension – he had to walk away a little bit from the bed just to get away.  We were both extremely concerned.  Then her heart rate came back up, and there was a huge sigh of relief in the room.  ”Recovery in the 120′s!” the nurse-midwife called out.  It would still drop whenever I pushed, but when I went back on my elbows into kind of a knee-chest position it would come back up.  

  Dr. Gupta ran into the room.  It had been seven minutes since they had called her at home, saying “We need you in here NOW.”  She quickly assessed the situation, and immediately started gowning up.  They helped me turn back over onto my back, and seemed to be preparing for something.  ”Are we doing a c-section?” I asked.  ”I’m going to use the vacuum to pull the baby out,” she told me.  ”It’s faster than a c-section.”  She applied the vacuum to the baby’s head, and they had me push with a contraction, and then push even when there wasn’t a contraction.  Someone had apparently turned off the sound of the baby’s heart rate, and I hadn’t known it, just thought that the baby’s heart rate had stopped.  I was pushing with all I had – and then there she was.  She was blueish and not crying and limp and I couldn’t hardly look at her.  If something was wrong I couldn’t hardly stand to see her to see it happen.  ”Ah ha,” Dr. Gupta said.  ”She has a short cord.”  I glanced at her as they held her above my stomach and then looked away.  Tim cut the umbilical cord, which he later told me was the shortest one he had seen in all of our kids, and then they started rubbing her down.  She stirred a little bit, and then they put her over on the warmer where they were suctioning her – and then I heard a cry.  HUUUGGGE sigh of relief.  Tim and I both cried.  One nurse saw us crying in our separate places, and steered Tim over beside me.  

  Her Apgar scores were 8 and then 9 successively, so she must have actually been ok when she came out, just blue. She was breathing a little quickly initially from the quick birthing, but her breathing soon slowed down and she was ok.  They did suction her a lot for a little bit.  Poor baby was over there just screaming her heart out angrily.  This made the nursery nurse happy, for her to be yelling like that.  Made her mama want to hold her VERY MUCH, though.   She would quiet down when I would talk to her, over on my bed, and then start up again.    

  Finally they were done with her and I got to hold her.  She immediately breastfed very well, and she was precious and dear and here.  FINALLY.  

  Incidentally, she did turn from a posterior positioning to an anterior one during the delivery.  No back labor for me!!! Whooo hooo!!

  Layla Grace, I am so glad you are here.  I love you soooooooooooo much and so does the rest of your family!!!!!  We can’t wait to learn to know you better!!!

  

  

  

  

  

  

  • 11:09 pm
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