Cora's Birthday

Cora arrived on Saturday, October 29, weighing in at 6lbs 8oz and 18.5 inches long.  She is such a wonderful baby, and Jordan and I can not believe how incredibly happy and blessed we are.

Cora at 2 days old, waiting to go home.

I know a lot of people are curious about my labor experience, so I will start from the beginning.

After going to the hospital last Tuesday, I think me and Jordan were both on high alert.  We spent Wednesday going to Target and getting everything we would need incase something else happened and I ended up back at the hospital sooner than we expected, and I am glad we did.  Thursday I had a doctor's appointment in the morning, but it was just for them to draw blood and turn in my 24 hour collection of urine.  Then I was supposed to go back on Friday to meet with the doctor, look at my labs, and see what the best course of action would be from there on out.  Thursday I woke up feeling like crap.  I threw up twice soon after waking up, and I had a pounding headache.  I had just been given a lecture the day before that I should call the doctor immediately if I experienced any dizziness, headache, nausea, vomiting, or blurred vision because those are all signs of worsening preeclampsia.  My appointment was at 9, so I didn't bother calling the doctor.  I went in, had my blood drawn and asked if someone could take my blood pressure because I didn't feel well.  My blood pressure was 156/110 so they immediately scheduled me in to see a doctor and do a urine sample.  This time my urine sample was +1 for protein, which is another sign of worsening pre-eclampsia, so they sent me back to the hospital to do they could do stat blood work on me and monitor the baby.  We went back to the hospital and ended up having to stay overnight because they were waiting for all of my labs, including the 24 hour urine to come back.  While at the hospital my blood pressure was still high, the only way it  came down to a reasonable level was laying on my side.  They put an IV in, which took another 3 attempts with 18g needles (which hurt).  Between Tuesday and Thursday I got stuck 6 different times to get one IV started, so I will definitely have a little more sympathy from now on for patients that are hard sticks.  Cora was monitored for  4 hours and they did a non-stress test and an ultrasound where they could get a good look at her and the blood flow through my placenta.  Everything with her looked really good, so that was very reassuring.


Since we hadn't had much news from the doctor, and the tests with Cora all looked good, I started to think I was going to get sent home on bedrest again.  Friday morning the doctor finally came to talk to us, and I guess she knew what I was thinking because the first thing she said was "You're not going home." My 24 hour urine came back with really elevated protein levels, mine was around 400, above 150 is abnormal, and above 300 is considered severe preeclampsia.  Some of my other urine levels were also off, which indicated decreased kidney function, and my platelet level was decreased, which is another bad sign.  She said that she thought I should get induced immediately, because I would only get worse and there would be no benefit in trying to delay since Cora was already term.  I think Jordan and I were both a little surprised that my labs came back so crappy, but we were both on board with getting induced before things got worse. They wheeled me back over to labor and delivery, and we got things started.

Before getting my water broken.  Last shot of the pregnant belly.

The doctor came in around 2:30 Friday afternoon to break my water, which was the first step in induction.  Getting my water broken was pretty uncomfortable.  It feels like the doctor's entire hand is up there, and they use a little plastic stick with a hook on the end to break the amniotic sac.  I was already 3cm dilated when she went in to break my water, and she told me to remain calm as she used her hand to "wiggle" my cervix open to 4cm dilated, which caught me a little by surprise.  She said most of the time the longest part of induction is getting from 1cm to 4cm so the fact that I was already there was a good sign.  The plan was to wait to see if contractions started on their own, and if they didn't then we would start Pitocin at 5:00 that afternoon.  Pitocin is the artificial version of oxytocin, which is the natural hormone your body makes to trigger and get things rolling in labor.  Then I got moved to a gigantic labor  and delivery room, which was really nice because Brenna was there and my parents showed up soon after.  We spent the afternoon watching TV and hanging out.  I did not feel any contractions, and it was actually a pretty pleasant evening. 5:00 rolled around and they started the Pitocin.  When you get Pitocin it is a continuous infusion that they start at a really low dose and increase every 30 minutes.  A couple of hours passed, and I still didn't really feel much other than some slight cramping.

Shortly after I got started on Pitocin.

My family left around 8:00, so then it was just me and Jordan.  Around 9:00 I started to get uncomfortable.  I sat on an exercise ball and rolled through contractions while Jordan sat behind me.   At 10:00 I was maxed out on Pitocin, and by 11:00 I was really feeling the pain.   Jordan and I have been really into natural birthing techniques throughout the pregnancy.  We read books, did practice exercises, and took a birthing class that focused on a natural childbirth.  The class we took emphasized that there is no wrong decision, whether you give birth without pain medicine, with IV pain medicine, or with an epidural, you need to make the best choice for yourself.  Jordan and I both agreed with this, and the plan was to take labor one step at a time, and to make the best decision possible.  By midnight, I was still only 4-5cm dilated and hadn't made much progress since that afternoon.  And I was hurting really bad.  I was prepared for pain, but this was pain that I couldn't even think through.  Massaging, heat packs, repositioning, nothing was helping.  If I was going to get an epidural, I wanted to do it when it would be the most beneficial, which is generally around 5-6cm dilated.  I also wanted to do it before I completely lost control of myself during contractions, and I felt like I was getting close to that point.  So I called my nurse in and told him I thought it was time for the epidural, and it was the best decision I ever made.  After the epidural I felt absolutely no pain, it was wonderful.  I rolled over and went to sleep.

Jordan snoozing through the night.

I slept for 3 glorious hours and woke up with some slight cramping on my left side.  I didn't really think much of it, but gradually the cramping got worse, and I realized my left leg was much less numb than my right leg.  I called the nurse in and he called the anesthesiologist who came and said that my epidural had gotten dislodged and pulled out a little bit.  He gave me a dose of pain medicine in the epidural that helped for about 45 minutes, and when that faded off it felt like someone was stabbing me on my left side, I could feel everything and I could barely breathe it hurt so bad.  If that is what full blown labor feels like without an epidural then I don't know how anyone does it, or has the energy to push at the end.  They tried an additional dose of medicine and that didn't do anything except completely numb my right side so that I could not move my right leg at all.  Then I got really nauseous and started throwing up.  Thankfully Jordan was there to roll me on my side and hold a trash can to my face because without him I would have puked all over myself.  Around this time I also noticed that I was starting to feel a lot of pressure and the urge to push.  My nurse came in and checked me to find that I was fully dilated (yay!), so he called the doctor and told me to get ready to start pushing.  It was now around 6:00 am.  At this point I still felt like I was being stabbed, was still throwing up and I was questioning whether or not I would be able to do anything when I was in that much pain.  Jordan and the nurse were great, and gave me the encouragement I needed to start pushing.  Once I got started pushing and really got the hang of it, I stopped noticing the pain.  I was so focused and amped up on adrenaline that nothing else mattered, I just wanted to meet my baby.  A contraction would come, and Jordan would count to ten while I pushed through it. They brought in a mirror so I could see my progress, and that really helped to motivate me.  For me, pushing was the best part of being in labor because it was the only part that I felt like I had any control over.  Finally, I was done waiting and it was totally up to me to get the baby out.  Finally, I could actually do something and make a difference instead of laying around in pain.   I started pushing around 6:30 and Cora was born at 7:07.  I will never forget the feeling that I got when she was born and I heard her cry.  I looked up and Jordan was beside me with tears in his eyes. They held her up so I could see her and put her on my chest, and that moment is one I will never forget.  The happiness, the peace, the love that I felt was overwhelming, and it was by far the best moment of my life.

Getting passed up to mom 

9 minutes old.

Getting all cleaned up.

Meeting Cora

Completely in love.

Grandma

Grandpa

Daddy

In her favorite hat

One day old

Cora's first birthday cake.

First night at home.

 Overall, I think that Cora's birth went pretty smoothly.  The only part where I was really miserable was the last two hours when the epidural was dislodged and I was throwing up, but it was a small price to pay.  The pain was definitely worse than I imagined it would be, and I am very thankful for the pain free hours that the epidural gave me.  The after effects weren't as bad as I thought they would be either, I felt relatively back to normal after a 4 or 5 days.  I am proud to say that my ankles and face have finally returned to normal size.  I have never been as swollen as I was in the hospital after having Cora.  They gave me about 4 liters of fluid during labor and I am pretty sure I retained all of it.  My face, hands, legs, and feet were huge, and it took about a week for them to go down.  Now I am feeling good, and Jordan and I have had so much fun getting to know and love Cora.  Hopefully I can get a post up soon about life since coming home, there is so much to say and so little time :)