May 5 (38 weeks)
Today I was at the salon working
like any other regular Saturday. The Salon phone rang and Danielle answered it,
I heard her say “congratulations” a ton of times. My heart dropped- after she
hung up the phone my biggest
nightmare came true… Jessica (a girl I work with who shared the same due date
as me) had her baby early this morning. That’s 2 weeks before our due date!! I
was so discouraged! I really wanted my lil Anna. I got a few minutes in between
appointments and I ran to the bathroom. There was blood in the toilet- it was
such a horrible sight! I’ve lately been cramping a lot- especially today! So I
called Mike and then Labor and Delivery. They said that bleeding was NOT normal
and that I should come into the hospital. I called my appointments and told
them what was up and I rushed out the door. I was so nervous -what If this
meant labor?
So I met Mike and we drove up to
the hospital. The ride felt like forever! My cramps were terrible! Finally we
got there and I dressed down into the gown and they hooked me up to all of the
monitors. It was such a delight to hear Anna’s heart beat strong and proud.
They made me do a urine sample, I came out of the bathroom afraid to show Mike,
it was bright red! We couldn’t believe it, when the nurse came in to collect it
she couldn’t believe it either! My heart started beating faster and a flood of
thoughts occupied my worried mind. The Dr. came in and said that my urine was
so full of blood that they couldn’t test it, they had to send it somewhere else
in the hospital that had stronger equipment. Long story short the Dr. said that
I had a terrible bladder infection (and possible kidney stones). All of the
cramping pain was from my infection. They checked Anna and she was completely
fine. Wow- what a day!
No baby but I’m so grateful that
it was me with the infection instead of her.
May 16 (40 weeks/Due date)
I took work off thinking that
Anna was actually going to come on her due date. That was not the case. Mike
and I ran some errands and found out that our car needed to go into the shop.
While packing up to drive to Fairview I stepped on a bee! I was pretty ornery
today, and then I got stung… this was not my day L I haven’t been stung in years- so to have this happen
and on my due date. No good. Anna didn’t come today L when will you come baby?
May 17
My last Dr. appointment… I got
my membrains stripped AGAIN and he said that I was still measuring 2 cm and 80%
effaced. We had my induction date scheduled for May 21st but he said
that I wasn’t making much progress and that we should get started on the 20th.
That was music to my ears, a day early- no problem.
May 20 (Sunday)
I’ve been having contractions
for weeks now- I’m super nervous for the unknown. I’m so grateful that I’m
going into the hospital tonight, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to continue
much longer. 9 months is forever! We called the hospital at 4 to see if there
was room for us in labor and delivery and there was!! So we packed the car up
and began the last journey to the hospital, just Mike and I. The next time we’d
be home would be with three!
We showed up at 5pm, I dressed
into the glamorous gown and we got started. They gave me some medication to
“ripen my cervix” whatever that means... Mike and I sat and watched ‘Downton
Abby’ while we waited for the meds to work and he read to me. We’re pretty big
geeks but I love listening to him read! At 10pm I got my epidural- I wasn’t quite sure when I should
ask for it. I figured since I’m going to get it anyways, then why wait and try
to be tough. So they loaded me up. It was such an interested feeling. It was
great not feeling the contractions!!! The Dr. came in and broke my water (also
a strange feeling and pretty freaky looking- a big crochet hook, yikes I’m glad
I didn’t feel a thing)!
They started the pitocin at
11pm and it was a waiting game. Up
until then everything was going textbook.
Oh yeah by the way it was the
eclipse of the sun tonight. Too bad I missed it, I guess I was busy with more
important things ;)
Once midnight came around I
started noticing Anna’s heart rate was starting to drop. My eyes were glued to
her monitor. It would start out at
160 then slowly drop down to 70!! Once it got to 100 the nurses and Dr.’s on
the floor would rush in and make me change positions and put the oxygen mask on
me. It was such a nightmare to watch that monitor and know that I couldn’t do
anything to help her. Just watch it drop. This was happening about every 20
min. I know I was so new to the whole thing but when your Dr. and nurses are
panicking you can’t help but freak out too. My whole entourage came running in
after one of the scares. My Dr said that they were going to put saline back
inside me, apparently she was running out of fluids after they’d broke my
water. So they did. It didn’t change her heart dropping, it kept continuing
throughout the night. They stopped the ‘P’ and gave me meds to counteract.
Apparently the Pitocin was causing my contractions to be too strong, it was
very traumatizing for her.
At one point of the Dr.’s
noticeable stress and worry I began to panic. I started bawling and my nerves
were out of control. I was shaking uncontrollably. It was a feeling I can’t
even explain, I lay there helpless not knowing if my baby was going to be okay
or not. Mike was so adorable to me, he was such a great support during such a
scary time.. I just focused on him and prayed so hard that everything was going
to work out and be okay.
They finally found the right
position for me to be in that would help her calm down… on my stomach! So with
my epidural working I somehow maneuvered onto all fours and rested my tummy on
a yoga ball. Haha this was extremely attractive and somewhat uncomfortable- but
anything that would help my baby breath better I was all for.
Although my new position was helping,
it wasn’t good enough. The Dr frantically said that Mike needs to get suited up
in scrubs because we may have to do an emergency C-section. My heart dropped,
I’d had dreams and ideas about how my delivery would be and this Is not what I
had in mind. Instead of being a beautiful time it was so scary!
All those chick flick movies
of deliveries… haha sneezing and
the baby pops out- I wish!
Anyways they said they wanted me to try pushing and if that
wouldn’t work then they’d rush me into surgery. The Dr. checked Anna’s head,
she was looking to the side rather than down. He said they couldn’t deliver her
looking to the side. So he manually tried to turn her head and as soon as he
did, she would quickly move back.
This happened multiple times. They tried with two different kind of forceps and
then with the vacuum. Finally she turned her head long enough for me to start
pushing. FINALLY she came! She came out with the cord wrapped around her neck
twice and purple. They quickly cut it and rushed her over to her warming bed to
get her to cry. It was, like I said not what I expected. I thought we’d have
our little skin on skin moment, and we didn’t. That kind of made me sad. I survived though, just as long as she
was healthy! They kept flicking her little feet to make her cry. She was such a
calm baby she barely made a sound.
Wow I’ll never forget just
laying there as they stitched me up thinking about what had all just happened.
I was so drained, emotionally, physically and spiritually. But I was on top of
the world! I look back now at the
experience and geez it was like a drug, I want to go back to that moment, it
was so special when I saw my baby for the first time. Her big eyes staring up
at me, such innocence and admiration.
Anna you’re the apple of my eye,
I truly know now the love of a mother. I fall in love with you every day more
and more. It was worth all of the scary moments and pain to get you here. You’re
my baby girl, and you always will be.
