While it is still familiar in my mind, I wanted to write down Eleanor's birth story. Some things have already become a blur and I don't want to forget how special of a day it was.
Saturday 4/27 was just like any other Saturday in April in our home, David woke up early to go turkey hunting and I slept in! My mom had come into town the day before so we lounged around the house until David got home with his turkey. That afternoon we decided to take a drive out to our farm. I started to have some back pain and contractions mid-afternoon but kept it to myself because I didn't want to excite my mom or David prematurely. My contractions were far apart and not consistent so I just thought it was false labor pains. That night David grilled us a steak and lobster dinner and it was so delicious but by the time the food was ready the contractions were stronger, closer together, and more consistent. I talked to David and my mom and we decided it was time to call the doctor around 8pm since my contractions were 5min apart and averaging 45sec long. The on-call doctor suggested I go to the hospital to be checked.
David and I got into the triage room around 9-9:30, and I was hooked up to the monitor. I was happy to see that I was not dreaming and that I was actually having consistent contractions. The nurse checked me and I was still 3cm and 80% effaced. Talk about let down! I was told that they would come back in a hour to check me again and if there was no more progress they would probably send me home.
David and I hung out and tried to not get too excited. I didn't want to jinx it by calling people just yet.
After an hour, the nurse came back and check me again. NO PROGRESS! I thought I was going to cry. At this point my contractions were 4-5min apart, 45 sec. long, and hurt pretty dang bad! How was I going to go home and attempt to sleep. However, God and Eleanor had other plans. My water broke as she was finishing up checking me...and I heard the most beautiful words "Well looks like you'll be staying, you're water just broke!"
After getting all settled in for the night, I was told that I could get an epidural at any point. I decided around midnight that I had endured enough pain and it was time. Getting the epidural terrified me and I was not looking forward to the process. I had heard other women say that their husbands were not allowed to be in the room so I was happy when they gave David a stool to sit on beside my bed. Getting the epidural was painful and they had to give me more lidocaine halfway through. But after it was over, I felt great! David and I were able to get a few hours of sleep between 1:30am and 6:30am despite the blood pressure cuff going off every 15min and the nurse coming in every 2 hours to check my dilation.
Around 7am I was presented with the idea of starting Pitocin since my contractions had slowed down to every 6-7 min and I had only progressed to 4cm. Later I heard that my doctor was upset that she had not been called earlier in the morning to start Pitocin instead of letting me just sit around and go in the wrong direction.
After the Pitocin was started I was told that I had a bulging bag. Apparently when my water broke the night before, the bag broke towards the top and the bottom was still holding a lot of fluid. Luckily the the next time she checked me my bag broke and there was definitely a gush of fluid. My contractions really picked up afterwards and I dilated pretty fast from 4cm-8cm!
Our amazing labor and delivery nurse made the comment that we would definitely be having the baby before her shift ended at 6! While checking me she could feel Eleanor's hair and kept making comments about how much hair she had! This made David and I so much more excited and anxious to meet our daughter!
So far we had been progressing fairly well but next came some not good news. Eleanor was face up and this was not an ideal position for delivery. My doctor arrived and she decided to try to get Eleanor to flip around. So over the next 2-3 hours I was being flipped from one side to the other with one leg up resting in a stirrup. The nurse came in every 30 min to check me and flip me the other direction. This caused me to have severe nausea and I am shocked that I never threw up. My mouth was super dry and I wanted some water so bad but had to settle for some ice chips and a popsicle.
After a while we were told Eleanor had moved half way and now was facing the side. This was not good either because now I was 9.75cm and it was almost time to push and she could not come out this way. It was time to pray!
Thankfully the prayers worked and Eleanor turned the rest of the way. It was time to push! I remember pushing for a while but once it was over and they told me I had pushed for an hour and 45 min I was shocked. It did not seem that long at all. Never was it painful but the pressure was pretty uncomfortable at the end. The amnesia of pushing that I had heard about from other moms was totally true because afterwards it was all a blur. I do remember that with every contraction I would push for 3 sets of 10 sec.
David had one of our playlists going in the back ground and I am thankful for those calming, familiar songs. I also remember, him having normal, casual conversations with my doctor and nurse about running, music, and other things between me pushing. I was just too focused and worn out to chime in. David and I look back and are so thankful for such a calm and casual atmosphere and not one that was stuffy or too formal.
About a quarter of the way through the pushing (or what I think was a quarter of the way through) the doctor looked at David and I and said she didn't want to worry us but Eleanor had passed a lot of meconium and therefore they would be bringing in the NICU team to monitor her breathing after birth. The doctor warned us that Eleanor may not cry right after birth if she had aspirated the meconium and instead may cough. I am so glad she prepared me for that!
What she did not prepare us for was what happened next. I could tell from the pressure that Eleanor's head was out and with one more set of pushes I could have her shoulders out . The next thing I knew the doctor asked the nurse for some help and the nurse jumped on my stomach gave one good thrust and out flew Miss Eleanor! I think David about died! We were later told that Eleanor's shoulder had gotten stuck because she was too big for my body to birth.
She gave a few good coughs and my doctor reassured us that it was good to hear such good coughs. David got to cut her cord and then they wisked her away to be checked out. A few minutes later I heard her cry which of course made me cry! In the end they had to do some deep suctioning and oxygen blows to help her little lungs out with the aspirated meconium.
After what seemed like forever, they brought her to me for some skin-to-skin time. I wasn't able to hold her for long because they were still concerned with her breathing,
Thankfully she was finally cleared by the NICU team and didn't have to go to the transition nursery for monitoring.
Afterwards, she got all cleaned up, measured, and weighed. Then we moved up to the post-partum floor where we got to stay in the Titans Suite!
Family of 3!
