Madelyn's Birth Story

When Maddie is older, perhaps going through those awful teenage years, I'm sure we will tell her how I suffered in labor for 5 days.  Technically this is true, even if slightly exaggerated to make her feel guilty :)  See, I'm already an awesome mom.  On Wednesday August 25 I had my last pre-natal appointment.  I was told I was 3 cm dilated and 80% effaced with a favorable cervix.  We scheduled my induction for the next Monday but the doctor thought I could possibly go before that.  I awoke that night to my first ever contractions.  I would time them for a bit, then go back to sleep, but they would wake me up.  I ended up getting up at 4 am but my contractions never got closer than 6 minutes apart.  I decided to stay home, but S went to work.  Eventually the contractions tapered off until about 11 Thursday night.

They started getting more painful and closer together.  I stayed up all night in pain and by 3:30 am I was ready to call the doctor as they were 4 minutes apart lasting for a minute or longer, for over an hour.  The dr told us to go to labor & delivery, so off we went.  I was so incredibly nervous in the car.  I give S credit, because if he was nervous he didn't show it.  Once we got back to the L&D triage, they checked me and I was still only 3 cm, 80% effaced.  That was so disappointing because I had been having contractions for over 24 hours.  The doctor decided to have me walk around for a bit.  I had to walk in 30 minute intervals, then come back for monitoring for 2 hours.  Holy crap.  I hadn't walked that much my entire pregnancy.  By the last half hour, the contractions were stronger and my body ached so bad, I didn't think I'd be able to make it.  When they checked me again, I hadn't progressed at all.  WTF???   I was sent home after being there for 5 hours.  The only instructions I got were "You'll know when to come back."  Well I thought I knew the first time.  Why do they tell you the 4-1-1 rule, if that's not really when you're in labor?  I had a mental breakdown on the way home...it was the first of many to come. 

I had lots of contractions and very little sleep all weekend.  Eventually Monday came and I was ready for my induction.  When we called L&D they said I couldn't come in yet and they would call me.  That was the longest 3 1/2 hours of my life. Finally they called when I was in the bathroom.  I didn't believe S at all when he told me we could go in when we were ready.  I don't know why I believed he would be stupid enough to lie about that, but it really took some convincing.  So off to the hospital we went again.  It was nice to get a room right away, instead of hanging out in the triage area. 

I was in my room, gowned up, and in bed by 11:30.  They started an IV and my antibiotics for the GBS.  I was hooked up to the monitor and having contractions, though they weren't bad.  The doctor came in around 1 to check me and I was still at 3 1/2 cm, so they started me on Pitocin.  The nurse kept coming in every 15-20 minutes and turning it up.  At 5:30 I was starting to get uncomfortable, but could still talk through most of my contractions.  Then the doctor came in and broke my water since I hadn't made any progress.  That's when all hell broke loose.  Almost immediately my contractions were super intense and started coming every 30 seconds (or less).  For an hour and a half it felt like I had one long contraction.  I asked for pain meds so the nurse gave me nubaine (?) and some kind of anti-nausea medicine.  The pain meds did nothing except make me feel a little loopey, and the anti-nausea medicine didn't work either.  Suddenly I felt dizzy and like I was going to puke.  Fun...I was better off before the meds. 

Around 6:30 I asked the nurse at what point I could get the epidural.  She said that the next time the doctor checked, if I had made progress I could get it.  She said she could check me if I wanted, but her tone sounded like she would just be humoring me.  I didn't care...I wanted to know if I'd made progress.  As soon as she examined me, she said "Oh honey, I'm sorry.  We're gonna get you that epidural right away."  Apparently I had gone from 3 1/2 to 6 1/2-7 cm in an hour.  By the time the anesthesiologist came in, it was shift change, but the awesome nurse stayed with me until he was finished.  I don't even know how he got it in because I was violently shaking from the pain.  I could barely consent to the procedure, but luckily, S had a copy of my advanced medical directive and was ready to step in if there were any issues. 

After the epidural I felt great!  I honestly don't think I could have continued on without it, the pain was just too much (and I've always thought I had a pretty high pain tolerance).  At that point I was in and out of sleep.  I started pushing at 10:30 pm.  I couldn't feel anything, but I could move my legs, which the nurses were surprised about.  Around 11:30, my best friend Michelle (Maddie's namesake), arrived.  She is a labor and deliver nurse, and was an absolutely amazing coach.  We found out that Maddie was getting stuck on a piece of my perineum (I think that's what they said), and I wasn't tearing naturally, so they were gonna have to cut me.  That was the one thing I didn't want, but whatever was going to get her out safely was fine with me.  Apparently the doctor was ready to do a c-section, but the nurses wanted to give me a chance to push some more.  At midnight exactly, the love of my life was born. 

I knew something was wrong when they took her right away without handing her to me or letting Shaun cut the cord.  It took me a minute to realize that she was not crying.  I started panicking and asking what was wrong.  S heard a nurse on the phone saying "We don't know what's wrong, you need to here NOW."  He also saw them "bagging her" (inflating her lungs).  Thank God I didn't hear or see those things.  Michelle was great and stayed with the baby and kept telling us that she was ok.  Maddie's 1 minute APGAR was only 4.  But her 5 minute score was 9.  It was still 20 minutes before I could hold her. Those were the longest 20 minutes of life.  But once I held her, I was in love.  She is absolutely perfect and I can't remember what life was like without her.