I am so happy and proud to annouce the birth of our daughter, Alayna Nadine. She was born at 12:37am on March 4, 2010; weighing 7lbs 10ozs and 21 inches long. She is perfect.
Her birth was difficult however. I had my membranes swept on Mar 1st and by 1am the next morning, my water broke so we went to the hospital. We spent the night and I was feeling mild contractions; I laid awake feeling excited and nervous at the labour to come. The next morning they started me on pitocin to get my labour to strengthen as I was only 2cm dilated. I worked all day long on the contractions as they got stronger and stronger. I was amazed how I was able to go to a place in my mind and just focus on getting through the pain of each contraction. I enjoyed the birthing ball and standing rocking with Greg for contractions as I found sitting or laying on the bed more painful. Greg absolutley amazed me as a labour coach, talking me through each contraction and reminding me how to breath (it is amazing how you forget and can lose control when in pain).
Later in the night the doctor checked me and then left the room. She came back and sat me down to explain, between contractions, that even though I was contracting strongly every 30seconds to a minute, I wasn't even close to pushing, in fact I was still only 2cm dilated and I was at the maximum dosage of pitocin and in order to keep labour going, the medicine dosage had to be continually doubled. She held my hand and said she was going to stop the pitocin and that my labour contractions were going to gradually go away and I was to sleep with the aid of medicine. I was utterly devestated. I couldn't believe I hadn't progressed at all after all that hard work. I didn't know that they would stop labour, I thought for sure I was well on my way to meeting my baby. After she left I broke down and started balling and it made me sick to my stomach. That night was difficult as the contractions continued to come and hurt even with the morphine, gravol, and 2 sleeping pills... I still didn't really sleep.
The next morning they checked me and amazingly I was 4cm! They started me on pitocin again around 8:30 and about 45mins later they came in with more disappointing news. They were short staffed and a lady came in already 8cm dilated so they had to turn off the pitocin again to go help her. I couldn't believe it! Just as I was starting to feel stronger contractions again and though I was for sure on my way now. Finally sometime after 1pm they were able to come back to me and turned on the pitocin again. This time my contractions came much stronger on a much lower dose. My body was ready to do this. I worked again most of the day and by 5pm I was 5cms dilated and then was told I should dilate 1cm per hour from there on out. By 6pm I was 6cm and I couldn't stand the pain on my own any more so I tried the gas. Wow, I did not like it at first. What a crazy feeling; it makes you sooooo high. I was encouraged to keep using it and eventually you could not have torn that gas out of my hand if you tried. I made deep bite marks into the inhaler and worked through each contraction in a sort of out of body experience. I was very aware of my sister-in-law rubbing my back and my husband holding my hand and speaking to me, but I could barely respond to them, except to ask for ice constantly with the gas drying me out. I seriously have never felt so high in my life and I didn't like the feeling, but it was better than the raw pain on its own because it at least made me relax between contractions...but I could definitely still feel the pain.
By 8pm I was 8cm dilated and I couldn't do it anymore. The room was spinning from the gas, and my pain was unbearable. I muttered with my eyes closed I needed an epidural now. They started to go about reminding me of the risks and I just rushed through all those formalities; give me my epidural, now!! It took a while to take effect, and when it did, I still had charley horse pain at the back of my leg. The anesthesiologist seemed doubtful I felt the pain, but I continually insisted it was very strong and painful, so he gave me another dose... it still hurt. After the epidural, I am told (I don't remember much by this point) everyone was told to go rest until the pushing phase. By 10pm I was checked and 10cm dilated and ready to push. It was so surreal to start pushing. I have watched a Baby Story hundreds of times on TLC and have waited for this moment for so long. I knew approximately what I was supposed to do, but it is a difficult thing to coordinate all of your muscles to do the right thing. I kept getting told I was doing very well so I just kept working at it. I felt my face getting hot, but I knew I was pushing like crazy and with holding my breath with each push in groups of 3 or 4 in a row, it was no wonder.
After checking me, they began to get concerned about the baby's position. Her head was not perfectly lined up and was looking diagonally off my pelvis instead of looking directly at my spine. Soon they put a clip on the baby's head to monitor the heartrate and noticed it was dipping and soaring between 100 and 180 with pushes. I could hear the beeping of the heartbeat changing in the background, but was encouraged to keep pushing. They discussed forceps with me, but I wasn't too keen on the idea. I guess they would have had to turn her head and then reach in further and turn her body - risking her health and potentially mine as well. I thought, if I push harder, I will get baby out sooner and everything will be fine. Next thing I knew they checked my temperature and I had a fever. Apparently I had developed a fever from an infection because my water had been broken for 48 hours. I was told at this point with the infection, baby's heart rate, and head position, that I needed a c-section. I couldn't believe it. But I was so exhausted at this point and I didn't want either of us to suffer anymore. It took quite a while as they had to call in staff in the middle of the night to perform this surgery. I was told I could keep pushing if I wanted as my body kept sending very strong signals to push. I started to cry; what was the point?
After an agonizing wait I was wheeled into the OR. This was a surreal experience for me, I was having a c-section, so unexpected. I could hear the doctors talking about how it normally takes 30mins for a c-section, but they were going to be done this one in 17 mins flat. I was thinking, "I can hear you, and you are actually trying to break records with how fast you can do my surgery, you are cutting into my body and delivering my precious baby, don't rush!!" My epidural still wasn't working well and after another 2 doses I could still feel pin pricks on my lower abdomen. The doctors, in trying to rush kept saying, we have to do a general (knock me out and get Greg to leave the room). I was terrified. The anesthesiologist, my new best friend, had witnessed what I had gone through and felt bad for me, he was trying to make it so I could be awake. He firmly told the other doctors to give me 2 more minutes to get more numb, and they also gave me a local.
Next thing I knew Greg was in the room and I could hear the beep beep of my heart rate getting faster as I was nervous about the surgery and excited to meet my baby. The anesthesiologist started talking to me calmly and I asked if they had started yet, to which he answered yes, they prefer to sneak it up on people... thank goodness. After some pushing and pulling I heard, "and here SHE is" at 12:37am! They held her up quickly above the curtain and I started to cry and so did she and Greg. I said, "her name is Alayna Nadine"! Greg went over with her to watch them clean her up and make sure she was breathing okay.
