Labor and Delivery

After a few days of silence in the contractions department, I was starting to worry that my little resident was planning on staying permanently! I had only been asleep for about an hour, when the contractions woke me up. At first I was a little excited, but then I looked at the clock and felt a little frustrated. "Not this again!" I just knew I was in for another sleepless night and the contractions would fade as the sun came up. I tried to go back to sleep.

For the next few hours, I felt like a yo-yo. Back and forth, up and down. The contractions would get too strong and I would sneak out of bed, trying not to wake Jason up because I wasn't convinced I was really in labor. I would start to repack my hospital bag, catch a glimpse of the clock and my heavy eyes in the mirror and climb back in bad, only to be kicked out again by the pain.

I didn't want to believe or even wonder if I was really in labor, because I knew I would be so disappointed when I woke up in the morning still pregnant! Around 5am, I decided I was going to go to the hospital even if I wasn't in labor and just beg for mercy! I thought there had to be some nice doctor in there who would just induce me even if I wasn't in labor. But then, the big what if... What if they sent me home? UGGGG!

I finally woke Jason up, hoping he had slept enough to feel somewhat rested. "I'm going to to hospital," I told him with a scowl. His excitement switched to confusion at the sound of my voice. "Are you in labor?" he asked. "I don't know," I whined. (Imagine tired, frustrated, angry and sheepish all at the same time.) You would think I should know this by now! "You sound angry???? Are you mad?" he asked, still blinking the sleep from his eyes.

I unloaded all of the things going through my head the last few hours, stopping a few times to breathe through a contraction. He gave me a big hug, told me he loved me, and said, "Okay, let's go have a baby." To which, of course, I whined that I didn't even know for sure if I was in labor and what if ...(pause for contraction)... what if they send me home?" He asked me how far apart my contraction were. I scowled again and told him that I didn't know. I was too annoyed to time them out. I just knew I was having them and they hurt to much to sleep through. He pointed out that I had had several just while we were talking. He spent a minute to comfort me. He always has a way of calming me down and agreed that we should go to the hospital.

I called my dad to come stay with the sleeping kids and off we went. It was still dark when we got there. After being hooked up the the monitors, I was a little surprised when I learned that my contraction where between a minute and a half to three minutes apart! I was relieved when they said they were keeping me and then, a quick wave of fear when I realized I would actually have to "have" the baby for her to be here! I tried not to think about it.

The room was so big and comfortable! Shortly after we checked in, my nurse came in to introduce herself and we were thrilled when we recognized Olga, our same nurse when we had Ashlyn! She was fabulous! I loved looking over and seeing her little station. I couldn't believe we would be meeting our little girl in just a few hours.Yes, a smile while I was in labor. I knew it would be over soon! My contractions felt so much more intense when I would lay down, so I tried to stand up as much as I could. I kept myself distracted by playing Words with Friends on my iPhone. (Thanks friends for keeping be busy!) The monitors had a hard time staying in place while I was up, so eventually I gave in to the bed. Lucky for me, I had this cute guy by my side and my mom keeping me company until the hard work began.I was really nervous about getting an epidural after my spinal column was punctured during my epidural when I was delivering Ashlyn. There is nothing that compares to that head ache- well, that is what I thought at the time. I'm not sure anymore.

By the time I hit an 8, I was questioning my epidural decision. 9 changed my mind. They went out to get the anaethesiologist and came back to tell me that he had just been called into an emergency C section and would not be available for an hour. An HOUR??!!!! I was hoping someone could call a time out, but the baby had other plans. Ready or not...

Olga had been wonderful during the whole labor process and was so on top of my monitors. If I moved and she couldn't hear the baby's heart beat for a even a minute, she was in our room getting things readjusted. She has been a labor and delivery nurse for over 20 years and her experience showed.

The next part is sort of a blur. The pain was incredible. Jason was so supportive and soothing, but I still wished there was a way to exit my own body. Somehow, whether me moving or the baby moving or something else, we lost the baby's heart beat. Olga was of course all over it. As she readjusted my monitors she looked at me very seriously and said, "Tara, your baby needs you to breath." It took everything in me to concentrate on big deep breaths. I heard Olga say that she found the heartbeat and I thought I heard it faintly for a minute.

The next thing I knew she was telling me to push. I was thinking that was a terrible idea! Pushing hurts! I was voting we wait for the anaesthesiologist to finish up. Besides, my doctor wasn't there yet, so I knew she didn't think we were really going to have this baby right now. Once again, Olga was very firm and in charge. Jason, who was still holding my hand, leaned in close to reassure me that I could do it.

The doctor came in a few minutes later and a few minutes after that, Paige's head emerged with the umbilical cord wrapped so tightly around her neck that the doctor struggled to wiggle a finger between the cord and her neck to cut her free. (He later told me it was "a risky maneuver" because her shoulders had not been delivered yet, but he felt it had to be done.) A minute later she was born at 2:44 in the afternoon.

She was taken straight to her little "station" that I had been admiring all morning. It was her station that had gaven me reassurance when I thought it might be too hard. Seeing her empty bed and knowing she would soon be in it, had gaven me just what I needed to keep going. Now, seeing her whisked off before I could even see or hold her, was terrifying. She was surrounded by nurses and all I could see was her little purple foot, unresponsive and floppy as the nurse tried to rouse her. I heard someone say they found her heartbeat, but I could still see them using the bag valve mask to breathe for her. The silence was almost deafening. At 2 minutes, she scored a 2 on the Apgar test for having a heart beat. After what seemed like forever, we heard a quick small noise come from her, but I continued see them ventilating her tiny body. At ten minutes out, she was breathing on her own and scored a 7 on the Apgar test. Jason, who had been trying to be so strong for me, turned away and cried when she finally started breathing and then brought back his strong face to reassured me that she was going to be okay.

They said they needed to bring her to the nursery to be monitored for the next several hours. I asked if I could see her before they went and they agreed. It felt like an eternity, but after checking the time stamps on the pictures, I finally was able to meet my little girl at 2:59PM, 16 minutes after she was born. I don't think I have ever been so happy to hear a baby cry, even if it was just a weak complaint. The nurses that were hoovering around us, said it was time to go after a couple of minutes. Jason asked if he could stay with her and they agreed. He kissed me goodbye to watch over our little baby Paige in the nursery, and left me with my mom and Olga to take care of me. I'm so glad my mom was able to be there with me. After I got cleaned up, Olga wheeled me down to the nursery to see Paige (in a very interesting stand up wheel chair thing). I stayed for as long as I could stand and then had to go back to my recovery room. She seemed to be doing better, but gave everyone a few scares when her alarms went off on her monitors. Jason sat and held her hand so she wouldn't be scared. After several hours, they decided she was well enough to have her first bath before she was ready to come room in with me. They even let Jason help. She weighed 7 pounds, 13 ounces and was 20 inches long.Welcome to the world Baby Paige! I'm glad you are a fighter and I'm so glad our nurse knew what she was doing!