Joanna's Birth Story

Almost all of the pre-labor symptoms I'd had (Braxton-Hicks contractions, pain in my cervix) completely stopped over the weekend. I was still in a lot of pain and had difficulty getting around, but, by Monday, I felt great. My body was less achy, and I was convinced that the upcoming birth was a while off.

Monday night (November 7), the contractions came back. There weren't many--maybe three--all evening, but they were more painful than before. I went to bed early just in case. Throughout the night, I woke up every half hour to two hours. I'd feel a few seconds of pain, and that was it. The baby was moving like crazy, and I had trouble sleeping. Oliver woke up every time I did, so Andrew had a restless night, too.

At 5am on Tuesday (November 8), I stopped trying to go back to sleep. I laid there and wondered if the contractions would lead up to labor. They were pretty painful, but they only lasted a few seconds. When I stood up, they increased in intensity, but not in length. I was experiencing contractions that lasted only about 10 seconds long every 4-5 minutes.

Oliver, Andrew and I all went downstairs at 6am for breakfast. I was confused about whether or not to call the midwife because my contractions were so short. However, they hurt so badly that I couldn't talk through them. I finally called her, and she told me to come in for an exam at 7:30am. My mother-in-law, Colleen, came over to watch Oliver while Andrew and I headed to the hospital. The drive was about thirty minutes. I only had two contractions during the drive. In between contractions, I thought that there was no way I was actually in labor, and I was wasting everyone's time. Their timing had slowed down, and they weren't lasting long. Then, a contraction would hit, and it hurt so much that I knew this was the real thing.

Andrew dropped me off at the ER entrance and left to find parking. As soon as I stepped out of the car, the contractions started to come much more frequently. By the time I was brought to my room, I started to have them about two minutes apart. My midwife looked at my face and said, "That is a woman in labor." She hooked me up to a monitor, and I learned my contractions were actually lasting a full minute each. I only felt about 10-15 seconds of them, though. Last week, I'd been dilated 3cm. At the hospital, I was dilated 5cm. I was admitted.

Because of everything that needed to be taken care of first, I didn't get my epidural until 9:30am. The last half hour of that was pretty excruciating. Getting the epidural wasn't painful, but getting the IV in my arm was awful. It was the worst part of labor, and I cried like a baby after the nurse dug into a vein for the third time and missed. Once the epidural kicked in, the pain stopped completely. I couldn't fall asleep, but I was able to relax and visit with my parents and my husband. My midwife checked me, and I'd dilated to 7cm. She predicted the baby would arrive by lunch time.

Lunch time came and went. I stayed dilated at 7cm for a couple of hours, but the most discouraging thing was that the baby wasn't dropping. She was at a -5 when she needed to be at a +2 to push. This is what happened at Oliver's delivery. My midwife started to talk about Pitocin. I wanted to yell, "No!" because Pitocin was the worst thing ever, and it didn't succeed in pushing Oliver down. Nothing did, until my doctor had let me try to push him down myself. I told my midwife that, and she responded kind of snippy. She said, "If you need Pitocin, then you need Pitocin." She said she'd be back in a little while to check me again to see if the baby would drop.

After my midwife left, I started to secretly push down (just a little) at the peak of some contractions. I couldn't feel the contractions, but I could see them on the monitor. When my midwife checked me next, she was thrilled at my progress--our baby dropped to -1! There was no more talk of Pitocin. As she felt my dilation, my water broke. I gently pushed down through a few more contractions.

At some point (I can't remember when because the day went by in a blur!), I needed to be given medicine for my low blood pressure. I'd been at increased risk of high blood pressure during delivery because of my increased HCG levels early in the pregnancy. That was not an issue! My blood pressure dropped low, and our baby's heart rate dropped in response. I was put on oxygen and given some sort of blood thickener (I believe).

Around 3pm, I could really feel the pain of the contractions through the epidural. I couldn't talk through them, and I felt like I needed relief. The anesthesiologist's nurse gave me a boost of medication. It took the pain away, and that was what I wanted. However, it also made me feel drowsy and nauseated. It numbed me a little too much, and I couldn't feel any pressure at all. That's when my midwife came back. She checked me and announced I was ready to push! She and a nurse quickly got things ready. I told them I'd need their help telling me when to push because I was completely numb. Right when the told me to, I needed to vomit. Andrew had to help me throw up in a vomit bag three times. Once I was done throwing up, the nurses told me to push. I pushed, and I could feel our baby's head. They told me when to push the second time, too. Then, they told me I just needed one more good push and to do it when I was ready. On that third push at 3:30pm, Joanna Elizabeth was born.

Jo was put on my chest immediately. I broke down in tears. Both times I've experienced childbirth, I've worried I wouldn't feel bonded to my baby immediately. Thankfully, that isn't a problem I've ever experienced. I felt a flood of emotion, but it was mostly love. She was beautiful. Somehow, she had dark hair, almond-shaped eyes, and even a cleft chin.

Andrew snapped this photo within minutes of delivery:

Five minutes or so passed, and my midwife asked Andrew to cut the cord. He did, and cut it cleanly with one slice (as he'd done after Oliver's birth). I held her and nursed her for her first hour of life. After that, Andrew got to hold her, and she was finally measured and weighed. Baby Jo weighed in at 7 pounds, 11 ounces and measured 20 inches.

It took longer for me to deliver the placenta. It didn't detach by itself, and my midwife had to manually remove it. I wonder if the reason it didn't detach was related to the bleeding I'd experienced earlier in the pregnancy. Perhaps not. As my midwife worked to dislodge the placenta, I was quite grateful I was still numb from the previous boost of medication from the anesthesiologist's nurse. If I hadn't been, I think that would have been the worst part of the entire labor and delivery. She quickly stitched up a "superficial tear" that I assume only required one stitch. I was quite pleased that I wouldn't have to deal with another 4th degree tear!

My legs regained feeling fairly quickly. After an hour, I was able to get up, walk, and use the washroom (albeit slowly and with help from the nurse). Shortly after that, we received our first visitors.

Here is our first family shot, which captures the first time Oliver met his baby sister:

Oliver was very cuddly and didn't want to leave my side. I got to hold both of my babies. Amazing.

Grandpa Larry got to hold his first granddaughter, Joanna:

Grandma Judy also got to hold Jo, the grand baby named after her mother:

And here is Grandma Colleen holding Jo, who she believes is the most beautiful baby to enter the world since Oliver:

We transitioned to our room in Maternity. I was pleasantly surprised they had a room for us! Apparently, there were so many births between Monday and Tuesday that they'd run out of rooms. Many people had to stay in their labor rooms.

This photo of Jo was taken about 6 hours after birth. She still hadn't been cleaned from delivery. In fact, she didn't get cleaned until nearly 1:00am--that's how busy the hospital was!

We didn't even get to try sleeping until the wee hours of the morning. Even then, nurses went in and out, dropped things, bumped into our beds, and just generally woke us up all night. Jo, on the other hand, slept soundly through it all. I had to wake her to nurse, and, even then, she was too tired to try latching on a couple of times. We managed to survive the first night, and, in the morning, we were rewarded with a visit from Oliver! Once again, he was thrilled to see us and his sister.

Joanna, Day 2, finally cleaned up:

Mother & Daughter:

Father & Son:

Oliver even taught Grandpa Larry how to play Angry Birds:

Getting Close!

Well, as it turns out, all the pains I dealt with on Friday and yesterday meant something!

I went to see my midwife today. It was my first internal exam because I missed my appointment last week due to snowy weather. There was snowy weather again today, but my husband took off for the afternoon to get me to my appointment. I talked to my midwife, and I told her about the pains I'd been feeling. I explained to her how I hadn't felt any labor signs with Oliver at all and ended up being induced, so I'm not sure what to expect with this labor and delivery. I described the stabbing pains that have felt like pap smears, and I described the pressure and occasional contraction. She said it was all normal. I told her, "Well, now I'm hoping you'll tell me that all these pains meant something. I hope to be at least a little dilated."

Well... she told me I was 3cm dilated and 60% effaced! Also, she told me that my water was "bulging." What? I didn't even know you could be 3cm dilated without being in labor! I later read online that many women are 1-2cm dilated for their second pregnancies before going into labor. Some women are dilated up to 3cm before labor. I read you can't really use that information to determine when labor will begin because some women will stay 3cm dilated for a week. Still, I'm so excited that my body is preparing!

My midwife asked me if I'd like her to sweep my membranes. When a midwife or doctor sweeps the membranes, they use their fingers to sweep across and separate the membranes/sac from the cervix. It releases hormones that can help cause labor to start within the next 48 hours. She told me that doing so is slightly painful and could result in some cramping and spotting. She said, in my case, the treatment would have about a 50% chance of being effective.

I couldn't decide on the membrane sweep. On the one hand, Oliver's got a lingering cough, and I don't want to go into labor and have him not be able to visit me in the hospital. Also, part of me is still thinking about the 11/11/11 birthday, even though that shouldn't really matter. On the other hand, my body hurts. Every week day is overwhelming for me, and it's getting so difficult (physically) to take care of Oliver. I finally decided to go for it.

The procedure actually didn't hurt at all. She told me that it's sometimes difficult to reach to do the sweep, and she struggled to reach with me. Also, she said a little bit of blood can be a good sign, but I didn't have any blood. She didn't say it, but I got the impression that she wasn't very confident the sweep she did would help stimulate my labor. I'm OK with that.

It's been about three hours. I haven't had any cramping or discomfort from the sweep. So, I don't think labor is imminent yet. However, I'm so excited to know that the next time I start to deal with the pains might be the real thing! Three centimeters! Woohoo!

Pre-Pre-Labor Signs?

I wrote a post on Friday regarding the false labor symptoms I seemed to be having. The pains grew more intense throughout the evening and then suddenly stopped before bed. Before they stopped, I thought, "This has to be pre-labor!" No, it wasn't.

The weekend was full of aches and pains, but nothing that made me think labor was on its way. The pains were mostly limited to my hips, back, and butt bones. Today, however, I'm getting some of those stabbing pains again. It literally feels like a doctor is giving me a pap smear, which is why I keep describing the pains to my husband as being located "in my cervix." To all you ladies out there, imagine having a pap smear last about 2 minutes long. That's what I'm feeling right now. Stab, stab, stab. Not fun.

I haven't lost my mucous plug yet (that I'm aware of), so I don't think I've dilated much. However, I have yet to get an internal exam from my midwife. I go in tomorrow, and I hope to hear that my body is showing some signs of progressing.

Like my last post on labor signs, I'm going to wait a while before posting this one. I just don't want to get people anxious or unnecessarily excited about our baby's arrival when there's still no real contractions or other signs of impending delivery.

False Labor

I didn't get to labor at home with Oliver because I was induced. Thus, I don't really know how this whole labor thing really starts out. It's Friday. I'm 38 weeks pregnant (full term), and I'm in pain. All week, I've been having incredible back pain and occasional pressure down low. At the grocery store yesterday, I could feel "pop, pop, pop, pop," with every step I took. I kept thinking, "Maybe this means I'm close."

Today, I was reading something funny online while Oliver napped. Every time I laughed, the low pressure would increase, sometimes to the point of being almost painful. Was this a sign? I don't know.

It's nearly 7pm. At 5pm, I started to feel sharp pains every time I stood. It felt like I was getting a pap smear over and over again. I'd read that one of the ways to tell the difference between labor and false labor is to change positions. If changing positions makes you feel better, you're not in real labor. Well, every time I sit, I feel fine. Sometimes, I feel cramping, like menstrual cramps, but that's it. As soon as I stand up, the sharp pains start up again, and they take my breath away. I can't walk normally. I have to slowly waddle to cover any ground. I'm hunched over as I walk. Surely, this has to mean something, but I have yet to feel an actual contraction (as I know them).

I keep thinking about calling my mom. I want to talk to her about how I feel, but I don't want to get people falsely excited that I'm in labor when I'm not. Part of me wants to ask her to take Monday off, just in case I'm not in labor. Both yesterday and today, I had tremendous difficulties making it to the end of the day. I feel like Oliver is neglected from about 3pm to 6pm, when Andrew gets home. Then, Andrew wants to tend to me and make me feel better physically, but all I want him to do is give Oliver the attention he needs that I haven't been able to give him. It's really hard on me emotionally to know that Oliver isn't getting what he needs these days. You know, I've wanted our baby girl to wait until November to arrive, but now I can't help but just think I want her here so these pains stop and my neglect of Oliver can stop.

This is really tough. I keep thinking, "What if this pain continues for weeks? What if she waits another three weeks to arrive?" Based on how I've been dealing this week, I don't think I can make it. The pains get so bad sometimes that I start crying when Oliver takes too long to do something, like push the button on the coffee pot. I'm forced to stand there, and it's more than I can physically bear.

I keep thinking about how cool I thought it would be for our girl to arrive on 11/11/11. I keep thinking how I hadn't wanted our kids to share the same birthday (Oliver's birthday is Sunday). I keep thinking how I thought they'd have separate birthday months. All of that is out the window right now. I just want to feel better. I'm so glad it's the weekend. Having Andrew home to help will allow me to rest a lot more. Even if I don't go into actual labor, I'm hoping the physical rest will help the pain subside.

I don't plan on posting this entry to my blog for some time. I don't want to get friends and family too excited about the possibility of me going into labor soon. So, for now, these are just my thoughts.

At the moment, I'm actually starting to feel a lot better and less panicked from resting by sitting. It's nice to not have to deal with these false labor pains!

In Labor!

I'm at the hospital in labor! Andrew and I drove through the 16 inches of snow to make our appointment at 7:30pm for me to be induced. They checked us in, got us set up in a labor and delivery room, and used some tablets at 8pm to start thinning my cervix. I received a second dose around midnight, and around 2:30am, I woke up with contractions!

The contractions were immediately severe, and they were only 45 seconds apart. I went to the bathroom to pee, and I had two by the time I finished. I went back to my hospital bed, trying to decide if I was supposed to wait for a while or not. After a couple more that were even more painful, I decided I couldn't handle them on my own. I woke up Andrew. Andrew got the nurse, and she reviewed the contraction monitor. My contractions were so close together, I barely got a break from one when the next would start. She told me that can be one of the side effects from the tablets.



She started an IV (eeeieii!) to try to space out the contractions. She gave it 15 minutes, but the contractions got even worse. I literally was shaking with pain because there was no break from them. She checked my cervix, and I was dilated to 4cm. She called the anesthesiologist, and he made it to my room within 10 minutes. Those 10 minutes felt like forever since I had at least that many contractions. I started to cry. When he arrived, he asked me if my contractions started out that severe, and I said, "Pretty much."

The nurse injected me with a pain medication to help for the epidural. It immediately made me dizzy and sleepy, and I could no longer keep my eyes open. Getting the epidural didn't hurt at all, and it helped almost immediately. I kept telling the anesthesiologist, "Thank you so much."

Labor's been super easy ever since. I'm now dilated almost 7cm, and all I've been doing is napping and relaxing. Of course, it's not easy being hooked up to so many things. I have the IV because I'm not allowed to eat or drink. I have the epidural in my back, and a cathader as well. On my stomach, I have a fetal monitor and a contraction monitor. On my left hand, I have a pulse reader, and on my right arm, I have a blood pressure cuff. Also, even though the baby's pulse is fine (in the 120s), it's lower than it was, so she gave me an oxygen mask to wear. As she put it, "The baby's getting tired from the medication, too."

My doctor is going to arrive in about an hour to break my water. From there, I'm hoping things will speed along, and hopefully, I'll have a baby soon!



I'm getting a little nervous again, but definitely more excited than anything. I'm wishing my mom was here, though, to tell me everything's going well and will be fine. She took the day off today, so hopefully she'll be here soon to help. Delivery will just be me and Andrew, of course. I think we'll take a couple of hours to ourselves to marvel at our little wonder, but then we'll see our visitors and show off our bundle of joy. Just a few more hours!