Wednesday, December 19, 2012

12/18/12

7 lbs & 19 1/2 inches long

Looks much like her older sister
Rowan was born yesterday at 2:43 pm after only 4 hours and 45 minutes of labor/pushing. It was a very different experience than the first time around. We had an induction scheduled for 7:30 am, but were bumped until a bit later. By the time I was checked (4cm) and hooked up to the monitors, it was around 10 am. I was given then choice to start pitocin and then break my water or vice versa. We chose to break my water, which ended up being the right decision, as I never needed the pitocin. My contractions immediately became longer (at least a minute each), more painful and less than two minutes apart. In less than an hour, my contractions were right on top of each other—each less than 30 seconds apart and lasting over a minute each. Let's just stay it hurt. A lot. It only took a few hours to get to transition (the last few cm of dilation), which is by far the most painful thing I've ever experienced. Since I wasn't having any time between contractions (fifteen seconds, maybe), I asked for something—anything. Since I had stated that my plan was to avoid an epidural, I was given a dose of fentanyl. It did absolutely nothing for the pain, but it allowed me to relax between contractions for 30 seconds/1 minute and wore off very quickly. Within an hour, I was fully dilated—much to everyone's surprise, as I wasn't expected to progress so quickly. My doctor barely got there in time for me to push. In retrospect, it all happened so quickly. I didn't cry, but it's safe to say that I'm a screamer.

So I was able to have the natural birth (at least mostly) I wanted all along. And I am happy that I won't be going through that again. Afterward, my placenta didn't want to detach, so I was taken to an OR, and given a few minutes of sedation for a D & C to remove it all. That was the most restful five minutes of sleep I've had in a long time.

Meanwhile, Brady stayed with Rowan and after I returned, she immediately started nursing. She's been feeding well—nine times since her birth yesterday. She's very alert when she's awake and likes to crane her neck to see/hear what's going on. So far, everything is normal and we're just waiting to see if she goes back into SVT. The cardiologists have asked that she stay in the nursery tonight for continuous heart monitoring (we had her in our room last night) and if everything is ok, we'll be discharged tomorrow afternoon. We'll just have to keep her on a Holter monitor (continuous monitoring) and stay in town for a few days.

Ella will be coming down here with my mom on Friday and I can't wait for them to all to meet! :-)

3 comments:

H. said...

AAAAHHHHHH!!! you did it!! yay for avoiding a c-section!! she is BEAUTIFUL and she already looks like ella - congratulations!!! holy cow what an intense experience ... Rowan is so lucky to have you !

H. said...

also 12 18 12 is a cool birth date!

kristen said...

I was trying to figure out what the button "next blog" did and it took me from my blog to your blog. Please don't think I'm a crazy, but I noticed there were comments about cardiology. I am part of a group called Intermountain Healing Hearts, don't know if you've heard of it or not? All of us have some tie to heart defects of every kind. If you need to ask questions or find anyone that's been there, check us out. www.intermountainhealinghearts.org. Good luck in your journey. -Kristen