Once I got into the birthing suite (sounds more chic than it really was!) they asked me a whole lot of questions…for seriously….almost an hour. It was boring and tedious! Once all of the questions and medical history was out of the way, they finally placed my IV and hooked me up to the Pitocin. They started running it at a rate of 4 mL/hr and we waited for the contractions to start.
And start they did! They weren’t painful or anything really yet, but I could definitely feel them coming. Mila’s heart rate was great and she was looking fine, so we settled into wait for dilation.
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| Playing the waiting game |
Ahhhh, the epidural is in, and I’m feeling much better. I could still feel the contractions but they were no longer painful. Brandon finally made it to the hospital just after my epidural was placed, and right at his heels were three of my sisters, who came to say hi and pass some of the time with me. (Misty, Amber, and Brooke.) They were a good distraction and we were able to chat and laugh for awhile.
The nurse came in and checked my cervix a little later, and I had made some progress; I was dilated to a 6, and about 80% effaced. I was excited because I had already progressed 3 centimeters, so I was hoping that the rest of my dilation would happen quickly and that I could start pushing soon.
My sisters left, and we settled into waiting. It was boring! I was feeling pretty comfortable on my epidural, so we were mostly sitting around, waiting for every hour or so when my doctor or nurse would come check my cervix. And, for the rest of the afternoon…every time they checked me, I was STUCK AT A 6. It was terrible! The contractions I was having were strong and very regular, about 2-3 minutes apart, but my freakin’ body just wouldn’t dilate past a 6. They kept turning the Pitocin up, at this point it was going at about a rate of 20 mL/hr, but still, no progress for several hours. I was frustrated and honestly scared that they were going to have to do a c-section.
At this point, my OB came and talked to me and basically told me that Mila’s heart rate looked fine, so she was not worried about her, which was good. Some babies don’t tolerate the Pitocin well, but Mila looked fine, which made me feel better about how slow the labor process was going. So, she told me to sit tight, and that they were going to keep increasing my Pitocin, and we’d just wait and hope that I started to dilate soon. So they turned the Pit up to 24 mL/hr and at that point my contractions started to get so strong, I was in pain, despite my epidural. They were painful enough that when they came, I’d have to stop what I was doing and tense up my body, I couldn’t talk or move through them, they hurt like crazy. I told my nurse this and she called the anesthesiologist, and he gave me a booster dose of my epidural – basically it was just more potent and strong – and that really helped.
I could tell that my labor was starting to get really intense, and I knew that I just HAD to be dilating more, with how much pain I was in. At this point my Pit had been turned up to 28 mL/hr (far from the 4 mL/hr I started with in the morning!) and between having the strong contractions, and feeling a lot of pressure in my butt (seriously) I knew that Mila was low in the birth canal and that I was ready, so I called my nurse and told her we needed to get this show on the road!
So she called my doc, who checked my cervix, and finally, around 8 pm, I was indeed dilated to a 10 and ready to push. At this point there was just a sense of excitement in the room, as they were setting up and getting ready for me to start pushing. At this point I was ready and excited and pretty “comfortable” because of the booster epidural injection I’d gotten, but I was nervous that I was going to have to push a long time, because with Cade, once I was fully dilated and started pushing, I pushed for about 4-5 hours and was in TERRIBLE pain and ended up delivering without an epidural, yadda yadda, so I was nervous, as my only other experience with giving birth had been really awful and honestly traumatic.
So I started pushing, right around 8 pm that night. My mom was holding up one leg, and Brandon was holding up the other, and for every contraction, I’d push 3 times at 10 seconds each. And it only took 3 or so rounds of pushing before you could already see her head – I got so excited that I was making progress much faster than I did with Cade! At this point my OB told me that she had a full head of dark black hair, and I got so excited to see her! I wasn’t in too much pain at all because of the epidural, I only felt a lot a lot of pressure and this desire and need to just push this baby the hell out of me! And, she came! After only 30 minutes of pushing, through about 7-8 rounds of contractions, Mila Jane came into this world at exactly 8:30 pm.
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| Mila getting weighed |
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| Skin to skin time |
Brandon was able to cut the cord, and they took her from me to weigh her, and she weighed in at a perfect and healthy 7 lbs 6 oz. At this point they brought her back to me to do what they call “skin to skin,” which means they basically put the baby, still without clothes on, onto me, and they lay her on my bare chest, so we can snuggle and bond. It was great and I’m glad they did it – I loved it, and I loved being able to just share this moment with my little Mila. However, we’d only been doing it for a couple of minutes before she was STARVING and started rooting around to eat. So I promptly then and there started breast-feeding, and she latched on perfectly!
I didn’t even make it up to my hospital room until about 11 pm that night, and I was so exhausted. They gave her a bath and all that, and we finally settled in at about midnight.
So that’s the story. Sorry this was long! I just really wanted to document it so that we could remember it.
Hope you are all well. I am calm and happy right now. Mila is next to me in her swing, Cade is near me playing pretend, and I am feeling well. :) And here are a few more pics:
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| Coming home from the hospital - look at those crying cheeks! |
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| Cade and Mila |
