I woke up at 4 in the morning with extremely bad contractions. I made note of the time so I could measure how far apart they were. I feel another one and look at the clock: 4:02! My contractions were two minutes apart! After about an hour of this, I woke Josh up and told him about it. With all of the false pre-term labor, he was skeptical that this was the real thing. I took a bath and Josh brought me breakfast. But, at about 9 am I couldn't take it any more and we went to the hospital.
When we got there, the nurse checked my cervix to see how far along I was. I was at 2 cm at my last check up two days before. When the nurse check me I was at a 4. So, things were moving at least! Also, when she was checking me, my water broke! So there was no way I was going home this time! The nurse was a little shocked when she saw the "water" because it had meconium (the baby's first bowl movement) in it. It had so much that my "water" was thick and mucus-like...and green! I was a little frightened, but the nurse didn't seem to worry too much. Come to find out, it was more of a problem than they let on.
I wanted to try labor without an epidural, so I didn't ask for one right away. I tried the intravenous drugs first. This just made me have weird pipe dreams of big walls, mail boxes, and flowers in between my contractions but felt all of the pain of the contractions. So, around 1 pm, I asked for the epidural.
The anesthesiologist came in and asked me if that was what I really wanted...uh, duh! First, they had to give me an IV, which was no easy task. My veins don't like to cooperate. So, they had to get a specialist and it took her four pokes to get it right. Then the anesthesiologist came back and cleared everyone but Josh out of the room because it would be dangerous if germs got into my spinal fluid. He said that they usually put the epidural in between contractions, but since mine were so close together, I would just have to bear it...and hold as still as possible so that I wouldn't be paralyzed. Yikes! The only things that got me through it were twisting my foot around, tapping Josh's arm with my finger (nervous habits for the pain), and looking into Josh's eyes. That was the most reassuring part.
After that, it was much, MUCH better! I watched The Office (season 2...the BEST) that I had brought along. I slept some, too. It was kind of hard to because of all the stuff they had me hooked up to. I was on oxygen because Jazzy's heart rate was low, an IV for fluids, epidural, internal fetal heart monitor, internal contraction monitor, catheter because of the epidural, and intrauterine water flush to keep the meconium out as much as possible. It was the worst!
Well, I finally dilated to 10 cm around 5 pm. I was so excited! But, that excitement was cut short. They told me to wait to push because the longer you wait and let the contractions push the baby further down the birth canal, the easier it is on you. This can pretty much only be done when you have an epidural because otherwise the urge to push is so overwhelming you can't wait! So, around 6:30 pm I started to feel the urge to push. But, the doctor was doing an emergency C-section and helping another mother who had been pushing for a long time without meds (!!). I had to wait a little longer.
FINALLY! The nurse told me that the doctor on call (who just happened to be the doctor I had been seeing the whole time!) said that we could start pushing. It was great!! It was the most natural thing for me to do at that point. I pushed for about an hour before she finally came all the way out. But, there was another problem.
Because of how bad the meconium was, they weren't sure if she had gotten some in her lungs or eaten it. Eating it isn't as bad as getting it into the lungs. It can cause pneumonia, among other serious illnesses. They were going to have several (I believe there were 5 all together) extra people there just in case there was something wrong with her. While I was pushing, little Jazzy's heart rate dropped into the low 20s. The normal heart rate for babies is around 70 to 120! I was terrified! They also had to do a little episiotomy because her head was stuck.
After I push her little head out, the doctor told me to stop pushing. The umbilical cord was around her neck...TWICE!!! The doctor cut it and got it "unstuck" and told me to push some more. I had done it! She was out! My little baby girl was born at 8:16 pm. She was 8 lb, 7 oz and 21 in. long. Her chest was bigger than her head, which is unusual, so it was like I gave birth to twins! They put her on my chest.......and she was very floppy and didn't make any noise!
I got to see her for about 10 seconds before they took her over to the area where the other doctors were waiting. They worked on her for about 20 minutes and couldn't get her to breathe on her own. So, they took her into the ICU and worked on her some more. Josh went with her so that she wouldn't be alone. They had her on a CPAP machine and finally she started breathing on her own after about 45 minutes! They were debating sending her to either Eugene or Portland for more intensive care, but after talking with the doctors there, they decided that she would be just fine staying there for now.
I had to wait in my delivery room for 4 hours before I got to see her. They expected me to eat and take a nap before finding out much of anything about her condition! I finally got to see her around midnight. She had to stay in the ICU because they had her on IV antibiotics because of the meconium. She also had on heart monitors, blood-oxygen level monitor, and various other things. She was so beautiful!
We had to stay an extra day in the hospital because of Jazzy's condition. We finally had her in our room on Sunday night and went home Monday. That is another story.
Love is worth it.
-Rachel
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