We walked over to labor and delivery and everything was ready to go. Here is my last pregnancy bump pic at 41 weeks and 2 days. This is the first time I have ever been "over due" with a pregnancy, although this really has been my easiest pregnancy and I probably could have gone to 42 weeks without a problem. I was still feeling fantastic.
The nurse had me put on the beautiful hospital gown and then they did some blood work and put in my IV, along with monitors on my belly to measure contractions and monitor the baby's heartbeat. C & W were just about to the hospital too. Once that was all done, it had only been about 30 minutes. I texted my birth team (Doula, photographer and hair stylist) to let them know that the nurse said they would be starting Pitocin at about 6:30-6:45am.
Before starting the Pitocin, the nurse checked me and said that I was around a 3-4 and really soft, which was awesome and meant the contractions I had the night before had actually made some progress. I really think if we hadn't scheduled the induction, I probably would have gone in to labor on my own in another day or two at most. Even though I had progressed with dilation, baby was still up really high. High enough that the first nurse had a hard time telling if they were still head down or not, so she had another nurse come in to check as well. The 2nd nurse said that baby did still seem to be head down, which I pretty much knew anyway. If I learned anything with this pregnancy, it was that I could definitely tell more about position and where baby was (even though still not all the time). I was very thankful that it was confirmed baby was still head down though. Our primary nurse, Linda, had a student with her from a local college and was entering the information into the computer and this is when I first heard the term "ballotable". Definitely one of my least favorite words now. This little one was just happy as could be hanging out in utero a little longer. The plan was for my doula, photographer and hair stylist to get there around 8 since we didn't think they would really get things going until around then, but apparently, everything was ready to go much sooner.
Pitocin was started at 6:48am at a 2. They would let it run at a 2 for at least 15 minutes and make sure baby tolerated it well and there weren't any issues before looking at increasing it. My Mom, C, and W just visited for a little while and discussed what time we thought baby would arrive and how much baby might weigh. My Mom headed back to work shortly after that and was going to come back to the hospital around lunch time. The nurses were about to start their shift change and we were kind of sad because the nurse leaving was really nice and a bit younger, so we were hoping she would be a little more flexible with the rules. A little later, my Doula, Susan arrived. Susan is also a surrogate and at the beginning of her first journey. I'm so excited to follow her journey too. I did talk to Susan when she arrived about the baby being ballotable and what my thoughts were. I told her my fear was that maybe there was keeping baby up high and from coming down. I explained that as much as this little one had flipped back and forth over the last 4 weeks or so that maybe the cord was wrapped around something. I didn't think it was wrapped around the neck because I figured that would show in the heartbeat, which was always strong, but maybe an arm or leg. I explained that I was thinking of asking for an ultrasound just to make sure before we got too far along in the labor process and discovered an issue later that would require an intervention. When the day nurse, Linda, came in, I asked her if our Dr. would be in this morning and she said that she would probably be in soon. I told her that I wanted to see if she could do an ultrasound and my reasoning behind it. Not long after that, Dr. B came in and had an US machine with her as well. She has been so supportive of our decisions with this entire pregnancy and I was so glad this wasn't any different. Baby looked great and was head down, however, baby had their hand up by their face (a nuchal hand), which may have been keeping them from completely engaging. In addition to that, baby was slightly OP (Occupit Posterior or Sunny Side Up). This may also be why baby wasn't coming down more quickly. The positive news was that there was no wrapped cord, although there was a significant amount of cord to the right side of the baby and Dr. B didn't want to break my water yet to help bring baby down because they were still so high, there was a chance the water rushing out could pull the cord out before baby (prolapse), which is very dangerous and since everything else was going well at this point, it just wasn't necessary. They did go ahead and increase Pitocin to a 4.
Shortly after this, Natasha (NHance Photography) and Kacie (hair stylist) arrived and we all visited while Kacie did my hair. I was feeling contractions, but they definitely weren't uncomfortable and definitely not painful yet. It was so nice getting my hair braided and knowing it would be out of my face and look good for all the pictures. : ) She did a beautiful job!
The hardest part about this labor was that because we had induced, there were several restrictions that threw my "natural labor" plan off. The first was that there was no option for intermittent monitoring. Intermittent monitoring would typically allow me to walk the halls or labor without the contraction and heart monitors on my belly for 40 minutes out of every hour and then baby would be monitored for the other 20. Due to being on Pitocin, hospital policy is that baby is monitored 100% of the time (except for when I need to go to the bathroom). I was also hooked up to a blood pressure cuff, however, I figured out there was a timer on the monitor and it was scheduled to check my BP every 30 minutes. I took the cuff off and set the timer on my phone to go off 5 minutes before it was supposed to check it so I had at least one arm free (since my other had an IV and there was no option to remove that). Luckily at this point, I was feeling the contractions, but they were not bad at all. After the ultrasound, I did get out of the bed and swayed in place for a bit through the contractions to help try to bring baby down. I also sat on the peanut too and that was nice and I couldn't really feel the contractions much at all at that point. My surro sister, Lisa was also on her way up to visit, along with C & W's parents.
They continued to increase the Pitocin and at around 11:15am, it was bumped up to 10. At this point, contractions were getting a little stronger, but still not to the point where they were stopping me and I would need to breathe through them. Susan started doing some Rebozo exercises with me to help get baby down and into a better position. It was really relaxing too. Of course, it knocked the monitor off the baby for a little bit because it involves moving my belly back and forth. The nurse came in the first time, but she seemed positive about what we were doing, so that was good. We also did some side lying as well to help position baby. We were all trying really hard to build the relationships with our nurses so that maybe they would be flexible when it came time for delivery, since hospital policy is to only allow 2 people in the room, in which case would be C & W of course.
My Mom picked up lunch for Susan and Natasha and C's parents were picking up lunch for them. After lunch, Dr. B came back up to see how everything was progressing. Dr. B checked me again and I was around a 5, so made some progress, but baby was still pretty high. I was feeling a little tired and contractions were not making me uncomfortable, so decided I would try to take a nap. Susan placed me in a side lying position with the peanut in between my legs to continue to help move baby down and get in position. Everyone left the room at this point too. C & W went to the waiting area to visit with family, Susan went to grab some things out of her car and take a bathroom break and Natasha went out to the waiting room too along with my Mom and Lisa was going to head home. It was now close to 2pm and Pitocin was increased to 16 shortly before everyone left as well and this is where everything starts to move pretty quickly. I had been laying down for about 15 minutes and all of a sudden, I was having to breathe through the contractions. I texted Susan to let her know that I wasn't sure if it was the level of Pitocin or the position that was making the difference, but that I wasn't going to be able to sleep and that the contractions were definitely getting stronger. Although I was feeling the contractions pretty good at this point, and decided to get up out of the bed thinking that standing/swaying would help. Lisa came back into the room pretty quickly because she had left her water bottle in the room and Susan was on her way back. While I was waiting for everyone to come back in, I started thinking that I should get an epidural. This was a really difficult decision for me because I really wanted another natural labor, but the induction had really thrown me off. I had been laboring for over 7 hours and depending on where baby was, would really make the determination. Susan did such a good job with running through everything with me and reinforcing to me what I had originally wanted out of this delivery. The anesthesiologist was next door giving another epidural, so we had to wait for him anyway. While we were waiting, there were a couple of contractions that made me stop and I really had to breathe through them and that was even sitting on the peanut, so they were making progress. I went to the bathroom and had a couple of really strong contractions to the point that they made me sick. Here I was sitting on the toilet by myself and felt the urge to throw up with no trash can near by. I ended up throwing up on the floor. At least it was tile. ; ) Susan was able to get a bag for me and once I got up, we decided to have the nurse come in and check me one more time. When she checked me, I was dilated to a 5 now and the baby was at my cervix, but obviously still had a ways to go. I was so conflicted on getting the epidural or not and went back and forth in my head to get one or not. I made the decision to go ahead and get the epidural since the baby was still up pretty high. Susan really helped me get through the next few contractions until the anesthesiologist came in. Once he came in, they made everyone leaven again.
The epidural was finished at about 10 minutes 'til 4. As soon as it was in and going, the nurse put my legs back on the bed and did another check. I was now at an 8. What?! That was really fast. I texted C to tell her they could come back in and Dr. B was on her way too since baby would be here soon. By the time Dr. B arrived, I was ready to start pushing. The hardest part about this now, was that I couldn't feel anything. C & W were back in the room along with Susan and Natasha, but the nurses were now saying that everyone would need to leave except for 2 (which of course would be C & W). I was pretty upset with this and really tried to push to get them to allow Natasha to stay so that she could document baby's arrival, but they wouldn't budge. : ( I understand that the baby was having a few decels due to the epidural, but it didn't seem to be anything too concerning. Since they wouldn't let Natasha stay, I asked the nurse to hand me my camera and that I would just take the pictures. I figured I didn't have anything to lose with asking at this point, so I was a little short about it because I was pissed. I had discussed this with the nurse manager previously as well and she said that more than likely, they would let us have a 3rd person, but that didn't even happen. It was very disappointing. I definitely think it's a policy that needs to be changed.
Dr. B broke my water and there was a lot of fluid, which is why baby had so much opportunity to flip. They were not restricted at all. I had to push through several contractions because baby was still up pretty high and I had to bring her down first. I was really glad I had decided to get the epidural, but had to keep asking if I was pushing ok because I couldn't feel it. Dr. B said I was pushing good. After the first couple of contractions, they placed some oxygen on me to help the baby as well. I continued to push when contractions would come and baby was making progress.
C was taking a few pictures as well and actually ventured down to see baby a little better. She saw Dr. B pull her out and it was so amazing. W kind of stayed back next to the nurse. I think I pushed through a total of 4-5 contractions all together. Dr. B suctioned baby's mouth and then clamped the cord. This part was a bit of a blur. Once baby was delivered, I asked what it was since we still didn't know if it was a boy or girl. The nurse next to Dr. B said, "It's a boy" I was looking at the baby to confirm and didn't see boy parts and as that registered with me, Dr. B said, "Those are girl parts." and she said, "It's a girl!" and held her up for C & W to see. Once C got a picture of her, Dr. B handed her to the nurse to put under the warmer. She was born at 4:21pm, weighed 8lbs 11oz and was 21.5 in long. My biggest delivery to date. My middle was my biggest prior to baby girl at 7lbs 2oz, however, considering she was a little more than a week past her due date, I really think she was a good size. She was a beautiful little baby and had a really nice, round head. I told C & W that she wanted to wait as long as she could to come down so she wouldn't have a cone head. hehe
C & W walked over to the warmer. They both kind of stood back a little and I remember telling them, "you can touch her" and to go talk to her. I'm sure it was so much to take in and it reminded me so much when our middle son was born. My husband kept his distance a bit because he wasn't really sure what to do or I guess, what he could do. Their little baby was finally here and she was all theirs to hold and love. As soon as I could get to my phone, I texted Natasha to let her know to come back in hoping she could get some more pictures of these first moments. Dr. B was stitching me up (I have had an episiotomy with every single deliver, so nothing new) while C & W spent some time with their baby girl while the nurses did the routine baby stuff.
After they were done, it was time for them to go announce the gender to all of family in the waiting room. I had made a mum for the door in yellow and white and had a pink ribbon and blue ribbon to glue on once baby was born. They carried the pink ribbon out to make the announcement and C was so funny because she said she was going to take both ribbons out and say, "Surprise, it's twins!! April Fools!" LOL!! She did only end up taking out the pink ribbon, but it was still funny. They came back in with everyone and it was such a joyous time. Everyone took turns holding the baby and taking tons of pictures. It was so great seeing all the love this little girl has. This is the 2nd grandbaby for C's parents and the first for W's parents.
While everyone was meeting the baby, I had some water and apple juice. Probably not the smartest thing to down it as quick as I did, because I got sick. That was not fun, but luckily, I think everyone was so busy with the baby that no one really noticed. I hadn't eaten anything other than ice chips (I did sneak a little apple sauce in early labor) since dinner the night before, so I think I was past the point of hunger. I did also have really bad shakes, which is totally normal. I did have them after my last delivery too. It was a mix from the epi wearing off and all of the hormones. After everyone got to hold the baby, the grandparents decided to go get some dinner and celebrate their new granddaughter and my Mom was going to take my nephew home and then grab me some dinner after.
This was a great time for C to do some skin to skin with her new baby girl while they were getting our postpartum rooms ready. She laid on the couch and baby laid on her chest. It was so beautiful and peaceful!! This made my heart so happy seeing them together and knowing that this is what it's all about.
We had it in our birth plan for C to do skin to skin and then for me to nurse baby for colostrum and I'm so glad that this part worked out so well. I wanted baby to have that initial bonding with her momma. After skin to skin, C brought her over to me to nurse. C had been sleeping/wearing a blanket for baby over the last several weeks so the blanket would smell like her and while I nursed, I placed the blanket over my breast so that baby girl would associate nursing with her momma too. She latched on right away and it didn't take her long to start nursing. Once she was finished nursing, the nurses were going to take her to get her first bath while they moved us to our rooms. Around this time, my DH got to the hospital with our kiddos, so we asked the nurses to wait just a few minutes. Of course, my DD was the most excited to see the baby, as she has been the most fascinated with the pregnancy the entire time. She was so cute and was so happy to see baby M. Baby M started crying a couple of times, so DD would sing her a lullaby and she would stop. I told DD that I'm sure she probably recognized her voice too since she talked to her all the time when she was in my belly. My boys were happy to see her too, but not as intrigued as DD. DD was also excited that she was a girl since she had said she was a girl all along. I told her she was right.
After my family visited for a little bit, we moved to our rooms and my family stayed to visit for a bit longer. The hospital had arranged to have our rooms right across from each other, which was great. That way when Baby M got hungry, C could just bring her over for me to nurse. They also brought in a breast pump pretty quickly too, so she would nurse on one side and then I would pump from the other side. There is so much little pumped this early, they gave me syringes to put the colostrum in for C & W to give to her. Once I was in my room, my Mom took my oldest to grab some dinner from Black Eyed Pea and brought me Chicken Fried Steak. Mmmmmmm. It was so good. I did have to eat very slowly though because I was SO hungry. I ate a few bites and then let it sit for a little while. C brought over baby M to nurse once as well, so I took a break from eating and picked it back up when she was done. It worked out just fine though because I needed a break to keep from getting sick. I ended up eating almost all of it.
Such an absolutely wonderful day. I am so blessed to be part of an amazing journey with this family!!
Thank you all so much for following and for your support.
