I have had many friends post their birth stories and I have always appreciated them and their words. They have really helped me to prepare for the day that I would give birth to my own children.
Well, that day came on Tuesday, June 24, 2014, when Chad and I welcomed Kathrynne Anne Lanham into our family. She is so absolutely precious.
On the 20th I went into the doctors to have my 40 week appointment. At that point I was already over due by a day. When my cervix got checked I was only dilated to 1cm. 1 bloody cm?! That is is? After everything we have been trying to do to start labor and get me to progress, NOTHING more than 1cm? I won't lie, I was pretty darn disappointed. I had a few days to naturally go into labor and then I would get induced if I was still where I was.
My doctor, Randall Pace, decided to schedule a day to induce me. We got it all scheduled for the 24th at Timpanogos Regional Hospital bright and early in the morning. Neither of us wanted me to go farther than 41 weeks and the 24th would be 40 weeks and 5 days. I was told to wait for a call from the charge nurse Monday evening to make sure it was all still okay to go. If there had been a ton of women go into labor I would not have been able to go in. Man, I am so glad that was NOT the case when I got the call Monday night to come in at 7 am!
We went in at 7 am and got all settled in. They checked my cervix and I had somehow gone from 1 cm to closed. :( Darn it. My nurse was amazing and went to town to help me out. She called Dr. Pace and they decided to put me on Cytotec to ripen my cervix. That sped things along very quickly. I was having contractions but I was not feeling them because they were so small. After the Cytotec had been administered I had to lay in bed for an hour. After that I could sit up, but the hospital doesn't allow you to walk around if you are on meds like Cytotec and Pitocen. Both of which I ended up being on so I stayed in bed the whole time. I got the meds
After about an hour and a half later the nurse checked me and I was starting to dilate a bit. She consulted the doctor and they decided to start me on Pitocen. I was on it for some time then I started to feel the contractions and they started to get in my back. I figured I would have back labor because of my Spina Bifida but wow. That was the worst pain I have ever experienced. I was only dilated to 4cm by the time that I asked for the anesthesiologist to come and administer the epidural.
It was about ten minutes before he came into my room. He waltzed in and didn't introduce himself at all. We all figured it was the anesthesiologist, but Chad decided to actually ask who he was. He told us his name and my sister Lindsey jokingly said, "Oh good, now they know who you are if they want to sue." He did not seem amused at all so Lindsey made sure she told him that she was completely joking. He still didn't take that very well. When my mom took a picture of him he opened his mouth and had to tell us that he was "Tired." OH that is great. He really didn't handle the situation very well at all. I enjoyed the company I had and didn't mind that they were a little louder because it helped me take my focus off of the pain. I guess the doc didn't like that and pretty much kicked them out. Chad's dad, Scott, wasn't in the room when all this went down and he would have been really irritated and said something. I could tell Chad was not impressed with the anesthesiologist and was really mad at him. My mom and Chad's mom, Karen, were the only ones to stay in my room other than Chad while I got my epidural. I was not so happy with him but I was in too much pain to really care. I was scared for a few reasons. The main one was that I was getting a needle in my spine. The second one was that the doctor said that he was tired multiple times. DON'T SAY THAT!! Don't say that in front of the patient you are about to stick in the back! Honestly though, I was in too much pain to really care at the moment. I just wanted to get it over with.
I know a lot of people that say that the IV they get put in is worse than the epidural. I completely disagree. The IV was uncomfortable but I was able to talk back and smile, I was totally fine. The epidural on the other hand was one of the scariest moments of my life. After hearing that the anesthesiologist was tired I was even more freaked about it. (I am glad I decided before hand about the epidural because I probably would have declined at that point and figured something else out.) Most anesthesiologists have a preference about the position you are in when they put the epidural in. There is the fetal position laying down or hunching over like a cat does while sitting up. I was kind of hoping that he would have me be laying down but he preferred me sitting up. I got in the position, shaking and soaking wet from sweat all due to the pain of my back labor and my fear.
Chad was holding my hands helping me stay up straight. I had a pillow on my lap too that I buried my face in. One of the nurses tried moving it from my face and I just put it back in because it was more comforting that way. I was actually a bit annoyed that she moved it at first. Given our first impression with the anesthesiologist I was not expecting how he treated me during the actual process of the epidural. He explained every little bit and kept talking to me. He guided me through everything and made me feel safe. He treated me very well and had me answer back if there was certain types of pain according to what he was doing. He did a VERY good job. I was impressed with him. My only wish is that he had been better with his bedside manner with my family. I didn't appreciate that.
The epidural kicked in quickly and I was able to get some sleep. I don't know how long I was asleep but when I woke up we checked my cervix and I was almost a 10! All I know about the time line was that it was a fast movement of my cervix. The Pitocen worked very well for me. Doctor Pace showed up after a while and broke my water. I must say, weirdest feeling ever. It was warm and instantly smelled. I could tell by the smell though that it was not normal. Call it mother's intuition but I could tell it wasn't normal. I guessed it was because there was meconium in it, meaning Kathrynne had taken her first bowel movement in the womb, and I ended up being right. Dr. Pace notified the NICU so when it came to delivery we would have a nurse in, right from first breath, to check Kate's lungs incase she had swallowed some of that meconium. This meant that I wouldn't get to hold her right when she was born, which made me kind of sad. However, I would much rather have a healthy baby.
Kathrynne was still very high so we had to do like two to three hours of rest and descend. I pretty much just had to lay there and wait until she decided to come on down. I was getting anxious for her to just come! I could feel her start to descend but it wasn't much pressure at all. Eventually we went for pushing. We did a few with my sisters and Chad helping out the nurse and then Dr. Pace showed up. He didn't push me to keep going at all. He listened to me and my body. He was really great with me.
I can't remember if it was during my very first push or the first push after Dr. Pace showed up, but during the second time pushing I threw up. I threw up twice this way. It wasn't totally in a row but it was with in the first five times I pushed. I had been feeling super nauseous after my long nap following my epidural so I figured I would have thrown up. It was super intense when I did too.
After a while I could tell that something was up. I could see it in my sisters faces and Dr. Pace called for the OB/GYN on call. Now my doctor is a family practitioner, not strictly an OB/GYN. He does it all so I knew that he was thinking possible c-section when the OB/GYN on call came in. Dr. Pace and the nurse couldn't really tell if Kathrynne was posterior or transverse or just where she needed to be because they couldn't really feel for her fontanelles. Fontanelles are the soft spots a baby has. This was new information for me. I had no clue that that was what they looked for. They couldn't tell with the bedside ultrasound either. That is when the OB/GYN came in and felt the fontanelles and gave us the go ahead to keep pushing.
Kathrynne was not coming over my pubic bone. It was like I was pushing her two steps forward and she would come one step back after the contractions. During the contractions while I was pushing, Kathrynne's heart rate would drop, drastically. It would go down to somewhere between 80-90bpm. Dr. Pace and the other doctor went out of the room to talk for a bit. I knew that it was about a possible c-section. The OB/GYN gave him the go ahead to keep going with a vaginal birth. I am sure that if she hadn't crowned when she did, it would have become an emergency c-section. Dr. Pace actually said something about a c-section while in the room, to me. Being the stubborn person I am, I took that as a challenge.
I pushed with everything I had because I did NOT want to have a c-section. I wanted to have a vaginal birth to have that experience. In total, I pushed for 3 hours. This ended up giving me a lot of fluid in my legs, feet, and ankles after delivery. It lasted for about a week. After the 3 hours of pushing Kathrynne finally crowned. Yeah. 3 hours just to get her to crown. Up to this point my contractions had been very regular. The doctor told me not to push at the next contraction, even though I will want to. We needed to wait for the nurse in the NICU to get here. She was called and then we just had to wait.
We were all waiting for my contractions to start up again, but nothing came. It was quite some time before I had another one. I personally believe that this was a huge blessing. You see, as soon as the NICU nurse walked into the room and was pulling on gloves I had a contraction. I didn't push and Dr. Pace just pulled Kathrynne out of me. The timing was a miracle. I didn't have to have a contraction and put Kathrynne in any more stress between when she crowned and when she came out. The nurse was right there to check her lungs. It was miraculous. I didn't have to push Kathrynne's head out, or get past her shoulders. She just plopped out of me at that point... with the help of the doctor obviously.
Chad cut her cord and they took her to get cleaned and checked. The nurse checked her lungs and she was just fine. She didn't swallow any meconium, thank heavens! Crying ensued through the whole room as we welcomed this sweet little girl into our lives.
I was in labor for 17 hours and I tore pretty much all the way through to my rectum (sorry, too graphic of an image?). It didn't seem like it was that long because of the hilarious times that we had with my family. The jokes and games we played really helped me get through the day.
Kathrynne was 19 inches and 7 pound 2 ounces at birth. She is a month old now. I can't believe it. She has been doing well. Unfortunately she has a bit of a cold and has had a hard couple of nights, which has not helped me. I have had a headache for a few days and it won't go away. It is one of those dull but annoying ones. I have not gotten much done around the house because I get so tired, but I never fully fall asleep, especially after noon rolls around. I haven't even had time to really write this post. I started this weeks ago and have just not gotten to it. We will be taking her in to get suctioned today so hopefully that helps her sleep better.
We love that little girl so much and she brings such a sprit into our life. So without further ado....
We welcome Kathrynne Anne Lanham into our family.
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