Rebecca Allison--A Birth Story

So, as most of you already know, I had been in "pre-labor" for a few weeks, and was dilated to a 5-6 and about 80% effaced at my OB appointment last Wednesday (the 7th). Thursday morning (the 8th),  I woke up feeling pretty blah. A little off, but not really having contractions like I was before either. Lizzy and I went for a walk, and then Bekah reminded me about the "labor cookies" recipe floating around online...I had most of the ingredients on hand, and so I made them with just a few modifications, figuring why NOT? 

That night, Justin's work class got out early, so we were hanging on the couch watching Big Bang Theory, when I heard and felt a little pop and wondered if it was my water breaking...but there wasn't a big gush of fluid like with Lizzy. That said, I immediately noticed a contraction that was a bit more intense...but I still wasn't sure that my water had actually broken and that things wouldn't just slow down again like before. 

I waited for 2 or 3 more contractions,  and then decided we needed to go in, and Justin called Renee to come stay with Lizzy. I think we were on our way within 10 minutes of the "pop." In the car, contractions were about 4 mins apart. I went back and forth between saying "I'm not sure this is it" (in between contractions) and "We need to make it to the hospital! Are we going to make it?!" (during contractions). We got to the hospital at maybe 9:10pm, a nurse checked me, and I was dilated to 7cm but said my water hadn't broken yet but looked like it would soon. The nurse asked about pain management and I asked for the epidural. The nurse said she'd be back in about 5 mins.

I went to the bathroom and walked through maybe three contractions. The contractions were painful, but at that point, I know I was managing them (with Justin's help) much better than I ever did with Lizzy. About 7 minutes after that, the nurse came back in right as the "game changer" contraction happened. Justin said that I went super pale and almost crumbled to the ground. The instant difference in the level of pain was indescribable and I think that I screamed, "I AM FEELING SO MUCH PRESSURE!" at the nurse, who was still across the room. The nurse responded that she needed me to get on the bed right then and I think I screamed "I can't move anywhere right now!!" That contraction didn't end for several minutes, but eventually the pain lessened a bit, and I managed to get onto the bed and was swinging my leg up when my water definitely broke, and full on projectile shot across the room and totally soaked my nurse, who was several feet away. It was nuts.

My nurse was a total bad ass, and without missing a beat or saying anything about it, she just said "I need to check you again RIGHT NOW." She did, and informed me that I was complete and that there wasn't time for an epidural, and ran to get some other nurses. I was absolutely terrified and in an incredible amount of pain...I think I just started crying and saying, "No no no! I don't want to do this!" Justin got right in close and started giving me a pep talk that I could do it and he'd talk me through them and that I just needed to breathe.

So, this is where things turned sucky--my doctor was apparently out of town, and there was some miscommunication with the hospital about who was on call in his place, and they could not get a hold of the doctor that the hospital thought was on call. And then,  they couldn't get  ahold of ANY OB's at all, except for one guy who happened to be doing rounds at another hospital across town, and they asked him to come ASAP. 

Meanwhile, the nurses were simultaneously preparing for a nurse-delivery (they also called in a non-OB doctor, respiratory therapists and a bunch of other people), and also telling me not to push. For the record, trying not to push when your body WANTS TO PUSH is absolutely agonizing. I really don't think I can even describe how absolutely terrible it was. It was also really bizarre that no one besides Justin was touching me, and that the bed wasn't broken down at all, and was really uncomfortable--I remember hoping they'd put up the feet stirrups soon, because it seemed like that would be more comfortable to push. 

Justin did an absolutely amazing job coaching me through the contractions.  He was totally my rock through not being allowed to push and did a great job of reminding me to breathe through the contractions, even though that felt next to impossible at the time. It was terrible and absolutely excruciating. It felt like I was being ripped in two, and I felt like I was screaming so loud the whole hospital must've been able to hear me! It felt like hours, but it was probably only 15 or 20 minutes.

Finally, the doctor from across town ran into the room, literally running into a gown they had waiting for him. I remember one of the nurses telling him that I was at a +3 station, and feeling relieved because I knew that meant that it was almost over. I also remember them asking if I wanted to feel the baby's head and saying, "No! I want her OUT!"

They still hadn't broken down the bed or anything, and my feet still werent in stirrups or being held up by anyone, but the doctor gave me the okay to push (I think? Maybe I just started?), and I pushed two times before the doctor asked me to stop pushing to stretch me a bit and then he turned to Justin and said, "Looks like you've done most of the work so far--do you want to deliver her too?" Justin was THRILLED and said absolutely. With one more push, her head was out, and then Justin delivered her the rest of the way--she was born at 10:11pm, just about an hour after we got to the hospital! She weighed 7lbs 12 oz and was 21 inches long.

Let me just say that pushing felt SO MUCH BETTER than trying not to push! Had I been allowed to really push right away, I don't think the delivery would have felt so terrible. Anyway, they put her on my chest right away, and I just remember feeling relief that it was over and thinking that I was never ever doing that again. They delivered the placenta, and I had a 2nd degree tear as well as another tear, so the doctor stitched me up. At that point, they were having some concerns about bleeding--the doc said that about 500 ml of blood loss was at the high end of normal, and that I'd already lost 900 ml at that point. They gave me shots of pitocin and something else, and then also started an IV of pitocin (prior to that point, they hadn't had time to do an IV or hep-lock at all). Meanwhile, I heard them talking about a possible blood transfusion and/or d&c. At that point, I asked to try breastfeeding, and Rebecca latched on right away like a champ. The doctor came back in to check on me, and spent quite a bit of time massaging my uterus trying to get the bleeding to stop. He said that sometimes with such fast deliveries, it takes awhile for the body to catch up that it's all over, and said that for now, he was going to have the nurse come in every 15 mins to massage my uterus, and they would reevaluate the bleeding from there. 

Around this time, my parents and Justin's parents arrived--I'm sure they were all pretty surprised to see a text from Justin that wasn't a "she's in labor" text, but a photo of the baby! The nurses let everyone come in and visit for a little while. I don't remember a lot of that, except still being in a lot of pain, and being starving. I was totally starving the whole time I was in the hospital!

After a little while, they left, and I was able to get up out of bed. Justin and I both commented about how even with a larger tear and the blood loss, the recovery part of things was much, much better and easier this time around. As awful as the delivery felt in the moment, by the time we were leaving the hospital, it didn't stick out in my mind as being awful, and I was almost willing to say that I'd really seriously consider going without an epidural again for any future kids. The nurses kept coming in through the night to massage my stomach and evaluate the bleeding, and around 5:30am, it was determined to be okay, and they transferred us to the postpartum wing.

The only weird thing I'm dealing with is a few episodes of the "seeing stars" vision stuff I had all throughout the pregnancy, so I may end up touching base with my OB today--my blood pressure was like 110/50 the whole time in the hospital, so I'm not too worried about pre-ecclampsia or anything like that. I think it's probably just a weird thing that happens to me...or possibly related to low blood sugar, as both episodes happened yesterday, when Rebecca literally nursed all day long.

We had to stay in the hospital a bit longer this time around--I'd assume due to the blood loss--so we weren't able to come home until Saturday, but now we're home and seem to all be doing pretty well. Lizzy is completely and totally smitten with her little sis :) It's been a whirlwind few days, but a blessed few days. God is so good.