If you missed the first part of this story, catch up here:
http://fromwoodfieldwithlove.blogspot.com/2016/01/abigail-worthington-wheaton-birth-story.html
It's now almost 24 hours since I checked into the hospital. I'm tired, hungry (as much as I love popsicles, they won't keep you full), and I wanted my baby.
After the epidural, we had the conversation about how things "could" go from here. Isn't it great knowing you have options? Like myself, my doctor had experienced a "failed induction"...simply, we told my body to go into labor and it said no. Go figure. In my sleepy state, Dr. Drake asked what I wanted our game plan to be and I responded "whatever you want!". Can you tell I was feeling much better? That was definitely a highlight moment.
Thankfully the epidural allowed me to sleep and I was able to rest for about 2-3 hours. Now it's about 8pm & when I was checked at that point I was at 5cm! YAY for progress. I remember thinking, "even if I have to have a c-section, I'm just glad to know my body will sort of do this thing". I was beginning to believe it wouldn't.
After an epidural, you aren't allowed to get out of the bed which is zero fun. My mom, ever the entertainer, brought coloring books for us to have distractions. Serious mom win! We colored, laughed at my husband who couldn't stay in the lines, visited with friends, and just enjoyed the calmness of the world around us. Thankfully we were one of the few people on the floor that night so we felt like we had the place to ourselves.
About 10 o'clock everyone left and I took another nap. Knowing now how little sleep I'd get for the next 48 hours, I'm so thankfully I got those few hours of rest. At midnight Dr. Drake came in, checked me, and said "Ok, you want to push?". I remember looking at Andrew and shrugging! :)
I have maybe pushed 2 times before my phone rang & it was my mama. I was torn, do I answer or keep pushing? My parents had left to go get some sleep at my house which is thankfully just down the street. Ultimately we didn't answer. I think I knew in my heart that if we didn't answer that mom would just show up...and I was right. It wasn't 20 minutes later that we heard a knock on the door and it was my mom. She came in, hugged me, then went to the waiting room.
If you talked with me at all during my pregnancy about how I wanted birth to go, I didn't have many opinions. We were very laid back about the entire process because I've been told by many that it never goes the way you want it to go. The one thing I was adamant about was how I wanted this girl to enter the world. I love my family & friends dearly and I enjoy sharing life with them, but I knew I didn't want a crowd there. I am so thankful that everyone was respectful of that.
We had been listening to Norah Jones radio all evening on Pandora, but I had turned it off once all the nurses came in. I just didn't think everyone would want to have to listen to my music. I know I could have danced for joy when my doctor asked "what happened to our music?". I know it's not the norm, but we were SO lucky that my doctor was there through the entire pushing process. My nurses were great, but I was so so so glad my doctor was there.
The next hour is really a blur of exhaustion. I was so tired and was starting to give up hope that Abigail was coming. My husband was the best coach I could have had. He kept telling me that I could do it, how great I was doing, and just being so encouraging. But I was getting close to my breaking point, I could just feel it...and thankfully so could my doctor. When she asked if I was OK with her using the vacuum to get Abby out I remember looking at Andrew & his eyes being as big as golf balls! :)
But that's all the help she needed...one push after that & she literally popped out. And in a second, my heart grew more than I ever thought possible. She was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. Abigail Worthington Wheaton, 6lb 8oz, 19.5 inches long...and born at 1:26am. She made it out with 4 minutes to spare!
We still don't understand how we got so lucky. Our lives will never be the same. We love you big time Toady!
Big love!
Warning, this is LONG...and it's only half of it.
As a blog reader, I've always enjoyed reading the birth stories of the women whose daily lives I follow. Even before becoming a mother, I loved it. Now as a mother, each one brings me to tears. Every story is different, but beautiful & precious.
If you aren't one of those people that thinks these stories are amazing, time to go back to online shopping! :) I'm not sharing this for any reason other than I know I'm going to forget pieces of it, and because as a soon to be mom, I read every story I could so I'd know what to expect.
So some back information. I was extremely lucky & had a fantastic pregnancy. I felt great, my hair did the right things, and I wasn't gaining crazy amounts of weight. But, I had gestational diabetes. To keep that in check, you must follow a very strict diet with reduced carbs & sweets. And let me tell you, all I wanted to do was eat bread & popsicles so I struggled.
Because of my diabetes I had 2 ultrasounds that aren't typically done to monitor growth. As a general rule, moms with GD have larger babies. These ultrasounds were to make sure that Abigail had not gotten over the magical number of 9lbs. At our 37 week ultrasound to monitor growth, she weighed just over 5lbs and I was already having contractions. All good things!!
After that, things sort of stalled for us. I was still having contractions but they weren't increasing, I wasn't progressing either, & Abby had quit growing. So at my 38 week appointment we decided to induce. I wasn't happy about it, but I was just SO ready for her to be here that I was OK with it.
Fast-forward to Thursday, December 3rd. We check into the hospital about 530 that afternoon to start the induction. Even though I had been having contractions for weeks, I had not actually started "active" labor. As my doctor said, my cervix wasn't "ripe". Add that to the list of things I didn't think I'd ever hear said to me (or that I ever thought I'd type for the public to read). So starting about 630pm I took my first pill to get things moving, and then the shift change happened. I'm not sure if someone dropped the ball, or if my nurse really believed it, but they didn't give me another pill at 10pm like they should have because my body was progressing normally. YAY! But, alas, it was not. So when they gave me my next pill at 2am, it was like starting ALL OVER. I was still only dilated at 2cm...which is pretty much what I was at when I arrived at the hospital 8 hours earlier.
The pill at 2am started my contractions back up and they became more steady. We did this same exact thing for the next 12 hrs. Not kidding. We moved to labor & deliver, walked the halls, played cards, visited with people...anything I could do within about 50 feet of the room, I did. But nothing happened.
My doctor got to the hospital about 2 that afternoon & came in to see me. And ya'll, let me tell you. If you don't have a doctor, or don't have one you like, I've got the lady for you. I literally had a meltdown the weekend before Abby was born because I was afraid I was going to go into labor & that Dr. Drake wasn't going to be the one who delivered her...but all that was for nothing! :)
When she came in to check, she went ahead & broke my water and our hope was that things would start moving, but really all that happened was that things started hurting, mainly because we had also started pitocin. Up to this point I had been laboring with essentially no pain. I had hoped to go through the birth process without an epidural, not for any "I am woman hear me roar" reason, but because I have very strange reactions to pain meds, and my husband soon found out.
Because I was in pain & didn't want the epidural, my only option was morphine. Sure, why not? Pretty much what it did was knock me out, but kept my eyes open. Andrew said it was the scariest thing of the entire process. So yeah, no more morphine for me. AND on top of all of that, I didn't progress AT ALL. I'm not kidding...not one single inch, and I wasn't feeling fantastic.
So after talking with Dr. Drake & Andrew we decided to go for the epidural to see if it would make things happen. I wasn't opposed to a C-section, but I really wanted things to work naturally. So at 5pm the best anesthesiologist team came in, gave me the epidural & were out in about 30 minutes, which was amazing. They made us laugh (not during the procedure) and kept us distracted. That procedure couldn't have gone better, which was great since I didn't want to have it to begin with anyway.
Ok, I'll have part 2 either tomorrow or Wednesday!
Big love!
