Birth Story of Sophia Jayne!

On April 20th, I had an appointment with my OB at 9 am.  We were taken in and I was hooked up to the NST.  The previous night was very rough on me, I was getting terrible back pains and my sciatic nerve was absolutely killing me.  So laying on a hard table hooked up to a monitor was not fun for me.  By the time the doctor came in to check on me, I was fighting off tears, I was so uncomfortable!  He asked how we were doing and I just lost it.  I couldn't help but cry.  He asked what was wrong, etc and I explained everything to him.  He gave me some tissues and told me to relax and he'd be right back.  I composed myself and he returned a few moments later.  He asked what I would think about being induced.  I told him I was ready to have the baby, so I was fine with that.  He then checked me and I was 1 cm.  I looked over at Sal and we both were expecting the doctor to plan an induction for later in the week.  Well, Dr. Molina surprised us both when he said "Okay, what I want you two to do today is go have some brunch, walk her around a bit and be at the hospital this afternoon at 4"  I was shocked!  I honestly didn't think he'd schedule it for that afternoon!

So, we left there completely elated!  We went and ate at the new diner by our house (I had pancakes and pork roll!) then walked around the mall for a bit.  We were home by 12:30 or so and finished up loose ends.  Last minute packing, wrote out some bills, made our phone calls, etc.

We got to the hospital by 4 and were settled into our room.  Dr. Lehnes was on duty and he came in and put in the Cervadil at 5:30 and of course I immediately had to go to the bathroom!  Too bad for me, I had to be horizontal for at least 2 hours before I was allowed to get up.  They did offer me a bed pan, but I declined.  I'd rather squirm with the need to pee than attempt a bed pan!  Around 9 the doctor came back in to check my progression and I was 2 cm, so the Cervadil was doing its job!  At 10, the nurse came in to check me and she removed that damn shoe string- it was really bothering me for some reason; very scratchy!  She gave me a sleeping pill to help me get some rest and I dozed off for a bit.  At midnight I woke up with some serious contractions, the nurse checked me and I was 3 cm.  She called the doctor and he said I could have a shot for the pain.  Well, Sophie's heart rate wasn't high enough to give me the shot- we tried for about 2 and a half hours to get it up- rolling me over left and right, etc.  My nurse called the doctor again and he said if I wanted the epidural, that I could have that.  So at 3 am I got my epidural and by 4 am I was fast asleep!  At 7 am the doctor came back in to check me and I was 5 cm, so he broke my water and ordered for the Pitocin to be started at 8 am.  From there, things seemed to move pretty quickly, I was fully dilated by 11:30 according to the nurse, who wanted to confirm that with the doctor.  Dr Molina came in and confirmed that and told the nurse to "teach me" how to push.  So at noon we did "practice pushes"- 3 per contraction.  Well, I only needed the one contraction to confirm I knew how to push- in fact, with my practice push, Sophie was starting to crown.  My contractions were pretty far apart- about every 6-8 minutes, and by 12:38 pm I had Sophie Jayne!!  

Quick sidenote:  the epi worked so well, I didn't feel a THING.  Literally, nothing at all.  It was a little weird pushing without feeling what I was doing, but hell, I did it! 

I ended up having to have an episiotomy because her head didn't fully rotate and came out sideways.  No big, ya gotta do what ya gotta do.  Dr Molina stitched me up and then they turned off the epi.  That's when things went downhill fast.  The withdrawal was horrible for me.  I began to feel EVERYTHING.  The nurses had to keep coming in to push on my belly, etc. to get all that extra gunk out- which I know is their job and is totally necessary, but HOLY HELL did it hurt!  They gave me a motrin and darvocet combo, which kinda eased things.  I thought I could handle that..until the nurse came in to get me up and into the bathroom.  It was time to clean me up and get me padded.  I sat on the edge of the bed and felt dizzy; so she put my arm around her and started to help to to the bathroom.  Then, the tunnel vision started and I thought I was going to pass out.  The nurse grabbed the chair and sat me down and whipped out her smelling salts.  She called for another nurse and they both tried to get me up when I said I felt a bit better.  A few more steps and I almost went down again- everything started to go black and I couldn't hear- the nurse had to pull the emergency lever.  Now I had 3 nurses and they got me on the toilet somehow.  I remember one squatting down in front of me holding me up and one behind me putting cold rags on my neck and forehead- the third nurse kept sticking those freakin' smelling salts under my nose.   Meanwhile- Sal is locked out, they wouldn't let him in to see me.  I don't know how long this all went on, but by the time they got me back to the bed, Sal was a bit frantic.  THEN I had to get up again to get in my wheelchair to move to my postpartum room- at least this time Sal was there and he caught me when I started to get whoozy while the nurse was coming at me with the smelling salts again (seriously, I now know why they use them- so nasty they can probably bring you back from the dead!)  

Finally get to my room after almost 3 hours!   I had no idea that much time had passed.  I was so delirious with pain and withdrawal, I didn't realize that I didn't get to see my baby (other than the 10 minutes right after birth when she was still in the room)!  Unfortunately for me, the room was filled with visitors.  I know they were just excited to see her, but I was REALLY not up for a room-full.  I hardly got to hold my own kid.  I actually had to kick everyone out to breast feed- no one got the hint.  

I opted for the nursery to keep the baby that night, I was in so much pain and so exhausted, I really needed rest.  I hardly slept in the past 48 hours- between the night at home with terrible back pain and then the night in the hospital in labor I had about 7 hours total.  Well, I didn't sleep much this night either.  I was up every hour and a half to use the bathroom and clean up.  Sal is such a champ; he prepared my "diaper" (as we got to calling it) every time.  I couldn't get comfortable at all, even with my motrin/ darvocet combo.  The next night though the nurse offered me a sleeping pill; she could see I was working on practically no sleep (I guess the black circles under my eyes gave it away!)  That worked wonderfully!  

The next day we found out the baby was jaundice.  We were okay with that, she was going to spend the day in the tanning bed, we were going to go home that night.  Or not.  Her levels kept going up and they decided she had to stay over night.  Okay.  Then the neonatal doctor tells us he wants to check for other infections because her levels are too high.  He explains there could be a problem because I was Group B Strep + and RH-.  Two things that can really harm the baby.  I did receive my antibiotics for the GBS and my shot for the RH-, but he still wanted to check.  At this point we were really worried.  Then I got discharged and they said we could go home (yeah, that wasn't happening) or we could use the hospitality suite.  We said we'd take the suite.  The hospitality suite was disgusting.  Once we got in there, I had a meltdown.  I was worried about my baby, we were in a 10x10 room that was one step up from a jail cell and I no longer had anything for all the pain I was in.  It was awful.  Then, we went back to the nursery to say goodnight to Sophie and I got a little emotional, I couldn't help it, we were supposed to be home doing this.  Well, one of the nursery nurses comes out and starts talking to Sal like I'm not even there about postpartum depression!  "You really need to keep an eye on her.  It's normal for new mothers to be a little emotional, but she really shouldn't be breaking down like this.  You may want to consider calling one of the counselors we have on hand.  It's just jaundice, the baby is fine."  HELLO?!  I'm right here and NOT depressed!  I just wanted my baby.  I didn't get to see her but for an hour all day!  We didn't have results from the tests the doctor was running, we didn't know that it was "just jaundice", it couldn't have been a serious infection!  Sal was furious.  We were both a mess.  And to top it off we were cut off from L&D; the gift shop was closed and the cafeteria was closed.  Thankfully Nicole was on duty that night and she gave us some snacks and stole some Motrin for me :-)  It was nice knowing she was just down the hall if we needed her.

We found out the next morning that there was no infection and it was just jaundice.  Thank God.  But we had to go 12 hours without that answer.  And to top it off they wanted to keep her longer to test again!  So, Sal forced me to get dressed and insisted on leaving the hospital to go get some breakfast.  I practically had an anxiety attack the whole time.  We went to some diner on the Lakewood/Howell border and then to Walgreens to get me Motrin and flip flops (my feet were so swollen I couldn't wear my sneakers).  We got back to the hospital and checked on Sophie- her levels went up again, they were going to do another test at 12.  Those results went up too- but they still released her under the condition we'd bring her back the next day as an outpatient for another test.  We ended up having to bring her back both Saturday and Sunday, but her Sunday results went down a bit and the doctor said it seems she "leveled-off" and should be fine.  He told me to bring her outside for some sun periodically for about 2 minutes at a time, etc.  She had her first pedi appt on Wednesday the 29th and her doctor said she looks great- yay!

So that's my very long story.... now you're all updated!