Ellie's Birth

Let me preface this post with a warning: I plan on writing about the birth of my second child. While I won't be posting anything graphic, I suspect that there may be a few of our blog readers that might not want to know all of the details provided. So be forewarned!

Like my first pregnancy, this pregnancy was not easy. The last few months, and particularly the last few weeks, have been really difficult. I had an appointment with my OBGYN on Thursday, February 3, and we decided that with how sick I was, and how much I was not progressing, that we would induce my labor on the next day, Friday, February 4th.

While I was really relieved that there was an end in sight, I really felt disappointed that my labor wasn't going to occur naturally. The other thing that really surprised me was my level of anxiety over the whole issue. With Olivia, I was so calm throughout the entire labor and delivery, nothing really fazed me. For some reason the second time around, I was so much more anxious and nervous.

Our appointment for induction was at 6:45 am on Friday. Jeremy's parents were kind enough to come all the way up from Salem so early in the morning to watch Olivia while we were at the hospital. I remembered with Olivia how hungry I got during labor, since you aren't allowed to eat or drink anything except ice chips until after you deliver. I had some cereal in the morning, but unfortunately lost it in the parking lot of the hospital. When we showed up, we registered and got settled in our room. It was clear that this was going to be a little different from Olivia's birth, in that the hospital was so busy already. The maternity floor was practically empty when I gave birth to Olivia, and I basically had everyone there at my beck and call. It seemed like today everyone was ready to have a baby.

Around 8:30 I was started on pitocin to induce contractions. I was started at a very low dose that was gradually increased about every 30 minutes. My labor progressed fairly slowly, but mostly comfortably. I was having contractions, but they were bareable, and Jeremy and I spent most of the morning just talking to each other or watching TV. Around noon I sent Jeremy home for a while, just to check on Olivia and get something to eat. Soon after he left, my contractions started to intensify, and I sent him a text telling him to come back soon because I wanted an epidural, and I wanted him there with me when I got it. As he was coming back, my doctor came by and decided to break my water to help speed up my labor. While it wasn't a painful process, for some reason it was really emotional for me. I think it was hard that Jeremy wasn't there, and for some reason it almost felt degrading. Not anything the doctor or nurse did, but the fact that I had no control over this huge volume of liquid coming out of my body. It felt like I was wetting my pants, and would come out in gushes. I was so happy when Jeremy finally got back, and we called for the epidural right away.

It took some time for the nurse anesthetist to show up, because the floor was so busy, and by that time my contractions were pretty uncomfortable. For some reason, this was another time of serious anxiety for me. With Olivia, I was not fazed at all by the epidural - it was no big deal to me. This time around, I was so nervous, and even the whole process felt so different to me. I think part of it was that with Olivia, I was so far into labor, and my contractions were so severe, that the epidural in comparison was no big deal. With this birth, although my contractions were getting stronger, they were still bareable. Soon I was much more comfortable, and actually was able to get some rest and nap a little.

All throughout the my labor the machine I was connected to kept going off. The nurse would have to come in about every 20 minutes to reset it and turn off the alarm. One time, however, my nurse came running into my room with another nurse after the alarm went off. They didn't really say anything to me, but they quickly got an oxygen mask on me, and turned me onto my side. They mentioned that the baby's heart rate had dropped (it was in the 50s, and should have been in the 130s), because my blood pressure was so low. They gave me some more medicines in my IV to up my blood pressure, and soon the baby had recovered. It was a scary moment for Jeremy and me, though, because we didn't quite know what was going on and how bad it was until after they had stabilized the baby's heart rate.

In addition to my blood pressure being really low, I developed a really horrible itch all over my body, but especially my back, from the epidural. It was so uncomfortable and such a weird sensation. It was a deep itch, so scratching my back actually didn't do anything to relieve it. Luckily, the nurse was able to give me some medicine in my IV that got rid of the itch. But I was pretty uncomfortable, and quite cranky, for a while :)

Around 7 pm that night my labor really started to progress quickly. Unfortunately, around the same time my epidural was wearing off a bit. I started to get more and more sensation in my back, and particularly on the left side of my body. It was such a strange feeling, since with Olivia I was completely numb the entire time. I'd heard that right before you are about to deliver, there is so much pressure that it feels like you are going to have a bowel movement, and that is exactly how I felt. There was so much pressure, and it was right by my tailbone. My nurse went to call the doctor for us to start pushing, but I really wanted the pain to go away before the delivery. We had the nurse anesthetist come back and give me a little more medicine in my epidural to try and numb me up again, but it didn't seem to be working. At the same time, I was getting really nauseated and was shaking really bad. The nurse said that both could either be a complication of the epidural, or could just be a complication of labor pain, but either way, I was feeling pretty lowsy. I couldn't imagine having to push while feeling this way.

Around 8:15 my doctor arrived, and was ready for me to start pushing. I was still feeling a lot, since the epidural hadn't kicked back in, and was still struggling with pretty bad nausea. Again, I felt like I was going to emotionally break down. I was so tired, and felt so crummy, and was so worried that I was going to be pushing for 3 hours like I did with Olivia. My doctor assured me that that would not happen, and I was so surprised to have a baby out in 20 minutes. She was totally healthy, and a lot bigger than we expected - she came in a 7 lbs 13 oz.

I had her in my arms within a few minutes, and the three of us - Jeremy, Ellie, and myself, were relaxing together and enjoying our first moments. Again this was totally different from my experience with Olivia - since she had to be in the nursery being worked on for a couple of hours after her birth.

I was so surprised at how different my labor and delivery was this time around from my experience with Olivia. My recovery was so different too - again something I was not prepared for. As hard as it was, and as much as I was ready to give up right at the end, I can't help but feel nostalgic already for my labor and delivery experience. There is something very exciting and special about bringing a new baby into this world.

It's been about a week and a half since Ellie's birth, and we are all doing very well. I'll fill in more details in a future post about some of our experiences in her first week, and how Olivia is interacting with Ellie, but we are happy, although very sleep-deprived, and excited to have little Ellie in our home.