Day 1 - A birth story

For the past few doctor visits, my doctor has been asking to induce - either through stripping my membranes or scheduling and actual induction. Since I jumped the gun with Allie and ended up using Pitocin - I wanted to really experience more of the actual "going in to labor" so I was super hesitant about doing anything to force it. At yesterday's appointment, we discussed the options and my doctor told me that she was not going to be available over the weekend and I was trying to hold out until Bana was able to come into town. On the same note, since Bana was flying in - I wanted to make sure that I would go in to labor while she was here. I decided that I would go in on Thursday morning (today) to get my membranes stripped at the least to see what happened. Dr. Hebert also told us the option of "inducing naturally" between Brad and me...which would be another alternative to stripping the membranes.

Let's just say that I didn't make it to have my membranes stripped.

I woke up around 12:15 am when I felt a small gush. I rolled over and whispered, "I think my water just broke." Brad didn't really react. I headed to the bathroom and to my amazement - there was quite a bit of blood. I wasn't having any contractions, so we took it slow....wait, wait....I mean...Brad took it slow. I was a bit anxious. Brad took a shower, got ready, did some other stuff - while I waited by the door.

When we finally got into the car, I had my first real contraction...and then another. By the time we got into our labor room (triage was completely full!) I was having contractions that I was having to breathe through. But not before I snapped a few pictures of the room -the calm before the storm!

These were taken with my iPhone, so they are a little grainy...

Here's the time that we finally got into our room and settled...

Where the baby will go...

Our first set of L&D nurses (and my favorites!)

So...my fears of labor go in order a little something like this...

1) Epidural

2) IV that they put in

3) Actual labor

I know - it's a little backwards, but the epidural part is definitely the part that scares me the most. I didn't have the greatest experience with the anesthesiologist had to try twice to get the needle in...although I didn't know - he had to tell me. This was definitely giving me anxiety.

As the contractions were getting stronger, I realized that "going into labor" that I wanted to experience actually really sucked and I was over the pain. It wasn't horrific, but I was having to breathe through them and I thought..."Why go through this, when I can go ahead and get my epidural?"

So the anesthesiologist was called...and then called again....and finally made it into the room.

Boy - I thought the guy in Augusta was bad...this guy BUTCHERED me! Although, I'm sure I wasn't any help. I had a small panic attack as he was inserting (or trying to insert) and I couldn't quit shaking or crying. Yup - I'm a wuss. Although - afterward, Brad did admit he was close to passing out while he was inserting it with all the clicks and noises. I apologized to the doc for being so dramatic...and he agreed...I was quite dramatic. Okay - I was ready for him to leave!

The contractions slowly dissipated....slowly. I could still feel them in the right side...as well as full feeling in my right leg. Left side was good....right side not so good. When the nurses asked if they could insert a catheter...I had to say no because I did not want to feel ANYTHING! After quite some time - I realized that the right side of my body was not going to ease up on the pain. The button to give you a boost of pain relief was not doing the trick...great - I had to call in the anesthesiologist again...

When he finally came back in - I told him my issue and said, "I still have feeling all the way down to my leg." His response was, "Well - you don't give birth with your leg." I seriously wanted to punch him. He gave me a boost of pain relief through my epidural site and all was good with the world after that...although I really couldn't feel anything in my legs now...anything. That worried me because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to push...but hey - I'm comfy now and who knows when this kid might want to come out.

They hooked me up to an internal monitor to watch my contractions and over the course of the next several hours, the monitor showed that my contractions had slowed down if not stopped. However, as they continued to check me, I was continuing to progress...and fast. The L&D nurse even asked me, "How are you doing this?"

Dude - I'm just laying here...don't ask me! :-)

What they determined was that there was still part of my water bag intact behind the baby's head and it was causing the monitor to NOT pick up my contractions. Sheesh... So they had to go in and burst the rest of the bag...

The oncall doctor had to come in and break that part of the bag...my doctor wasn't coming in until 7:30 am, so I was going to do my best to hold out.

Around 7:30, I started feeling contractions again on the right side. Probably not full blown feeling, but enough that I was having to breathe through them again. This time, as each contraction came, I could feel pressure and I wanted to push. None of the nurses seemed concerned, so I didn't get concerned. Probably just normal, I thought. Finally, through all the wincing and pain, I heard Brad ask for the anesthesiologist again for another boost of pain relief. After what seemed like forever, he came back in with heaven in a syringe. However, he saw my mom, and started speaking Korean to her. Apparently, he spent 2 years in Korea on his mission and thought he would carry an entire conversation on with my mom BEFORE injecting me with the heaven in a syringe. My mom finally had to ask him to go ahead and administer it to me! Relief quickly set in and I couldn't feel A THING from the waist down. Finally, my doctor came into the room around 8:30 am to check me and then starting prepping the room. Around 9:20, everyone started to prep me, getting me into position...literally as I couldn't feel anything. My legs felt like they weighed a million pounds. As my doctor had me move down to the end of the bed, I heard her say, "Oh my goodness!" and she yelled to my mom and the nurses, "Look at this!"

Apparently, I was moved at the same time a contraction came on and Kaiya's head crowned at the same time. Very soon after, I heard my mom yell out, she has her eyes open - as Kaiya's head came out. Dr. Hebert asked, "Can you push at all?" I tried and said, "Nope - can't feel a thing." But it didn't matter because before I knew it, I heard a little cry from a little person and my doctor yelled out, "Now that's how you have a baby!" Yeah...I didn't have to push. I quickly asked, "What does that say about me and my...birth canal?" having mental images of obese women whose babies fall out of their crotches... My doctor immediately corrected me, "No - that just shows you how strong the uterus is!" Apparently those urges to push that I felt should have been the time I should have been working to push her out...but since I couldn't feel anything soon after...she came out on her own! And she was beautiful!

Since Allie wasn't breathing well on her own, I didn't get to actually hold her until the following day in the NICU. So having Kaiya lay on my belly immediately after she was born meant so much to me.

My first and immediate question when they took her from me was, "Is everything okay? Is she breathing okay? Does everything look good?" I was relieved when I heard a "YES!"

I wish I could say I was exhausted from pushing...but I was more tired from being up since midnight...

I was VERY anxious to see how much she weighed. I made a bet with Brad that she was going to weigh more than Allie (who was 8lbs 8 oz). I lost that bet as she was only 7lbs 13 oz...but she was longer by 1 inch. (Allie was 20 inches, Kaiya was 21 inches!)

And Kaiya has a teeny tiny head...unlike her sister!
She looks ecstatic doesn't she?!

My first thought after I saw her was, "She looks JUST like Allie when Allie was born!"

Since everything had gone so smoothly, I asked my doctor if I could see the placenta. Not only did she show us the placenta, she went though all the pieces of the placenta that she examines...even the bag where Kaiya lived for the past 39 weeks! It was actually quite awesome!

All in all - I couldn't have asked for a better labor - WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE EPIDURAL experience!! From the time active labor started (12:15 am) to the time little tiny Kaiya was born (9:38 am) - it was a pretty smooth process and I am thankful! Although it was a completely different experience than Allie, I am glad that I experienced it differently!

Brad and my mom left for a bit after I got moved into my recovery room so that they could get some rest. They headed back over to the hospital with Allie around 6:00 and Allie didn't quite know what to think of her new baby sister...as you can see below.

It will definitely be a period of transition once I get home...