Audrey Tess was born on August 5th at 7:40pm. She weighed 8lbs 14oz and was 20 in.
My water broke around 3:30pm on August 4th, but it was just a leak. I called the on-call midwife and she told me to call her again when my contractions were 3-5 mins apart and lasting for more than 1min. Finally around 11pm my contractions were consistent. I gave her a call and she told me to go down to the hospital and she would meet us there.
They took me up to Labor & Delivery and checked me into Rm 707. Luckily we had a VERY funny night nurse names Susie. She was hilarious, which was good because both Tony and I were anxious. When Bernie, the on-call midwife, got there she checked me and guess what?! I was still only 1cm and 50% effaced! She did a test to see if it was my water that had broke, but it took an hour to get the results. Once they confirmed that it was my water that broke they asked if I wanted a sleeping pill because it was going to be a long night. Thankful I took it and I got some rest.
We had requested a doula originally, but they we thought we might not want one. Luckily Tony and I forgot to mention that and they had one of the volunteers come out. Her name was Margaret and she had already been a doula for 27 other births. She was very helpful, especially since this was our first child.
They had to start me on Pitocin in the morning because there still was no progress. I had some breakfast before they started my IV, bad idea. The pitocin made me horribly nauseus and I began throwing up. I threw up EVERYTHING, water, bile, possibly a kitchen sink. They gave me some anti-nausea meds but they didn't work. They gave me some pain meds to deal with everything, but it was really awful because I was having a ton of contractions that "didn't count". Basically I was having REALLY LONG LABOR! They increased the pitocin which of course made me sicker. They tried another anti-nausea med and that also didn't work. The contractions were getting much more intense. For some reason I had the urge to go to the bathroom, but I could not go. I must have gotten out of bed 1,000 times for nothing!
My midwife asked if I would like some more pain meds or I could try an epidural. At this point I was still only 3 or 4cm but I was about 80 to 90% effaced. I asked if I wanted an epidural later on it that would be possible and she said that it would. I decided to try to stick it out as long as I could. At that point they had me try the tub in my room. I am so thankful I did b/c I was only in there for about 45 mins and it really helped. I got out because I was feeling really sick but then I had a new feeling. I had a ton of pressure in my butt. I told them it felt like I had to push, but they said it was way too early for that. They had me on the birthing ball on all fours to relive some of the pressure. This is when it got really hard to stay calm. I kept telling them I really needed to push and everyone said it just wasn't time. I told them to get my midwife in to check me because I knew I was ready. My midwife, Cheryl, told me she would check me but she didn't think it would be anything new. I was 9cms and 100% effaced. I had dilated that much from the time I got in the tub. They told me it would probably be another 10-15mins which I did not want to hear. They started getting everything ready for me to push. I was so exhausted at this point and all I wanted to do was push. Tony was so wonderful. He kept me so calm, even when I thought I was going to scream.
Once everything was ready to go they told me I could start pushing. At first it was hard to get the hang of what exactly they wanted me to do. I would push while Tony was counting and then feel like all that work was for nothing. They had me change positions multiple times. They would ask if I wanted to try this position and I told them I would try anything.
Finally, they saw her head. At this point I had got the hang of how to push and be the most efficent. When they told me they could see hair I got a huge burst of energy. Once her head was right there Cheryl asked if I wanted to touch her head, which I always said I would never do. Of course I wanted to! I tried to reach down, but I was so exhausted I totally failed. Cheryl got us all laughing because I couldn't reach. She said, "Help her out! She has tiny little aligator arms." We were all laughing at that point, which was actually really great.
I pushed for a total of 1hr and 15mins. It really flew by though. Before Audrey had completely crowned Cheryl warned me that big babies can get their shoulders stuck on the way out. She brought in one of the OBs just for back up. They had 2 different methods they would try but luckily we didn't need any. They got her out and Tony cut the cord. Luckily we were able to donate the cord blood and placenta.
When she first came out she wasn't making any noise. I was crying and my legs were shaking because I was so happy, but everyone thought I was worried. I knew she was okay for some reason. They took her over and started cleaning her off. They gave her some oxygen and finally got her breathing. On her way out she had pooed so they were checking her breathing to make sure everything was okay. They finally handed her to me and she pooed! All the nurses were laughing because they have never seen that before. Luckily Tony got a picture of it!
We decided that she would have been over 9lbs if she had not gone to the bathroom those 2 times.
She was perfect in every way. Since my water had been broken for more than 24hrs they were a little concerned, but the only problem was her sugar was low. They gave her some sugar water and then 2 bottles of formula. I was worried that it might be a problem since I was planning on breastfeeding. It was not a problem at all.
Tony and I could not be more in love. She is now 4days old, but it feels like we have known her forever.
