Saturday, February 17, 2007

Juliana's Birth Story

Did you think I wasn't going to post today?  That I'd break my streak at two consecutive days?  Ye of little faith! 

Today is Juliana's 7th birthday, so in honor of that (and the fact that I have a cold and I couldn't be entertaining if I tried), I am posting her birth story.  I wrote this right after she was born.  This was back when we lived in North Carolina.  David was 2 1/2 at the time.  I remember thinking he was so grown up.  Now when I look back at pictures and videos, I realize he was still a baby himself. 


After days of debating when my in-laws should fly down to help, we finally decided on Feb 17th.  This was after going to the hospital to be checked on Saturday the 12th, when I thought I was leaking amniotic fluid.  I wasn't, but I turned out to be 2 cm dilated, whereas I hadn't been dilated at all a few days earlier.  Since I didn't dilate til I was in labor with David, we thought maybe things would start soon, but the weekend ended with nothing happening. As I wasn't due til the 28th, I wasn't too surprised.  I figured my in-laws and I would spend a week sitting around staring at each other waiting for me to go into labor, but it would be worth it to have somebody on hand to stay with David when the time finally came. 

I went back to the doctor on Wednesday the 16th and was still 2 cm.  The doctor stripped my membranes.  La de dah, nothing happening.  On Thursday, I woke up whiny and tired.  Ritu got up to go to work.  I usually get up and shower when David wakes up, but I didn't feel like it.  Ritu brought David into my room when he left for work, and I called my friend Kim and whined that I was hungry and didn't want to get out of bed.  She said she'd make me french toast if I got up and showered and dressed and went to her house.  So, I did, and we ended up having a nice big brunchwith a few other friends, too.  (Kim now calls it Labor Inducing French Toast.)

I brought David home for nap and noticed I was having a few contractions.  They weren't regular, but definitely felt stronger than the ones I'd been having all along. My in-laws were due to arrive from Detroit around 3 PM.  (A big snowstorm hit the midwest that day and they got on one of the last flights before Detroit shut down the airport.)  Ritu got home around 2:00 and I told him about the contractions.  Just for fun, I started telling him when they were and he timed them.  They were 15-20 minutes apart, but getting stronger.  After about 1 1/2 hours like that  (my in-laws arrived in the midst of this), they started coming 10-12 minutes apart and stronger.  I quietly came upstairs and finished packing my hospital bag.  After another 45 minutes or so, they were 8-10 minutes apart.  My OB said to come right to the hospital whenever they got fairly regular...not to wait too long since David's birth went relatively quickly.  

At around 5:30, I told Ritu I really thought we should head to the hospital.  We had planned to take his parents to the Japanese Steak House for dinner and he said, "Are you sure we can't go to dinner first?"  HELLO??  I am at the point where I can't walk or talk during contractions and he wants to go to dinner first!  (Let me just add here how good the food was at that japanese steak house.  Now that I'm not in labor, I can see why he pushed--ha, no pun intended--to still go there.)

I said goodbye to David (thrilled that he had a few hours to get acclimated to his grandparents) and we headed off.  In the car, they started coming 5 minutes apart.  I was a little skeptical because these contractions just didn't hurt as much as the ones I had when I was in labor with David, so I wasn't sure what they would find, but I figured this was really labor.

It took me awhile to get checked in because, for some reason, having been there the Saturday before, my paperwork got pulled out of the system.  Ritu was about ready to get on the phone himself when they got it straightened out.  I had wanted a labor/delivery/recovery room, but they were all filled, so I got put into a labor room, which was nice, but they said I couldn't deliver in it.  

They checked me and I was 4 cm, 100% effaced and the baby was at zero station.  I asked for my epidural and my OB said sure and that I could have some Nubain while I waited.  I related how with David, I had labored on my own to almost 7 cm and then had my epidural and he said, "And nobody gave you a medal, did they?"  I promptly accepted his offer of Nubain.

The Nubain worked instantaneously.  I still felt the contractions, but the edge was waaaayyyy off them and I felt kind of drunk.  I couldn't focus my eyes, so my focal point kept turning into two focal points.  I was a happy girl at that point.  Apparently I started calling people on the phone and telling them, "I'm having nubain!"  They went to start my IV with the fluids that precede the epidural and took about three tries to find a decent vein.  Finally they got it going and just as the nubain was wearing off, the anesthesiologist came in.  The epidural got hooked up quickly, but it wasn't helping a whole lot.  My legs were numb, and my butt, but that was about it.  After about an hour of still having to breathe through the contractions, they called the anesthesiologist about upping my dose.  He approved it, but it was a new pump and I had 3 nurses and Ritu trying to figure out how to re-program the dosage.  They never did figure it out, I don't think, and I continued to breathe through the contractions.  Ritu assured me that I wasn't feeling them until almost their peak, but they still hurt.

Around 10:00 they were coming very fast and we figured I was in transition.  My doctor checked me around 10:30 and said I was 10 cm and could start pushing.  He said I could go ahead and deliver in the labor room, after all.  With my first push, my water broke and there was some meconium in it, so they said I would have to go to the delivery room and they would call the NICU team.  So, there I was having pushing contractions while being wheeled down the hall to the delivery room....at least it wasn't the middle of the day with tour groups going through!  THEN I had to get myself off the bed and onto the delivery table. I looked at the nurse and said, "You have got to be kidding me!", but managed to scooch myself over.  Once settled, I pushed three more times and there she was!


Juliana Sarita was born at 11:22 PM on February 17th.  She was 21 inches long and weighed 7 lbs 13 oz.  She's been bringing us joy ever since.  Happy Birthday, baby.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday indeed!  She is quite a sweet patooty.  Having said that, I find that I would now like some Nubain.  It sounds delightful!

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday, Miss Juliana!