Finley’s Birth Story

I apologize for taking so long with this- let’s just say that blogging hasn’t been a top priority for me over the past 3 weeks!  I’ve thought about it and wanted to do it, but time just runs away from me.  So…without further adue…here is what went down (in bullet point format, as I’m just trying to remember whatever I can):

• If you recall, the last ‘plan’ we’d had was to have an appointment on January 20th to check progress….and if nothing had happened at that point we were going to induce on the 22nd.  We went to our appointment on the 20th as planned, and we saw Dr. Terry (who was the on-call doctor for the 22nd since I wanted to meet him before he delivered our baby if possible).  I REALLY liked him….he was candid…funny…laid back..easy to talk to and pretty young.  I was instantly at ease with him.  He checked me, and I had not progressed at all…still a -3 station (meaning baby was still REALLY high), still about 1 cm and 60% I think.  Dr. Terry did tell me that he thought Finley was probably big based on how was I carrying her/my belly/etc.  I had been telling Dr G this for weeks, but he kept telling me “you’ve only gained 15 lbs….you’ve measured spot on every week…we’d know if she was really big.”  So Dr Terry goes outside to see what time I would need to check in for my induction on Wednesday…and ends up the schedule was packed for Wednesday.  That’s when he told us to show up THAT NIGHT (Monday) to start the process and that I’d be induced the following morning.  Chris and I were kinda in shock.  Yes, we knew we were having a baby that week…but to be told to check in that day?  We just weren’t expecting that.  Shit got real, lol.  We went home and tied up some loose ends (took dogs to doggie daycare/set up the pack n play in our bedroom/etc) and checked into the hospital at 6pm on Monday, Jan 20th, at 5:30pm
• We got into a room by 6 and I was immediately told to take all my clothes off and put on the beautiful blue hospital gown and get into bed.  As soon as I did that, I got hooked up.  And not hooked up in a way like they have me some cool stuff….but literally hooked up to a bazillion monitors.  I got an IV started in my left hand and was given fluids.  I had a blood pressure cuff hooked up to my right arm that went off every 15 minutes.  I had two straps wrapped around my belly and hooked into place that monitored contractions and the baby’s heartbeat.  And then I had some other monitor stuck to my chest for my heartbeat.  I was a little overwhelmed at all this…just seemed to get serious really quickly.  I was given 50 mg of Cytotec (which is suppose to soften the cervix) at 6:30 and was told I’d have another pill at midnight if I hadn’t kicked into labor by then.
• I got another 50mg of Cytotec around midnight since I hadn’t progressed at all.  Was having contractions according to the monitor, but I didn’t feel anything besides what I thought were Braxton Hicks contractions still.  Seeing them on the monitor was super exciting to me.
• After midnight was the longest night EVER.  Every time I shifted from one side to the other (since I couldn’t lay on my back and my hips were on fire after about an hour of laying on them), the monitors would shift and I’d lose the baby’s HB…and the nurse would have to come in to adjust.  Every time I had to pee (like ever hour since they were giving me IV liquids), I had to unhook monitors and go and then come back and plug in and then have nurse come in to readjust.  Needless to say between that and the blood pressure cuff going off every 15 minutes I didn’t get any sleep.  I was told around midnight that I’d start pitocin around 6am unless something happened overnight.  I was exhausted and starting to stress about not getting any sleep because I knew the next day could be a long one.
• At 5:45 am, the nurse came in and said “let’s prep you for your epidural!”  I was so confused…I hadn’t started Pitocin yet and was feeling no pain whatsoever, so not sure why they wanted to start it so early.  By 6:30 it was in..followed by a catheter…and then at 7 they started the Pitocin.  LOVED having the epidural for three main reasons- one, I got the catheter and no longer had to get up/unplug to go pee.  For the first time in like 5 months I never had to even think about peeing!  Two-  I could lay on my back or sides or however I wanted and never got sore or uncomfortable.  Again, it’d been several months since I’d been comfortable, so this was nice.  And three- I never had to feel any more of the ‘checks’ or them breaking my water or anything….totally comfortable.
• Around 8am I met the doctor that would be delivering my baby- Dr Hinton.  Loved her immediately and am soooo glad it ended up being her!
• Every hour they would up the Pitocin and my contractions were getting closer and more intense (but I didn’t feel anything).  Still wasn’t progressing dilation-wise.
• At 1:30 they stopped the pitocin because Finley’s hb was dipping down after each one.  The rolled me on my side and I had to have some oxygen at this time.
• At 2pm they broke my water and put internal monitors in me/on Finley to monitor her heartbeat and the contractions.  Goodbye to the belly monitors- yay!
• 2:30- back on pitocin
• 3-5pm- upped pitocin again (every hour)
• at 5:45 I had progressed to a 3 and 80%, but still a -3 station.  This is when the doc talked to me about the possibility of a c-section..said she could already feel Finley’s cone-head from trying to go through the birth canal and that one of the main reasons babies couldn’t go through was due to their size….which she thought I might have a big baby (keep in mind this is the first time I’d seen this doctor so she was eye-balling it).  She told me it didn’t really matter how much I dilated or effaced unless Finley would move down, which she hadn’t budged from her -3 station yet.  She said let’s go another couple of hours and we’ll see where we are and I agreed.  A c-section didn’t scare me….but the thought of pushing for 6 hours and THEN having surgery totally did.
• At 8:45 I was at a 5 and 100%…but still a -3 station.  Dr. Hinton came in to discuss options with me and I had already made the call to do the c-section.  I wasn’t in pain or in a hurry, but I kept thinking that I could end up pushing for hours and hours and putting me and Fin in stress and STILL have a c section.
• Went into surgery a little after 9pm.  They just increased my epidural meds so no spinal block.  I shook a lot from the meds….and as soon as they got me in the surgery room and set-up I started crying….emotions/nerves/etc…who knows.  They asked if I was ok and I just said I needed a moment and then I was ok.  They brought Chris in and he sat down and that’s when I smelled my burning flesh.  SO WEIRD to smell that and know you are being cut open and not feel anything!  The doc and I chatted the whole time (me through chattering teeth)…ends up she had fertility treatments too, so we had a lot to talk about.  At 9:32 they pulled Fin out and she started screaming immediately and the doc said “She’s a big girl!”  I got to see her and they took her to the side to clean her up (Hubby went with).  She stopped crying and just looked around…so crazy.  Doc told the nurse to give me a little extra time with her so we got about 5 minutes to look at each other before they took her off to the nursery.  The nurse was a little impatient because Fin had to do extra tests since she was so big (glucose/blood sugar stuff…which she passed, thankfully).9 lbs and 4 oz of love!  And she’s 21.5 inches long- wow!
• I went to recovery for about 45 minutes and then was wheeled to my room.  In the meantime, hubby was with Fin in the nursery taking pics of her getting weighed/a bath/etc.  I was so nervous that she’d be asleep by the time I got to hold her, but they wheeled her in the room right after I got there and she was smacking her lips and looking for me when I started talking to her.  She latched immediately and nursed and I cried and we just layed together for at least a couple of hours.  Bliss
• The next morning at 6 am (about 9 hours after surgery) they took out my catheter and I asked for some iv meds and then got up and walked a loop around the hospital wing I was in….I had been told the sooner I got up and pushed myself the better my recovery would be.  That first walk was tough, but so glad I did it….I have had a great recovery and feel really good.  I stopped any pain meds about three days after being home and have been great.

All in all…I LOVED my experience.  I didn’t feel any pain…I didn’t have to deal with complications or stress on me or Finley…my recovery thus far has really been remarkable…

 I have so much more to share about the first few weeks (can you believe Finley will be 3 weeks tomorrow?!?), but I hear the little piglett calling for me right now.  I’ll try to do better about carving out some time!  I’ll leave you with our first family picture (I snapped a pic of the pic on my camera, so quality sucks)..