*Note: Part of this post is definitely TMI for some of y'all. If you aren't sure you want to hear all about my business, then I can sum up the entire post in the following sentence:
Ainsley Jo Massie was born at 3:17am on Saturday, August 27th via Cesarean section weighing 8 lbs. 12 oz and 21 in. long. :)
I was excited to sleep in on Friday morning. We were to the fair late the night before but I didn't mind because I knew I didn't have to get up until 8:30 Friday. Since I had a 9:15 doc appt I wasn't going to go into school until afterwards.
Ainsley Jo Massie was born at 3:17am on Saturday, August 27th via Cesarean section weighing 8 lbs. 12 oz and 21 in. long. :)
I was excited to sleep in on Friday morning. We were to the fair late the night before but I didn't mind because I knew I didn't have to get up until 8:30 Friday. Since I had a 9:15 doc appt I wasn't going to go into school until afterwards.
6:20 am. [The time my alarm usually goes off.]
My beached-whale self rolled over in bed. I instantly had to go to the bathroom. #2. I was going to wait it out and hope that it was just the lil' one shifting and if I laid there long enough another shift would come and I could continue to sleep. Then I felt a "bloop" down there, so I figured I better go to the bathroom.
I won't give details but I went to the bathroom and it felt funny. Looking in the porcelain bowl, it looked funny too. Standing in front of the sink, I felt another trickle uncontrollably come. Holy cow! I think my water broke! It was all kind of surreal and I had convinced myself that my water breaking wouldn't be the first sign of my labor as it only is in 10% of pregnancies [this was largely in part to reassure myself that it wouldn't just happen all of a sudden while standing in front of a classroom full of high schoolers!] Without any contractions and just mild cramping, I went back to bed, told Mister what happened and then tried to sleep. I was going to just wait it out until my doc's office opened and then call and find out what they wanted me to do.
Of course I couldn't sleep, thinking about how soon I'd get to meet our lil' one, and I was visiting the bathroom every few minutes to make sure this wasn't all a dream, so I got up, took a shower, got dressed, packed our hospital bags, did the dishes, and waited, and waited. A little before 8 o'clock, I woke Chris and asked him to get ready because I was about to call the doc to find out what I need to do. As he showered and such, the doc's office said to go on in to the hospital. Because I still wasn't really in labor, I told Chris he'd likely want to get something for breakfast because who knew what the eating arrangements/timeframe would be from here on out! This comment combined with saying for the last 9 months that I wanted to wait at home as long as possible before heading to the hospital nearly killed me. Chris made himself some pancakes and I swear ate them as. slow. as. possible! It wasn't that long, but I was antsy and only once did I threaten to go to the hospital without him! :)
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| One last pre-baby picture. |
Off to the hospital, arriving a little after 9am, I told the nurse my story. The majority of the time she just smiled shaking her head. Come to find out there was a lady across the hall with pretty much the same story, same doctor, but I was due the Monday before and she was due the coming Monday. I told the nurse that we called each other and planned it all out. Anyways they do a quick little swab to test for amniotic fluid. If it turns blue-black, your water has broken. The nurse--she was a little nutty, but a lotta fun-- mentioned a few things that could cause a false-positive but explained that they have a microscope in the other room to know for sure. One quick swab, instantly black. The nurse chuckled, commented that she was going to save this one to show some of the newer nurses was a strong positive looks like, and then turned to Chris and said, "Nailed it!" Oh geesh! :)
The next few hours were pretty uneventful. We ate applesauce, jello, a few crackers [shh!] and drank juice--thank you clear liquid diet. We laid on the bed and watched Tangled on Netflix. We made U after U on the L & D floor and pretty much just waited for something to happen.
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| Chris found entertainment in that my feet didn't touch the ground during my hundreds of visits to the bathroom! |
And then it did.
Contractions were getting stronger and stronger. At first, they were simply noticeable, and then the were mildly uncomfortable, then pretty dang uncomfortable, and then finally down right painful. In the uncomfortable stage I told Chris that it felt like I had awful period cramps--which wasn't a good explanation that he could relate to--mixed with incredible indigestion after eating way too much Mexican! I felt like I was doing pretty well handling the pain with movement, shower, exercise birthing ball etc. but when the nurse indicated that she could give me a little something to take the edge off, I waited just a bit longer because she said it's really only effective for about an hour and I knew I had longer than an hour to go and then asked for it!! I was just about to 7 cm when they gave me "staydol" to take the edge off. They warned me that I'd feel like I was drunk.
After giving me the med they came back a few minutes later to me crying in the hospital bed. "What's wrong, Rachel?!" I *sniff* can't *sniff* see straight *sniff sniff*!! I had complete double vision and felt like someone was pushing on both sides of my head. With almost a chuckle, they responded, "But we told you, you'd feel like you were drunk." "But I've *sniff* never *sniff* been drunk before *sniff*!" In hindsight it was pretty funny, but in the moment, I wasn't seeing much humor and just asked "Why would anyone do this to themselves?!" This did help take the edge off a bit, as long as I closed my eyes so that I didn't get dizzy and we continued to progress through the contractions.
At about 8cm, the nurse started talking about pitocin because of how long my water had been broken. I said if you are giving me pitocin, you are giving me an epidural. I didn't even care to think about the intensity of contractions caused by pit without one. So I got a low dose of epidural, and that was nice. Then I got the pitocin, and that was awful!! It felt as if I never had the epidural. The nurse said I was still going to feel pressure, but not pain. This was definitely P.A.I.N. I asked for the anesthesiologist to come back and give me more. I knew he was originally called out of my room for an emergency, life or death, operation somewhere else in the hospital, but in that moment, I felt like the most selfish person ever because I simply didn't care. I told Chris--and only Chris, not the nurses and such--that I didn't care that there was a man potentially dying somewhere, I wanted that epidural! It seemed like an eternity before he returned and in reality I have no idea how long it was, but he did return, apologized for his delay, and then all my pain--not the pressure--was gone! I could handle this!
At about 9:30/10, I was a fuzz away from 10cm and so the nurse had be start to push in order to literally push myself to 10cm. The nurse commented I should have this baby in my arms by midnight. And so the pushing began. I pushed to 10. And then I pushed to get the lil' one's head turned properly. And then it was time to start pushing "for real". At about 11/11:30, true pushing began. With every contraction [or twinge of pressure because I couldn't really feel them] I'd push with all my might. The nurse commented that I was a really good pusher, which was exciting to me as that was a goal of mine. [More specifically a goal was to do #2 on while pushing because at our birthing class they said if you do #2, then that means you are pushing correctly! According to that theory, I pushed correctly at least twice. ;)]
Our lil' bundle was so close to entering this world that Chris could see the top of her head, with hair, and the nurse said I was a knuckle's distance away! About 2 am, and 2 hours of serious pushing with each contraction, my doc came in and said she didn't think this babe was going to come out this way. She gave the option of c-section at that point or continuing to push a bit longer, but 3 hours of pushing was kind of her limit for moms.
We decided to continue to push.
Nearing 3 hours of pushing and 3am, our lil' one still wasn't delivered. What was happening was with each contraction/push, I would push her down to nearly out and then as soon as I let up, she would go all the way back up. She was like a little turtle baby. If I would happen to push her and get her head out, likely her shoulders would get stuck and cause damage in that way.
It wasn't worth the risk.
We decided on a c-section and they began to prep us for it. I asked Chris to text my mom and let her know. Much to my surprise they were already at the hospital and just waiting for the call to be able to come back [since we thought this babe would be here by midnight for sure!]. Since they were already there, I asked for her to come back to my room. I needed the reassurance that only a mom can give that we were making the right decision and whileabsolutely pretty much nothing had gone the way I had hoped, in the end our healthy and safe baby in our arms and my health and safety was all that really mattered.
She, as well as Chris of course, gave me that reassurance.
They prepped me for the c-section and one of the things I had to do was drink this little shot of bitter something-or-another that is supposed to neutralize my stomach so I wouldn't get sick during the operation. Well it definitely prevented me from getting sick during the operation because I empty everything out of my system after only getting the bitters halfway swallowed. I puked everywhere. And continued to puke until I was dry heaving. Lovely I know. And the best part was I had a little kidney bean tray they had given me while I was pushing in case I felt sick and that bitty tray was expected to catch everything. Not so much.
After drying me off and finishing prepping me for the OR, they said that the operation would take about 1 hour and then another hour in recovery and then people--aka my parents-- would be allowed in my room. The c-section was a very odd experience as anyone who has had one can attest. You can feel pressure, tugging, and movement, but you don't feel any pain, nor do you really know what's going on as there is a screen at your chest blocking all view. I would roll my eyes around to try to see what I could around my head. My upper body--which had feeling--was still shaking as it had been for the past 5 hours of labor even though my arms were strapped down at nearly 90 degree angles at both sides. I felt like everyone knew and could see what was going on except me.
Within just a dozen or so minutes at 3:17am, I heard Dr. Medina tell Chris, "Take a picture of your new daughter!!"
He did and then showed me the pic--what would we have done without technology!--and then they took our lil' girl with a healthy set of lungs on her over to the weighing/clean up station. What seemed like forever but was likely just a few minutes, the nurse brought our Ainsley Jo over to my head to I could lay eyes on her for the first time.
This too was a time that is quite difficult to explain. I was excited, but I was emotionally numb. It was so difficult to continue to be "worked on" as everyone else was looking at and talking about my daughter. I wanted to see her. I wanted to hold her. I wanted to talk all about her. Eventually they took her away to clean her up and do the basic checks as they finished putting me back together. They said she'd be brought to my room within a few minutes of my return there. Chris stayed with me as they finished everything in the OR.
About 4am I was back in my room for my "recovery" period aka annoying period. I was still shaking and everyone thought I was cold so they'd put crap on me, but in reality I was burning up. Annoying. I had the oxygen tubing up my nose. Annoying. I had leg compressions even though within 15-20 minutes I could move my legs on my own. Annoying. The nurse wasn't the friendliest ormost competent accommodating. Annoying. I was in pain--my back was on fire from exhausted muscles from all the pushing I had done. Annoying. When finally I declared, "Ah no! I'm not cold! I'm hot and everything is just annoying!" the lovely nurse went and got a wet washcloth and put it on my forehead. I. hate. that. To me that just makes everything worse because it makes me feel sweatier and grosser. Within a few seconds, I looked and Chris and demanded asked, "Get that thing off of me, now!"
At this point, I just wanted to be unhooked from everything and hold my baby girl. My parents were permitted to come back to my room very shortly after I was in there--they didn't have to wait the hour--and we were just waiting on Ainsley. At this point though, we hadn't told my parents if they were welcoming a grandson or a granddaughter. [Chris called his parents at home after my c-section to let them know. It was cute to later learn that he got a bit choked up telling his dad that he now had a daughter. Such a tender, loving dad within the first few minutes!] With my parents though since we were told Ainsley would be brought to my room within a few minutes of me being there, we wanted them to see her to find out what she was.
Well it took forever! Nearly 45 minutes later, they finally brought her to our room. My dad immediately saw the pink "It's a girl!" card on her cart. I just wish I had a video of my mom's face when she made the realization!! :D
Our lil' bundle was so close to entering this world that Chris could see the top of her head, with hair, and the nurse said I was a knuckle's distance away! About 2 am, and 2 hours of serious pushing with each contraction, my doc came in and said she didn't think this babe was going to come out this way. She gave the option of c-section at that point or continuing to push a bit longer, but 3 hours of pushing was kind of her limit for moms.
We decided to continue to push.
Nearing 3 hours of pushing and 3am, our lil' one still wasn't delivered. What was happening was with each contraction/push, I would push her down to nearly out and then as soon as I let up, she would go all the way back up. She was like a little turtle baby. If I would happen to push her and get her head out, likely her shoulders would get stuck and cause damage in that way.
It wasn't worth the risk.
We decided on a c-section and they began to prep us for it. I asked Chris to text my mom and let her know. Much to my surprise they were already at the hospital and just waiting for the call to be able to come back [since we thought this babe would be here by midnight for sure!]. Since they were already there, I asked for her to come back to my room. I needed the reassurance that only a mom can give that we were making the right decision and while
She, as well as Chris of course, gave me that reassurance.
They prepped me for the c-section and one of the things I had to do was drink this little shot of bitter something-or-another that is supposed to neutralize my stomach so I wouldn't get sick during the operation. Well it definitely prevented me from getting sick during the operation because I empty everything out of my system after only getting the bitters halfway swallowed. I puked everywhere. And continued to puke until I was dry heaving. Lovely I know. And the best part was I had a little kidney bean tray they had given me while I was pushing in case I felt sick and that bitty tray was expected to catch everything. Not so much.
After drying me off and finishing prepping me for the OR, they said that the operation would take about 1 hour and then another hour in recovery and then people--aka my parents-- would be allowed in my room. The c-section was a very odd experience as anyone who has had one can attest. You can feel pressure, tugging, and movement, but you don't feel any pain, nor do you really know what's going on as there is a screen at your chest blocking all view. I would roll my eyes around to try to see what I could around my head. My upper body--which had feeling--was still shaking as it had been for the past 5 hours of labor even though my arms were strapped down at nearly 90 degree angles at both sides. I felt like everyone knew and could see what was going on except me.
Within just a dozen or so minutes at 3:17am, I heard Dr. Medina tell Chris, "Take a picture of your new daughter!!"
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| Ainsley Jo's first photo. Delivered by Dr. Medina via c-section at 3:17am. |
He did and then showed me the pic--what would we have done without technology!--and then they took our lil' girl with a healthy set of lungs on her over to the weighing/clean up station. What seemed like forever but was likely just a few minutes, the nurse brought our Ainsley Jo over to my head to I could lay eyes on her for the first time.
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| Family Photo |
This too was a time that is quite difficult to explain. I was excited, but I was emotionally numb. It was so difficult to continue to be "worked on" as everyone else was looking at and talking about my daughter. I wanted to see her. I wanted to hold her. I wanted to talk all about her. Eventually they took her away to clean her up and do the basic checks as they finished putting me back together. They said she'd be brought to my room within a few minutes of my return there. Chris stayed with me as they finished everything in the OR.
About 4am I was back in my room for my "recovery" period aka annoying period. I was still shaking and everyone thought I was cold so they'd put crap on me, but in reality I was burning up. Annoying. I had the oxygen tubing up my nose. Annoying. I had leg compressions even though within 15-20 minutes I could move my legs on my own. Annoying. The nurse wasn't the friendliest or
At this point, I just wanted to be unhooked from everything and hold my baby girl. My parents were permitted to come back to my room very shortly after I was in there--they didn't have to wait the hour--and we were just waiting on Ainsley. At this point though, we hadn't told my parents if they were welcoming a grandson or a granddaughter. [Chris called his parents at home after my c-section to let them know. It was cute to later learn that he got a bit choked up telling his dad that he now had a daughter. Such a tender, loving dad within the first few minutes!] With my parents though since we were told Ainsley would be brought to my room within a few minutes of me being there, we wanted them to see her to find out what she was.
Well it took forever! Nearly 45 minutes later, they finally brought her to our room. My dad immediately saw the pink "It's a girl!" card on her cart. I just wish I had a video of my mom's face when she made the realization!! :D
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| Grandpa & Grandmomma-cita Clum I think it was worth the wait! :) |
After meeting her maternal grandparents, and spending a bit of time with her papa, my parents left, Chris fell asleep on the couch, and I was finally able to have that special bonding time. Just momma and baby girl. I laid awake for the next 4 hours just holding her and snuggling my baby girl. This is what it is all about.
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| Bonding time with my baby girl! |
About 9am Saturday morning, I woke Chris and we got ready for our visitors to come and meet our beautiful addition to the family.
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| Absolutely infatuated by his new princess! He's already the best papa, sorry other dads! :) |
All in all this experience was nothing like I thought it would be, except in the end I--healthy--was able to hold my healthy, beautiful baby girl. And really I learned, in the end, that's all that matters!!
[Oh and because I was in the hospital, I also didn't use any gas for two days which was goal #47. I'm counting it as a goal accomplished but am going to try and accomplish it again more out of my own will!]
she is beautiful. Congrats
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