Birth Story #4

Here is the final chapter in my posts of my children's birth stories for the month. Here is Alyssa's. I know I pretty much gave the story just about 4 months ago, but here it is again with everything leading up to her birth.

Alyssa was born February 2, 2011 at 11:00 p.m. Eastern time.

So much like my pregnancy with CJ this one was not without its problems. I continued with the blood pressure issues and I had questionable Gestational Diabetes. I say questionable because I opted out of the 3 hour glucose test. Instead my doctor had me check my sugar levels four times a day. All of my numbers were really pretty good though so I never needed insulin. As long as I watched what I ate I was good.

My doctor was getting concerned about her size. Meaning too big so I had to go for a couple of growth scans. I was also getting twice a week non stress tests. The last month or so I was contracting pretty regularly although I did not feel it. I tested positive for Group B strep which was a concern for Alyssa and not so much for me. So I needed to get antibiotics on board and of course being allergic to penicillin (the drug usually used to treat Group B strep) that made things a little more complicated. My doctor and I discussed what we could do. Now having had the c-section with CJ my doctor knew that I was going to attempt a v-bac (vaginal birth after c-section). So we discussed being induced. This way we could get antibiotics on board before my water broke and my doctor would be there to deliver. I wasn't entirely keen on Pitocin, but after discussing the problems with Pitocin I decided it wasn't that big of a risk and my doctor knew what she was talking about. After all she was the one who had performed my c-section 3 years before. So the plan was actually we would try breaking my water first and then if things didn't work we would add a little something to get things moving. I figured okay, we have a plan. My induction was scheduled for February 3rd which was six days before my due date. I had everything all planned out. My mom was going to come up early in the morning to get the kids off to school while Joe and I headed to the hospital and then hopefully by the time they got home from school they would get to come visit their baby sister in the hospital. At my last appointment on January 31st I was contracting away as usual. All looked good. My doctor did not want to check me and I kind of agreed to just leave it be. We didn't need to know. I figured I was going to see her 3 days later and things should go perfectly.

Then February 2nd the kids had yet another snow day. Everyone was home due to an ice storm. I had been feeling kind of blah that day, but really how I had felt a lot lately. I was noticing a few contractions, but it felt like what I had been experiencing for the past month. When the snow and ice stopped falling Joe went out to clear the sidewalk and driveway and clean off the car. Then he walked across the street to pick up something for dinner from the store. He came home and we fed the kids and then Joe and I sat down to eat in the living room. I was sitting on the couch finishing up my dinner when all of a sudden I felt this pop and then a gush. I jumped up and said, "Oh crap!" Joe was like what? I said, "I think my water just broke!" I ran into the bathroom to try to access the situation. I had never actually seen my water break before. It had always been done for me so I wasn't sure what was going on. I figured out pretty quickly that it had to be my water though. Joe started making phone calls. He called the doctor and my parents. The doctor told me to head to the hospital. So we packed up. We were going to wait for my parents to come to the house, but knowing that the roads were icy, we were 20 minutes from the hospital on a good day, and in the past I had gone quickly we decided we would have to meet my parents at the hospital. So we loaded everyone in the car. Joe was freaking out. I was trying to stay calm for the kids. Contractions were definitely there, but not too bad.

They brought me in and checked me out right away. I was actually only around 4 centimeters dilated which I was a little surprised about. They brought me to a delivery room where they hooked me all up. I was being closely monitored due to my vbac attempt. I also needed to get the IV antibiotics going. They had to give me a stronger antibiotic to make sure it took care of everything. I was contracting pretty hard while the children watched. Thankfully my parents arrived to take them away and I could really let it out. I was in a lot of discomfort and the jerky on call doctor wasn't helping matters by questioning my induction (which really was pretty moot at that point). And when I chuckled during a contraction when he said and you want no pain medicine and he was like what's so funny I wanted to jump down the man's throat. I did end up getting Nuban just to take the edge off the back labor I was having. I still felt it, but it made me sleepy so I could rest a little between contractions. It didn't last long though because I quickly became very uncomfortable. I was moving all around trying to find a comfortable position. The poor nurse who was trying to keep a close eye on me had to stay in the room with me to monitor things. I was standing, I was sitting, I was laying on my side. Finally the nurse suggested I turn to my other side which was super uncomfortable for me, but that was what got me fully dilated and pushing. I think I pushed twice and she was out with a perfectly round little head. I got to hold her and then they took her away to check her out. She was perfect and not nearly as big as my doctor feared. As a matter of fact she was the smallest weighing just 7 pounds 9 ounces and was 19 inches long. She looked just like CJ. Tons of dark hair. Explained all that heartburn I had. When they were done stitching me up, which I still swear took hours and not like 10 or 15 minutes they brought her to me and put her right on my chest to breastfeed. She was a pro, right away. We hadn't decided on her name yet. We had a few choices which we went through with her and she responded to Alyssa so that's how she got her name.

Because of my questionable Gestational Diabetes they checked her sugars shortly after birth. They were concerned with what they saw and wanted to give her formula. I refused a bottle so they set us up with a way to get formula at the breast. They didn't hold out much hope that it would work, but she was a champ sucking at the breast and got colostrum and formula in her all at once. And after that her sugar was fine from then on out we didn't even have to worry.

I pushed to get out of the hospital as quickly as possible. She was born at 11 p.m. on a Wednesday night and I was ready to go home Friday morning. However, they hesitated in discharging her because she was getting jaundice. I knew I did not want to stay there though and experience what I had with CJ so they let us leave only if we went back Saturday to have blood work done and go to see her pediatrician on Saturday which we did. All ended up being fine. My milk came in on Saturday too so that helped get that jaundice to go away.

My labor and delivery definitely was an adventure with her. She had to make things interesting. But I am so pleased that I can say that I had a successful v-bac. I wish it didn't have to be with the jerky doctor and I often wonder what would have happened had I truly let him have it like I wish I had. But she came on her terms and I accomplished what I wanted to with her. No surgery and a healthy baby!

And that completes my birth stories and our family of 6.

Natalie's Birth Story
Kaitlyn's Birth Story
CJ's Birth Story