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

Birth Story #3

Continuing with my month of May birth stories, here is the story of my only son, CJ.

CJ was born on November 1, 2007 at 8 a.m. Eastern time.

My pregnancy with CJ had been my most problem ridden. I had chronic high blood pressure and then developed Gestational Diabetes. I managed to control that with diet. But I was being seen twice a week in the last few months of my pregnancy with him. It was discovered around 30 weeks pregnant that he was breech. We watched to see if he would turn, but he did not. So my doctor began discussing my options. Either we could do an external version where her and another doctor would push on my stomach from the outside to make him turn. If all went well then I could just continue on happily with my pregnancy until the end and he'd come on his own. If he became in distress we would have to do an emergency c-section. I had to make up my mind about this before 36 weeks because my doctor said they'd have the best chance of turning him at 36 weeks. Or I could just opt for a planned c-section. She could not deliver him breech vaginally because the hospital would not allow it. I was willing to give it a try, but my doctor had no experience with it and there was a hospital policy against it. So it didn't seem I had many options.

I went back and forth on my choices for weeks. I researched to try to figure out ways I could get him to turn on my own. I tried a few of the things I was able to do like putting something cold on the top of my belly or playing music on the lower part of my belly. Some special exercises to try to get him to turn. He wasn't budging though. And I got to thinking, I never had an issue with my two girls before with them being breech so there must have been a reason that he was not in the right direction. He just couldn't get there. I didn't want to go through a painful procedure like the external version and have it not work or worse have something go wrong and need an emergency c-section and a preemie baby. So I finally opted to have the planned c-section. It was the best choice for our family.

Originally it was scheduled for November 2, 2007 which would have had me sharing my birthday with my boy. However, they realized my doctor wouldn't be there that day so they changed it to November 1, 2007. That worked too. In the weeks leading up to my planned c-section I was experiencing some contractions. I went to the hospital a couple of times worried that I might be in labor. I was sent home each time though. I held on until my scheduled c-section date which was 8 days before CJ's due date. After trick or treating the night before November 1st we brought the girls over to my friends house to spend the night and for her to bring to school the next day. We came home and tried to go to sleep so we could get up early the next morning and head to the hospital. By 6 a.m. we were on the road to the hospital. We arrived and got all checked in. I was contracting away. They checked to make sure he was still breech. I got hooked up to everything. I was shaved. I had to sign consent forms and then my doctor came in for one last talk before we headed into the operating room. They put this warm blanket on me and I walked into the freezing cold operating room. Joe who was already all gowned up had to stay out in the hallway. They put my spinal in which I was shaking for. I had never even had an epidural and I was freaked out about the thought of having something stuck into my back. They got it in and laid me down on the table and brought Joe in. Before I knew it they were starting. My doctor informed me that it was a good thing that we did not attempt the version because CJ had the cord wrapped around his neck twice. So this was the only option we had. I knew there was a reason he was breech. At exactly 8 a.m. CJ came screaming into the world. He was my smallest baby weighing just 7 pounds 12 ounces and was 19 inches long.

My doctor stitched me up and Joe checked out CJ and took pictures. They brought him over to me to see all wrapped in the blanket. I remember thinking where did he get so much dark hair from. I didn't get to hold him until we were in recovery. There he breastfed for the first time, but he was having a hard time maintaining his temperature. They ended up having to take him away and we had to go to our room without him. They brought him to us in an incubator after he was doing better. Our stay in the hospital was a long and stressful one. He had some issues with jaundice. I was up and moving around by the next day (my birthday). And I was able to enjoy a special birthday dinner and cake. It was a very different experience from the birth of my girls, but I knew I had made the right choice for him by having the c-section. The recovery was a long one, but really not much longer than my recovery from Natalie.

Check back next week for Alyssa's story, my VBAC(Vaginal Birth After C-secion).

Here's Natalie's birth story.

Here's Kaitlyn's birth story.

Here's Alyssa's birth story.

Birth Story #2

For the month of May I am writing out each of my children's birth stories every week. Here is the story of Kaitlyn's birth.

Kaitlyn was born on April 11, 2002 at 2:10 a.m. Eastern time.

My pregnancy with Kaitlyn was anything but uneventful. It started out with morning sickness unlike what I had with Natalie. I eventually started having problems with my blood pressure towards the end. So weekly I was going for non stress tests. At 8 months pregnant my doctor was concerned about my heartbeat so I had to wear a Halter Monitor for 24 hours. Not something I would recommend at 8 months pregnant. All was fine though. As the final weeks approached my doctor had asked me if I was getting uncomfortable enough that I might want to be induced because he wasn't against doing that. I originally had said no because I did not want Pitocin. He offered to try Cervadil if my cervix was favorable for it though. Joe and I had discussed it and knowing that Kaitlyn's due date was just a week before Natalie's birthday I did want to be done with the pregnancy before her birthday. Also we lived about half an hour away from the hospital and knowing how quickly I went into labor with Natalie we didn't want to have her on the way to the hospital. So we called up the doctor and told him we wanted to be induced. He said he'd check me at my next appointment on April 11th.

On April 10th Joe and I had been out all day long shopping and what not. We came home and were just relaxing around the house. We had something to eat and then I was playing Bejeweled on the computer. Joe was sitting there with me and began noticing that I was wincing. He kept asking if I was okay and I was like yeah I'm fine. So he started timing my wincing. It was every five minutes. He was sure I was having contractions. He made me call my doctor. I got the on call doctor though. When I told him how my labor with Natalie was only 2 hours he told me to get to the hospital. So it was 10 p.m. at this point. We packed up and left Natalie with the woman we were living with and headed to the hospital. I wasn't too sure that I was actually in labor though. We got there and they put me on the monitors and sure enough I was contracting hard every 3 minutes. They checked me and I was 5 almost 6 centimeters dilated. I was told that didn't mean I was going to be admitted since this was my second child. However, the doctor arrived and he said she's staying. And again I was walking around feeling nothing in the halls. At midnight the doctor decided to break my water. And yet again that got things going. By 2 a.m. I was fully dilated. I pushed for 10 minutes this time and Kaitlyn was born. Right onto my stomach she went. Again, no pain medicine of any sort. Completely natural. She weighed in at 8 pounds 15 ounces and was 22 inches long. The biggest baby in the hospital. She had about five chins. She was perfect. I did scare some other lady in the hospital who was having her first because I screamed so loud during delivery.

Kaitlyn came in her own time though and not when we had wanted her to come. She was 4 days before her due date.

Come back next week to read about CJ's birth story.

You can read Natalie's birth story here.

Here's CJ's birth story>

Here's Alyssa's birth story

Birth Story #1

This year Natalie was really showing an interest in how it is that she came into this world on her birthday. So I thought maybe I should have her birth story and all of the children's birth story written down in one spot for them to look at one day. And I figured what better time to do it than the month of May when we celebrate mothers. So for the next four weeks I'll be sharing the births of each of my children.

Starting with Natalie:

Natalie was born April 22, 1999 at 11:17 p.m. Eastern time.

After hearing from many people that I hadn't dropped yet and I'd probably be pregnant for another 2 weeks or so I had no idea what I was in store for at my 40 week check up. April 22nd was my due date. It's very rare to have a baby born on its due date, but a first one especially.

I'll never forget the whole day I was angry and not talking to Joe. He had jokingly told me that night before that if this baby wasn't a boy he was putting her back. I was 9 months pregnant, cranky, and sure I was having a girl even though we never found out by ultrasound. So thinking that Joe wasn't going to love this baby as much if she wasn't a boy really had me upset. I had my doctors appointment later in the afternoon. Joe and I didn't utter a word to each other all day. He brought me to my appointment and we didn't speak a word.

The nurse took my blood pressure and it was elevated. They put me on the monitor in the office and then seemed a little frantic in the office. It got me worried. Joe and I finally began talking. He was watching the machine and remembering what we were taught in our Lamaze class about how to read them. He watched me have contractions that I wasn't feeling. The nurse who put me on the monitor didn't even bother looking at it. They said well we don't like your blood pressure and don't know what's going on so head over to the hospital.

So off we went. I still had no idea that I was in labor or wouldn't be going home that night. We arrived and they got me all set up and my blood pressure amazingly had gone down by this point. But on the monitors they watched me contract pretty hard and regularly every five minutes. The midwife came in and checked me and I was 5 almost 6 centimeters dilated. I had no idea I was contracting. They were shocked I did not feel them. I was there for good though. So Joe went home to get my stuff and I called my mom to tell her this was it and I felt nothing. She was surprised that I didn't feel anything. She headed right over to the hospital. I walked the halls watching all of these other women double over in pain, but I still felt nothing.

Joe came back, my mom arrived, and we played cards. I continued not feeling the contractions. When the midwife saw that I was playing cards while contracting away and hadn't progressed to much more than 6 centimeters she decided to break my water. Well, that was that. Once that happened I was really feeling the pain then. Things moved very quickly from there. My water was broken at about 8 at night. By about 10:30 I was fully dilated. I started pushing. They moved me around because I wasn't getting far. They started losing Natalie's heartbeat. They put me on oxygen. I pushed for 47 minutes. I got to a point where I was telling them to just get her out already. I didn't care how I wanted it over. And at 11:17 p.m. on her due date (only 43 minutes to spare) Natalie was born. The nurse said, "It's a boy!" What? I looked at her quickly sure that I had had a girl. She goes "Oh no sorry, It's a girl!" Ahhh, that's better. After all I didn't get all bent out of shape 24 hours before for nothing. They put her directly on my stomach as she was coming out and wiped her up on my chest. Then they took her away to check her all out. 8 pounds 12 ounces and 21 inches long. No wonder I was told I hadn't dropped. I was all baby.

The midwife who delivered Natalie couldn't repair the tearing I had. So she called the on call doctor. He was a jerk. Two shots of Demerol and I could still feel him stitching me. He kept telling me not to move. My mom and Joe were watching from across the room probably holding each other back from attacking the doctor. When it was all said and done though I had a beautiful healthy baby girl. And then they were changing my bed and the Demerol finally took effect and I literally passed out onto my bed. They had to use smelling salt to get me up to get me back into bed.

I had no pain medications during the birth. I've always said if I had labored longer I probably would have been asking for drugs. My recovery was a long and painful one. But none of that matters. I brought a beautiful healthy little girl into this world. And for the record, Joe couldn't possibly have loved Natalie anymore if she were a boy. Every night he would stay up with her and sing, "You are My Sunshine". That's their song.

Kaitlyn's birth story
CJ's birth story
Alyssa's birth story