Hannah's Birth--***LONG***

Now that Hannah is over 5 weeks old, I figure I better take the time to write out her birth story. I had always been one of those girls who figured they’d absolutely love being pregnant, would gain no more than 10 pounds, and would dress in the utmost stylish maternity clothes. Then I got pregnant and that all flew out the window.

I was sick from almost the moment I found out I was pregnant and it wasn’t just morning sickness. I was sick all day long. I only puked twice, but I had the horrible feeling of a massive hangover that lingered for 9 months. Well, 10. Pregnancy is 10 months, which I never knew until yup, you guessed it…I got pregnant.

By the time I hit 30 weeks, I was more than ready to deliver. Of course I knew that it would not be healthy for little missy to be delivered that early, but I was selfish and tired of being pregnant, mean, and cranky continuously. Being very pregnant in South Carolina in the summer is horrible, extremely horrible. I wouldn’t wish it on my worse enemy. Um…wait. Yes I would. J

I was SO excited at my 37 week appointment to learn I was 1 cm dilated and 70% effaced! Woo hoo! My doctor said I’d still more than likely last until July 16^th. We had picked July 16^th to be induced because my GBS was positive and I wanted to make sure I got my antibiotics in time (I would have been 39 weeks, 2 days). Another week goes by and at my 38 week appointment I was dilated to 2 cm and 90% effaced—all those Braxton Hicks contractions were making some progress!

Then comes the evening of July 11…I had been having contractions sporadically all day, but that was nothing new. A knock came on our door about 1900 and before I could come out of Hannah’s room to answer it, Josh did. There were two Mormon boys on the porch and Josh invited them in. Of course, my husband would do that. There I was mean and hot and very pregnant and he has guests in the house. Nice. Josh told them from the start that anything they had to say would not change our minds in our beliefs, but they were more than welcome to come in and cool off.

So they venture inside and discuss things with my husband for over an hour. Meanwhile, I’m sitting on the loveseat with all the lovely contractions waiting for them to leave. I gave them bottled water and out the door they finally scooted. I jokingly told Josh that perhaps that would send me into labor. Little did I know…

About 0200 on July 12 I woke up with contractions. I woke up about every hour during those last weeks to use the bathroom, so it wasn’t new to me. These contractions were worse and didn’t get any better. They hurt enough where I could not fall back asleep for the rest of the night. I spent the majority of the early morning hours in our guest bathroom. Whatever may have been in my intestines definitely didn’t last. I had heard that happens sometimes when women go into labor and it was true for me—jeez louise. I waited until 0600 when the alarm was going to go off to wake up Josh. I wanted to be sure these were for real and didn’t want to wake him earlier because if they weren’t the real thing, he would have to still go into work.

Me—“Baby, what do you have to do at work today?”

Josh—“I have some meetings, why?”

Me—“I think I’m in labor”.

Josh—“What? Right now?!?!”

He was ready to leave at that instant, but we both took showers and I made sure I had everything packed that I would need. We left around 0700 and Josh was driving 100 mph down 20 W. I was amazed at how calm I was and couldn’t believe I was actually hoping for contractions on the way, just to reassure myself it was real. When we got to the hospital, I rang the doorbell and the nurse said through the intercom, “Can I help you?” I answered, “Um…I think I’m in labor, but I’m not really sure”.

Josh and I went on up to the 3^rd floor of Providence Hospital Northeast in good ol’ Columbia, SC. They hooked me up to monitors and asked a zillion questions. Dr. Austin came in to check me and said I was 3 cm, 90% effaced—yay! More progress! Normally I would have went home, but I was in some frickin’ pain, plus my GBS was positive, so he asked me if I wanted to have Hannah that day—YES!!! I believe he thought the contractions weren’t “real” because the monitor was not picking them all up consistently—which was stupid because I sure was feeling them. My nurse told him I would deliver in a couple hours for sure. He told me he would come back in a bit to break my water.

I think at this point Josh and I were so giddy with anticipation—well, I was terrified of pushing a baby out, Josh was giddy—we didn’t really know what to do. I told the nurse that I wanted an epidural before my water was broke. It was so hectic on that floor that morning I had three different nurses before my savior nurse took me over as her patient. Dr. Austin came back about and hour later and checked me—I was at 4 cm and 100% effaced. Said he was glad he didn’t send me home—yeah, me too. Thanks! I was still waiting on my epidural and because of how busy they were, it was overlooked. My nurse, Cheryl, was pumping a liter of LR in me so they could do the epidural. Might I add that getting an 18 gauge IV in my wrist hurt more than the epidural. Once I got the epidural it was smooth sailing. I received it about 1145, Dr. Austin broke my water around 1200.

Here is a stupid moment—I have been a registered nurse for over 4 years. Why did I not realize I would not be able to move my lower body after the epidural kicked in? I was driving Josh crazy by making him go down to bend my toes for me J I seriously could not feel a single contraction, which was nice. I could feel Hannah make her way down the birth canal and yet I was still terrified I would feel her crowning. I have NO pain tolerance and the very thought of feeling anything scared the crap out of me.

I was checked again and was at 7 cm when I was cathed. During that process I was on my back and told Cheryl that I really needed to get back on my side because I felt so sick to my stomach. She told me she would check me again because I was probably completely dilated. Yep, sure was. In a matter of a few minutes, I dilated the last remaining centimeters. She told me she wouldn’t have me push yet and would let Hannah make her way down the birth canal with the contractions because it would be a lot easier on me.

There is also a point where you know too much in certain situations. As I was lying there on my right side, I heard the alarm for Hannah’s heartbeat. It was bradying down and so Cheryl put a scalp electrode on Hannah’s head to monitor her heartbeat more accurately. A few minutes later I was still lying there when her heartbeat dropped in the 70’s and did not recover. I panicked and Cheryl came racing in the room. She flipped me to my left side and that did nothing. Next thing I knew, she had oxygen on me and was yelling in the hallway to call Dr. Austin, we had to get the baby out. And then I heard the word “vacuum”—no no no no. Not a word I wanted to hear. She had Josh help her put me on my back and throw my legs up in stirrups and wouldn’t you know—Hannah liked that position much better and her heart beat came up. Josh went into the bathroom to blow his nose and by the time he came out, Dr. Austin was at the bottom of the bed and my nurse was counting as I was pushing.

It all happened so fast! Josh almost missed it. I honest-to-God only pushed maybe eight or nine times and it didn’t even last five minutes. BAM!! Out came little Hannah Abigail. She screamed and screamed and screamed! They didn’t give her to me right away, but I got to touch her. The first thing I said was, “Oh my gosh, she’s so tiny!” Josh and I both cried and I was feeling crummy because she was kept under the warmer for so long. The next words out of my mouth were, “Did I tear bad? Please tell me no!” Haha! I will not go into details, but only needed a stitch. Thank you Miss Hannah for only being 6 pounds and 2 ounces!

It was a great experience and I am so thankful to have had a nurse that knew what she was doing and did not mess around getting Hannah delivered. Thankfully no vacuum was needed. Dr. Austin said to me, “Wow! You went a lot faster than I thought you would!” Cheryl grinned and said, “I told you so!” I was happy his office was right next door to the hospital!

Two days later we took our little dark-haired beauty home to meet the rest of her family, Bing and Trax J