On this Mommy Monday, I'm so excited to share the birth story of one of my former students. This is so weird and exciting for me! It's hard to believe that this amazing mommy, who's story does not end here, was one of my junior high students. I feel old and proud and excited... (Such a strange range of emotions!)
Without further ado, the birth story of a princess...
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The road to welcoming our little princess into the world was a long and bumpy one.
After have a rough third trimester, it seemed like the day would never come and I would be pregnant forever! (I was preeclamptic and carried six weeks bigger.) I would lay in bed and cry because all I wanted was to have our little girl and we had tried every old wives tale in the book! I should have steered clear of google at that point!
On September eleventh I had a weekly check up and I was a half centimeter dilated and 50% effaced, but my blood pressure was very high and I had protein in my urine, so I was rushed down to the labor and delivery ward. Just as my luck would have it by the time they got me down stairs my blood pressure was down and there was no more protein. My doctor wanted to keep me for 24 hours hoping the protein would come back - being I was only 37 and a half weeks pregnant and they wouldn't let her induce me yet. The whole time I was in the hospital blood pressure was perfect and I didn't have anymore protein (go figure). I was however having very small contractions the whole time, unfortunately they weren't strong enough to brake my water or make me dilate so on September 12 I was sent home with an induction date set for the following Tuesday.
When Cody and I returned home that night we ate dinner with my grandma knowing it would be the last time without the baby. We went home that night, took a short walk and headed to bed. At 10:45 that night I was in a deep asleep and had a contraction not fully awake, I rolled over and felt a gush of fluid, I shot out of bed and yelled for Cody to wake up. Him being a hard sleeper rolled over and said "you peed your pants go back to bed" (love that man to death). I urged him that I did not and he could smell it if he wanted (eww), of course he didn't so he got out of bed and got dressed and called my mother. We left for the hour drive to the hospital at 11:00 pm. We had called the hospital so they knew we were coming, they laid me down and checked me and told me my water was still intact, there was no amniotic fluid leaking out. I was only one centimeter dilated and my contractions were 7 minutes apart. My nurse urged us to walk around the halls. So Cody and I walked a mile, and I did 60 squats. My nurse checked me again and to my devastation I had not progressed or leaked any fluid, she told me I must have peed and to go home and rest it wouldn't be long. The whole way home I had contractions seven minutes apart.
When we got home there was no way I was sleeping through the pain of contractions and poor Cody had to work at six and it was 3:30. I got my body pillow and went to sit in the recliner. Cody had to get up and leave in what seemed like no time at all. My contractions were only five minutes apart. Time ticked by slowly and I bounced on my labor ball with no luck. I decided to walk the block and a half to my friends house to see if I my contractions would pick up. By the time I got to her house my contractions were at four minutes. A few hours later my contractions weren't increasing so I had her drive me home. My mom came over to my house and I took a shower and finished packing my bags (I'm a huge procrastinator). I decided I better eat something since I hadn't in a very long time so my mom and I headed for the car to go to Subway. I got in my moms car and realized my contractions were only two minutes apart! I had my mom call the women's center because I was not getting sent home for the third time! They told me to get my butt on the road! Cody came rushing home from work and we headed for the hospital again! By the time we got there at 4 pm my contractions were right on top of each other. The nurses checked me and I was only five centimeters so the doctor told them to put me on piton.
Cody and my mom left to get something to eat and I attempted sleep. I was determined to do this all natural! By the time they got back from eating I couldn't take it anymore I had been at this for 17 hours and hadn't slept in even longer than that. I knew if I was going to push my baby out I needed sleep. At seven centimeters dilated and 17 hours of hard labor I got an epidural feeling horrible the whole time. I was finally able to get some sleep.
After two hours of sleep I woke up to the strongest urge to push! Cody was sleeping so I yelled at my mom to get the nurses! They came rushing in to check me and I was nine centimeters and still had 9% to go! They told me to lay on my left side while fighting the urge to push and I had let my epidural wear off and wasn't going to push the button for more! After more than an hour a forcing myself not to push it was finally time to get her out!
I started practice pushing while waiting for the doctor. (Who I had never seen before...) My doctor knew my baby was going to be very large but apparently this doctor did not. I started pushing and pushing I even pushed when I wasn't contracting just trying to get her out! They asked if I wanted to see the top of her head and I said of course. The next thing I remember was the doctor shouting, a nurse tackled Cody, and I had a nurse screaming in my face I had to get her out NOW! The last thing I remember before blacking out was four nurses dog piling me and bouncing on my stomach....
I came to and had a blue baby that wasn't crying laying on my stomach. The doctor was trying to stimulate her. Turns out after her head came out her shoulders got stuck for 3 minutes! The nurse came and took her from me to try and get ger to breath right so we could do skin to skin time. I never got my skin to skin time, her oxygen saturation dropped down to 62%. I watched her rush my baby to the NICU and I couldn't get out of my bed because I wasn't stitched up yet. When I finally got stitched and cleaned up it was finally time to go see our baby. She was hooked up to oxygen, an O2 monitor, and a heart monitor. This is a site no mother should have to see. I could finally hold her for the first time and we got some skin to skin time! Jocelyn had to spend 3 days in the NICU before she could keep her oxygen up and could come home.
Turns out my water had in fact broken that night I went to the hospital and that played a big roll in Jocelyn not being able to breathe correctly, well that and the doctor not getting the message that she was a large baby weighing in at 8 lbs 13 oz 20 1/4 inches long.
My experience was a very hectic one but I wouldn't trade it for the world. It made us a stronger family!
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As I mentioned earlier, Miss Jocelyn's story does not end here. I'm so excited that her mommy is willing to share the next chapter: when Jocelyn was diagnosed with down syndrome. Stay tuned.
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