Team Chestnut!!

Note: I haven't really slept since Saturday and I'm on lots of fun meds. I apologize if portions of this post are a but loopy :)

It is the three of us now!!! Team Chestnut :) Lira's birth was amazing. One of the hardest yet most beautiful experiences of my life. I started having contractions at around 2:00 pm on Saturday May 30th. Bob and I were going around from house to house for the parade of homes. 

We had a great time and I was feeling comfortable. We got to bed around midnight. I laid in bed just staring at the ceiling. I couldn't sleep so I decided to get up for a minute. As soon as I shifted my weight to get out of bed I felt a stream of liquid escape. It was such a slow leak I thought that I may have accidentally peed but I soon realized that my water had broken. I woke Bob up and we left for the hospital.

We got to the hospital a little before 3:00 a.m. My contractions were about four minutes apart but still not too intense. I was dilated to a 3, 90% effaced, and her head was down very low. Because my water had broken I anticipated things would go by pretty quickly. HOW WRONG I WAS!!!! By 11:00 a.m. I was only dilated to a 4 and my contractions had spread out. My midwife realized that my amnion had broken but the Chorion hadn't. She broke my water completely and then we expected the pace to pick up. WRONG AGAIN!!! Since my contractions were getting more and more irregular it was decided that we should start some pitocin to get them going in a steady pattern. The goal was to get them 2-3 minutes apart. We started at a really low dose of 2ml/hour. By 2:00 p.m. we had increased the dose to 10 ml/hour but things still were not progressing at a reasonable pace. I was completely effaced, at 0 station, but only dilated to a 5. Fast forward to 8:00 p.m. The pitocin is now at 16ml/hour. My contractions are super intense. I've been in labor since noon the day before and have not slept at all. I had hit the wall. I asked my midwife to check me again. I told myself that if I was at the point of transition that I would keep going with things unmedicated. When she told me I was only dilated to a 7 I was done. I went into a different mode. I told them to stop my pitocin drip and get the anesthesiologist ASAP. My contractions were so intense now that I could barely think clearly. I looked forward to the relief of the epidural. The dr was great. The epidural was in place 15 minutes after I had requested it. My right side went numb instantly . . . my left side did not. The nurses turned me onto my left side to get the medicine flowing to that part of my body. Finally, after having the epidural in me for an hour and increasing the dose three times, my left side went numb. I felt the best relief EVER!!!!! I dozed off to sleep and was pleasantly awaken at 10:30 p.m.. Finally it was time to push!!!!! It only took 20 minutes of pushing and she was born. Her arm was wrapped around her neck and as soon as her head was pushed out she pushed her arm out as well. This caused me to tear . . . in three places. But after that her whole body just slipped out. They put her on me right away. I was so happy!!! All that work was completely worth it!! They cleaned her up and then I nursed her. She latched on like a pro and ate for about 30 minutes. She was so alert. Just staring at Bob and me while she ate.

Overall I would say things went well. Sure it took a long time but through the whole labor her heartbeat was strong and she did not show any signs of stress. I'm so grateful to have had such a healthy pregnancy. Hopefully my recovery will be much faster than my labor!! :)