(I started this blog after Olive was born and never got around to posting her birth story. Here it is in all it's glory. Enjoy!)
(Written 6/20/2008)
An entry from Olive herself....
Friday June 13th 2008, a day we will always remember! But let’s start this story two days before on Wednesday when Mom started having contractions....
Mom woke up Wednesday morning feeling sharp pains and a tightening feeling in her back...hmmm. She went to her weekly doctor’s appointment with Dr. Ulland and told him about it. He said that was a good sign, but there was still no sign of progress. He also talked about something Mommy had been dreading.......inducing her to MAKE me come out. Since Mom had been diagnosed with Cholestasis of Pregnancy (unbearably itchy hands and feet due to high bile serum levels) a few weeks before, Dr. Ulland had decided that Mom needed to get baby out sooner rather than later. Since Mom obviously wanted to avoid being induced at all costs, Dr. Ulland ordered some more blood tests and said they would talk about it the following Monday after they got the results back.
That evening Mom and Dad went to Grandma Mary Jo and Grandpa Jeff’s house for dinner-spaghetti and meatballs, one of Mom’s favorites! Unfortunately she wasn’t able to eat much because the contractions had come back and were starting to become stronger and more painful-all in her back. So Mom and Dad headed home and Mom went to bed with a heating pad, tylenol, and her usual nightly dose of Pepcid AC. And as much as she knew she needed to rest, she couldn’t. Every 15-20 minutes a contraction would come and Mom couldn’t do anything to help relieve the pain. At 4:30am she finally figured out that being on the floor on her hands and knees seemed to help. And where was Dad during all of this? In the guest room where Mom sent him! She knew that her chances of sleeping were going to be slim so she sent him to the other room so at least HE could get some rest!
And it’s a good thing she did! Dad stayed home on Thursday and spent the day helping Mom get through the contractions that were getting longer, stronger and closer together- 20 minutes, 15 minutes, 10 minutes, 8 minutes..... By Thursday night they were anywhere from 4-10 minutes apart lasting about 60 seconds long. It was a very long day and they knew that the night would be even longer.
That night was the longest night of Mommy and Daddy’s life. Mom’s contractions were getting unbearable, but they weren’t consist in how far apart they were. Finally at 2:30 Dad called the on call doctor (not Dr. Ulland) to see if we should head to labor and delivery......he never called back. So Dad then called labor and delivery and they said to hold off until they were consistently 4 minutes apart or less. Mom was in tears at this point (maybe Daddy was too?) because she was in so much pain and it was all in her back, which she didn’t really know how to handle. In frustration she said “Oh I just wish my water would break so we could go already!” Lo and behold, at 4:30am Mom got out of bed for a contraction and felt a gush of fluid. It happened again and again for a third time. So Mom got in the shower, Dad called labor and delivery and they were off!
At 5:30am Friday the 13th, Mom and Dad arrived at the hospital and were admitted. Apparently it was a popular day to have a baby because at first the nurse wasn’t sure there was a room available! (Not what Mommy wanted to hear as she was rocking on her hands and knees in the reception area....) But they found us a room and Mom was examined and found to be 4cm dialated and about 75% effaced. So they quickly gave Mom some pain medication that would take the edge off the contractions and help her get some rest-she hadn’t slept since Tuesday night! While it did help, it wasn’t enough to make the pain of the contractions go away, so Mom (with Dad’s help) was still trying to find ways to cope with the pain- now with an IV attatched and numerous medical personnel in and out, including a med student who asked Mom a bunch of questions during the middle of a very intense contraction that she had already been asked by the nurse and the resident OB. Needless to say Mom didn’t have a whole lot to say to her....Dr. Ulland stopped by Friday morning to check on Mom and she was still at 4cm and he said that if she hadn’t progressed by that afternoon he wanted to started Pitocin to help get the process going. So........at 1:00 or so, Mom got an epidural and a Pitocin drip added to her arsenal. Dad had to leave the room when the epidural was put in- he thought that was too scary to see. Mom said it didn’t hurt one bit, but she didn’t like not being able to feel anything from the belly button down. But at least she was able to finally sleep!
At 5:00 they examined Mom and said the words they had been waiting to hear all day- it’s time to start pushing! So at 5:30pm Mom started pushing, it was very hard for her to do since a)she couldn’t feel anything that was going on down there and b) she was so exhausted, she started falling asleep between contractions! Finally at 7:57pm, I decided to grace the world with my beautiful presence! Dr. Ulland pulled me out (after getting my one shoulder unstuck), flipped me over and announced “It’s a......GIRL!!” Everyone was so excited! I think Mom would have cried but her eyes were so swollen and blood shot from pushing she couldn’t! Mom and Dad (and Dr. Ulland) were very shocked to see that I had a head of dark, thick hair and that I was so big!
The medical team was a little concerned because I wasn’t turning a nice rosy pink, (I was content to stay blueish gray) and I wasn’t making any noise. So after weighing me,7 pounds 15 ounces, they whisked me away to the nursery. Dad came with and was able to show me off to Grandma MJ and Grandpa Jeff and Grandpa David and Grandma Jolene. Needless to say they were thrilled to meet me! After a brief stint in the nursery where they warmed me up and finally got me to give a few good wailing cries, they brought me back to Mom. She was having a rough time too. Dr. Ulland couldn’t get the placenta delivered and Mom was losing quite a bit of blood. So they had to give her a shot to help her uterus contract and to help stop the bleeding. Finally, about 45 minutes after I was born he was able to get all of the placenta delivered. Dad was not in the room for that process, from what I can gather he doesn’t do well with blood.
After many long, hard hours for Mom and Dad they have said that I am well worth all the trouble I caused. We are all in love and can’t wait to begin the adventure that will be our life together, as a family.
Friday June 13th 2008, a day we will always remember! But let’s start this story two days before on Wednesday when Mom started having contractions....
Mom woke up Wednesday morning feeling sharp pains and a tightening feeling in her back...hmmm. She went to her weekly doctor’s appointment with Dr. Ulland and told him about it. He said that was a good sign, but there was still no sign of progress. He also talked about something Mommy had been dreading.......inducing her to MAKE me come out. Since Mom had been diagnosed with Cholestasis of Pregnancy (unbearably itchy hands and feet due to high bile serum levels) a few weeks before, Dr. Ulland had decided that Mom needed to get baby out sooner rather than later. Since Mom obviously wanted to avoid being induced at all costs, Dr. Ulland ordered some more blood tests and said they would talk about it the following Monday after they got the results back.
That evening Mom and Dad went to Grandma Mary Jo and Grandpa Jeff’s house for dinner-spaghetti and meatballs, one of Mom’s favorites! Unfortunately she wasn’t able to eat much because the contractions had come back and were starting to become stronger and more painful-all in her back. So Mom and Dad headed home and Mom went to bed with a heating pad, tylenol, and her usual nightly dose of Pepcid AC. And as much as she knew she needed to rest, she couldn’t. Every 15-20 minutes a contraction would come and Mom couldn’t do anything to help relieve the pain. At 4:30am she finally figured out that being on the floor on her hands and knees seemed to help. And where was Dad during all of this? In the guest room where Mom sent him! She knew that her chances of sleeping were going to be slim so she sent him to the other room so at least HE could get some rest!
And it’s a good thing she did! Dad stayed home on Thursday and spent the day helping Mom get through the contractions that were getting longer, stronger and closer together- 20 minutes, 15 minutes, 10 minutes, 8 minutes..... By Thursday night they were anywhere from 4-10 minutes apart lasting about 60 seconds long. It was a very long day and they knew that the night would be even longer.
That night was the longest night of Mommy and Daddy’s life. Mom’s contractions were getting unbearable, but they weren’t consist in how far apart they were. Finally at 2:30 Dad called the on call doctor (not Dr. Ulland) to see if we should head to labor and delivery......he never called back. So Dad then called labor and delivery and they said to hold off until they were consistently 4 minutes apart or less. Mom was in tears at this point (maybe Daddy was too?) because she was in so much pain and it was all in her back, which she didn’t really know how to handle. In frustration she said “Oh I just wish my water would break so we could go already!” Lo and behold, at 4:30am Mom got out of bed for a contraction and felt a gush of fluid. It happened again and again for a third time. So Mom got in the shower, Dad called labor and delivery and they were off!
At 5:30am Friday the 13th, Mom and Dad arrived at the hospital and were admitted. Apparently it was a popular day to have a baby because at first the nurse wasn’t sure there was a room available! (Not what Mommy wanted to hear as she was rocking on her hands and knees in the reception area....) But they found us a room and Mom was examined and found to be 4cm dialated and about 75% effaced. So they quickly gave Mom some pain medication that would take the edge off the contractions and help her get some rest-she hadn’t slept since Tuesday night! While it did help, it wasn’t enough to make the pain of the contractions go away, so Mom (with Dad’s help) was still trying to find ways to cope with the pain- now with an IV attatched and numerous medical personnel in and out, including a med student who asked Mom a bunch of questions during the middle of a very intense contraction that she had already been asked by the nurse and the resident OB. Needless to say Mom didn’t have a whole lot to say to her....Dr. Ulland stopped by Friday morning to check on Mom and she was still at 4cm and he said that if she hadn’t progressed by that afternoon he wanted to started Pitocin to help get the process going. So........at 1:00 or so, Mom got an epidural and a Pitocin drip added to her arsenal. Dad had to leave the room when the epidural was put in- he thought that was too scary to see. Mom said it didn’t hurt one bit, but she didn’t like not being able to feel anything from the belly button down. But at least she was able to finally sleep!
At 5:00 they examined Mom and said the words they had been waiting to hear all day- it’s time to start pushing! So at 5:30pm Mom started pushing, it was very hard for her to do since a)she couldn’t feel anything that was going on down there and b) she was so exhausted, she started falling asleep between contractions! Finally at 7:57pm, I decided to grace the world with my beautiful presence! Dr. Ulland pulled me out (after getting my one shoulder unstuck), flipped me over and announced “It’s a......GIRL!!” Everyone was so excited! I think Mom would have cried but her eyes were so swollen and blood shot from pushing she couldn’t! Mom and Dad (and Dr. Ulland) were very shocked to see that I had a head of dark, thick hair and that I was so big!
The medical team was a little concerned because I wasn’t turning a nice rosy pink, (I was content to stay blueish gray) and I wasn’t making any noise. So after weighing me,7 pounds 15 ounces, they whisked me away to the nursery. Dad came with and was able to show me off to Grandma MJ and Grandpa Jeff and Grandpa David and Grandma Jolene. Needless to say they were thrilled to meet me! After a brief stint in the nursery where they warmed me up and finally got me to give a few good wailing cries, they brought me back to Mom. She was having a rough time too. Dr. Ulland couldn’t get the placenta delivered and Mom was losing quite a bit of blood. So they had to give her a shot to help her uterus contract and to help stop the bleeding. Finally, about 45 minutes after I was born he was able to get all of the placenta delivered. Dad was not in the room for that process, from what I can gather he doesn’t do well with blood.
After many long, hard hours for Mom and Dad they have said that I am well worth all the trouble I caused. We are all in love and can’t wait to begin the adventure that will be our life together, as a family.
Wow! What an entrance!! I love reading birth stories (especially from people I know!). An amazing experience. :)
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