Short & (Not So) Sweet

Our baby girl is here!  She arrived 5 days ago on May 28th and we are in heaven!  The boys love her to pieces.  Teryn loves to hold her and Ryder wants to poke her in the eye, which translates into love I'm sure.  

Today was her due date.  June 2nd.  At my 39 week appointment (May 24th) I was dilated to 3 cm and my cervix was "favorable."  I talked to my doctor about my past labors, one having been spontaneous and the other having been induced one week past due.  I had a feeling that waiting for something to spontaneously start this time was pointless and asked what he thought about being induced again.  We decided to schedule an induction for tomorrow, June 3rd, if nothing had happened by then.  But then we got talking and he realized he would be out of town for the weekend (May 31-June 2) and I didn't want to chance him being gone (because we all know that's when it would have happened).  We decided Thursday May 30 would be the day and he called Labor and Delivery to get me on the schedule, although he was convinced something would probably happen before then because things were looking so "favorable."  I didn't get my hopes up because I'd heard that before. 

When Tyson got home from work that evening we talked about it.  He mentioned that Thursday was a particularly busy day at work and that it wouldn't be optimal to miss.  His dad was also headed out of town so he was hoping for a different day and my mom would have had to miss her day at the temple to watch my boys Thursday, so all things considered, we decided it would be best to do it on Tuesday, the day after Memorial Day.  I called Dr. Williams and he didn't have a problem with the idea so he called and got me rescheduled.

Knowing the day of my fate, I did as much physical activity as I could over the weekend.  Walking, cleaning, reorganizing our storage unit, etc.  By Monday evening I was tuckered out and sore but I hoped to have done something to assist in the progression of my labor.  I was having contractions but nothing regular or painful enough to consider.  

At this point, I'll share Tyson's timeline of the labor and delivery.  (Those of you who are just checking into my blog, Tyson has taken notes during each of our children's births.  It's always fun to have the actual time frame of things and especially to experience it from his point of view.  This story is much more brief than our others, ha ha!)  I usually include my point of view in parenthesis as his notes go along but because of the particular nature of this birthing story I think I'll share his side and then my side as a whole other entity.

From Tyson's point of view:
Tuesday May 28, 2013
5:40 am: Bev showed up
5:50 am: Left to hospital
6:00 am: Admitted
6:20 am: Check vitals.  Blood pressure-138/79
6:35 am: Get IV.
6:50 am: Puking/warm.  Contractions 7-8 mins apart.
6:55 am: Feeling much better after puking.
7:15 am: Start Pitocin.

8:45 am: Dilated to 3.5 cm.  Doctor broke water.  Nurses are having a hard time keeping the baby on the monitor because she won't stay still.
10:00 am: Dilated to 4.5 or 5.  Thinning/painful.  Called for Epidural.
10:10 am: Dani is getting impatient and pushy.
10:17 am: Baby Delivered!  Another knot in the cord.
10:27 am: Anesthesiologist came; said "sounds like you don't need me."
10:44 am: 7 lbs 2 oz 19 inches.

From my point of view:
I had been feeling quite nauseous since the night before.  I tried eating a big dinner Monday night to hold me over for the next day since I couldn't eat anything past midnight.  I struggled to get even 1/2 of it down and had to stop for fear of throwing up.  It was a l.o.n.g. night.  I made a trip to the bathroom almost every hour.  I felt like the baby had dropped but didn't want to get my hopes up.  I felt pretty good when morning came and we were off to the hospital.

After being admitted and taken to our L&D room the nerves set in.  Which is funny, because I don't recall being nervous with either of my boys' births.  I don't know whether it was the fact I had chosen to be induced before my due date or the fact that I would soon meet my baby girl or the fact that I was already feeling weak and I was unsure of what I would experience during this birth.  Probably a combination of it all.  When they started taking my blood and testing my veins for an IV I got really nauseous and asked for something to throw up in.  Before long, they had proof that I hadn't eaten anything since the night before =0).  I felt much better after that and I was able to relax and settle in.  They started me on Pitocin at 7:15.  That was different from my induction with Ryder.  With Ryder, they broke my water and I walked for a couple of hours before starting Pitocin.  This time, because they started it right off, I was tied to my bed so they could keep my contractions and the baby monitored.  I just laid there and let it work for the next hour and a half.  Tyson was bored out of his mind.  Neither one of us were looking forward to the day if that's how it would be spent.  

Dr. Williams showed up at 8:45 to check me and break my water.  I was dilated to 3.5 (a measly 1/2 cm more than I was at my appointment 4 days before?  And after spending the last 1.5 hours on The Pit?  Shoot me now.).  Contractions started getting much closer together soon after that and I felt like they were finally moving things along.  I labored for the next hour and 15 minutes, feeling the contractions get stronger and more frequent.  At 10:00 I asked a nurse to check me.  Surely I had dilated enough to get my epidural by then.  I was in enough pain that I hoped the nurse could tell me I was at a 7.  Nope.  4.5.  Maybe 5.  I had only dilated 1 cm!?  Not as far as I had hoped, but far enough I could get an epidural and that's all I cared.  They called the anesthesiologist and I was left to wait. 

The next 10 minutes kicked up about 100 notches and things suddenly got really intense.  I may or may not have said a few choice words.  I kept thinking, "This hospital isn't that big- -where the heck is that anesthesiologist!!!!!!!!!!!"  I was on the verge of tears.  I swung back and forth from whining out of pain to impatient anger.  Poor Tyson.  He watched me thinking I had become a crazy woman.  As he mentioned in his notes, I became "impatient and pushy."  Ha ha!  That was very nicely and reservedly put.  He tried to help me relax and breathe and I did my best but the pain was more than I could handle.

During those 10 minutes, along with stronger contractions came a slight sensation to go "#2."  I recalled other women comparing the need to push with the need to push stool, but I was only dilated to 5- -surely it wasn't the need to push?  At 10:15 or so, I told Tyson, "Go get a nurse!"  He stepped out so briefly and without a word that when he came back  I impatiently asked, "Did you get one!?"  He looked at me with wide "Wow Dani, chill out" eyes and said one was on her way.  When she walked in I told her things were really intense and asked her to check me.  She happily acknowledged my request and went to the closet to get some gloves.  I yelled, "Hurry!" and that got her moving.  She returned to my bedside and felt to see where I was.  She sheepishly looked at me and said, "Uhhh, yeah, you're ready!  I'll call Dr. Williams!" 

I had dilated 5.5 cm in 15 minutes!?  What on earth!?  No wonder it felt like someone was tearing me inside out!  That meant the need to push was real!?  With that knowledge, that need to push became REALLY real.  I told the nurse, "I have to push!"  She replied, "Breathe- -you need to wait!"  I replied, "I can't wait! I'm pushing!!!"  That sensation is the most unexplainable feeling I've ever experienced.  I imagine the clip in Finding Nemo when Bruce the shark is chasing Marlin and Dory and he's trying to break down that iron door.  There was no stopping the pushing!  The nurses scrambled around, Tyson turned away for a brief moment, I gave everything I had to one big push and she slipped right out onto the bed!  When Tyson turned back around, there was a baby!  Suddenly he realized I wasn't a crazy woman- -there really was reason for my impatience!

The nurses gathered to grab her and Dr. Williams came through the door.  He came quickly but not quite quickly enough, ha! Honestly, from that point on everything is a blur.  I've never experienced that degree of exhaustion.  I laid back and my whole body started shaking uncontrollably from the adrenaline and fatigue.  The umbilical cord was tied in a true knot just like Ryder's!  They occur in only 1 in every 2,000 pregnancies and I've now had 2/3 children with them.  I'm glad I chose to be induced earlier so we were able to avoid any problems it could have caused.  Scary, scary thing!

Dr. Williams stitched where I tore while the nurses cleaned the baby off.  They brought her to me after getting her swaddled and I wish I could say I got lost in that moment but I was still shaking uncontrollably and trying to grasp what just happened.  It took most of the day to wrap my mind around it all.  I think there are many who assume I will go natural with future births now that I know I can.  Not necessarily!  If I were able to go natural without Pitocin, that would be a different story.  Maybe that would be more satisfying.  But dilating 5.5 cm in 15 minutes and delivering naturally was not enjoyable or satisfying at all.  I don't mean to sound like a complete Debbie Downer- -it could have been worse- -but it's true.  That was hard.  On both my body and mind.  My recovery was by far more difficult without an epidural than I've ever experienced with one.  I have no intentions of ever going without an epidural again if I can help it.

But of course she was worth every minute of it!  All 7 lbs 2 oz of her.  She is the sweetest little thing.  Just the night before she came Tyson and I were agreeing that we weren't sure how we would acclimate to a girl.  We couldn't grasp how our life would change once she entered it.  Now that she's here, it's as if she was never not here. 

The boys' first interaction with her was different than I had expected.  Well, Ryder reacted the way I imagined but Teryn didn't.  Teryn came in and immediately held his hands out for her.  Tyson sat him next to me on the bed and I put her in his lap.  He held her tenderly and kissed her head over and over.  We pulled Ryder up on the bed to join and he smiled from ear to ear and just gaped at her.  When the pediatrician came to take the baby for a check up Teryn kept pouting, "My baby!  My baby!"  It was amazing to see the immediate, heaven-made connection.

We knew we liked the name Adria before she arrived.  Whenever we got asked if we had a name chosen I would respond, "We like the name Adria- -Adri for short."  I never told people "We are going to name her Adria" because I knew there was a chance it could change when we saw her.  I didn't actually expect that to happen- -we knew Teryn would be Teryn and Ryder would be Ryder- -so as far as I could imagine, Adria would be Adria.  But when I saw her, I wasn't sure Adria fit.  I asked Tyson and he agreed.  I threw out a couple of other names we'd considered but neither of them fit either.  I asked if she was an Adri and we agreed that Adri fit so then the question was whether we would name her Adria and call her Adri or if we would simply name her Adri.  We slept on it and decided we would stick with Adria and just call her Adri.  Her middle name is Lynne.  Tyson's maternal grandpa's name was Willis Lyn, who passed on the name to his daughter Lynne Michelle, who passed on the name to her son Tyson Lyn, who now passed it on to his daughter, Adria Lynne.  And so she is, Adria Lynne Todd.  Adri for short =0)

My belly at 38 weeks.

 

My belly at 39 weeks and 2 days, just before going to the hospital.  Not a whole lot different from 38 weeks but just for the record.  This was supposed to be my excited face, ha ha.

 

In my gown and ready to roll.

She's here! 

  

 

Her head is too small for her headband, ha ha.