SHE's HERE! - Part 3 - Labor and Deliver

Okay... where was I?

According to Tim, Miss Nurse was chastised a bit by the stand-in doctor... first for calling her in too early... second for calling her in and not having "the table" or other nurses ready.

The contractions were really strong--there was just a LOT of pressure in my pelvis, along with the feeling of needing to push out a huge poop (aka the baby). I don't know if it was the strong pressure that got to me... it was more of the feeling that my legs/feet were cramping up. (I can get warts "burned" off my hands, no problem. But the minute one of my feet begins to cramp up, I'm screaming, "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" So I guess it just depends on what YOU consider "painful".)

Each time a contraction came on, and the "urge to push" began, it was a little hard for me to push "hard" because I felt like if I pushed too hard, it'd make my legs/feet cramp up. Does that make sense?? Anyway...

During each contraction, the doc would slowly count from 1 to 10 in three sets... I had to try and hold up my legs while pushing (AND curl my chin to my chest)... it was a workout! It was nice when Tim could help me hold one of my knees back, but I guess they eventually told him not too... supposedly it "worked" better if I held my own legs... ?

The doc/nurses would tell me "Push, push, push, push, push... Push Hard..." Honestly, it was slightly annoying b/c I had read in one of my books that the body could "push" the baby out on its own, and that if you LET it, you really didn't need to "push". Plus, you're more likely to tear-down-there if you push too fast before your body is ready to deliver the baby.

At one point, my doctor came into the delivery room and switched out the stand-in doctor. (Did I mention that my doc had a family emergency and probably wouldn't be there for the delivery? I guess once her family-thing finished up, she sped back to the hospital and made it just-in-time to deliver Olivia.)

Sometime during the pushing phase, I believe they turned the Pitocin back on to get the contractions more consistent and closer together so the baby would come faster (another "try-to-avoid" situation that some of my books mentioned).

There were points where I was thinking in my head, "I just want this baby OUT! I want this to be over!! When will this end?! Why didn't I just get the epidural? I can't do this anymore! This is all just a bad dream... this is all just a bad dream..." Yeah...I think I repeated the last phrase a few times as I kept my head buried in the pillow next to me. Yes. I kept my eyes closed, my head turned to the left, and my face buried in the pillow. I felt like an ostrich trying to hide my head in the ground (though i don't think ostriches really do that).

It was so annoying (at the time) to hear them say (I'm not exactly sure who "them" is), "Just a couple more pushes. She's almost out," and then to go through one or two SETS of 3 pushing-reps. I thought they said a couple more pushes!! Plus, I overheard someone say something like, "It may be a few more pushes," to someone else in the room.

When the baby was almost born, I think I heard the doctor say that she may need to cut (episiotomy). Honestly, I can't remember exactly what happened around this point... another couple of hard pushes and the baby came out!! (According to Tim, she thought I might tear, so she was thinking she may have needed to cut me... she gave me some numbing shots down there just in case, and then I was able to push the baby out with slight average/"normal" tearing. yeah! no cutting!) Oh, by this time, they had brought out the stirrups, and put my feet/legs in them. I think they made me feel like it was harder to push, though.

I don't remember feeling a "ring of fire" (probably b/c of the shot), but i do remember feeling the baby's limbs pass through... the only way I can imagine describing it would be giving birth to an octopus... it just felt like a lot of limbs being pulled out. Hahaha... kinda gross. sorry. She came out, they wrapped her up, then put her on my stomach. (We can't remember if Tim cut the U. cord before or after this... all he remembers is cutting the cord, and having the doctor tell him to put the scissors down...at least twice. I guess he was in a daze after cutting the cord.)

At the time, I was seriously just thinking, "I'm glad you're OUT!" But it was cool to see the baby's eyes and to see how alert she was. After a few moments, the nurses took the baby to clean her up and take her measurements, and to get a "good cry" out of her. It was a wierd sensation to feel them pull the placenta out.

The nurses began to clean me up, and my doc stitched up my tear. Afterwards, the only male nurse in the room (Rueben) cleaned me up! Slightly wierd...but whatever. My legs and body were shaking. I had gotten so HOT during delivery, but now that it was over, I was freezing! (We had turned down the A/C ealier.) And my body was just SHAKING! It continued to do so for at least an hour afterwards.

We stayed in the Labor/Delivery/Recovery Room for a while afterwards... most of the nurses and my doc left, and a couple nurses stayed behind to clean up and to finish up with Olivia. Tim had a great time watching her in her little bed-table thing.

Finally, our room was ready for us to "move into". I got up, got a new gown, I think I went pee, then got in a wheel chair and wheeled to our room. Finally getting into my hospital bed and getting comfortable was probably one of the happiest moments. :) Haha... the baby was out and healthy, and I could RELAX and ReCOUP!!

SHE's HERE! - Part 2 - Labor

When we got to the hospital, we went up to the Labor and Delivery floor, and they took us to our Labor and Delivery room. Then we waited for our nurse.

The Nurse - It felt like we were in high school. And this girl was too-cool-for-school to talk to us. SO WEIRD! She really wasn't too interested in getting-to-know-you chit chat. She always seemed to be on the defense. She just seemed very I'm-the-nurse-you're-the-patient. Her attitude was a bit of "*I* do this everyday and know what's going on, so you just need to do what I tell you." We really should have asked to switch out for another nurse (but I guess the hospital was having a TON of peeps come in that "waited till after the weekend", and so they were pretty "booked").

Changed into a gown, got in bed. Nurse hooked me up to the IV. Monitored my contractions for a bit. SHE measured my cervix to be 3-4 cm dilated and 70% effaced. Hmmm... Well, I guess it ended up being for about 4 hours (but it went by quick). Our doctor actually had a family emergency up North, but was able to stop in and say Hi. The doctor actually wanted to get me on Pitocin at about 11am so that maybe she'd be able to get there (before heading north) to deliver the baby. But I wanted to hold out. The doc said we could walk around a bit, so we made two rounds around the floor, and some "steps" onto a stepping stool. At about 12:40, I decided to start Pitocin and got it going at about 1pm.

The contractions started becoming closer and more regular, but not unbearable. It was actually pretty cool listening to my HypnoBabies tracks and getting through the contractions. I would actually almost fall asleep between contractions because I was so relaxed!

It started getting "harder" as the contractions became stronger. I changed positions a couple of times that seemed to help at first. Sat on the exercise/birthing ball, stood and rocked with Tim...
The nurse checked me at one point...7 cm dilated.

After "rocking" with Tim a bit, and trying to find another comfortable position (like squatting), it was probably about 3, 3:30ish. The contractions were really strong. It just felt like really STRONG cramps right in my pelvis. I started feeling like I needed to pee... or that I needed to poop. The "cramps" were getting so strong that I decided maybe I should get the epidural. The nurse checked me to see how far along I was... she had a hard time determining... it was either 9cm...or gone. She called the doctor the see what she wanted to do, and I think (if I remember correctly), the doctor said I could start pushing if I felt the need.

I tried pushing on my side for a little bit, and then on my back. It was hard to do! Pulling my legs back, pushing through the contractions. The nurse yelling push push push... Some of the contractions were easier than others... some of them, the pushing felt good... some of them were so tough that I really didn't know how I would get through it.

It was a really interesting sensation... at one point, the nurse called the on-call doctor in, and other nurses. Ugh... maybe it's too close to the event for me to be thinking-back on all these things. :) Taking a break now.

36 Week Appointment

STATS:
135 lbs
Uterus measured 35
90% effaced
3 cm dilated

SO:
My doc was like, "Well, would you like to go the hospital to be monitored?"

We came home instead. She said that I didn't look like someone in labor, so just wait until my contractions begin to get more intense. (While waiting in the waiting room for about an hour, I measured some of my contractions... they were about 10 minutes apart... but I didn't measure how long they lasted).

My sister is hoping and hoping and HOPING that the baby will stay in until Thursday so that she can be there for the birth... but I guess we'll see if we'll even make it through the weekend. :O HOW CRAZY! :)

We stopped at A&W afterwards to grab some grub.

Elephant

I totally feel like an ELEPHANT! hahaha...

Even though I measure myself each week, the numbers don't seem to be increasing very much... but my belly feels HUGE! And so do my thighs! Hahaha! Strangely enough, I don't think my boobs have gotten any bigger. According to Tim, maybe it's because I "milk" myself. J/k.

I'm still lounging around a bit... but my feet and hands are slightly swollen. My ring HURTS to put on AND to take off...so I leave it off.

I purchased an exercise/birth ball the other day from TJMaxx... but I think it might be too soft. How soft/firm are they supposed to be?? I tried pumping it up with more air, but that doesn't seem to help...I think the plastic itself is just soft.

Today I go in for another appointment...I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh! Have had regular BM's all week. Nice! :)

This is how I still wear my "normal" clothes...

Look how far my belly is sticking out! My sister asked me if I'd be taking me pics of myself... Don't know yet. Maybe... it just takes some time and thought, and slight work... but then again, I guess I don't have TOO much to do...just wait...

See how big I am?!? Rolling over in bed is starting to get annoying...well, REALLY annoying. :)

34 Week Appointment (34 weeks and 3 days)

My appointment was originally for later this afternoon, but the PA I was going to see had a family emergency, so we went in earlier to see my actual doc.

Since it was earlier, Tim came home and we went to grab some fast Chinese food.

After waiting in the waiting room for about 15 mins, we were called back to the exam room. Urine sample. Weight (133! Must be all the rice). Blood pressure. Etc.

Then we waited for almost an hour for the doctor to come in.

My cervix is the same as it has been...about 80% effaced and 1 cm dilated. I'll go back in two weeks for another appointment. Phew!

I asked her some Q's about doulas and epidurals...

She said that the hospital I'll be delivering at has one nurse for each patient, as opposed to other hospitals that might assign 3-4 patients to one nurse.

My doc has two kids, and had epidurals for both. She said with the second one, she was thinking of doing natural, but her contractions were harder than the first so she still got an epi. She said she'd allow me to get an epi from 1cm to 6cm.

Hmmm...

33 Week Appointment (Bed Rest Day 7)

So yesterday we went in for my weekly checkup. The wait was loooong. Oh well.

Everything was good!
Weight: 130lb
Blood Pressure: Good.
Baby's Heartbeat: Good...she kept moving around, so it was hard for the nurse to find it and "read" it.
Uterus Size: Good.

I guess I'm dilated 1 cm, and still effaced at about 80%. Still in bed rest...

My doc said that if we can make it to 36 weeks, then she'll take me off the drugs and bed rest.

I must say, it was SO nice to get out of the house. But even then, I started to get tired and just wanted to go home and lay on the couch. :P I guess I should have taken a pic of my "outing". Oh well...

Bed Rest: Day 1... and just one more shot...

Should we always reserve a couple hours when we visit the hospital? For some reason, it always sounds like we're just going to a quick in-out thing. Nope. We went to the hospital for my second shot, and were there for at LEAST an hour and a half. I guess part of the hold-up was that there weren't any standing "discharge" orders for me...so they had to call my doc (or the person on standy-by) to see what they wanted to do with me.
So I guess this was a stress-test for the baby. Everything went perfectly fine. Got the shot in my hip. Ouch. And we were good...

Oh, and this was Day 1 of my bedrest. Went very well! Got setup to remote access my computer at work...nice.

On our way to the hospital, we stopped by my office building and Tim ran up to grab some of my stuff (i.e. my birthday flowers, some of my snacks/treats, my rice heat pack, etc.)

32 Week Appointment

Tim took a pic of me in the waiting room...

Let the fun begin...

We went in for my 32 week appointment today.

Weight: good. 30 lbs.

Blood pressure: good.

Urine sample: good.

Uterus size: good. 31 inches.

Baby's heartbeat: good. 151(? Don't remember what it was exactly).

Things looked great! Chatted with the doc a bit, then Tim was like, "Okay. Cool. Are you going to check her cervix now?"

I don't know if the doc was planning on doing that, but she was like, "Okay, let's do it."

So she checks my cervix. Everything still seems quite fine and dandy... she mentions that it's thinned more and that she's glad that we've still made it this far.

Tim probes her about the thinning cervix thing, and my docs like, "Yeah, it's pretty thin now. Last time it was about 50% effaced, and now it's about 80% effaced."

What?! Tim was like, "Uh, so 'work'. Should she quit?"

And my docs like, "Yeah. Don't go in to work tomorrow. I'll write you a doctor's note."

Woah! Just like that. And I'm done. CRAZY!

She gives me a prescription for something that will reduce my contraction (Braxton-Hicks?), and then sends us over to the hospital across the way to get some shots to stop the contractions AND to help develop the baby's lungs (in case she decides to come sooner-than-later). It sounds like it should be a quick trip.

3 hours later... :P

Another urine sample. Then they put a baby-belly monitor on me and measured my contractions for a while. Then they gave me a shot in each arm (spaced out about 30-60 mins...i don't remember) to stop/reduce the contractions. They monitored my heartrate to make sure it worked right (it made my heartbeat race for a bit, and made me feel jittery for a little while), and then gave me a shot in my hip for the baby's lungs.

Those little shots "stung"! :) Tim couldn't watch the nurse give them to me (even though I asked him to...hehe). When the nurse was going to give me the shot in the hip, Tim's eyes went bug-eyed and he was like, "Woah! That's big!" TOTALLY freaked me out a bit...but it was pretty much the same as the two in my arms. I slapped him (on the arm) afterwards and told him not to scare me next time. ;)

Then the nurse brought me a menu to order some food. She never exactly said how long we'd be there. Tim was starving so he went out and found a vending machine. I ordered some food from the menu...they said it'd take about 45 minutes. So we sat around...and waited... and watched T.V. (Seinfield...the Nazi episode).

FINALLY, it's almost 8pm and the nurse finishes up. She schedules me for the final round of contraction-shots for the next day at 5pm. . OH! And I guess I have a urinary tract infection. Who knew?! She called our doc to let her know the results of our visit, and our doc called in a prescription for some UTI medicine for me. This is getting complicated. :P

On the way home, I called my manager and let her know my situation. We'll see if we can set me up to access my work emails and files from home so I can continue to do design work while on bedrest. Ugh. Bed rest.

It'd be one thing if it were like a "bed-rest-cation'...but I'm supposed to ONLY get up to use the potty, to shower, and to grab something to eat. Otherwise I'm to stay down. No walking around. No shopping. No eating out. No church! :(

My next doc appointment was supposed to be in two weeks, but she wants to see me next week. So more baby updates in one week...

30 Week Appointment

Yesterday, we went in for my 30-week appointment. We actually got in to see the doc an hour after the scheduled time...


The nurse got my:
Urine sample. Good.
Weight. Woah! 131! (After she left the room, I took off my boots and weighed myself again... 128...phew! I'm guessing a lot of it is water-weight, too.) The doctor later said that because I started so light, it wouldn't be terrible for me to gain a total of 40 pounds by the end of the pregnancy...but she said that after this next month, I most likely will not gain anymore weight...something about a "baby growth spurt" that she's seen in a lot of her patients.
Blood pressure. Check.
Baby's heart beat. Strong and loud.


Later, the doctor:
Measured my uterus. Measuring at 29. Very good.
Checked my cervix. Still thin... she said that according to their literature, anything 25cm and smaller calls for extra care and bedrest... I had measured at 26cm at the last appointment, and was still the same at this appointment. Note: when she was checking my cervix, she was like, "Woah, she's really low." Yeah, baby girl (seems to me) has ALWAYS been low. Remember when we tried to get those nice ultrasound pics? She was ALWAYS squishing her face down below...


She advised that I continue to "rest" when I can, and to take things easy. No exercise, no heavy lifting, etc. We'll see how my cervix is in two weeks... she said that she'd be very happy if the baby will stay in for at LEAST another 3 weeks.

29 Week Appointment

So yesterday was another doctor's appointment. We went in early for an ultrasound. Surprisingly, the office was NOT busy that day, so they got us in pretty fast!

The nurse was really nice and friendly. She did all sorts of measurements of our girl--head, arms, chest, legs, etc., and of my cervix. Then she went and brought Tim in to see.

Unfortunately for us, baby girl was having a grand 'ole time hiding her face from us... she was head-down-feet-up, and pushed her face down so we couldn't get a decent 3-D pic of her. :(
She's TOTALLY taking after me! :P

Here are some of the ultrasound pictures... one nice thing: they didn't charge us for the CD this time!

Looks like a "Nuttall Foot" to me!

I think that's her arm and hand up to her face...

It was SO COOL to see her moving around! She's so big! (Well, about 2 pounds). I don't know if you'll be able to see it from the following video, but she had the hiccups. Her head is on the right, and her chest is to the left... you'll see her chest "spasm" out a bit...that's the hiccup. We have another video of just her chest hiccup-ing, but I like this one better b/c you see her head.

So now I know what it feels like when she has the hiccups... I had felt them the other night, but we thought maybe my stomach muscles were spasming b/c the "movement" had a beat...they were consistent. It was cool to feel the same sensation during the ultrasound, and to see them correspond with her hiccupping chest.

After the ultrasound, we went upstairs for my doctor's appointment. Weight and blood pressure--check check. Urine sample--check. Then the doctor came in and went over the baby measurements.

Baby Girl is doing fine! She's just a little small, but perfectly normal (I guess she's in the 41 percentile for her current size/weight). The doctor showed only slight concern at the length of my cervix (the opening of my uterus). She said it measured slightly smaller in the ultrasound, so we did a quick checkup in the office... I guess my cervix is about 20% shorter than "normal" at my stage.

From what I've read on the internet, your cervix shortens, thins, and dilates just before going into labor in preparation for delivery of the baby. SO, ideally, my cervix would NOT be shortening. But it is... so she advised that I should stay off of my feet for long periods of time... on the weekends I should just sit around... I shouldn't exercise, or walk too long, or stand too long, etc. etc. etc. BOOO! She doesn't think I'll need bed rest (at least not yet) but just wants me to be careful. Boo hoo hoo! I was enjoying my (occasional) long walks around the block, or my yoga stretches.

After the appointment, we went back home and hung out for a little while before heading back to work. . I was feeling a bit down for the rest of the day...no more exercise. :(

27 Week Appointment

This morning I went in for my 27 week appointment. What a zoo! My appointments were scheduled for 8:30am (Glucose Test) and 9:10am (meet with Doctor).

Here's what happened...
8:20am - Got to the clinic early. Checked into the blood testing area. Lady took me back, gave me a bottle of orange "soda". Drank it within 5 minutes. She told me to return at 9:27am to get my blood drawn.

8:30am - Checked in upstairs at the doctor's office. The receptionist gal was in training, so it took about 10 minutes longer for her to get me checked in. Finally get to the waiting room.

8:50am - Finally get called back into the office. Give my urine sample. Weight, blood pressure--check, check. (120 lbs!) I tell the nurse that the blood-peeps told me to come back at 9:27am. She says no problem, the doctor will be in shortly. Wait for the doctor...wait for the doctor.

9:20am - Nurse comes in. Doctor isn't in yet...was okay seeing the other nurse practioner (or whatever her exact title is). Sure! She comes in, measures my uterus. I ask her about being sick this weekend, and she said things should be fine (but takes note of it). I guess my uterus is measuring a little smaller than 27, so she wants to schedule me to come back in two weeks for another ultrasound. She grabs the other nurse and tells her to help me setup an appointment, then they rush me back downstairs to get my blood drawn. They tell me to come back upstairs afterwards to finish making the appointment.

9:28am - FINALLY make it back downstairs. Wait for a bit. The lady that gave me the orange soda in the morning opens the side door and calls, "Ms. Zhang?" She looks at me. I say my first and last name. She exclaims, "The last girl had the same first name as you!" She shuts the door, and I hear her rushing around. So there was another asian girl ahead of me (that she thought was ME...so she got HER blood drawn a few minutes early, and I would be getting my blood drawn a few minutes late). After scrambling for a little while, she pulls me to the back room, reprints my tube labels, draws my blood, and says that she just needs to re-label the other gal's blood. Niiice.

9:35am - Run back upstairs. The door to my doctor's area/office is locked, so I head over to the main office/entry/appointment area. They help me check the system and let me know that the nurse did indeed setup an ultrasound and doc. apt. for me in 2 weeks, so I'm good to go.

10:15am - Driving through small roads and medium traffic, I finally make it to work. Phew! Told Tim all about my morning on the cell. He freaked out a little that the baby is a little small (I'm actually a little more excited!) and said that he wants to go with me to the rest of my appointments. (How cute...he just called me and said that he's going to make sure I get enough to eat to make sure the baby is getting enough nutrition).

22 Week Appointment

I always thought the counter on my blog was a week ahead... but my doctor yesterday said that the due date is June 13th (not the 12th), and searching on the net, I guess I'm in my 22nd week. Phew!

So yes, I took a "sick day" from work yesterday and went to my appointments.
Got my teeth cleaned in the morning...no x-rays OR free ZOOM teeth-whitening until AFTER the baby comes.

Picked up Tim from work and hung out for a little while until my doctor's appointment. Aside from the wait in the waiting room, the appointment went quick. Gave a pee sample, got weighed, listened to the baby's heartbeat, and measured from my pubic bone to the top of the uterus. Perfect. Everything is in great working order!

Weight (at the doctor's office): 116 lbs

Am I supposed to stop sleeping on my back? She said no...it won't be until near the end of the pregnancy when I will need to be more careful about sleeping on my back. And waking up with my stomach all "knotted" (from sleeping on my back) is normal. I try and sleep on my sides, but I'll usually wake up on my back.

My doctor's take on inducing: As long as I'm dilated enough, she's happy to setup a day and time to induce...no more than 2 weeks before the due date (or something like that. Tim would probably have it memorized). So if my body were ready, she'd be happy to induce me June 4th. Woah! WIERD!!! (She actually said that though she never pushes or gives the idea to her patients, she actually likes to schedule the day to induce just to make sure she's around for the delivery).

We're having a...

Yeah, you can't tell from the images I've posted...but it's a GIRL!

We were at the doctor's office for about 4 hours. 4 HOURS! They weren't even that busy! Normally, when they're REALLY busy, things go a lot faster. We waited for about 2 hours total...and THEN the ultrasound took FOREVER. The lady was nice enough, but she kept trying to get a good shot of the face...after a while, it was like, "Uh, oKAY! Are you DONE YET?! It all looks the same to me!"

She took some 3D pics and vids of the baby...unfortunately, our baby girl was quite content with keeping her face down, and her hands up by her face. Thus, we have a lovely back shot.

When she was looking to determine the sex, it was perfect (because the baby was upside-down, with her butt up). She brought it up to the screen, and Tim immediately says (quite matter-of-factley), "It looks like a boy."

And the lady was like, "Uh, no. That's a girl."

And Tim's like, "Really?!? But those look like nuts!"

And she's like, "Um, no...that's a girl. You can have the doctor verify it if you'd like...but it's a girl." :) haha...

SO...the question remains...did the "timing method" work?? Hmmm... I told Tim that we'd REALLY be able to know if (next time) we "plan for" and "get" a boy... but now he thinks we should try for another girl first, that way this one will have someone to play with. Oh boy. :P

It was fun calling some of our family members to tell them the good news... Tim got his mom and the phone and teased her by saying that he wasn't going to tell her, but he wanted to tell Dad first. :) I told my brother that we were having an alien, and he said, "Sweeeet! Is it going to have big eyes? A small mouth? And a big head?"

I think they gave us some videos of the ultrasound, too...so I'll have to upload those later.

(Tim thinks she already has his Nuttall-Nose). :D

Tomorrow!!

So tomorrow is the big day! We'll find out the sex of the baby...AND (most likely) our final decision on the name. Woo hoo!

At my first appointment...