I haven't updated in a while, but I *hope* to do it more frequently as now that Molly is here! The following is the story of her birth, a successful VBAC!
Molly’s Birth
After an 8 hr labor, Molly Elizabeth joined the world via successful VBAC!
I woke up at 4am on Friday to my first contraction. A few minutes later, I felt another. I started timing them and realized they were
about 3 mins apart. I timed them for about an hour and noticed they were
increasing in intensity and frequency, between 2 and 3 mins apart. I woke up M,
he helped me through them for about 15 mins, and then we decided to head to
L&D. He jumped in for a quick shower while I grabbed the last things for
our hospital bag. M grabbed Liam and then we all went downstairs. The boys
moved the car out of the garage while I waited inside, I had a feeling my water
had broken and when I checked, I wasn’t gushing but I was definitely leaking
fluid. Away we went!
We get to the hospital, I go straight into L&D triage
while M checks me in. I get hooked up to the machines, the nurse goes to check
if I’m leaking AF and the test turns positive immediately. Less than 5 mins
later, I get taken to my delivery room!
I get all situated in my room while M takes Liam to get some
breakfast. My parents show up and take turns taking Liam for walks around the
hospital. All this time, I’m having contractions 1-3 mins apart and they’re starting
to really hurt. Because we had shown up at the hospital around 6:30, we got a
new nurse due to the shift change. {{Completely coincidentally, we actually had
the same nurse we had for Liam’s delivery and we all remembered each other,
which was really cool.}} I get checked out by one of the MWs and discover I’m
at 4 at 7am. I get hit with a bunch of really strong contrax on top of each
other, can barely breath or move, and ask to get checked again, just out of
curiosities sake. In half an hour, I moved to 5cm and completely thinned. I’m
getting really discouraged by the pain but don’t want to give into pain meds
yet. I’m having a really hard time controlling my breathing and pushing away
the pain, I try different laboring positions and using a birthing ball, but it
got to the point that it was too much for me to be able to handle. I was having
a lot of pain in my right hip as each contraction came on and it lingered as
they left and I couldn’t take it anymore. I ask for an epi. The nurse checks me
before it gets administered to find I’ve moved to 7cm in about an hours’ time.
I get the epi around 8:45, and felt relief almost
immediately. I was still having bad pain in my hip with each contraction,
although I couldn’t really feel them in my pelvis anymore. They propped me up
on my right hip to help relieve some of the pressure. It worked for the hip
pain, but I ended up getting more of the meds into my left leg and it became
completely dead. I could wiggle my toes, but that was it. I had to have help
moving it around to get comfortable, but I found it completely fascinating
rather then annoying. My MW (they switched at 8am and I ended up getting the
one I absolutely loved!) wanted me to get some rest since we’d be having the
baby soon. I was able to take several catnaps and definitely felt refreshed and
rejuvenated.
I
ended up getting really sick and vomited a few times. The nurse gave me a Zofran
to help with that, because any time I moved I felt like I was going to get sick
again. By now it was about 11am. I got checked again and was completely dilated
and effaced, but the baby hadn’t moved down yet. I labored down for about 15-20
mins and then it was time to push! I was no longer propped up on my hip, as my
legs were in the stirrups (mainly because I couldn’t hold my left leg up at
all) and so while I couldn’t really feel the pain of the contractions, I was
able to feel the pressure in my hip and used that to know when to push. I could
feel her crowning and kept asking if she had hair, they said yes and I actually
reached down and touched it, it was a really cool! Less than an hour of pushing
and Molly Elizabeth was here! We had given her a deadline of making her arrival
by noon but she decided to come at her own time at 12:09. She immediately went
on my chest for skin to skin and I couldn’t stop staring at her, she was
beautiful! She looks so much like Liam when he was a newborn but at the same
time she’s completely her own person. M cut the cord once it stopped pulsing,
and then I snuggled her some more. The nurse and MW let us take as long as we
wanted to just sit there with her, it was an amazing time. They finally took
her, cleaned her up, weighed her, all that good stuff. 6lbs, 13oz, 19in long
and perfect. While that was happening, I was getting my 2nd tear all
stitched up.
It turns out that the intense contractions and hip pain were
due to Molly facing my right hip almost the entire time. She didn’t turn until
her head was about halfway out. Knowing that now, it makes complete sense.
Once we were both all set, Liam came back in to meet his
baby sister. He immediately climbed onto the bed next to us, leaned over and
gave her a big kiss! Then he sat back and just stared at her, giggling at all
her little movements. It was the sweetest thing and completely made me melt.
Once Liam went home with his aunts, we waited to get into
our postpartum room. I really wanted to take my IV out, but the nurse wouldn’t
let me until I peed twice. Due to the effects of the epi on my left leg, I
couldn’t bear any weight on it. I ended up having to take a wheelchair to the
bathroom. She took me to get cleaned up and try but my bladder was literally
too full. I ended up having to get a cath and apparently I have a huge bladder. She compared it to bladder
of a person at least twice my size. Once that was done, it didn’t count and I
still had to do it twice on my own. I did end up getting it out around 2am on
Sat though, mainly because I had to wait until the nurse did another check on
me vs just checking the baby. By 8pm Fri
night, I was able to completely walk on my own and didn’t need assistance.
Granted, it really hurt to walk due to the stitches, but it was nice to have
the freedom to move.
Molly has been a fantastic nurser, as of right now, no
issues with her latch or anything, which has been a nice change from newborn
Liam. We were able to go home on Sat, when she was about 26 hrs old. It’s been
so nice to not be stuck in the hospital.
Looking back, labor was not what I had envisioned at all. I
had wanted to go pain med free and I wasn’t able to achieve that, however once
I got the epi, my whole attitude and outlook on delivery changed. I realized
that I WAS going to have my VBAC and it was going to be amazing. I don’t feel
that I gave up by getting the meds but rather I did what I needed to in order
to get what I wanted. Molly’s birth experience is probably one of the things I
am most proud of being able to accomplish and I would do all again in a
heartbeat! 