Part III: I kid you not.
Sep. 5th, 2009 03:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gfrancieWhere were we? Yes. I am in labor.
So, there I was. Mr. Jenner, my very calm and together doula (Rochelle has a real knack for this) my nurse (a very pretty and very young blonde girl who had the right kind of energy to tell me when to get things done) and a few other random nurses who came along for the initial fun. They wanted to check the baby's heart again and do a quick monitoring. My lord these people really were interested in her heart-rate. And mine. It proved to be a slightly difficult task because she kept moving about and I kept moving about and so a consistent read wasn't really happening. I may have told the nurse I hated her for making things so difficult. She didn't take it personally.
We did discover a few things. Between the doctor's office and L&D, I had gone from 2cm to 4cm. I will DILATE like nobody's business. She was very very low. (they could feel the hair on her head) I am bearing down without meaning to. So we have everyone trying to get me to concentrate on breathing/moaning/panting... anything but pushing the baby out. (not a good idea to try and do that at 4cm. It does a number on the cervix and I would like to keep the cervix for future use.)
Oh and my water still hasn't broken. I would do my best to "rest" in between each contraction. Mostly it was like clutching to the side of the cliff and feeling grateful that the next wave hasn't crashed against you...yet.
I kept trying to hold off on the drugs. It was probably the biggest struggle I had going on. Trying my damndest not to push (because it wasn't the right time) and battling the very true fact that it felt like my pelvis was trying to burst apart. I could feel her getting lower and lower. It felt so fast and I didn't feel like I could stay in control for much longer. This is one of the more unpleasant aspects of a fast labor. You really do not get any time to adjust/process to the situation. You can only do your best to go with it. Like some waterpark ride. Wooooooooooooooooo there you go. I changed position and oh man did it make things more painful. But it probably helped the progression of labor. I would squeeze Mr. Jenner's hands so hard with each contraction. I am surprised he had hands left. At one point I bit his hand. This my friend is love. The man does not hold that against me. Holding onto his hands was something I could concentrate on. My doula also had her hands on me and it was kind of this safe presence as well. There were a lot of people doing their best to work with the pain. I had to keep my eyes closed. Whenever I opened them I wanted to throw up.
I had a deal with Mr. Jenner where I had to ask for drugs three times (when I wasn't having contractions) before I could have an epidural. Eventually I went that route. I don't feel terribly bad about that. I am pragmatic. I wanted to see if I could last a little longer than last time without the drugs (and I did) but in that moment I didn't know how much longer I could last. I felt like my body and mind had been turned inside out.
Now the stuff with the drugs is funny. They gave me a narcotic while we waited for the nice man to show up. I am still in pain but now I am saying things that make not a lick of sense. I suddenly say, "Turtles". I had this vision in my head of wallpaper with turtles and the turtles began to move. Then I saw little old chinese grandmas with crazy hair walking across a street in the International District. So I say, "Old chinese grandmas...funny hair." Mr. Jenner and Rochelle took it in stride. "Oh hey she is now high." The man who did the epidural was a pro. He was fast and did good work. I was still feeling the contractions but I didn't feel like I was being torn apart. But I still wanted to push. Then I said, "oooh...I am leaking. I think my water just broke." And lo it did. And I then jumped to 7cm.
They also noticed that there was a fair amount of meconium with the amniotic fluid. It wasn't entirely surprising as she was overdue, but she was obviously "stressed". Her heart-rate was also low at various points. And it seems that even during my "psychotic contractions" as the nurse called them, my heart-rate was incredibly chill. They also noticed my blood pressure was on the low side of things, but I did explain that I have always had relaxed blood pressure. Fascinating to know that even when I am on the edge, I have the Jeff Lebowski of hearts.
They told me I couldn't hold Baby Biscuit right away because of the meconium issue and they were going to have some people from the NICU team (as I recall) on stand-by to suction things before she could accidentally aspirate/develop an infection. I was all right for the most part. I had to kind of make myself say it was "okay".
I have a knack for denial.
We were getting near the end. My doctor was on her way. Funny story, it took her awhile to get here because she had knee surgery a few months ago, so even the walk from the office to L&D was also a trial. Obviously I trump her in terms of pain, but it is nice to know it wasn't easy for her either.
My heart-rate was still low and so they ended up giving me some oxygen. I found it to be a pain. "fine fine fine...let's just get this baby out."
It was some crowd. Not exactly dinner theater but kind of closer to Punch & Judy with the audience participation. "Come on!!! PUSH!!!" (thankfully fewer hisses and boos than a Christmas Panto)
My doctor made noises about having to use the vacuum because of the Plum's situation.
I proceeded to push out Miss Plum in Two pushes.
Yes.
Two.
On occasion I can be determined. (and hey kegels pay off)
And out she came at 4:22pm.
She was quite a sight. (as you can imagine) They rushed her to one area of the room to make sure she was all right -which she was. She had a powerful set of lungs and she made it very clear that all of this was terribly undignified. I soon got to hold her and she was keen to nurse. "Lady, do you have something to eat, I have had a long afternoon."
I did tell Mr. Jenner on the way to the hospital, "hey if you are lucky I might be able to produce this baby in time for tea." So I was slightly late. But you have to appreciate the effort made so that a man can have a nice cup of tea and a sit down with his new daughter.
I will try and get some more pictures up in the next few days. For now life is nursing, soothing and sitting.
So, there I was. Mr. Jenner, my very calm and together doula (Rochelle has a real knack for this) my nurse (a very pretty and very young blonde girl who had the right kind of energy to tell me when to get things done) and a few other random nurses who came along for the initial fun. They wanted to check the baby's heart again and do a quick monitoring. My lord these people really were interested in her heart-rate. And mine. It proved to be a slightly difficult task because she kept moving about and I kept moving about and so a consistent read wasn't really happening. I may have told the nurse I hated her for making things so difficult. She didn't take it personally.
We did discover a few things. Between the doctor's office and L&D, I had gone from 2cm to 4cm. I will DILATE like nobody's business. She was very very low. (they could feel the hair on her head) I am bearing down without meaning to. So we have everyone trying to get me to concentrate on breathing/moaning/panting... anything but pushing the baby out. (not a good idea to try and do that at 4cm. It does a number on the cervix and I would like to keep the cervix for future use.)
Oh and my water still hasn't broken. I would do my best to "rest" in between each contraction. Mostly it was like clutching to the side of the cliff and feeling grateful that the next wave hasn't crashed against you...yet.
I kept trying to hold off on the drugs. It was probably the biggest struggle I had going on. Trying my damndest not to push (because it wasn't the right time) and battling the very true fact that it felt like my pelvis was trying to burst apart. I could feel her getting lower and lower. It felt so fast and I didn't feel like I could stay in control for much longer. This is one of the more unpleasant aspects of a fast labor. You really do not get any time to adjust/process to the situation. You can only do your best to go with it. Like some waterpark ride. Wooooooooooooooooo there you go. I changed position and oh man did it make things more painful. But it probably helped the progression of labor. I would squeeze Mr. Jenner's hands so hard with each contraction. I am surprised he had hands left. At one point I bit his hand. This my friend is love. The man does not hold that against me. Holding onto his hands was something I could concentrate on. My doula also had her hands on me and it was kind of this safe presence as well. There were a lot of people doing their best to work with the pain. I had to keep my eyes closed. Whenever I opened them I wanted to throw up.
I had a deal with Mr. Jenner where I had to ask for drugs three times (when I wasn't having contractions) before I could have an epidural. Eventually I went that route. I don't feel terribly bad about that. I am pragmatic. I wanted to see if I could last a little longer than last time without the drugs (and I did) but in that moment I didn't know how much longer I could last. I felt like my body and mind had been turned inside out.
Now the stuff with the drugs is funny. They gave me a narcotic while we waited for the nice man to show up. I am still in pain but now I am saying things that make not a lick of sense. I suddenly say, "Turtles". I had this vision in my head of wallpaper with turtles and the turtles began to move. Then I saw little old chinese grandmas with crazy hair walking across a street in the International District. So I say, "Old chinese grandmas...funny hair." Mr. Jenner and Rochelle took it in stride. "Oh hey she is now high." The man who did the epidural was a pro. He was fast and did good work. I was still feeling the contractions but I didn't feel like I was being torn apart. But I still wanted to push. Then I said, "oooh...I am leaking. I think my water just broke." And lo it did. And I then jumped to 7cm.
They also noticed that there was a fair amount of meconium with the amniotic fluid. It wasn't entirely surprising as she was overdue, but she was obviously "stressed". Her heart-rate was also low at various points. And it seems that even during my "psychotic contractions" as the nurse called them, my heart-rate was incredibly chill. They also noticed my blood pressure was on the low side of things, but I did explain that I have always had relaxed blood pressure. Fascinating to know that even when I am on the edge, I have the Jeff Lebowski of hearts.
They told me I couldn't hold Baby Biscuit right away because of the meconium issue and they were going to have some people from the NICU team (as I recall) on stand-by to suction things before she could accidentally aspirate/develop an infection. I was all right for the most part. I had to kind of make myself say it was "okay".
I have a knack for denial.
We were getting near the end. My doctor was on her way. Funny story, it took her awhile to get here because she had knee surgery a few months ago, so even the walk from the office to L&D was also a trial. Obviously I trump her in terms of pain, but it is nice to know it wasn't easy for her either.
My heart-rate was still low and so they ended up giving me some oxygen. I found it to be a pain. "fine fine fine...let's just get this baby out."
It was some crowd. Not exactly dinner theater but kind of closer to Punch & Judy with the audience participation. "Come on!!! PUSH!!!" (thankfully fewer hisses and boos than a Christmas Panto)
My doctor made noises about having to use the vacuum because of the Plum's situation.
I proceeded to push out Miss Plum in Two pushes.
Yes.
Two.
On occasion I can be determined. (and hey kegels pay off)
And out she came at 4:22pm.
She was quite a sight. (as you can imagine) They rushed her to one area of the room to make sure she was all right -which she was. She had a powerful set of lungs and she made it very clear that all of this was terribly undignified. I soon got to hold her and she was keen to nurse. "Lady, do you have something to eat, I have had a long afternoon."
I did tell Mr. Jenner on the way to the hospital, "hey if you are lucky I might be able to produce this baby in time for tea." So I was slightly late. But you have to appreciate the effort made so that a man can have a nice cup of tea and a sit down with his new daughter.
I will try and get some more pictures up in the next few days. For now life is nursing, soothing and sitting.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-09-06 12:12 am (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-09-06 12:16 am (UTC)And turtles.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-09-06 12:48 am (UTC)but bravo! you did a phenomenal job. especially with avoiding that pesky vacuum business.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-09-06 01:05 am (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-09-06 01:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-09-06 01:52 am (UTC)Two pushes! That was legendary.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-09-06 04:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-09-06 06:35 am (UTC)Anyway, our thoughts are with all of you!
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-09-06 06:58 am (UTC)And also, Plum is adorbs and looks vair vair much like Senor Onion already. (Which is never a bad thing.)
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-09-06 07:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-09-06 08:11 am (UTC)Glad all went well for you.
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-09-06 01:00 pm (UTC)Bless you, and welcome Plum!
(no subject)
From:Yay!!!
Date: 2009-09-06 07:16 pm (UTC)Re: Yay!!!
From:no subject
Date: 2009-09-07 12:06 am (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 12:06 am (UTC)grace under pressure
(no subject)
From: