And now... The Birth Story

After almost two weeks, I'm finally writing down the birth story of our precious little Brianna! It's amazing how busy a little one can keep you! But, here it is (and it's long... there were lots of details I didn't want to forget)...

On Tuesday, February 16th, I had an appointment with Dr. N who basically decided it was time for Brianna to make her appearance into the world. The official reason that he gave was IUGR, although he was diligent in convincing me that it was nothing to panic about yet. I was 38 weeks, 6 days, about 70 percent effaced, and not quite dialated to a 1. Dr. N was convinced that I was in for a pretty long labor, so he had his nurse schedule our induction to begin Wednesday, February 17th at 7:30pm. In his words, he wanted me to labor all night so that he could deliver the baby during the day and not the night. Gotta love him :-).

After hearing the words "baby" and "tomorrow" in the same sentence, I'm pretty sure my mind didn't work properly for the next two hours. I suddenly felt as if I had a million things to do in the next 24 hours. In fact, I didn't write down the time we were scheduled to check into the hospital and Chris and I couldn't agree on what the nurse had said. We had to call the hospital and ask them what time we were supposed to be there! AND, I was WRONG about the appointment time... SOOOO not like me! I was just so excited/anxious/nervous/happy/scared that I was all out of sorts. After eating at our favorite restaurant in town and buying just about everything Wal-mart had to offer, I spent the night tossing and turning and not sleeping due to sheer excitement. The morning of Wednesday, February 17th, Chris and I both went to work. I spent about an hour tying up some loose ends, then spent almost two hours visiting with my co-workers. I met Chris (who had brought home Panera Bread for lunch) back at home at about 12:30pm. We then had the LONGEST afternoon possible at home! Chris was so anxious... and when he's anxious, he's grumpy... so those 6 hours felt like FOREVER. I was doing okay until we got ready to walk out the door. At that point, my heart started pounding and I teared up. So, Chris and I sat down for a minute on the couch, said a big, long prayer, and then were ready to go.

After checking in at the hospital, we had to wait about 20 minutes before being taken to our labor and delivery room. During this time, Chris (who was still antsy and anxious) accidentally sent out an e-mail that he had saved in his draft folder announcing that Brianna had been born! I was incredibly frustrated with him at this point, and thought that I was going to have to dismiss him from the event altogether. *Sigh*. BUT, he finally calmed down and was WONDERFUL during the rest of the labor and delivery. I'm extremely grateful that he was able to be in there with me because there were several times that I'm not sure what I would have done without him. After getting settled into our room, my nurse for the night, Marcie, came in to put my IV in. I have really gotten over my phobia of needles (after 4 cycles of injections, I didn't really have a choice!), but I CAN'T STAND the thought of needles in my hands. The IV is what sent me over the edge 2 years ago when I had surgery on my ovaries, so when Marcie started to put it first in my wrist (didn't work there) and then in my hand, I'm sure she thought I was the worst patient ever when I almost passed out!

Dr. N had decided to induce labor by starting me on a medicine called Cytotec, administered as a very small pill that is placed next to the Cervix. I received my first dose of Cytotec at about 9:00pm. Shortly thereafter, my college girlfriends arrived to help keep me company. We were having such a good time, just laughing and hanging out, that Marcie said she was being teased about having the "Party Room". She said normally they only hear screams and cursing from those rooms :-). The party left around 10:00pm and my parents, sister, and niece stopped by for a minute around 11:15pm. At that point, I was feeling nothing but tired, but anxious for things to get started.

Marcie checked me again at 12:30am, and I had made ZERO progress although I did have a few contractions showing up on the monitor. Dr. N decided to try another dose of Cytotec before moving on to Pitocin. This is where the night started to get interesting.

I had envisioned a somewhat relaxing night, where I could sleep a little and get some rest, but it was not to be. My body decided it didn't really like the Cytotec. At about 1:00am, Brianna's heart rate plummeted for the first of many times. It went from about 140 to 61 in a matter of seconds. I woke up to 3 nurses rushing in my room, rolling me around, trying to get it back up again. This happened about 3 more times in the next 45 minutes. During this, my blood pressure also dropped to 71 over 52. This also concerned my nurses, who decided to pump as much fluid through my IV as possible to raise my blood pressure. This meant that I was using the restroom about every 10 minutes! The whole rotation of nurses rushing in to monitor baby's heartrate, check my blood pressure, and help me to the bathroom lasted for about 3 hours, so I wasn't able to get ANY sleep at all. At 4:30am, Marcie checked me again, and after all that I had still made ZERO progress. ARGH! Dr. N then decided it was time for the Pitocin.

After getting the Pitocin, I could definitely feel the contractions pick up. While I was in pain, it wasn't unbearable, but it was too much to sleep through. I really wanted a little sleep, so I asked Marcie if they could give me something for the pain even though I wasn't ready for my Epidural yet. She put something (I can't remember what it was) in my IV, said it should be fast acting, and that I may feel like I've had a cocktail. WOW, more like a dozen cocktails! It certainly did work fast and made me absolutely ridiculous! I couldn't even sit up in bed or walk to the bathroom! I told Chris that if he were smart, he would video me. Then I said, "No, if you were smart then you wouldn't video me even though this would be funny later. Wait! It's funny now. AHAHAHAHHAHAH". I also remember talking about scrambled eggs a lot. I was feeling great!

I decided that I wanted my Epidural before the other medicine wore off, just to have something to help me get through receiving it. Although the medicine wore off before the Anesthesiologist got there, I did get the Epi at about 7:00am. I actually did better with that than the IV... silly, I know. At first, the Epi worked great. I was completely numb (strangest feeling) from the top of my belly to the bottom of my feet. Dr. N came in a broke my water (YUCK) around 7:30am. He also checked me, and I was 80 percent effaced and dialated to a 2.

By 10:30am, I was completely effaced and dialated to a 4. Chris's mom was there, as were my parents, my sister, and Chloe. I still hadn't gotten any rest, but was happy that progress was finally being made. I also had a new nurse, Fran (the name has been changed to protect the {not so} innocent). She was something else... very rough and absent-minded. Around 10:00am, my Epi tube came unhooked from my back. I paged her, and after waiting probably at least 20 minutes, I paged her again. She came shuffling in my room, and when I handed her the tube, she tossed it back at me and said, "I'll get to that in a minute." When she tossed it back, the tube hit me in the face! Then, she had my legs turned one way in the bed while she was trying to turn my upper body the opposite way. Finally, she decided to walk around to the other side of the bed! She also kept leaving stuff in my room, so she would come in and out and in and out... until I paged her, then she was no where to be found!

Somewhere along the way, my Epidural stopped working properly (maybe when it came unhooked?). I had gotten feeling back in my legs and could move my feet and toes fully. I could also feel a lot of pain with my contractions. Fran kept insisting that I was feeling pressure, not pain, but I was definitely feeling pain! There was a distinct difference between what I was feeling then, and what I had felt about 30 minutes before (when it was just pressure). Fran finally called the Anesthesiologist to check me. He did something (again, not sure what) that helped a lot for a while. Unfortunately, it didn't last long though.

By 1:00pm, I was fully effaced and dialated to a 10. Fran kept telling me how slow my progress would be, so she was impressed that things moved as fast as they did. Of course, she also told me that she thought the baby was really big, and that I have a curved pelvic bone and she sure didn't know how the baby was going to get around that. So encouraging she was! Dr. N wanted me to continue to labor down so I wouldn't have to push for long, so Fran promised to be in every 30 minutes to check on me. While she didn't come that frequently, she did eventually come back around 2:30pm. She said that she would be back soon and we would start pushing.

Around 3:30pm, Fran came in and said that the lady next door was ready to deliver and she would have to go first because she was having her 2nd child and it would just slide right out. I was in SO MUCH pain at this point that I had really lost my sense of humor and was READY to push. I just wasn't expecting to feel each contraction so strongly, but I certainly was. I think it may have been a little easier if I had been mentally prepared for the pain, but I had registered for my epidural back in October, so I just thought I'd had a mostly pain-free labor. At one point, I'm pretty sure I passed out briefly. Chris says I just fell asleep for a minute, but I don't know how that could be. I was actually really glad that we had taken those birthing classes and learned all the breathing techniques because I used them!

FINALLY, at 4:45pm, Fran came in and we began pushing. It felt so good to push! I had been resisting the urge for well over an hour. Of course, Fran was still being crazy, even when I was pushing. She continued to insist that I didn't feel pain, only pressure. At one point, she was standing on my IV and I had to ask her 3 times to move (Chris finally semi-yelled at her and she moved). Then, she was helping support one leg and dropped it several times. Fortunately, I had some control over my legs and was able to somewhat catch it. Also, at one point, my sock was coming off my foot. I could feel it only half-way on and asked Chris to pull it off. Fran said, "Oh wow, I'm surprised you can even feel that." She also told Dr. N that I was a great pusher because I could feel exactly when the contraction was coming on unlike most patients with epidurals. Hmmmm, maybe that's because my epidural isn't working properly, lady!!!

I was so relieved when Dr. N got there around 5:00pm. He was a much better coach than Fran. I was a little freaked out by all the utensils he had (and by all the blood), so I didn't open my eyes at all while I was pushing. Chris was holding my left leg and my mom was standing on my left side by my head and I was so glad they were there. Fran kept talking about eating a Catfish dinner (BLECH), but I was in the ZONE trying very hard to ignore her. I hadn't eaten in over 24 hours and hadn't slept in even longer than that, but I was pouring every ounce of energy into pushing. After about 25 minutes of pushing, at 5:15pm, Brianna finally arrived and I heard her sweet little cry.

My crazy doctor and Brianna, fresh out of the womb:I was still really freaked out when she came out, so I didn't open my eyes and look at her for at least 3 minutes. Dr. N (who was trying to get me to open my eyes) said, "C'mon Michelle, you've got to look at your handsome little boy!" From that point on, Fran thought the baby was a boy and kept calling her a boy! She even filled out some of the paperwork incorrectly and in the Sunday paper it said, "Chris and Michelle N, Ourtown, Boy". She was seriously SO frustrating!

I did finally open my eyes and look at my little dream-come-true (Chris had already cut her cord by the time I could look). I couldn't believe all the hair she had! She almost immediately started sucking her fingers... something we saw her do in the womb on an ultrasound and something she still does. The nurses gave her a mohawk... Chris was less than impressed *grin*. It is truly amazing how quickly the pain diminished once I was holding my baby. I could suddenly smile again!

Right after she was born, a few people came in to see her. The nurses wanted me to order food from the cafeteria and eat before they cleaned me up and moved us to a post-partum room. Of course, when we tried to order food the first time, Fran had not yet released me in the computer to eat, so we had to wait 20 minutes and try again *rolls eyes*.

Grampy and Brianna:

She was wide awake after being born!

Meme and Brianna:

The very proud daddy, Papa, and Brianna:Aunt Lisa, Cousin Chloe, Momma, and Brianna:
Christie, Callie, Momma, and Brianna:

My mom was with me through the whole delivery, but there are NO photos of her holding Brianna during those first moments. So sad! So, here is a photo of them after we brought her home:
She weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces, and was 21 inches long.We did finally get moved to a room later that night. I seriously felt like I would never move again, but by the next morning, I was up taking a shower and fixing my hair. I was so amazed at how quickly I felt like getting up and moving around.

We did send her to the nursery both nights we were in the hospital. I felt bad, but I couldn't do anything but stare at her when she was in the room, and I NEEDED sleep. She was a great nurser from the start, and ate every 3 to 4 hours in the hospital (that's still her schedule).

We were blessed with lots of visitors in the hospital. Kendall brought these awesome cookies with Brianna's name on them!

Chris has been great with her! He had never changed a diaper before, but he jumped right in there in the hospital and took care of business. He has been incredibly helpful to me!I could just sit and stare at her all day!

On Saturday, February 20th, at about noon, we were released to go home. We didn't actually make it out of the hospital until about 4:00pm (the nursery forgot about us), but we were home by the time she was about 48 hours old.

Ready to go home in my pretty little dress:

I did cry a little when we left the hospital, but nothing too bad. I was just so happy to be bringing her home after all this time! We have been adjusting so well as a little family so far. She is just such a blessing to us... there are truly no words!!