ava mae birth story: part 1

on Monday the 4th i went to the doctor for my 40 week appointment and to check on baby girl to make sure she was still head down.  as usual, i had the ultrasound first and then met with the nurse practitioner (my doctor was out of town for the week.)  i started to get worried when the ultrasound tech got really quiet and stopped talking to me…which i have had the same lady this whole pregnancy and she’s always very friendly.  when i asked her if everything was ok, she told me i would need to talk to the doctor. 

of course when i got into the room i was totally freaked out and worried about the baby.  the nurse practitioner was quick to tell me the baby was ok, but that my fluids were very low (around a 1-2 i think) and we needed to monitor the baby immediately and start induction the next morning.  my body was completely not prepared for labor, so my induction would be a two step process:  cerdavil (don’t know how to spell that) and pitocin. she debated on sending me straight to the hospital but finally decided that i would be ok to go home, eat one last meal (before noon) and then come back up with my stuff.

last bump pic...right before i left for the hospital 

                                              

oliver was at a lunch n learn across town so i went home and got my stuff and headed back up by myself.  i also took my last bump pic of this pregnancy!  i was a little scared at this point, but checking into the hospital and getting my antepartum room was super easy and pretty quick i was just sitting in there bored.  finally my nurses came in to insert my IV and to get me on the fetal monitors for the baby.  i got lucky (sarcasm) and got a new nurse, who promptly messed up my IV and sprayed blood all over me and the bed and my gown.  i had to change into a new gown within minutes of being there.  after about an hour oliver showed up, and the two of us just hung out for the rest of the day and evening and waited for our L&D room.

i was told to not eat anything past noon because the medicine they would insert into me would need an empty stomach for at least 8 hours.  we were aiming to get into L&D by 8PM and have the cerdavil overnight, and then start the pitocin in the morning. well, we waited and waited and waited…and finally at 11PM my nurse gave me an ambien and told us to try to sleep for a little bit because L&D was full and they didn’t have a room for us.  at this point i was starving and had only had ice chips since noon, so i tried to sleep and relax.  

around 1AM our nurse came back in and told us that my room was ready and we needed to go ahead and move over.  so we got all our stuff and i was wheeled to my L&D room. my new L&D nurse inserted the cerdavil and oliver and i tried to get some sleep.  at 5AM the nurse removed the cerdavil, and started me on pitocin.  at this same time, the doctor on call, Dr Kelly, came in and broke my water.  We were definitely going to have a baby today!!!  

at 7AM we got our new L&D nurse, Jenny, and she was AMAZING.  she let me have popsicles and ice chips (remember no food since noon monday) throughout the day.  oliver and i really connected with her, and at the hospital we had the baby its a 1-on-1 relationship between the L&D nurse and the patient.  so she was 100% focused on us and the baby. we had lots of visitors at the hospital waiting on her arrival:  my mom and dad, oliver’s mom and stepdad, his brother, my sister and the kids, and his grandma.  throughout the day we would cycle in 2 people at a time into my L&D room to visit.  

grandma and sheila visiting in L&D 

oliver and me waiting on baby 

we started the pitocin and began to watch contractions on the monitor.  they weren’t at all painful for me throughout the morning, and i was content to just munch on ice chips, hang out and talk to family, and listen to music.  around lunchtime everyone went to get food and i tried to nap, unsuccessfully.  i was getting checked intermittently and wasn’t making much progress.  i went from a 1-2, and then a 2-3….but it was SLOOOWW going.  at one point my L&D nurse snuck me a rainbow popsicle because the ones i was eating were sugar free and i just needed some sugar!!  

after lunchtime my contractions started to get more painful and it got to the point where i couldn’t talk through them and needed oliver next to me to get me through.  this went on for an hour or so, when finally nurse jenny recommended we get the epidural.  my body was worn out from the pitocin and lack of food and sleep, and jenny thought that relaxing me might help progress.  i was TERRIFIED of the epidural—moreso than anything else.  but we had the “fastest epi doc” doing rounds that day, and he was in and out so fast that i barely felt a thing!!  it was soooo easy. easier than the IV.  once that was done i could feel my legs and feet and move them somewhat, but i couldn’t walk or feel any pain.  i figured it would be smooth sailing from there and we would have a baby that evening.


to be continued......