Eleanor Jean Smith..... A Birth Story

Disclaimer: This is my birth story, if you don't want all the nitty gritty details, stop reading here. I won't get super graphic but this is about my labor and birth soooo it can't be a disney movie.

Sunday started out like any other day. We got up, got dressed and had breakfast and took Henry to the zoo! We wanted to pass the time until we went in for our induction at 8pm, have fun with Henry and enjoy the beautiful weather and if I was lucky, get some contractions rolling before we went to the hospital. We got 5 minutes from our house and Henry gagged and threw up in his car seat. It was watery so we thought oh he just had his fingers in his mouth and gagged. We turned around, got him cleaned up, swapped out his car seat for the other one and hit the road again. He was acting fine and had no fever. So to the zoo we went.

We had fun walking around and got to see the penguins march around their building. It was time for lunch so we grabbed a quick bite to eat and then planned on doing more zoo until it was time to leave for nap time. Henry wouldn't eat his hot dog or anything else but an applesauce. I went to the bathroom and when I came back, found Henry had thrown up again, so home we went. I immediately started to feel aweful for leaving him to go have this baby if he was sick (side note: we started zyrtec daily thinking this random puking once a week thing is post nasal drip and irritation to his tummy. It worked and no puking since). He took a great nap and so did I.We took one last picture of Henry on his toddler perch (i.e. my belly)

Then we got ready for the hospital and to take Henry and Cora to Taylor's parents house. We took the last chalkboard picture and some of our family together.

Just for fun, here is the comparison of Henry and Eleanor baby bumps each on the way out the door to the hospital. 

 

Taylor and I went to dinner together for one last little date before we had two kids. We went to Pei Wei because it sounded so good and good it was! YUM! Then we walked around Target for awhile to kill time and got some Sheridan's frozen custard. Off to the hospital we went!

We got checked in and settled into room 5408.

My doctor wanted to start my induction with cytotec like she did with Henry. We had the same nurse, Nikki, that we had when I was induced with Henry. That made me so happy that I knew her and loved her the first time and I felt comfortable already. I knew I was in great hands. I got my IV put in (18g.....OUCH!)

but she got it on the first try and got my labs collected from it and sent. I got hooked up to the monitors and Eleanor was doing great (which I asked poor Nikki about 4,000 more times that night just to make sure).

I expected the labor to be long like Henry's and to deliver the next day even though I knew second babies could come faster than your first. So I settled in for the long haul. I got induced at 8pm with Henry and didn't have him until 11:56 the next morning. I also knew we were looking at a much bigger baby that felt nowhere near low enough to come out. I also wasn't contracting at all (I was contracting every 2 minutes when I showed up for my induction with Henry). So Taylor turned on the TV, checked out his chair/bed and we just hung out and waited.
9:30- Once I got settled and everything hooked up to me, the resident checked me and I was 1cm and just having random irregular crampy stuff, no real contractions. They placed the first cytotec and we waited for a minimum of 4 hours until they would check me again and see what to do next.
10:00pm- I was sitting there not really doing much and I was getting impatient. I honestly felt so far away from having her and that was getting annoying. I'm not very patient, especially when I'm excited about something. I remember thinking, dear lord she's still in my chest, there is no way this will happen any time soon. I was laying there wondering how she was ever going to drop that low to actually come out and if she would even fit. I was getting nervous about her potentially getting stuck and that would mean c-section and I am literally terrified of a c-section. Terrified. I remember feeling like Henry was literally in my crotch at the end and she totally wasn't, even though they told me that they both were -2 station (how low the baby is in the pelvis). I just wanted the contractions to hit so I could start breathing through each one and move on to the next, each one a step closer to having our little girl.
11:00pm- The contractions were getting uncomfortable, just crampy and totally doable. I tried to fall asleep and Taylor went to sleep too. I needed him to rest so he could help me when the going got tough in the wee hours of the morning. But I was too excited to sleep myself and just as I was drifting off, the contractions got stronger, I had to pee and flip sides because my hip was starting to hurt that I was laying on. I knew at that point there would be no sleep and things were starting to happen, yay!

12:00am- "OUCH! I forgot that this really does suck." I texted my friend Kristen. I was still talking and texting and joking around, but I had to breathe through contractions now. In and out. In and out. I just tried to slowly stay calm and get through each one calmly and quietly in the dark room while Taylor slept. I wanted to just work on getting this baby out by myself for awhile. I don't love pain but I did this with Henry too and I love just feeling the last little movements in my belly and savoring the last moments of being pregnant. I prayed for the baby and for the delivery itself and for the staff while I labored in the dark. This labor felt so different from Henry's already because I had horrible back labor with Henry. These contractions were all in my hips, pelvis and crotch. Lots of pressure and tight cramping pain vs. a knife in the spine type pain. I was thrilled things were starting to amp up a bit, and that I wasn't having back labor. Hopefully that meant she was facing the right way (unlike her brother) and that meant I was closer to getting this over with and meeting my girl.
2:00am- They checked me since it was time after my cytotec dose. I was 2.5cm which was progress and good improvement without having to be on pitocin. I was contracting too much on my own to do another round of cytotec so they decided to start pitocin and really get things going. I wasn't in enough pain to get my epidural yet but I've heard pitocin contractions are aweful so I was trying to mentally prepare myself for that. I think Taylor woke up at that point when they turned the lights on to check me because I remember him being a part of all this after that point.
2:30am- I asked for a dose of fentanyl because I was really starting to hurt now and I knew it was just going to get worse when the pitocin started. Nikki started the pitocin on the lowest dose and gave me the peanut ball to put between my legs. It looks like an huge circus peanut made out of exercise ball material and the goal is to place it between your knees to help open up the hips and pelvis while laying down and allow baby to continue to move down. This paired with lots of movement was supposed to help labor go more quickly so I kept getting up to go to the bathroom and then switching sides that I was laying on to help move around. The contractions were getting much more intense but still doable. I couldn't talk through them anymore but I could breathe and get through them without too much trouble.
4:00am- Wow the contractions were starting to really get me. The fentanyl worked the first round and I was hoping I could have more. I really wanted to wait as long as possible before I got my epidural because I wanted to move and get things going. I still was so fearful that she wasn't going to come down though I could feel much more downward pressure and I knew something was at least trying to happen. I kept flipping side to side and could not get comfortable so I asked for more fentanyl and to change positions to something else. Lynzee (another nurse) offered me the birth ball and I was so excited to get out of my bed and be upright and not be on my hips anymore. I felt like they were going to explode or shatter apart or something.
4:45am- I got up and onto the ball. I never thought sitting up on a ball could feel so dang good but it just let pressure off my back and hips and I could feel everything focusing downward instead which was a great change and just what I needed. I was leaning forward onto the edge of the bed and really had to moan and breathe and make noise through each of the contractions now. I never really experienced that with Henry. I went from just fine to holy moly this hurts my back, get me the epidural, I'm done. But I never really felt more than an hour of really intense painful contractions with him and that was all while I was waiting for my epidural. These I was proud of myself for getting through one at a time. I'm no crazy person, I still wanted my meds but something about really feeling the experience this time and knowing that I was moving close to my goal of delivering my baby was very empowering for me. I was so excited I was really doing this labor thing.
5:00am-  So remember how the pain and pressure started to turn downward when I sat up and got on the ball, yeah well it was starting to REALLY hurt. I was starting to kind of whine/ moan through contractions and decided to wave my white flag. I hit my call light and asked for my epidural. I was wiggling and bouncing and swaying my pelvis on the ball through the whole thing trying to escape the pain and pressure and I distinctly remember Nikki telling me with Henry that if I didn't think I was going to be able to sit still for my epidural in 20 minutes, I needed to ask for it now. So ask I did.
5:10am- Nikki hadn't even come into the room to check on me yet and Taylor hit my call light again, this time because I felt a pop (kind of like my hip popped type sound/ feel) and then hot water in between my legs. WHAT THE HELL?! I'm 28 years old, did I just pee myself on a ball at my work in front of my coworkers? EMMMMMBARASSING. Until I realized that the little trickle became a gush and that gush did not stop for a solid couple minutes. Nikki came rushing in and said "okay, anesthesia was just up here so they should be right in, let's do this!" My contractions were really rocking and rolling and man did they get SUUUUUUPER painful the second my water broke, she obviously came down onto my cervix when the fluid disappeared and each contraction got her pushing further and further down and wow it hurt. So bad. Nikki, Lynzee and Taylor got me into bed, they checked me and I was at 4cm (making progress yay!) and then sitting on the edge of the bed for my epidural.
5:30am-The anesthesiologist came in and got prepped and asked if Taylor was squeemish. He denies he is and said he was fine but I needed him now more than ever and made him sit on a stool in front of me so that he didn't see anything or pass out. I had one foot on his knee and held his hand and Nikki's and squeezed for dear life through my contractions and when they put the epidural in. I have no idea how long it really took but it felt like 5 minutes tops. I think I only had 2-3 contractions while he was getting it in so it couldn't have been that long. The guy was good! Thank God.
6:30am- The resident came in and checked me. Obviously I wasn't paying attention to my contraction strip but they were out in the nurse's station and I must have been rocking and rollin' because all of a sudden (only an hour after they checked me last). They wanted to check again. I gladly let them. She said "9+, let's have this baby Lauren!" WHAT?!? I went from 4cm to complete in an hour? Are you kidding me? Wasn't this kid supposed to massive? Wasn't she supposed to get stuck and not come down? I was shocked! I was so excited. I think I remember clapping for myself and cheering a little without shame. Yay! she was really going to come out now. Woo!!!!! So they sat me up strait in bed to help me labor down and help her continue to fall and man I felt pressure again. With Henry my epidural had me completely numb. I literally couldn't feel a dang thing. This time I could feel tons and tons of pressure and like they say, like I needed to go to the bathroom, but Nikki reassured me that I didn't and that it was baby coming. The resident called Dr. Steinbis to see if she was on her way to the hospital yet and she was but was still a good ways away. They turned the pitocin drip off and I happily hit my epidural bolus button a bajillion times, just to be sure I was good and numb. Taylor took this picture as I was just getting ready to push. I was so excited to meet her!

7:00- My new day shift nurse came in, her name was Leigh and she was so sweet. She and the unit coordinator got things ready for delivery and Dr. Steinbis came in and got ready to go.
7:30am- I started pushing and remember having my eyes shut the majority of the time, Taylor at my head whispering encouragement to me and Dr. Steinbis at my feet talking me through each contraction and each nurse helping me hold my legs. It was so nice having it be just the 5 of us in there, quiet and calm. I pushed as hard as I possibly could knowing the only way to stop the pressure and get her out safely was to do this quickly. I knew in the back of my head she could still get stuck if she was a big baby. I waited in between contractions and actually felt the urge to push this time and loved that I could tell my body was working on this and it wasn't just all in my head. I pushed again and Dr. Steinbis told me her head was half way out but that her shoulders were stuck behind my pubic bone. SHIT!!! I knew exactly what that meant and her calm reassuring voice suddenly turned very serious and stern. "Lauren, hold pressure for just a second, her head is half way out, her shoulders are stuck, we are going to help you, but when I tell you to push, you've got to get her out okay?" I started to panic a little but luckily was so wrapped up in the moment that I didn't completely freak out, honestly there wasn't time. Before I knew it Steinbis asked if I felt another contraction coming, which I did and then the nurse literally jumped with half of her body on to my belly as I pushed and we pushed together and Eleanor fell below my pubic bone, one more push and out she came.

 Eleanor Jean Smith was born at 7:38am. After only 8 minutes of pushing that seemed like much much longer. She was blue and limp and not breathing (which didn't freak me out because a ton of babies are born that way and I see it at almost every delivery I go to). I cut her cord and they threw her up to my chest and started to dry her off and stimulate her to breathe. While she was trying to breathe, Taylor had stopped. He was terrified and luckily I couldn't see his face because he was up behind me. I helped dry her off and get her going and kept saying "take her to warmer if you need to, taker her over there if you need to". They reassured me they could get her to breathe and between the three of us nurses she started to cry. The most beautiful little raspy cry ever. I was so relieved and apparently so was Taylor. I looked up and he had tears in his eyes, he was scared to death. I've never seen him look like that and I never want to again. I feel awful that I scared him but so proud of myself that I got her out quickly. Dr. Steinbis congratulated us and went to clinic since I didn't need any stitches and just left us time to snuggle our girl and relax. She told us before she left that Eleanor definitely had what's called a shoulder dystocia. That's where the baby's shoulders get stuck like hers did. It can cause lots of damage from nerve damage in the arm that got stuck to broken arm, clavicle and even brain damage if the baby is stuck too long and isn't getting oxygen. We normally time a shoulder dystocia like that but thankfully it was so fast we didn't even need to and NICU wasn't even called like they normally would have been. I'm so thankful it was fast and easy to fix so she ended up okay. She has no injuries from getting stuck just a little bruising. I snuggled her skin to skin and almost immediately she started to root and try to eat so I fed her and she latched on like a champ and ate for 45 strait minutes the first time. I was so proud of my big girl! The best part was that Nikki stayed after her shift a few minutes to be there when she was born and see her. So fun!

 Look how blue and bruised she still was. Poor girl. (she was breathing at this point I promise)

  Chunky monkey took up the whole warmer. I was dying laughing.

Jamie was the mother/baby nurse that was working in the full term nursery that day and she came in and did an assessment on her while she was nursing and eventually put her on the scale and did her newborn medications and first blood sugar. I guessed she was 9lbs 6oz. Taylor guessed 10lbs. We weighed her and sure enough 10lbs 2 oz of beautiful baby with a full head of long thick dark brown hair. Here is proof

Her birth (and her brother's) have been the greatest moments of my life. I know having a baby hurts but it's temporary and worth every second to get the best reward God could ever give. It's such a moment of love and euphoria and exhaustion and adrenaline and I remember thinking with both kids, especially Eleanor "I am woman, hear me roar!" and felt like super woman for getting my baby out safely and quickly. Her birth was an incredible experience for me and I am so thankful I was able to avoid a C-section and that we both were okay. Welcome to the world baby Eleanor, we are so happy you are here and can't wait to share each and every day with you from here on out. We love you baby doll!