Maya's Birth Story (Part 2)

Labor and Delivery

I was in the labor and delivery room by 12:15 p.m.  My midwives got me all hooked up to the blood pressure machine, checked baby and did an internal.  I was still about 3 cm dilated and very soft.  They told me that they wanted to first try and break my water to see if that would put me into labor before starting a Pitocin drip.  As they tried, there wasn’t much of a bulge for them to get the “crochet hook” in there as Maya’s head was pressed up right against it. 

They called in the resident OB and she gave it a try.  She also couldn’t do it, so they suggested we just start the Pitocin drip. 

By 1:15, I had my IV in and the Pitocin started (side note: getting an IV is painful, especially when you’re like me and don’t have really good veins.  And, especially when they have to do it twice…).  They started me on a low dose of Pitocin and said they would up it every ½ hour until things started picking up. 

At 1:45, I had felt a few minor contractions, but not much.  I talked through them all and almost forgot to tell my midwife that they had happened.  She upped the Pitocin.

At 2:00, my water broke.  Derek had left to get some lunch so he missed that part. 

At 2:30, my contractions started to pick up.  More painful, closer together.  I changed positions, starting on the ball (hated that as it was a lot of back labor!) so I ended up kneeling on the bed leaning up against the inclined part of the bed.  I was “comfortable” here for awhile.  Derek was pushing against my hips to help with the back labor.  That made it feel better. 

At 3:15, we moved to the birthing tub.  I was so grateful that I could still get in the tub even after being induced.  The water felt really nice.  I was in there with everything still attached to me (IV plus a couple of monitors: one for baby’s heartbeat and one for contractions) and it was really awkward and really annoying, but the water felt nice. 

I labored on my back in the tub for 35 minutes.  The contractions were pretty intense and the only thing I didn’t like is that no one had access to my back to help it feel better so I put my hands back there during the contractions.  At one point, my midwife asked if they were progressing and I said that they were staying pretty consistent with intensity.  She said she wanted to monitor it because she didn’t want me to plateau while in the tub.  Literally the next contraction was 10 times worse and I looked at Derek and said, “I don’t think I’m going to plateau!”

A couple contractions later, through shallow breaths, I told Derek and my midwife that I just knew how much harder and worse these were going to get.  In my mind, I knew that I had only been at this for a couple of hours so it had to get worse and worse and I really didn’t know if I could do it.  That’s what I meant when I said that, but no one really understood me.

Another couple contractions later and I felt like I needed to push.  I didn’t really trust myself though.  I kept saying, “I don’t know, I don’t know!” Before the midwife could check me to see if I was really ready, I just started pushing.  I didn’t even do it consciously, it just happened. 

After that contraction, my midwife said she had to go get the nurse because the other midwife wasn’t going to make it.  She also said “Don’t have her without me!”

When she came back, she looked at Derek and quietly said “This is it. She’s going to be pushing now.” I think Derek might have just gotten back from getting me water or something and that’s why she was telling him. I’m not sure; I was pretty focused on other things.

I don’t know how many times I pushed. Maybe 3 or 4.  I know I was only pushing for about 8 minutes.

Maya was born, in the water, at 3:58 p.m. and was immediately brought up and put on my chest.  The overwhelming emotions that ran through me at that moment are indescribable.  Derek was behind me and he was doing his emotional happy laugh saying, “You did it! She’s here!”

It took her a little while to cry but her eyes were wide open and I had heard a little gasp, so I wasn’t worried.  In fact, I loved how peacefully she was born!  She eventually let out a little cry and immediately turned nice and pink!

We stayed at the hospital for 3 hours and then were discharged.  I loved this part of having midwives.  Being able to come home so quickly was really nice.  There's no place like home!!!  

Sam got to meet Maya before going to bed.  She was so excited and kept squealing “Baby sister!” while pointing at the car seat as we brought her in.  

First thing she did was touch her hand.  I think they're going to be good friends! 

We took a few family pictures, and we learned quickly how hard it’s going to be to do pictures with 2 kids!

Maya was lucky enough to have both sets of grandparents here when she arrived home from the hospital.  What a lucky girl!

 Overall, the adjustment so far has been great. I’ve had my mom and Derek here full time so Sam and I have both been taken care of! 

I’m a little worried about what I’ll do come Monday when they are both gone, but hopefully I’ll be a little more recovered and we’ll have a few more things figured out so all goes smoothly!

Here are a few more pictures from the day she was born:

 We are in love!

Maya’s Birth Story (Part 1)

Leading up to the birth

I wanted to write this down while it was still fresh in my mind. 

Maya Michelle Lee was born on Sunday, March 2, 2014 at 3:58 p.m.  She weighed in at 7 lbs 10 oz and was almost 21 inches long!  She is absolutely beautiful and we are already in love!!!

Her birth story did not go as I had planned, but I still think I can say I would rather it than my labor and delivery of Samantha!!

My mom arrived on Friday, February 28 when I was 41 weeks, 2 days.  I also had an ultrasound scheduled for that day so I couldn’t pick her up from the airport.  While my mother-in-law Judi took Sam to get my mom, I was learning that baby was still happy and healthy inside.  I still had enough fluid, she was “practice breathing” and she weighed approximately 8 lbs.  They sent me home saying if I didn’t have a baby by Monday or Tuesday, we’d schedule another ultrasound to check again. 

On Saturday, mom and I decided it would be a good thing to go get some pedicures and walk the mall a bit.  When I took my boots off to get in the water, my feet were REALLY swollen.  I was swollen for about the last month of Samantha’s pregnancy, but I had skated by pretty nicely with this one, so the fact that I went from slightly swollen to full on foot-sausage had me a little concerned. 

Right after our pedicures were over, we went to a pharmacy so I could check my blood pressure…

144/106!

Yikes!

I called my midwife and she wanted to see me in the hospital as soon as possible to monitor the blood pressure, monitor baby and talk about our options. 

At the hospital, my blood pressure was high again but every time it was taken, it would drop ever so slightly.  They took my blood and sent it to the lab, giving Derek and I about an hour to talk about our options.  If the blood work came back showing signs of pre-eclampsia, then we didn’t have much of a choice and induction would be the thing that would be recommended and what we would do.  If everything came back fine, we did have a few options: 1) go home and wait for labor to start naturally, 2) be induced right then and there, 3) go home, get a good nights rest and come back in the morning to be induced. 

After our hour was up, the blood work came back with one high level that had to do with my liver function and how my red blood cells were breaking down.   I also had some protein in my urine.  At this point, our options changed: 1) induced now 2) induced the next day. 

We chose to get a good nights rest and come back the next day. 

The next morning, we were waiting for someone to tell us to come in.  I texted my midwife and she was able to text me back saying she was with another mom who was pushing.  I felt really bad, but I went and took a little nap and waited. 

At 11:22 (I remember, exactly…), I got the call saying we should come in. 

After getting everything ready, saying goodbye to Sam and my mom, we left. 

It was kind of nice driving to the hospital able to talk to Derek about what the day would bring without being in major pain or being nervous of making it to the hospital on time or something.  It was a nice leisurely drive to go have a baby!  It was really exciting, actually!

We got to the hospital and were admitted at 12:05 p.m.

And, that’s where I’ll leave it for now!