I cannot believe that it has been one week since my labor was induced. Time has flown by so quickly. I guess that is what happens when you are in the hospital for four days straight. You have already gotten a preview of my labor experience from a previous blog, but here is my version. Some of this may provide a little too much information, so I apologize in advanced to those of you who may not really want to know this much about a woman’s labor.
My story begins Tuesday, February 23rd. I went into my morning OB/GYN appointment as I have every week for the past month. Week 40 was here and I was anxious to receive my weekly stats. I hoped my labor was progressing rapidly, but I had a strong feeling of doubt that anything had changed from the previous week and my gut feeling was correct. No change; not in any of my stats from the week before. So, for three weeks straight my labor had not progressed a single bit. Really??? I was getting very disappointed, but even more concerned that this labor would not start on its own. My mom had told me that neither one of her labors began naturally, so when my doctor recommended that we induce my labor, I agreed. Now looking back, I am thankful that this is what we decided. I couldn't imagine waiting another couple of weeks, all the while enabling this baby to get even bigger and then having to induce the birth anyway.
So, 6:30pm Tuesday night, I was admitted into Arrowhead Hospital to start inducing labor. To be honest, I had no idea what exactly this entailed. Per my doctor and the research that I had done, I knew that it could be a long process. My stats at this point indicated that my cervix had no sign of dilation and still needed to be "ripened", meaning that it still needed to soften more to allow the baby's head to exit the womb. Therefore, I headed into my induction expecting it to take about 30 hours. Sadly, I was not that far off. My labor took about 25 hours instead. However, I still didn't full comprehend that for more than 20 hours of the laboring process I would be bedridden. This would be a challenge, as you know; I don't do sedentary very well.
In order to induce labor, I was given a “pill” at 8pm, which would allow the cervix to soften. Upon taking this drug, I was instructed that I would have to stay lying in bed for four hours to allow the drug to take effect. I was also connected at this time to an antibiotic drip to keep me and the baby from getting an infection and a saline drip to make sure that I was staying hydrated. So, we sat watching a little bit of the Olympics and trying to keep ourselves safe from boredom. Luckily, we had visitors throughout our hospital stay which made the waiting hours much more enjoyable and rather entertaining. At midnight, the next step in the induction began. A “gel” was now applied to my cervix to continue the “ripening” process. This procedure required me to sit for an hour to enable the drug to work its magic and then after an hour I was strongly encouraged to walk the hospital corridors for an hour. I was informed that we would do this three times. By the third round, I was thinking why isn't there a better method of inducing a baby? Just after midnight, Josh ended up crashing on the pull-out chair the hospital provides allowing me to walk the halls of the hospital on my own. In reality, there really wasn't much he could do for me and it is better for all of us that he gets his beauty sleep. By the end of this regime, morning had arrived, the hospital nurse’s shift changed and my doctor visited on his morning rounds.
The “pill” and “gel” had only partly worked and the doctor recommended I start on “pitocin” right away. Pitocin is the drug that kick starts your contractions allowing the labor to get into full swing. And so, at 9am I was bedridden for the remainder of my labor and yet another fluid was added to my IV drip system. All seemed to be progressing. I began to feel my contractions getting harder and harder. So much that I called in the anesthesiologist to insert my epidural drip at about 11am. Yes, one more fluid to add to the IV tower and maybe a little insane, but why would you not have an epidural? Best drug ever! The only side effect to all of these fluids in my system is that by the end of the evening my legs grew to three times their normal size -- not a lie. It was very unnerving.
The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to get my contractions strong enough to increase my cervix to 10 cm in dilation. This included re-positioning my body every half hour to allow gravity to do most of the work. Props were introduced into the induction process and at one point, my nurse brought in “the peanut”. This contraption looks very much like an exercise ball, but in the shape of a peanut. Supposedly, by placing it in-between my legs, it allows my hips to open up thus enabling the baby to make its journey into the world a little easier and allegedly a little less painful. I am not sold on this. I continued to watch my contractions on the monitor not feeling a single one of them hoping that labor was progressing in a quick and orderly manner. By 4pm, my doctor stopped by for a visit and informed us that I was now at 4cm dilation. A far cry from the needed 10cm! And so, the juggling act continued. The nursing staff would increase my pitocin to strengthen my contractions, but then have to lower the dosage so as not to stress out the baby. They would regularly change my bedridden position hoping to stimulate my body into the appropriate contraction rhythm, which really never did happen.
In a very short 4 hours, four rounds of pinochle and a bit of pulling and prodding by the doctor I was finally, 8cm dilated. The doctor felt confident with the progress and deemed it time for me to push even though my contractions had slowed down to 7 minutes apart. In normal situations, the contractions should be more like 1 minute apart. Knowing that I may or may not be fully dilated, I was very scared to start pushing, but the thought of being in labor for another couple of hours was agony; albeit not painful agony but agony none the less. Trusting in my doctor and his expertise, and a desire to get this baby out, we proceed to the “pushing” portion of labor. I am not sure if it was my nerves, all of the drugs being pumped into my system or a combination of both, but right before my doctor returned for the big finale, I became very nauseated and called for a bucket. I guess I was ready deliver a baby now.
And so at 8:55pm on Wednesday, February 24th, Madilyn Rae Landers arrived into this world. Everything after this point seemed like a whirlwind. Josh cut the umbilical cord and Madilyn was placed on my chest so I could say hello before she was whisked away to get her Apgar test, which she scored a 9.9. Josh quickly followed her to the nurses' testing cart to take pictures of her while I lay in the bed feeling exhausted, proud and shaky with adrenalin. He was completely smitten with her and momentarily I think he forgot that he had a wife lying all beaten up in a bed on the other side of the room. It was a truly awesome and yet foreign experience. One that cannot be put into words. Josh finally returned back to my bed after blinding our child by taking several thousand photographs and videos. We both looked at each other and our eyes began to well up with tears. We have a precious little girl. Our huge surprise had finally arrived and she is gorgeous. At this point, my parents arrived back at the hospital and entered the room. They each had a moment to hold and cuddle her. I was instructed to breastfeed so the nursing staff could take her for her first bath. I was so impressed that she latched right on. It is incredible to think my body had been her home for the last ten months and now it was her main course. Nature sure works in mysterious ways. I was given some pain medicine right before feeding her, but unfortunately, it didn’t last in my system very long. I had once again called for my throw-up bucket. Per Josh and my parents, it was quite a scene. I was breastfeeding Madi in one arm and throwing up in the bucket in my other arm. Neither Madi nor I skipped a beat. We just continued to breastfeed as though nothing was wrong.
We were given the choice to have Madi sleep in the nursery overnight. We both agreed this would be best so I could try to catch up on sleep. I was also starving as I hadn’t eaten since before 6:30pm the night before. Josh being the loving and supportive husband ran out to Wendy’s to get me chicken nuggets, fries and a frosty. It was *so* good.
Thursday morning we were awoken at 6am and moved to our postpartum room. Madi was returned to us and immediately held court ushering in her many visitors. We are truly blessed to have wonderful family and friends who wanted to visit us in the hospital. Although Josh and I quickly learned that they did not visit to see us, but the newest member of our family. Madi enjoyed being a hostess to all of her guest and was spoiled by everyone's love and attention. Then the visitors left and we were on our own. We quickly learned that sleeping is overrated and that we will not see more than four consecutive hours of sleep for many years to come. We also discovered that she loves to be held and mommy and daddy, mostly daddy, love to hold her. This, in return, meant most of the night was spent cuddling with our new little one and not sleeping.
The nurse came at 6am to take Madi for her blood tests. Upon her return, Madi's pediatrician visited and informed us that she had begun to show signs of jaundice. The doctor explained that this is very normal in many newborns and that Madi would need to spend the day lying under the bili lights. And so, Madi was transported back to the nursery to spend her day in the “sun”. Even though I knew that she needed to have this treatment, I was very sad to have our daughter taken away. I was ready for our family to go home and felt terrible that she would have to stay the entire day in the nursery only visiting us for her 3 hour feedings. I was even more saddened by the fact that we may be discharged from the hospital without her. If her bilirubin levels did not decrease by 4pm, she would have to stay another night in the hospital. Luckily, everything worked out appropriately and by 5:30pm on Friday evening, our entire family was discharged from the hospital all together. Yea!!!
And there is the full story of Madilyn’s entrance into this world. We are so blessed and cannot wait to see what other adventures are to follow.
My story begins Tuesday, February 23rd. I went into my morning OB/GYN appointment as I have every week for the past month. Week 40 was here and I was anxious to receive my weekly stats. I hoped my labor was progressing rapidly, but I had a strong feeling of doubt that anything had changed from the previous week and my gut feeling was correct. No change; not in any of my stats from the week before. So, for three weeks straight my labor had not progressed a single bit. Really??? I was getting very disappointed, but even more concerned that this labor would not start on its own. My mom had told me that neither one of her labors began naturally, so when my doctor recommended that we induce my labor, I agreed. Now looking back, I am thankful that this is what we decided. I couldn't imagine waiting another couple of weeks, all the while enabling this baby to get even bigger and then having to induce the birth anyway.
So, 6:30pm Tuesday night, I was admitted into Arrowhead Hospital to start inducing labor. To be honest, I had no idea what exactly this entailed. Per my doctor and the research that I had done, I knew that it could be a long process. My stats at this point indicated that my cervix had no sign of dilation and still needed to be "ripened", meaning that it still needed to soften more to allow the baby's head to exit the womb. Therefore, I headed into my induction expecting it to take about 30 hours. Sadly, I was not that far off. My labor took about 25 hours instead. However, I still didn't full comprehend that for more than 20 hours of the laboring process I would be bedridden. This would be a challenge, as you know; I don't do sedentary very well.
In order to induce labor, I was given a “pill” at 8pm, which would allow the cervix to soften. Upon taking this drug, I was instructed that I would have to stay lying in bed for four hours to allow the drug to take effect. I was also connected at this time to an antibiotic drip to keep me and the baby from getting an infection and a saline drip to make sure that I was staying hydrated. So, we sat watching a little bit of the Olympics and trying to keep ourselves safe from boredom. Luckily, we had visitors throughout our hospital stay which made the waiting hours much more enjoyable and rather entertaining. At midnight, the next step in the induction began. A “gel” was now applied to my cervix to continue the “ripening” process. This procedure required me to sit for an hour to enable the drug to work its magic and then after an hour I was strongly encouraged to walk the hospital corridors for an hour. I was informed that we would do this three times. By the third round, I was thinking why isn't there a better method of inducing a baby? Just after midnight, Josh ended up crashing on the pull-out chair the hospital provides allowing me to walk the halls of the hospital on my own. In reality, there really wasn't much he could do for me and it is better for all of us that he gets his beauty sleep. By the end of this regime, morning had arrived, the hospital nurse’s shift changed and my doctor visited on his morning rounds.
The “pill” and “gel” had only partly worked and the doctor recommended I start on “pitocin” right away. Pitocin is the drug that kick starts your contractions allowing the labor to get into full swing. And so, at 9am I was bedridden for the remainder of my labor and yet another fluid was added to my IV drip system. All seemed to be progressing. I began to feel my contractions getting harder and harder. So much that I called in the anesthesiologist to insert my epidural drip at about 11am. Yes, one more fluid to add to the IV tower and maybe a little insane, but why would you not have an epidural? Best drug ever! The only side effect to all of these fluids in my system is that by the end of the evening my legs grew to three times their normal size -- not a lie. It was very unnerving.
The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to get my contractions strong enough to increase my cervix to 10 cm in dilation. This included re-positioning my body every half hour to allow gravity to do most of the work. Props were introduced into the induction process and at one point, my nurse brought in “the peanut”. This contraption looks very much like an exercise ball, but in the shape of a peanut. Supposedly, by placing it in-between my legs, it allows my hips to open up thus enabling the baby to make its journey into the world a little easier and allegedly a little less painful. I am not sold on this. I continued to watch my contractions on the monitor not feeling a single one of them hoping that labor was progressing in a quick and orderly manner. By 4pm, my doctor stopped by for a visit and informed us that I was now at 4cm dilation. A far cry from the needed 10cm! And so, the juggling act continued. The nursing staff would increase my pitocin to strengthen my contractions, but then have to lower the dosage so as not to stress out the baby. They would regularly change my bedridden position hoping to stimulate my body into the appropriate contraction rhythm, which really never did happen.
In a very short 4 hours, four rounds of pinochle and a bit of pulling and prodding by the doctor I was finally, 8cm dilated. The doctor felt confident with the progress and deemed it time for me to push even though my contractions had slowed down to 7 minutes apart. In normal situations, the contractions should be more like 1 minute apart. Knowing that I may or may not be fully dilated, I was very scared to start pushing, but the thought of being in labor for another couple of hours was agony; albeit not painful agony but agony none the less. Trusting in my doctor and his expertise, and a desire to get this baby out, we proceed to the “pushing” portion of labor. I am not sure if it was my nerves, all of the drugs being pumped into my system or a combination of both, but right before my doctor returned for the big finale, I became very nauseated and called for a bucket. I guess I was ready deliver a baby now.
And so at 8:55pm on Wednesday, February 24th, Madilyn Rae Landers arrived into this world. Everything after this point seemed like a whirlwind. Josh cut the umbilical cord and Madilyn was placed on my chest so I could say hello before she was whisked away to get her Apgar test, which she scored a 9.9. Josh quickly followed her to the nurses' testing cart to take pictures of her while I lay in the bed feeling exhausted, proud and shaky with adrenalin. He was completely smitten with her and momentarily I think he forgot that he had a wife lying all beaten up in a bed on the other side of the room. It was a truly awesome and yet foreign experience. One that cannot be put into words. Josh finally returned back to my bed after blinding our child by taking several thousand photographs and videos. We both looked at each other and our eyes began to well up with tears. We have a precious little girl. Our huge surprise had finally arrived and she is gorgeous. At this point, my parents arrived back at the hospital and entered the room. They each had a moment to hold and cuddle her. I was instructed to breastfeed so the nursing staff could take her for her first bath. I was so impressed that she latched right on. It is incredible to think my body had been her home for the last ten months and now it was her main course. Nature sure works in mysterious ways. I was given some pain medicine right before feeding her, but unfortunately, it didn’t last in my system very long. I had once again called for my throw-up bucket. Per Josh and my parents, it was quite a scene. I was breastfeeding Madi in one arm and throwing up in the bucket in my other arm. Neither Madi nor I skipped a beat. We just continued to breastfeed as though nothing was wrong.
We were given the choice to have Madi sleep in the nursery overnight. We both agreed this would be best so I could try to catch up on sleep. I was also starving as I hadn’t eaten since before 6:30pm the night before. Josh being the loving and supportive husband ran out to Wendy’s to get me chicken nuggets, fries and a frosty. It was *so* good.
Thursday morning we were awoken at 6am and moved to our postpartum room. Madi was returned to us and immediately held court ushering in her many visitors. We are truly blessed to have wonderful family and friends who wanted to visit us in the hospital. Although Josh and I quickly learned that they did not visit to see us, but the newest member of our family. Madi enjoyed being a hostess to all of her guest and was spoiled by everyone's love and attention. Then the visitors left and we were on our own. We quickly learned that sleeping is overrated and that we will not see more than four consecutive hours of sleep for many years to come. We also discovered that she loves to be held and mommy and daddy, mostly daddy, love to hold her. This, in return, meant most of the night was spent cuddling with our new little one and not sleeping.
The nurse came at 6am to take Madi for her blood tests. Upon her return, Madi's pediatrician visited and informed us that she had begun to show signs of jaundice. The doctor explained that this is very normal in many newborns and that Madi would need to spend the day lying under the bili lights. And so, Madi was transported back to the nursery to spend her day in the “sun”. Even though I knew that she needed to have this treatment, I was very sad to have our daughter taken away. I was ready for our family to go home and felt terrible that she would have to stay the entire day in the nursery only visiting us for her 3 hour feedings. I was even more saddened by the fact that we may be discharged from the hospital without her. If her bilirubin levels did not decrease by 4pm, she would have to stay another night in the hospital. Luckily, everything worked out appropriately and by 5:30pm on Friday evening, our entire family was discharged from the hospital all together. Yea!!!
And there is the full story of Madilyn’s entrance into this world. We are so blessed and cannot wait to see what other adventures are to follow.
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