On Friday March 14th, 2008, my last day of work before maternity leave, I called the Dr because my blood pressure was elevated. I was picking D up for lunch and on hold for the nurse and hung up the phone to call D. When D got in the car he asked about my blood pressure and when I told him what it was he told me to call the nurse back. When I told the nurse what my blood pressure was she told me to head to labor and delivery immediately. Dr. Love was on vacation! D and I immediately went home and packed up our bags—they hadn’t been packed. Once at the hospital I was hooked up to fetal and blood pressure monitors and observed for 3 hours. After 3 hours of bed rest my blood pressure dropped down to a normal reading and we were sent home with orders for strict bed rest. I spent the weekend on bed rest, but my bp stayed up—above 140/90—it was 140/90 when I would wake up in the morning. I called the office Monday morning but Dr. Love was still on vacation and I didn’t want to see another Dr so I stayed on bed rest until my appointment on Wednesday—3/19/08.
On Wednesday morning D and I headed to C-Town to see Dr. Love. We had all of our bags packed and ready to go and put everything into the car so we were set in case we had to stay. My blood pressure was still elevated and I was throwing up in the exam room. Due to my high bp he decided to have me have an ultrasound to make sure everything was still ok. My ultrasound was ok—amniotic fluid was a little low but G was doing well. After the ultrasound Dr. Love checked my cervix and found I was dilated 1-2 centimeters. He decided we had waited long enough and sent us to the hospital to be evaluated. We headed straight to the hospital—it was about 11:30 when we got settled in over there. I was again attached to the fetal monitor, BP cuff and pulse ox. Labs were also drawn. Dr. Love came over and saw me about 2 hours later and decided to admit me and induce labor first thing in the morning!
We stayed in a labor room until about 3:30. Dr. Love and the nurse told me to eat now because after 5pm I would not be able to eat. D went out to get my last meal—subway, and then we were moved to a Labor, Delivery and Recovery room, where we would stay until an hour after G was born. The LDR room was very nice—big and home like—and the nurses were all wonderful. D and I settled in and ...
Everything above was written about 1 month after G was born...I'm going to do my best to remember from that point forward as accurately as possible below in a stream of consciousness format
...I was able to take a shower and relax a bit before the nurses started my IV and put in the Cervadil. Although G was born in March, I was HOT all the time. Not just a little hot either, hot enough for my Mom to wonder if we didn't have money to pay for heat in our house! LOL. I had D set the room thermometer for as low as it would go, I believe 55, and he froze. My parents came up that evening, 3/19/08, as did my brother & his wife, and D turned the temp up to 60 while they were there. I immediately started sweating. Not the glistening pretty sweat that you see in movies either, I was SWEATING like a man! In videos we have of that evening you can see poor D sitting there with a winter coat on and shivering. What a trooper he spent the entire night by my side, assisting me to the bathroom (I was hooked up to a bp cuff, pulse ox monitor, iv, & baby monitor so getting up to use the bathroom was an adventure), and turning down the temperature as the nurses thoughtfully (thinking no one would want a room that cold) kept turning it up! At 6am our nurse came in, started pitocen & removed the Cervadil. That got my labor started and by about 9am the nurse asked if I was ready for an epidural. She said there was a lady in the next room at about the same stage as me and said if I didn't get it right then I would have to wait until after she got it. At the minute she asked me my contractions weren't more than I could handle. The minute after she left they were questionable and by 9:20 I was ready for my epidural. D tried to talk me through the breathing exercises we had learned in our childbirth class, and I informed him that they were useless! I received my epidural at 10am and was able to relax for about 2 hours. I don't remember what we did during that time. Probably watch tv, talk about the huge life change we were about to experience, and D probably got something to eat. At 12pm I was feeling the urge to push, told the nurse & she told me it was time to push. I asked her how long people usually pushed for. I remember the following verbatim, "Usually from about 15 minutes at the minimum to 3 or 3 1/2 hours at a maximum, don't worry you won't take that long." Famous. Last. Words. I pushed. And pushed. And pushed. D held my left leg. The tech held my right leg. The nurse had the money shot and encouraged me. Dr. Love came. Dr. Love left. I pushed. And pushed and pushed more. The nurse tried all her magic tricks. G was facing the very WRONG way. At 3:30 pm (((YES 3:30, 3 and 1/2 HOURS AFTER I STARTED PUSHING))) D & Dr. Love had a pow wow and made the decision to use forceps to assist me. G was born at 3:32pm on March 20, 2008. She didn't cry. Her eyes were wide open taking in the world. D & I were in love immediately, only this type of love still doesn't have words to describe.
On Wednesday morning D and I headed to C-Town to see Dr. Love. We had all of our bags packed and ready to go and put everything into the car so we were set in case we had to stay. My blood pressure was still elevated and I was throwing up in the exam room. Due to my high bp he decided to have me have an ultrasound to make sure everything was still ok. My ultrasound was ok—amniotic fluid was a little low but G was doing well. After the ultrasound Dr. Love checked my cervix and found I was dilated 1-2 centimeters. He decided we had waited long enough and sent us to the hospital to be evaluated. We headed straight to the hospital—it was about 11:30 when we got settled in over there. I was again attached to the fetal monitor, BP cuff and pulse ox. Labs were also drawn. Dr. Love came over and saw me about 2 hours later and decided to admit me and induce labor first thing in the morning!
We stayed in a labor room until about 3:30. Dr. Love and the nurse told me to eat now because after 5pm I would not be able to eat. D went out to get my last meal—subway, and then we were moved to a Labor, Delivery and Recovery room, where we would stay until an hour after G was born. The LDR room was very nice—big and home like—and the nurses were all wonderful. D and I settled in and ...
Everything above was written about 1 month after G was born...I'm going to do my best to remember from that point forward as accurately as possible below in a stream of consciousness format
...I was able to take a shower and relax a bit before the nurses started my IV and put in the Cervadil. Although G was born in March, I was HOT all the time. Not just a little hot either, hot enough for my Mom to wonder if we didn't have money to pay for heat in our house! LOL. I had D set the room thermometer for as low as it would go, I believe 55, and he froze. My parents came up that evening, 3/19/08, as did my brother & his wife, and D turned the temp up to 60 while they were there. I immediately started sweating. Not the glistening pretty sweat that you see in movies either, I was SWEATING like a man! In videos we have of that evening you can see poor D sitting there with a winter coat on and shivering. What a trooper he spent the entire night by my side, assisting me to the bathroom (I was hooked up to a bp cuff, pulse ox monitor, iv, & baby monitor so getting up to use the bathroom was an adventure), and turning down the temperature as the nurses thoughtfully (thinking no one would want a room that cold) kept turning it up! At 6am our nurse came in, started pitocen & removed the Cervadil. That got my labor started and by about 9am the nurse asked if I was ready for an epidural. She said there was a lady in the next room at about the same stage as me and said if I didn't get it right then I would have to wait until after she got it. At the minute she asked me my contractions weren't more than I could handle. The minute after she left they were questionable and by 9:20 I was ready for my epidural. D tried to talk me through the breathing exercises we had learned in our childbirth class, and I informed him that they were useless! I received my epidural at 10am and was able to relax for about 2 hours. I don't remember what we did during that time. Probably watch tv, talk about the huge life change we were about to experience, and D probably got something to eat. At 12pm I was feeling the urge to push, told the nurse & she told me it was time to push. I asked her how long people usually pushed for. I remember the following verbatim, "Usually from about 15 minutes at the minimum to 3 or 3 1/2 hours at a maximum, don't worry you won't take that long." Famous. Last. Words. I pushed. And pushed. And pushed. D held my left leg. The tech held my right leg. The nurse had the money shot and encouraged me. Dr. Love came. Dr. Love left. I pushed. And pushed and pushed more. The nurse tried all her magic tricks. G was facing the very WRONG way. At 3:30 pm (((YES 3:30, 3 and 1/2 HOURS AFTER I STARTED PUSHING))) D & Dr. Love had a pow wow and made the decision to use forceps to assist me. G was born at 3:32pm on March 20, 2008. She didn't cry. Her eyes were wide open taking in the world. D & I were in love immediately, only this type of love still doesn't have words to describe.
First Familiy Photos :
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