Interrupted

My Life Thus Far
2008-06-18 07:44:32 (UTC)

My Labor and Delivery Timeline

8am- I reported to Labor and Delivery and was shown my
room. When I'd had Kiki, my room had a view of the water
(the same view I see everyday from my living room), so I
was pleasantly surprised that this suite had a view of
trees and sky. A change of pace was nice :)

I met my nurse. A really nice, compassionate lady (I can't
remember her full name, because it was different. Xanthe
was her first name, though). We went over some last minute
paperwork (the forms for anesthesia, just in case) and she
helped me get settled in my room.

It took a minute for her to find a vein to start my IV in.
It took three attempts, because the needle was large and
kept collapsing my veins. Eventually she got one going in
my left wrist. It wasn't the most comfortable location,
because my IV line had to drape across my body (the pole
was on my right side), but it was only temporary, so I
dealt with it.

9:05am- The Pitocin was started. My nurse kept asking me
if I needed anything and I couldn't help but wonder if
that would get annoying once the pain started!

9:45am- My Pitocin is upped every 20 minutes. My
contractions are 5 minutes apart, 60-80 seconds long, but
totally bearable. Not technically labor yet, but a slow
start to make sure my cervix was getting the idea that
today would be the day!

11:45am- I took a little nap, but was soon awakened by my
nurse and Dr. Ennis. He checked my cervix (which was 4cm,
100% effaced) and broke my water. Lots of clear fluid came
out, so there was no cause for concern there. So, I got to
lay in a lovely puddle of my own fluid for a little while,
since it was gushing pretty good, there was no point in
changing the chux pad yet. I still wasn't in any pain at
this point. Apparently, this is when most woman want an
epidural. Everyone was so surprised with me. I'd even been
called a rock star at this point :)

12pm- According to the monitors on my belly, the
contractions have reached the desired strength and length,
so active labor has officially been reached. I have to
have Keenan before 4pm to beat my personal best. Annie was
born in 4 hours. Well, 3 hours 59 minutes if you want to
get technical. I don't.

2pm- I'm 7cm, -1 station. I feel great between
contractions, but they're very intense now and I have to
really focus to get through them. I breath and let the
pain wash over me. I chant to myself "I trust my body,
this is what my body was meant to do" over and over again.
I couldn't remember the mantra I'd made before hand, but
this one seemed to work out for me better. It put me at
ease and kept me from panicking when the contraction
reached it's very intense peak. I was lucky enough to be
able to move around. I was given a labor ball, various
chairs, the bed, or my nurse offered to support me if I
wanted to stand. My favorite location was a rocking chair
believe it or not. Something about the rocking was very
soothing. I watched a marathon of Mr. Personality on Fox
Reality network and that was just enough distraction
between chanting and wondering who the girl would end up
picking.

Everything I'd heard about Pitocin contractions was true.
They were way stronger than my natural contractions. The
one's I'd had with Annie and Kiki. I was bolstered by the
nursing staff and how impressed with me they were. Naval
hospital's epidural rate is 95% and the other 5% are
comprised mostly of people that don't get to the hospital
in time to get one. I wasn't aware of that, but many of
the nurses hadn't participated in a natural birth before.
That's simply unbelievable! I'm glad I could be their
first.

3:30pm- Dr. Ennis checks my cervix and I'm 9cm with an
anterior lip. I'm back in the bed now, because the
contractions are coming close together and moving about
has become difficult. At this point, the room explodes
into a frenzy of activity and people are coming out of the
woodwork! My eyes are closed through most of this because
it takes all that I have to focus. The pressure of
Keenan's head crowning is hard to endure, and I panic a
little because I can't stop the progression.

3:40pm- I'm 10cm! Dr. Ennis instructs me to breath through
the next contraction and prepare to push.

3:42pm~3:44pm- I tried to breath through the next
contraction, but Keenan had other plans. My turbo-powered
Pitocin contraction shot Keenan out with NO pushing from
me. I tried to stop the advancing pressure, but there's no
fighting the uterus. The downside to this was a fair
amount of tearing. Keenan was placed on my chest and and
immediately let out a lusty cry. Something Kiki did not
do, so I was immediately put at ease. Keenan beat his
sisters in the time department. He beat Annie by 15
minutes, but Kiki had him beat in size. She was 4 oz
heavier.

I knew I'd torn, because there was still pain after Keenan
had come out and delivering the placenta was
uncomfortable. Dr. Ennis spent the better part of an hour
locating all aspects of the laceration and suturing up all
the layers as neatly as possible. I don't look at my
vagina/perineum much, but I'm sure Snookums will
appreciate his diligence :) There were approximately 35
stitches used. I asked only because I knew other would ask
me. Sure enough, I've been asked several times since then.

Keenan was born at June 15, 2008 at 3:44pm. He weighed
8lbs 6oz (nowhere NEAR what the doctor's thought, thank
GOD), was 21 3/4 in long and is the sweetest little boy.
Right now all he wants to do is sleep. He wakes up only to
eat and hasn't had his eyes open for more than an hour his
entire life. He looks just like his daddy, though.
Especially when he smiles in his sleep.

Well, that's my birth story! I have to go feed the baby
now or my boobs are going to explode. Of course, he's
sound asleep. So, we'll see if he's going to cooperate.
Ciao for now.




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