Where to even begin!
Our little girl is finally earth side and we are so exhausted and happy haha!
We went in to be induced at 37.5 weeks thanks to me ending up with gestational diabetes. Originally she was tracking around 6lbs 13oz and they didn’t want her to get too far passed 7lbs.
On Monday, August 26th we went in to start our induction. It was scary and exciting all wrapped up into one. We went in and started in triage where they got me into a gown and started a full work up. Checked on our little girl to make sure she was still head down and ready to go. While we were in triage completing our final NST we heard a woman clearly in active labor right outside the door. No meds. Barely made it into a room to deliver. Up to that point I had been sticking to trying to have a fully natural birth with no meds. I personally get really sick from anesthesia and wanted to make sure our birth experience was as calm as it could possibly be.
But… nothing ever goes as planned in life right? I was in for a treat!
Once we got into a room to start the process things were great… I progressed slowly the first day… stayed dilated to 2cm for most of the evening and next day. My contractions came to a stand still the evening of the 27th after being on Pitocin for a couple hours so they decided to restart the entire induction. Our doctor said sometimes restarting does like a reset on things and the jump starts active labor… so we did. That evening I had a few more doses of Misoprostol which is a medication that helps make the cervix “favorable” for birth. Around 6:00am on the 28th I started having stronger contractions that were between 2-4 minutes apart. Within the hour they were about 1-2 minutes apart. They came and checked me. Said I was dilated to 4-5cm and asked if I wanted to get the epidural. After another hour or so of contractions being 1-2 minutes apart I decided I definitely wanted the epidural. I really sat there thinking holy shit why did I think I could do this without meds. I commend anyone that is able to because DAMN DID IT HURT. By then I was dilate to 6cm and that was my goal going in… to at least make it to 6cm before making the decision to either do the epidural or push through the pain. Fortunately, I decided to do the epidural. After getting it, my water broke. They checked me a couple hours later and I was dilated to 9cm. They came in, prepped the room for delivery and told us I would be pushing within the hour which was so exciting for us. Things went from a standstill to go time so quickly and I was so excited to be pushing soon and meet our girl!
Our girl had other plans... I stayed dilated to 9cm ALL DAY on the 28th and most of the evening. At this point… I had been in latent labor for 39 hours and active labor for about 13 hours… and still no baby. Her heart rate kept dropping when I would have strong contractions so around 6:45pm our doctor came in to tell us our options. We could continue waiting and monitoring her heart rate, but know that if it dropped too low again we would be rushed in for an emergency c-section, put me back on the Pitocin and again monitor her, or go in for the c-section on our own so it was non-emergent and more “planned” so to speak. I will be honest at this point I was feeling exhausted and defeated and totally emotional. Brian was continuing to be my cheerleader and put my focus on the fact that either way we were about to meet our little girl. After asking our doctor what he thought… he said that in the 23 years he had been in practice he had never had a baby that got to this point and stayed at this point for so long come down through the birth canal. So… we decided the c-section was the best choice for not only her health, but mine as well. Within a matter of minutes an entire team came in and changed the room over from delivery to prepping for a c-section and getting the OR ready. It was literally an art. They gave Brian surgical gear and prepped me for the spinal. Our amazing nurses walked me through everything as I laid there crying. I honestly was so nervous and excited and exhausted all at the same time. It was something like accepting defeat but also relief at the same time. Hard to explain. Our nurse anesthetist was truly amazing and since she had had three prior c-sections she literally walked me through every single aspect of the process and made me feel much more at ease getting rolled into the OR.
I will spare you all the specifics of the c-section, but truthfully... It wasn’t that bad. I felt nothing but pressure and within minutes our Ellie girl came into the world and of course again, I could not stop crying haha!
(looking super awful in all these photos, but hey, real life!)
In all honesty… I feel like everything worked out exactly how it was supposed to. Once Ellie arrived my doctor told me that her cord was actually wrapped around her neck, loosely, but still around her neck. Had I dilated to 10cm and started to push it would have acted similar to a bungee cord and tightened and pulled her back with every push. So I would have ended up with an emergency c-section and with her in distress. Everything happens for a reason I suppose!
After hanging out in recovery for a couple hours we rolled passed the lobby with our girl to head to our room and it was full of family and friends waiting to meet our girl. All people who have been there every step of the way through our fertility journey through the last three years. My heart was so full.
The next couple days were honestly a blur full of visitors and recovery for myself. Recovery from a c-section is no joke. Not only are you recovering from major surgery and limited on things you can actually do, for instance get out of bed without supervision, go to the bathroom, move around at all truthfully without some kind of discomfort… but, you’re also feeling all these crazy hormones. I truthfully felt like I was on a complete life high while we were in the hospital. Some mix of the best feeling in life while also being so incredibly exhausted you can barely keep your eyes open. After being at the hospital from Monday to Friday… I woke up Friday ready to go home. Physically, I probably could have used another day in the hospital, but mentally I needed to be back home and recovering more comfortably and starting this new chapter. I told the nurses that I wanted to go home and they said if I checked all the boxes we were good to go! At that point, Ellie had already had all her testing done so, she just needed her bath and one last weight! Our girl was perfect, leaving the hospital at 6lbs 1oz!
Ellie’s birth truly showed me that no matter how much you think you are prepared… you truly can’t be when it comes to bringing a tiny human into the world. She had her own agenda starting from when we found out about her on New Year’s Eve and we’ve been wrapped around her tiny little finger ever since.