Clara's birth story. . . Part I

5/1/12
9:00pm - We checked in to Sugar Land Methodist Hospital and got settled into our room. Since I preregistered the check in process was super easy! We were in our room in about 5 minutes flat. The nurse told me to change into my robe and then hop into the hospital bed. At this point (out of nowhere) I started to get nervous and feel rather dizzy and lightheaded. I was SO VERY excited but started to feel my heart racing just due to all of the unknowns of the night and day ahead. After a few minutes the feeling passed. The nurse started my IV bag of fluids. I also got a bag of antibiotics (distributed through the IV that will be changed every four hours) to prevent Clara getting the Group Strep B bacteria that I carry.

My parents, sister and Brandon's parents came up to visit us that night. We chatted and played games on the iPad and eventually everyone went home shortly after 11pm to sleep. We didn't expect anything to happen overnight as they were just giving me a pill to ripen my cervix, which in turn would help my body accept the pitocin more easily and hopefully speed the induction along the next day. (It did!)

10:00pm - Nurse gave me my first pill of Cervadil. Nurse mentioned that they will come back every 3 hours to insert another pill. I would get three pills total.


5/2/12
1:00AM - Nurse gave me pill #2 and said to expect some cramping and backaches. She also changed my bag of fluids. My Toco number (monitors contractions) went up to 77 and that is when I felt my stomach tighten more than it had before.  The nurse was sure right about the cramping and lower backaches yet after a while I was able to get comfortable and sleep, for a few minutes. :)


4:00AM - Nurse gave me pill #3. I slept for a tad longer but by 5:30am I was up for the day.

6:30AM Dr. Galvan came in to say good morning and to check me. He decided not to break my water just yet as I was making some progress and he had to head to another hospital for a while. I was dilated to  2-3 centimeters.

6:45AM My new nurse came in to introduce herself. She started asking me questions and asked if I was ready to prep for my epidural. I was confused and asked "Do you normally get an epidural before you start me on pitocin?" She replied with a frank "No." I said "Ok... um...." She then said "Well Dr. Huebner said you were in quite a bit of pain and requesting your epidural." To which I replied "Dr. Huebner is not my dr. My Dr is Dr. Galvan." Said nurse realized she was in the wrong room and left looking rather embarrassed yet without saying anything. It was pretty funny after the fact. Glad I spoke up or I would have gotten some poor woman's epidural before my labor even really started! Ha!

7:15AM My real nurse, Jennifer, came in, introduced herself and started my pitocin. It was probably within an hour that I started feeling what felt like really strong menstrual cramps. Nothing too bad but definitely not comfortable.

(Side note - Jennifer was amazing!! Multiple people had specifically prayed that Brandon and I would be blessed with a loving, friendly, compassionate and informative nurse and Jennifer was ALL of these things and more. We told her multiple times what an answer to prayer she was to me and the rest of our group! So from here on just know nurse = Jennifer.)

8:30AM Nurse came in and mentioned that the anesthesiologist was going to be gone for several hours so I had two options. 1 - get my epidural now before I am in more pain or 2 - wait for her to return and just chance it knowing that my pain level might increase to an uncomfortable level before she returns. Ummm... don't have to ask me twice. Epidural please! Best. Decision. Ever. Within a few minutes the cramping subsided and I felt nothing. Nurse mentioned that the epidural should last a good four hours but if it starts to wear off and I begin to feel pain I can push a little button to up the meds. Awesome. (Note - I only had to push the button once before Clara was born, but then like three times AFTER her birth... keep reading). Oh and the epidural pain was SO NOT BAD. I actually asked the anesthesiologist at one point "Was that the worst part?" She replied "Yep." And I said "Wow that was so easy."

9:00AM Both sets of parents returned for the day. Sharon Galvan (my dr.'s wife) came to be an extra support and labor coach. Sharon is a retired Labor and Delivery nurse and it gave me such peace knowing she was there with me. Sharon - if you are reading this... THANK YOU! You are beyond amazing. We all sat around talking, playing Scramble with Friends, watching some corny TV singing show and just relaxing.

10:15AM Dr. Galvan returned and broke my water. My mom and Sharon stood behind the curtain and Brandon said Sharon peeked one time, ha ha. The process was quick and painless (thank you again epidural) and I had progressed to 4-5 centimeters and 90% effaced.

12:15PM Nurses came in to check me and I measured 8 centimeters. Yay! The nurse mentioned that Clara was at a 0 which meant that she is dropping appropriately. I was told I could push the epidural button every ten minutes if needed. I took advantage of this rather quickly, about 12:20pm, ha.

12:43pm Dr. Galvan comes back in and checks me again. I am at a 10!! It's time to gear up for pushing. At this point I was started to get nervous but still overwhelmed with excitement. I was going to meet my daughter soon!! I remember saying that things thus far had gone MUCH smoother than I had anticipated and overall I did feel very relaxed. From here on out I started pushing. My epidural was starting to fade some so I could actually feel enough pressure with each contraction to know when I needed to push, which was a blessing. Dr. Galvan just let me lead through the pushing. Brandon was on my left side and Sharon on my right side. With each push they would hold my legs back to give me more strength. Brandon said after each push I had a smile on my face. I do remember pushing with all my might and then between contractions crying and smiling (due to the rush of excitement). The entire team was cheering me on with each push. I loved these moments. It was SO encouraging and they kept me going!

With each push I felt like I was grunting and going to bust a blood vessel in my face. The team told me I was actually a lot more quiet than I thought and I wasn't grunting hardly at all. Good to know because from my perspective I swore my entire family could hear me outside our room door. :)

Once I felt Clara crowning I actually felt a lot of pain. I yelled (ok not yelled but I proclaimed rather loudly) "holy crap!!!" and they all started laughing at me (in a good way!). From here it went pretty quick.

I pushed for a total of 12 times (or so we guess) and then my life changed forever.

1:29pm Clara Anne Blackburn was born. She weighed 6 pounds 5 ounces and measured 20 inches long. After Dr. Galvan cut her cord, syringed her nose and wiped her off a bit he laid her on my tummy. I lost it. Totally. Tears of joy just started flowing. I was told she scored a 9/9 on her APGAR. Soon after Dr. Galvan started to deliver the placenta, clean me up and stitch up my tearing.  I asked if I could see my placenta after it was delivered and he said "sure." But of course I wouldn't have a normal placenta delivery now would I? It came out in many many many pieces instead of one whole piece. Dr. Galvan said this was rather weird. I would agree. Watching the placenta come out of me piece after piece was a little odd to say the least. It took a long while for him to find all of it and then stitch me up. Oh yes - I tore pretty bad.... think 20 stitches and a tear to my urethra. Awesome, right? (And at this point I was feeling him stitch me up. Like bad. Enter multiple pushes of my epidural button!) But SO worth it. SO SO WORTH IT. Brandon got to hold Clara during all of this time and for that I was so very thankful. He tried to hold her close to me so I could see her better but he was told not to pass her off to me until the Dr. was finished. Brandon told me later there was so much blood in the room, on the floor, on the Dr. etc. that it "looked like a murder scene."

About an hour later I was all cleaned and stitched and the nurses tried to sit me up in the bed for the first time since pushing. All of a sudden the room started spinning and going black and spotted. I immediately started saying "I'm going to pass out guys, I'm going to pass out!!" And sure enough... I passed out. Brandon said it was scary to watch because I did this weird head and shoulder twitch thing and then fell back down into the bed. My blood pressure dropped to 60/40 and (all of this I am told later) Sharon called Dr. Galvan on his cell phone while a nurse runs out of the room to the nurses station and then runs back into our room. A few of our family members that were sitting outside in the lobby picked up on the nurses rushed behaviors and suspected something might be wrong. I eventually woke up to the nurses waving alcohol swabs under my nose and putting me on oxygen. Dr. Galvan came back in the room to check on me. He attributed my passing out to the heavy amount of blood loss I experienced as well as just going from a laying to sitting position too quickly. Brandon was able to take Clara out to the lobby, in the hospital bassinet, to meet all the extended family (while I was still on the oxygen) and to explain the events that just occured. Once I was feeling better our family came into the room and from there things were all up hill. I then got to "really" hold my baby girl for the first time and like I said. . . life changed forever.

Clara's birth story. . . Part II. . . Brandon's version coming soon. . .
To Be Continued.