feedtheartist

Birth Story (Sentara Leigh Hospital, Norfolk, VA)
Part 2: Labor and Delivery

The night before I went into labor, my baby became very active. He was moving more often, for longer duration, and with more force than during the entire pregnancy. I was wondering if this was a sign of impending labor, but was unsure. Until this point, I experienced no real contractions. I would have some Braxton-Hicks after being in the car for a long time, but that was it.

The morning of, we went to get a final load of things from our old house. In the afternoon we got some unimpressive Mexican food, then went to walk at the Botanical Gardens for a little over an hour. We stopped at the store for some ice cream on the way home and planned to watch a movie.

Around 9:00 that night I went to the bathroom and saw a lot of blood, and it just kept coming. I figured this might be bloody show, but was a bit disconcerted by the quantity. I couldn’t find anything online that reassured me. At 10:00, mild cramping in the back started. My husband started a bath for me while I laid down, but when I got up from the bed my water broke. It was two pops and a gush of liquid. The contractions became much stronger immediately. There was no questioning whether or not these were real. I dipped in the bath briefly before my husband chased me out since my membranes were broken.

I was able to breath and vocalize through the contractions, but my intentions to walk, squat and use the birthing ball didn’t happen. I was worn out from an early start to an active day, so I laid down hoping to sleep. I only got up when I drenched a towel or had to go to the bathroom. Standing and walking immediately brought on the next contraction, even if it was right on top of the last one. When I laid down, the contractions were usually five to eight minutes apart. Contractions on the toilet cleared out my bladder and bowels. In hindsight, I really should have tried to move around more.

I am not sure of the exact timeline, but I think it was around 3:00 am when the contractions got more intense and I started vomiting with them. Keeping adequate amounts of water down was not possible, and small sips were inadequate. Between 6:00 and 7:00 am, we decided to go to the hospital because I was dehydrated. I was hoping the pain would be more manageable if I was hydrated.

The hospital checked me in efficiently. They were nice and professional, but not pleased with my decision to labor at home. I was “stretched to 5 cm” when admitted. My contractions were between three to six minutes apart. I am irrationally disturbed by needles piercing my skin, but had no issue with the IV being put in at this point. Being hydrated did help make the contractions more manageable for a few hours.

My nurse during labor (Jessica) was wonderful; she gave us a lot of time and attention. We enjoyed talking to her, and she helped us feel comfortable being there. I will hire a doula next time, but this is because I think we were extremely lucky with Jessica; It would be like winning the lottery to get a nurse like her next time. We depended on her so much that I want to ensure we have the same level of support next time.

If you want to go without pain medication, the staff will not offer it. You have to ask for it. I think this is a great policy because I’ve seen stories where epidurals are strongly pushed by staff.

Settled in my room, I was on a saline drip and antibiotics for Strep B. I was able to get up and go to the bathroom, and they were willing to put a lock on the IV if I wanted to move around. Birth balls were available, and they said they might even be able to dig up a squat bar if desired. I did not exercise any of my options because I was exhausted. I still have intentions of trying to move around with the next one, but I will also take a class on pain management beforehand.

The morning was pretty much a blur of a couple minutes of sleep, contraction, a couple minutes of sleep. I don’t remember much. Between 10:00 and 11:00 the contractions became more painful, and I couldn’t even think. When I would try to focus on my breathing I would lose it. Trying to manage the pain with breathing seemed to make the pain worse. Even though I wanted to do this without any intervention, we did research all possibilities.

I broached the subject of getting an epidural or something in the IV, and my husband questioned the decision thoroughly to make sure I was certain. Once I was sure, we attempted to have a discussion about the method of pain control, but I wasn’t capable of making a decision between the two.

We asked the nurse what her observations of narcotics in the IV were. She said that the mothers tend to have fuzzy memories of the event. Some babies seem to have no effect even when the narcotics were administered close to delivery, others seem drowsy even when the last dose was given six hours prior. I opted for the epidural because I would be incurring the brunt of risks rather than the baby.

The anesthesiologist was efficient, and the pain became more than manageable. They prop you up on one side at first, and the entire left side of my body went numb. Even my eye drooped. Once I was able to lay flat the numbness evened out and stopped affecting my face and upper body. The only place that was not numb was my anal sphincter, which was fine because it gave me something to focus on with each contraction. It sucked not to be able to move my legs, but it was extremely relieving to have a clear head again. I was able to relax and chat with my husband and the nurse, but I couldn’t sleep even though I was tired. I don’t regret getting the epidural, but I will try going without one next time.

I did not realize it at the time, but my catheter was not put in properly to drain the urine. I think I was extremely lucky that it did not cause, to my knowledge, residual damage. With each contraction I felt a lot of pressure in my bladder, but assumed it was being pushed out into the bag. When the catheter was taken out later there was hardly anything in it, and I was eager to get to the bathroom. I ended up overflowing the container they have in the bathroom to measure the urine as soon as I was able to make it to the bathroom, and did so again a couple hours after that. I’m glad my bladder and urinary tract were not damaged by the bad insertion.

Around 3:00 pm, a doctor I had never met, Dr. Hernandez, came in. She told the nurse to start more antibiotics and pitocin. We refused the pitocin, and she got angry with us. I don’t remember details of the lengthy discussion (argument?), other than her crossing her arms, setting her jaw, and telling us our baby would be brain damaged if we did not use pitocin. She told us I was not even 6 cm dilated, but the nurse said I was over 6 cm.
After she left, we told our nurse we would revisit the augmentation discussion in two hours if still had not progressed. When she checked two hours later I was 8 cm.

My mouth got really dry, but we didn’t remember ice chips until it was almost time to start pushing. That might have been for the best. The ice at the hospital was awful; it actually made me nauseous. So, I had to weigh the dryness of my mouth against the taste and sick stomach.
Sometime after 6:00 pm, they started prepping for labor. The epidural ran out about 20 minutes before the action started. They said I wouldn’t need it at this point, but offered more if I wanted. I decided to forego it. The contractions did get more intense, but pushing is a completely different experience than laboring. I pushed for 45 minutes with the contractions, pseudo falling asleep between. At some point I just started feeling like he would never come out; it is really frustrating when you think the head is coming out and it goes back in.

He managed to shat before being born, and they were not able to get him cleaned out before he breathed it in. Since he had to be suctioned out, I didn’t get to hold him right away. I just saw his two little arms reaching up.

My husband took a picture for me to see. In our childbirth class, they told us babies are blue when they come out. He was pink and healthy looking. We attribute this to the lack of pitocin.

They wrapped him up before giving him to me. I wanted to do skin to skin contact, but at that point I was just happy to be able to hold him. We had no expectations of a pretty baby, because let’s face it: most babies are ugly. My little guy was surprisingly hansom. He had a full head of hair, big blue eyes and was very alert.

Wow, I really need to do better. Time must evaporate, because I cannot believe it has been a month plus since I made a post. Life has been a blur of work, baby and family obligations. I have my birth story/Sentara Leigh hospital review to post, accumulated restaurant reviews and product reviews. I write them on my laptop, but only think to post them when I am on my desktop.

My big thought right now is that if you are thinking about having a baby, make sure you are in a position to stay home. When I have to go into the office, I feel detached from my son and worried about him. He is a mommy addict, so I hate having him stressed by me not being present. When I am working at home, I want to play with him but I can’t. My grandmother or a sitter play with him and show him things. By the time I get to the end of the day I am tired and wish he would just take a nap so I can unwind. I feel like I am unable to fully interact with him, and that I am missing out by the time he goes to sleep at the end of the day. I just want a little head space to myself so I can appreciate him more.

I wish I could just do mommy things with him all day: go for a walk in the morning before it gets hot, play with him, no rush feedings. It would be nice to cook/enjoy cooking again and keep some semblance of clean in the house also. I want to successfully pursue a hobby instead of get criticized for not doing anything after indulging an interest. My husband does what he can, but it seems like we are never able to get ahead of ourselves.

Not only have we been sweating like crazy in our own house, but we have the privilege of paying an astronomical power bill for it. So, with no expectations, I rattled the following off to Dominion:

Good Morning possibly helpful Dominion rep!

I have a question about whether a bill can be reduced/partially forgiven if the amount is due to faulty equipment (not on Dominion’s part). Perhaps “pity credit” would be a good term.

After a series of unfortunate events I won’t waste your time with, we landed in a downsized but comfortable rental condo. We found the air conditioner did not work properly last month, and have been in an ongoing battle with the landlord to have it fixed. He’s one of those guys that looks as if their mom dressed them at 35 years old, and talks loud but doesn’t think people will overhear them. LL to HVAC man: “The tenants last summer thought the AC unit was just undersized and just moved out. Har Har Har!” Ok, so I’m paraphrasing, but it went something like that.

We have to run the unit constantly to keep the structure between 80 and 85 degrees and hopefully keep mold at bay. The whole situation is not pleasant, especially with a baby. I swear I went all momma tiger on him, but he moves through life in a “I found this sweet brainwashing suicide cult” fog.

While we would be able to absorb an “AC unit is too small for the structure” bill at around $210, the current “faulty unit” bill puts us in a lurch at $310.

Is it possible a pity credit exists for this month and the next to bring the bills down to $210 each? I feel like we are trapped in an uncomfortable and expensive situation, so it would be awesome if Dominion would say, “It really sucks that your landlord has aspirations of being a slum lord, but we’re so cool that we will reach into our big-boy-corporation pants, sprinkle some magic pixie dust on your bill, and make $200 disappear. BAM! Just like that.”

Maybe it is all wishful thinking, but I hope you have a smooth day and don’t deal with too many angry-bear customers.

When trying to get pregnant, my husband and I both supplemented with folic acid. This was in addition to our daily intake of vitamin C and fish oil, and occasional multivitamin.

We tried for a baby for about nine months before succeeding. In fact, we decided that we should probably make an appointment with a fertility doctor soon in case one of us was defective. I felt generally ill (achy, tired) for a couple weeks before it occurred to me that I might be pregnant, finally peeing on a stick with a positive result.

Throughout my pregnancy, I tried to be more diligent than usual about avoiding potentially harmful substances like msg, transfats and high fructose corn syrup. I also avoided things with high food poisoning risk, like deli meat, soft cheeses, and food from pet owners. Sorry pet-owning-friend, just because you chase your cat off the counter does not negate the fact that it was on the counter in the first place.

The one time I cheated with soft cheese at a wedding, I got very sick. Thanks a lot Kiln Creek; I hate you.

I did continue to eat sushi and sashimi on a near weekly basis, after doing quite a bit of research. We ate at trusted restaurants with consistent high quality, clean health inspections, and we avoided fresh water fish (including salmon). Sushi restaurants are less likely to sicken you than the average fast food joint many Americans frequent.

Morning sickness was the worst during the first trimester. The biohazard fridge at work certainly didn’t help. I would never put my own food in there, but my desk is conveniently located right next to the break room. Thankfully I only had to make an appearance twice a week.

During the nine months trying to get pregnant, I got lazy and put on about 25 extra pounds. My starting weight was around 195. I did not exercise as much as I would have liked, and weighed 240 by the time I was ready to pop.

After getting sick in my third trimester, my manager and team at work had mercy and suggested/ordered me to work from home full time.

I switched OBs mid-pregnancy after having repeated bad experiences at Specialists for Women in Suffolk, VA. I might review them in the future, but all I can suggest is to stay away. I went to The Group for Women in Norfolk, VA. I have mixed feelings on them, so I’ll review them if I manage to sort them out.

Our intentions for labor and delivery revolved around being as intervention free as possible. NO PITOCIN, no epidural, no episiotomy, etc. I’m not so badass as to go for a home birth, so we were set to delivery at Sentara Leigh Hospital in Norfolk, VA. I was partial to this hospital because I received excellent care after surgery a year before.

Unless there is an actual medical reason, babies should not be induced before 42 weeks. I was born at 42 weeks, and had no expectations that my baby would come before that. The doctor wanted to induce at 41 weeks, but agreed to wait until 42 weeks. He got really antsy after 41 weeks actually passed, even though there were no actual medical reasons to be concerned.

He scheduled an induction for 41w6 days provided the hospital could accommodate me. Seeing we were uncomfortable with his initiative, he got upset. He actually had an emotional reaction to us asking one another if that was ok. We agreed because we were put on the spot, but after leaving we decided we just wouldn’t do the induction as long as the baby continued to move and everything felt right. If things reached 42 weeks, we would go ahead in. It was one day, but we wanted to give the baby the chance to come when he was ready. If anyone is allowed to get emotional about the birth of the baby it is me. Not a doctor I hardly know.

Saturday night, 41w4d I went into labor.

We started actively trying to coax my son to take a bottle a few weeks ago, given my impending return to work. We tried standard silicone and rubber nipples, BornFree wide bottles/nipples, and Tommee Tippee closer to nature bottles/nipples. My husband, sister-in-law and grandmother all tried offering it in a variety of ways. We tried cup, spoon and dropper feeding. We tried different temperatures of refrigerated and frozen milk. He spits the milk out, shoves the source away, cries at the mere sight of a feeding device, and finally falls asleep. My first day back to work, he refused to eat for nine hours.

Obviously, going nine hours without food is not good for him. After doing more research, I found the nipples may not be the problem. The enemy in expressed milk is the enzyme Lipase. Lipase breaks down the fat in the milk. That’s a great assist for babies getting it straight from the tap, but a big problem if the baby needs to get through a work day without mommy.

Lipase is fast. If there are high levels in the milk, it can take on a bitter or metallic taste in as little as 24 hours. Freezing only slows the process, so the flavor may be degraded in 1-3 weeks. I remember tasting some milk when we first started offering it from the frozen stockpile. It was sweet, but also very bitter; I figured that was just the normal flavor.

We decided to experiment. This morning, my sitter offered 6 week old frozen milk from the BornFree bottle; he refused it. She cleaned it out and tried some that was pumped and frozen while I was at work yesterday. My boy greedily sucked it down and wanted more. She offered the older milk, again he refused and went to sleep.

My conclusion is that I must be one of the unlucky committed-to-breastfeeding mothers that has high levels of lipase. Since I only go in once a week, the majority of milk I pump is going to be a week old. During this first week, we are going to offer him some of the milk pumped while I was at work to see how many days he is willing to accept it. I pump the amount he takes from the bottle, so he will have something acceptable to eat the next time I go in.

While I would like to preserve the benefits of live leukocytes in my milk, my little man finds the taste below his standards after about 24 hours of refrigeration. My pumped milk has to go straight into the freezer. I am hoping the immediate freezing will keep it tasty for at least a week so he doesn’t decide to fast again. We’ll see how the next week goes!