Delivery! After a week of being on bed rest
since my water broke, I finally went into labor. I began laboring at 11:00am on
February 5th. It started pretty calm, and I convinced my nurse to let me shower
before sending me down to L&D. [I never realized how good I was at
negotiating until I was in the hospital, haha]. Once I was down there, I was
pretty comfortable for a few hours. I could certainly feel the contractions,
but I wasn't in a ton of pain--yet.
Ok, so this is kind of embarrassing. I didn't
know ANYTHING about epidurals. I thought you got one shot, and if it wore off--too
bad, so sad. Therefore, I didn't ask for my epidural until I absolutely could
not stand the contractions anymore. No one ever told me that an epidural is a
continuous drip! Once I figured this out, I requested one ASAP. I had back
contractions--which I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. They were so painful. I
finally got my epidural around 6:30pm on February 5th, and it
was heaven.
Post-epidural relaxation
I went through the typical labor boredom; I
got stuck at 6 centimeters and was given Pitocin. That took a while to
kick in. Additionally, they wanted me to labor as long as possible before I
started pushing. The reason for this is because I still had an open wound and a
JP drain that they didn't want me to disturb. So, after I FINALLY reached 10
centimeters plus 3 (YIKES), they let me push. I felt like I had the whole
hospital in my labor room. Just to name a few:
1. Neonatologist
2. NICU nurses (at least 5)
3. My OBGYN assisting Maternal Fetal Medicine
4. MFM OBGYN
5. MFM OBGYN resident
6. L&D nurse
7. Surgery residents checked on
me throughout my labor
8. My rock, Chase!
I pushed for only 30 minutes and I don't know
if I could have handled much more. I had no idea if I was even doing it right.
Eventually, I instantly felt better and there she
was--Charlotte Louise Christianson. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever
seen. She was crying and sounded good, so Chase got to cut the cord. I couldn't
hold her quite yet, as she needed to be checked by neonatology.
Chase went with her, and she looked perfect.
She was 4 pounds 4 ounces, much heavier than they thought she would be. She was
started on IV fluids and breathing assistance before I could see her. I was
able to hold her for about 5 minutes, but she needed to go to the NICU to be
further assessed. It was so hard to say goodbye, but I was happy because Chase
was able to go with her.
It looked much scarier than it actually was.
She was only on breathing assistance for about 30 minutes after birth and we
were able to remove the tubing from her nose. After my recovery, I was able to
go see her. I will never forget how little she was. Thanks to the care that I received
before delivery, including magnesium and steroids, she had very few issues. It
really struck me that she was two months early and looked the way she did. She
wasn't a fetus--she was a human baby with her own soul and personality. I guess I was expecting some transparent alien, but nope--just the most beautiful baby in the world!
My sweet little girl was here, and we didn't know what
to do next. Our NICU journey began very quickly, especially once I was
discharged from the hospital a few days later. I was so lucky to have both mine and Chase's parents there with us, because I was truly trying to let go of the fact that I didn't get to take our baby home with me. For almost 7 months, I
drove to my doctor appointments looking at the "Family Loading Zone",
each time imagining the day I got to be the one loading our baby. I didn't get
that though--I left the hospital out the front door with the car seat not even
installed yet. It was tough, but I forced myself (with the help of Chase
and our families) to focus on the positive. Charlotte was healthy and happy.
She just needed to grow and learn how to eat. Too many other families worry
about much more, which we witnessed first hand while Charlotte was in the NICU. My prayers expanded from just praying for Charlotte, to praying for the other little miracles that needed His grace.
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