Elsa's Arrival

I love hearing/reading birth stories. When we had cable television and I was pregnant with Reagan I would watch A Baby Story all of the time (masochistic?). Maybe I like them so much because it is like having your own equivalent of a "war story" to share (it would be totally inappropriate to share views of your "war wounds/scars retained from labor and delivery"- ha ha, so verbal recounts are the only way possible to convey how tough you are after going through the birthing process :)

So, without further ado... here is Elsa's Birth Story.

Nick and I got up at the awful hour of 4AM to get ready for my 5:30AM scheduled induction. I had to call the hospital an hour before I got there to make sure I had clearance to come in. Thank goodness they gave me the "green light"!

My decision to have Elsa at Ogden Regional Hospital was entirely based on the fact that their maternity department is one of the only ones I could find in UT that has birthing suites (you check in to your room and you stay there for the duration). Also, they have a NURSERY! After being forced to have Reagan "room-in" with me, when I delivered her, I knew I wanted a hospital with a nursery! I am convinced that Hospital's with a "room-in" policy are only doing it to save money. They say it is beneficial to Mom and Baby. Yeah Right. What benefits do you reap by having to recover from pushing a baby out, having the nurses come and check your vitals every 2 hours, the nurses coming to check the baby's vitals every hour, and trying to care for your baby 100% on your own?! NONE.

OK, so we got checked in to our lovely birthing suite.

They started all of the "prep" for an induction. I knew it was coming, and I was dreading it. My veins have a funny way of completely disappearing when they see a needle coming at them. Let the butchering begin:

I always hear reassurances that the RN, Phlebotomist, whoever... is excellent at getting the vein on the first stick. Well, you haven't met my circulatory system.

I told my nurse to just put the IV in my hand. Save us all a lot of frustration.

But she wanted to try my arm first. OK, but don't say I didn't warn you.

OF COURSE, she didn't get it in my arm. OR my other arm. It ended up in my hand.

And then, because she couldn't draw blood for labs from my hand, she had to call the phlebotomist to come draw blood. Again with the "song and dance" about how excellent she was at getting blood on the first stick. She sort of got a vein. She was milking it, or something, because the blood wasn't flowing freely. There was something about her having to try again because the blood she got was clotting??? So, she tried again elsewhere. Are you keeping track of how many times I was poked? Well, add one more to the total, because I needed a booster immunization for Rubella. Oh yes, and there was the epidural (multiple pokes from that too).

I HATE NEEDLES. But I hate pain even more. So, needles are a necessary evil if I wanted painkillers.

My doctor arrived a little after 7AM. She said I was dilated 3cm and 75% effaced. She broke my water and started the pitocin.

I asked for an epidural. I consider drugs a blessing in my life, for more reasons than one. They take away pain, and they are the reason Nick is employed.

One of my biggest concerns leading up to the labor and delivery was that Ogden Regional uses Nurse Anesthetists to administer epidurals, rather than Anesthesiologists. My friend Korie warned me about the difference in quality between the nurse and a doctor administering an epidural (after her own harrowing experience). I asked my doctor about it at one of my pre-natal visits and she said that the NA's at Ogden Regional were good, because it was what they did all day, every day.

And I believed her (insert- me slowly shaking my head out of shame)...

The Nurse Anesthetist arrived to give me the epidural. With Reagan, I had an Anesthesiologist, and I DID NOT feel a thing. To say the NA wasn't as good, would be an understatement. Pain in the middle of my back. Pain down the left side. Pain down the left side again. Pain down the right side. AND THE EPIDURAL IS STILL NOT IN PLACE.

Then.... I hear the NA frantically asking "are you OK?! Are you OK?!". It didn't make sense, for him to be asking me that at this point, since he had been stabbing me for two minutes already, by this time. Why the concern now?

I shouldn't have been surprised that the question wasn't directed at me. I glanced to my right and saw what the NA saw. That: Nick's legs had buckled and that he was keeled over on my bed- nearly out cold!

The RN grabbed Nick under the armpits and propped his passed-out body against the wall. Nick "came back" to us pretty quickly. He was moved to the couch in my room and was given several glasses of orange juice. I didn't need any repeat performances during delivery, I'm the star of this show!

Needless to say, they FINALLY got the epidural placed.

But Nick's "incident" was the most memorable thing about the whole experience.

It would be comical for this to happen to anyone, but it is even more ironic that it happened to Nick.

Nick= PharmD that administers immunizations/inoculations on a regular basis. Has witnessed firsthand, surgeries (including an open-heart surgery) when he did his hospital rotations. And didn't bat an eye when I got my epidural with Reagan.

I don't think Nick is a wimp, by any means. This was a completely freak occurrence that I am attributing to the fact that he didn't get any breakfast that morning (Nick is hypoglycemic, so I am sure this didn't help at all), and that I was squeezing his hand with every ounce of strength I had, since I was so uncomfortable from the epidural needle.

But it sure makes for a good story!

After the epidural, Nick decided to head to the cafeteria to get some lunch. We didn't want his hypoglycemia having any more averse consequences. While he was gone the pitocin was really kicking in, and Elsa wasn't tolerating the contractions well. Her heart rate was falling at the end of each contraction. So, they stopped the pitocin.

I kept contracting on my own, and in an hour I dilated from: barely 5cm to the full 10cm. Just as Nick got back from lunch.

As luck would have it... by the time I was fully dilated my OBGYN had just started a hysterectomy on one of her patients at a completely different hospital than the one I was at. AND the doctor on call from her office was delivering someone else.

Just as it was with Reagan, I had to resist the urge to push while I waited for the doctor to get there. This time, however, I had to wait MUCH longer for the doctor to get there. I could have had Elsa an hour and and a half earlier than I did- if the doctor had been readily available. Once again: Drugs to the rescue. The epidural made the wait bearable.

And the waiting wasn't actually a bad thing.

By the time my doctor made it to my bedside I only had to push through 1.5 contractions and Elsa was here!

I have to admit that I was STARVING by the time I finally had Elsa. I hadn't eaten for about 12 hours. In fact, while I was in labor the one thing that I couldn't stop thinking about was a raspberry fritter donut from MadBrook Donuts. I made Nick call my sister, Heather, to tell her that when she came to the hospital that evening; more than bringing flowers (or anything else in the world) I wanted her to bring me a donut! And wonderful sister that she is, she came through!

My only MAJOR disappointment was that the hospital didn't have cable TV. I had SO been looking forward to getting in some uninterrupted time of watching Law and Order on TNT. Fortunately, I brought DVD's with me to the hospital, and I was able to watch them. But if the hospital had, had Cable television I calculated that I would have been able to watch at least 5 episodes of Law and Order. Oh well, I guess you can't have it all.

My nurses were wonderful. I feel like my recovery with Elsa was so much faster than it was with Reagan.

I spent two nights in the hospital. I guess being gone that long made Reagan think I had moved in to the hospital. She kept asking Nick to take her to "Mommy's house".

We've been home for a week now. Reagan loves her little sister. Every morning she gets out of her bed and runs to the bassinet to make sure the baby is still there. Whenever Elsa makes a noise, or moves Reagan laughs and says, "the baby's silly".

My Mom arrived to help me earlier this week. What a blessing it has been to have her here. I don't know if I am going to be able to let her go back to New York.

I received flowers from both Nick and my parents. I feel so lucky. Other than a few bumps in the road my labor and delivery were ideal (for me). And I was able to bring home a beautiful pink bundle. Thanks to everyone for the well-wishes.