Christine's Birth Story

Read at own risk! If you get grossed out or thought I shared too much info sorry, but you have been warned!

Everyone told me that each pregnancy and birth are different. Everytime I heard this I would think, okay yeah, how different could it be? well, let me just tell you, for me, this pregnancy and birth was SO different than with Lexi I still had no clue what I was doing. However, I did learn a lot about my body and about birth that I did not know before. Anyways, let me just get to the story.

On July 20th, which was a Tuesday, I started having contractions at 11:30 a.m. So excited, I started timing and wouldn't you know they were coming every 5 minutes apart and growing in intensity. I thought, "This is great, I will be early just like with Lexi, my due date was the 26th." After an hour, I knew I was in labor. But then the strangest thing happened, my contractions started coming every 20 minutes apart and would last for about 4-5 minutes. Now, I knew this was not normal, but they hurt so much that I thought I was still in labor. Well, by 3:30 or so, the contractions hurt so bad I could not bare it any longer. So I called Chris at work, told him to come home so that we could go to the hospital and see what was going on. Chris came home, changed, and we went. After getting admitted, answering the nurses bazillion questions, and getting hooked up to the monitors it showed that I was in labor. The only problem was the painful contractions were not causing me to dilate further along or change my cervix. So there I was being monitored to see if progress occurred. After an hour there was no progress, so I was told to walk around and see if that would do something. well, it did nothing. After being there for 3 and half hours, I all of the sudden felt no pain at all. It was like I completely stopped going into labor. And sure enough that is what happened. My labor stopped completely. I went from having contractions to nothing at all. Needless to say, I was sent home and I cried the entire way to our apartment. I wanted that to be the day SO bad. But, it wasn't.

After that hospital visit, I experienced sharp pains that wrapped around my upper back. It was so unbearable, I couldn't walk. I also got so nauseated that I threw up everything I ate and had no appetite. I didn't understand why I felt this way. well, my loving mom took care of Lexi and the house and everything else, why I rested. Then, I had to wait until my due date, 26th, which was also my doc visit to find out what is going on.

At my doc visit, I learned that the labor I went into on the 20th was defined in medical textbooks as "dysfunctional" labor. It is true labor pains in which causes no result. I also learned that the pains I had after and nausea could be aftermaths of going into this type of labor. Then, I begged to be induced. I really wanted her to come out on her own, but I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted her out! Well, the docs really didn't want to induce me, but after my pleading we set the induce date for four days later, July 30th. My docs thought for sure I would go into labor again on my own before that time though.

Well, the 30th came and with still no baby I was ready to be induced.

So, at 7:30 a.m. on July 30th, Friday, Chris and I arrived at Crittention hospital to, this time, leave with a baby. By the time I actually got hooked up to the IV and the patocin started pumping the time was 9:30 a.m. It took this long because I once again had to answer a bazillion questions and because it took the nurse 3 tries to get the iv in my arm. Man, I already hate needles and she had to poke me 3 times before another nurse came in and finished the job. They each said my veins kept moving, maybe it was nerves, I don't know, all I know is it sure hurt! But after the IV dilemma was over things started taking place. Every half hour the nurse would crank up the amount of patocin being injected. we started off slow going, in fact, I was in no pain for the first four hours, so I had time to update facebook and quiz Chris on his Constitution class. After hours of not making a whole lot of progress, my doctor came in and broke my water to speed things up. Sure enough, that did the trick. After my water broke, things started moving and grooving. My pain went from nothing to uncomfortable to " I need my epidural Now, please, really quickly once that water had been broken. So, I got my epidural in the knick of time, and by the time it was completely in effect, I needed to start pushing. It was weird, I felt like I had to go to the bathroom really bad and I just felt the desire to push. I actually thought I needed to have a bowel movement. when I told my nurse this info, she decided to check me, even though, she checked me 30 minutes before and I still had a ways to go. when she checked me she couldn't believe that I was ready and that I could push Christine out now. So, in came my doctor, an intern, and my nurse. Legs went in the stirrups and I was told to push when I felt like it. So that is what I did. Man, did it hurt this time. I don't remember the pushing part hurting nearly as bad as with Lex, but let me tell you, it hurt this time. I felt like I was pushing forever, but in reality it was about 15 minutes of pushing before she came out. My doc was surprised that it didn't take me that long to push out a big baby. I was surprised it was only 15 minutes, I swear it felt like I was pushing for hours. But, out she came.

After she came out, I felt really weird down yonder. I felt like liquid was just pouring out of me. I also saw the doctor have a look of concern on her face and I remember looking at Chris wondering what was going on. All of the sudden,  I was getting stitched up, due to the episiotomy, and I was getting shots in the leg and told to take pills orally. I wanted to know why I was receiving shots in the legs and why I had to take pills, for I knew I didn't have either at Lexi's birth. Well, my doctor told me that I was hemmoraging (sp?) It was called a post partum hemmorage. I didn't understand what the big deal was, but my doctor explained that I was losing a lot of blood and it needed to stop. She informed me that if they could not get it to stop, I would need a blood transfusion. I just remember crying. Chris was taking pictures of Christine, but quickly came to my aide when he overheard the doc telling me this info. I remember looking at him and he looked worried so then I was really worried, for Chris is the calm one in our relationship and he did not look calm. Well, the bleeding continued, so then my nurse started pushing really hard on my stomach and rubbing my uterus to drain the blood if you will and to hopefully stop the problem. Man did that hurt! It hurt worse than labor. Then, the doctor took a metal tool thingy and started scraping out blood clots. I swear I was in so much pain, I remember screaming and crying and wanting to die. It made the pushing part seem like a piece of cake. well, hours later, the bleeding was under control. So, the nurse wanted me to go to the bathroom and see if I was okay to go to the recovery room.

I stood for like 2 seconds and realized it was not a good idea to walk to the bathroom, so the nurse wheeled me into the bathroom, I went,washed my hands, sat back down in the wheelchair and that is the last thing I remembered for a while. I passed out! I came to seeing three nurses around me, talking to me, but I could not hear what they were saying. I felt like I was deaf. I kept saying, I can't hear you, I can't hear you. Well, after 5 minutes I found out, my hearing came back and I now had three worried nurses. They wanted me to sit back in the delivery room bed and call the doctor, but I begged them to send me to the recovery room, for my mom, and Lexi and Chris were waiting for me there. After persuading them, they reluctantly agreed to let me go, but I had to promise I would not get out of bed, for fear of passing out again. I promised. So, I finally got to go to the recovery room and hold my baby 5 hours after she came out.

After that, I was really weak, and on lots of pain medication, so memories are a bit blurred at this point. But needless to say, it was all worth it, for it brought Christine into this world. People have since asked me if the birth was better or worse than Lexi's birth. And now I know why people say every labor and birth are different, because that is exactly what I tell them. It wasn't better or worse, it was just completely a different experience. Parts of it were better and parts of it were worse, but all in all, it was just different.

I can say, though, that recovery has been a lot easier than it was for Lexi. why that is  i don't know.

Now, almost two weeks later, life is good. Baby Christine is healthy and happy and I am feeling so much better! I just have to take iron pills to boost my energy level after having lost so much blood, but other than fatigue, i really cannot complain. A lot of women have it way worse than I. Seriously though, all in all, it worked out well and the end result has been fantastic!