Post by a5swanson on Jun 9, 2015 22:01:30 GMT -5
Hi all!
Sorry it took so long to get this up and going! And...sorry for this being extremely long! It was a whirlwind!
Last Monday, I was having steady cramping that started in the morning. I went for a long walk, out to lunch and got a pedicure with my Mom. Later that evening I was really trying to get more stuff going. I went in a 2.5 mile walk in my neighborhood which seemed to make my cramps a little more intense and annoying.
Starting at about midnight I kept waking up with what felt like diarrhea cramps until they became pretty timeable around 2:30. By 3 I called my doctor telling her that I was going into labor and that I was gonna head to l and d in an hour or so. I definitely just knew it was time. After I took a shower and got ready, I woke DH up and he drove me in.
In triage I was only 2 cm but the contractions were very intense so I literally cried when they told me to walk around for another two hours. I was so pissed. I made it about 25 mins of walking around before I just had to go back because I was in so much pain. The midwife checked me again and said I was a 4 and that they were admitting me--yay.
From there I got my room and the epidural which was amazing. Instant relief and I could hang out with DH, we watched netflix together and I actually set up my maternity leave through work. I received petocin at about 12:30 to keep things moving as I wasn't progressing very fast at that point and my in broke my bag of waters. She saw the Meconium fluid and told me that my daughter would likely just get a few minutes of extra TLC to make sure she didn't get any of it in her lungs right after delivery.
I started pushing around 2:50 and for another 3 hours almost. I actually disliked this part more than the contractions. It was the exhaustion that got me with the pushing. But just before 6pm, Alaska Jane was born. They placed her on me for literally 10 seconds before they took her to try to suction out any of Meconium that could have gotten in her mouth.
The entire time I was being stitched (3rd degree tear, lovely.) Alaska was being suctioned to try to get her breathing to be less rattled and labored. After 40 minutes of that, they told DH to follow them up to the NICU to work more on her. Apparently her breathing had gotten really bad and her co2 levels kept declining. So, within 5 minutes the room went from like 10 people to just me (unable fully walk from the epi).
I spent the next three days going to see Alaska in the NICU every three hours. As long as she wasn't getting a breathing treatment or under a co2 tent, I could feed her and hold her. Poor DH didn't get to hold her for about 24 hours.
The doctors were great and assured me that her levels were looking better by the hour. It was good to see her get out of the tent and look more just like a normal baby. On Friday, we were discharged with a clean bill of health and her breathing has been fine ever since.
I got super misty eyed today thinking that she was already a week old. I never want her to grow up
ETA:
We are frequently asked about Alaska's namesake. There is a character in a John Green book named Alaska and in it she discusses what that word means. We just loved it. Jane is my grandmothers middle name.
Sorry it took so long to get this up and going! And...sorry for this being extremely long! It was a whirlwind!
Last Monday, I was having steady cramping that started in the morning. I went for a long walk, out to lunch and got a pedicure with my Mom. Later that evening I was really trying to get more stuff going. I went in a 2.5 mile walk in my neighborhood which seemed to make my cramps a little more intense and annoying.
Starting at about midnight I kept waking up with what felt like diarrhea cramps until they became pretty timeable around 2:30. By 3 I called my doctor telling her that I was going into labor and that I was gonna head to l and d in an hour or so. I definitely just knew it was time. After I took a shower and got ready, I woke DH up and he drove me in.
In triage I was only 2 cm but the contractions were very intense so I literally cried when they told me to walk around for another two hours. I was so pissed. I made it about 25 mins of walking around before I just had to go back because I was in so much pain. The midwife checked me again and said I was a 4 and that they were admitting me--yay.
From there I got my room and the epidural which was amazing. Instant relief and I could hang out with DH, we watched netflix together and I actually set up my maternity leave through work. I received petocin at about 12:30 to keep things moving as I wasn't progressing very fast at that point and my in broke my bag of waters. She saw the Meconium fluid and told me that my daughter would likely just get a few minutes of extra TLC to make sure she didn't get any of it in her lungs right after delivery.
I started pushing around 2:50 and for another 3 hours almost. I actually disliked this part more than the contractions. It was the exhaustion that got me with the pushing. But just before 6pm, Alaska Jane was born. They placed her on me for literally 10 seconds before they took her to try to suction out any of Meconium that could have gotten in her mouth.
The entire time I was being stitched (3rd degree tear, lovely.) Alaska was being suctioned to try to get her breathing to be less rattled and labored. After 40 minutes of that, they told DH to follow them up to the NICU to work more on her. Apparently her breathing had gotten really bad and her co2 levels kept declining. So, within 5 minutes the room went from like 10 people to just me (unable fully walk from the epi).
I spent the next three days going to see Alaska in the NICU every three hours. As long as she wasn't getting a breathing treatment or under a co2 tent, I could feed her and hold her. Poor DH didn't get to hold her for about 24 hours.
The doctors were great and assured me that her levels were looking better by the hour. It was good to see her get out of the tent and look more just like a normal baby. On Friday, we were discharged with a clean bill of health and her breathing has been fine ever since.
I got super misty eyed today thinking that she was already a week old. I never want her to grow up
ETA:
We are frequently asked about Alaska's namesake. There is a character in a John Green book named Alaska and in it she discusses what that word means. We just loved it. Jane is my grandmothers middle name.
