Kira's Birthday
It's been four weeks since Kira was born. Only now do I feel like I'm starting to catch up with all the loose ends that were left hanging when she was born. One of those loose ends is reconnecting with my friends and family. I'm betting that some people haven't even heard the story of Kira's Birthday. Well, I'm going to document it here and even if most people have heard the story, it will be a good keepsake for Kira when she grows up.
It was finally Saturday (Jan 19). Trevor and I had just gone through a long week. On Tuesday (Jan 16), I was rear-ended at a stop light. What a pain that was. Not only was my car towed, but also I was forced to go to the ER for 4 hours of fetal monitoring. The whole time, all I could worry about was the Asthma DB timebomb (an extremely time-sensitive assignment for work). Details about the car accident will have to wait for another blog entry. By the time I had finished the time bomb, I had to prepare for my annual review and address a cold call client inquiry. So, I was very relieved when Saturday came around.
Our plans for the day were to go shopping for last-minute items we needed for the baby. We wanted to hit several stores: Bed Bath and Beyond, Container Store, Barns and Noble, Babies R Us, and the market. Very ambitious, huh? Weekends had become very precious, especially since I was 39 weeks pregnant. We were very aware this may be our last weekend before the baby comes! And we were right!
I had started feeling contractions at lunch (Panera). They weren't very painful, very short and occured every hour or two. I was not in the least bit concerned. I hadn't felt any Braxton Hicks contractions up until this point, so I figured it was probably Braxton Hicks and other signs of false labor. But Trevor was more skeptical. He insisted that if it got worse, we would cut our shopping trip short and go straight home. In the end, we were able to hit all the stores we planned to visit! It was a great feeling to get everything done! I did feel more contractions, but at Barns and Noble I bought a huge bottle of water and guzzled the whole thing and that made the contractions subside a bit.
Once we got home, it was time to make dinner. Trevor was so good to me at the late stages of my pregnancy. I hadn't cooked in weeks. So, Trevor made dinner on his own while I unpacked all the goodies we bought that day. As we were sitting down for dinner, my contractions were getting worse. They were somewhat difficult to ignore. My Auntie Sandy called, and I told her I was having contractions. Then my Daddy called and I told him my stomach hurt. He asked me if the baby was coming and I said I don't think so. Then my Mommy called and I told her my stomach hurt. She was making me nervous, so I made sure Trevor talked to her from that point foward, and not me!
I ate about 1/3 of my dinner. After laying down on the couch for a bit, Trevor suggested that I go take a shower. It was around 9 pm by the time I hopped into the shower. The shower felt good! I could still feel the contractions, but they were much easier to handle. But I knew I had to come out of the shower eventually. When I did, the contractions were BAD! I could barely get dressed because I had to concentrate so hard just to get through the contractions. I started to blow dry my hair and couldn't handle the pain at that point and had to just sit on the floor of the bathroom. Trevor was pretty alarmed. He wanted me to call the doctor. The doctor on-call asked me how far apart my contractions were and I told her they were 2o minutes apart but extremely intense. So, she suggested that I come to the hospital and they would put me on the monitor. Maybe it was false labor, but she would not be able to tell over the phone. So, we put the bags in the car, put Logan in is crate (he would be picked up by Trevor's parents later that night), and headed out.
The car ride was unbearable! The contractions were coming faster and were even more painful. I'm not sure how I managed to sit in the car with the seat being so uncomfortable. The whole ride there I was gripping Kira's blanket. Last weekend, my Mommy insisted that I bring a blanket for the baby even though we had layers and layers of clothes for her. The blanket wouldn't fit in my hospital bag, so I held onto it and it became my focal object during labor and delivery.
When we finally made it to the hospital, we were a bit lost and confused. Beth Israel is a really old hospital and it doesn't really have a main entrance...at least not one that was clearly marked. We pulled up to the Shapiro building, the one were we went for the birthing class. Trevor asked me if he should drop me off. I didn't really want to get separated from Trevor, but I didn't want to make the trip any longer because another contraction could come. So, I walked in, with Kira's blanket in hand. There was a security guard sitting at a big desk. He took one look at me and said "10th floor". I was a little dazed from the contractions, so I just headed towards the elevator, but I kind of wondered why no one was there to recieve me and why I couldn't get a wheel chair. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I was demanding service. I just needed help! The contractions made me feel disabled! Anyway, I just got into the elevator, pressed the button, and got myself to the labor and delivery.
First thing I had to do was register. I had about 4 or 5 contractions by the time registration was done. Trevor came up with all the bags half way through registration. He had one bag cross over his chest to the right, one crossed over his chest to the left, a camera bag, a food bag and what looked like even more bags of stuff. Why he had to bring ALL the bags, I don't know. It was a disturbing sight.
Finally I was wheeled into the triage room. That's where a nurse makes the initial assessment of the status of my labor. I took off my clothes and lay down on a bed. The first thing the nurse asks me is, do you want an epidural. I told her I wasn't sure because it depends on how far dilation has progressed. We learned in birthing class that sometimes the drugs can slow down dilation, contractions and the overall progression of labor. Before I even went into labor, Trevor and I thought it would be a good idea to not get the epidural until I was at least 4 cm dilated, assuming the contractions would be bearable. Plus, I wasn't even sure if I was really in labor. The contractions were still pretty far apart. I mentioned this to the nurse and she kind of chuckled at me. She said, it's pretty obvious you're in labor, but I'll check how far you are dilated. She checked, and it turns out I was 6 cm dilated! That was great news and right away I told her I wanted the epidural.
They took me to a delivery room. My nurse was Tricia, and she was really great. She was very calm and communicated really well with me. I kind of miss her, and I don't even really know her besides in the delivery room. They hooked me up to the monitor and stuck an IV in my arm. By the time that was done, the anesthesiologist showed up. He was a pretty young doctor. He looked a little sweaty and frazzled. Later on in the night I would find out that there were a lot of women giving birth that night and he was very busy. Anyway, he had me sit up on the edge of the bed while he prepped my back. This was easier said than done because I was still having contractions. Everytime I would have one, he would stop what he was doing so I could get through the contraction. Eventually, he managed to get a huge needle into my back just deep enough to administer the drugs. Too deep and I would end up with drugs in my spine, which would lead to an extremely intense headache. Too shallow and I would still be having labor pains. So, it was really important that I stay completely still. What got me through it was thinking about all the flowers on mine and Trevor's honeymoon. Strange, huh?
Once the epidural was all set, all the pain went away! It was 11:15 when the anesthesiologist was finished and I didn't feel a thing until about 1:30. During that time, I relaxed in bed. They kept the lights down low so Trevor could get some sleep. Acutally, Trevor was too jazzed up to sleep. He was chatting online with my cousin Dennis! I managed to catch a few winks, which was very nice. At around 1:30, Tricia checked in on me and asked me if I was starting to feel any pressure. I told her, yes, now that you mention it, I'm starting to feel stuff again. She checked my cervix. It was 9.5 cm dilated. She asked me if I wanted more drugs. I said YES! So she made a call to the anesthesiologists to come back and give me a refill. 2:00 came around and the pressure that I was just starting to feel developed into full blown pain. Tricia checked my cervix again, and I was 10 cm dilated. Time to push!...with or without the drugs!
Pushing was really hard! Everytime I felt a contraction coming on, I would have to curl up my body and sqeeze my abdominal muscles for 10 seconds. Tricia would do the count down. 10 seconds doesn't sound like a long time, but it was REALLY HARD...and REALLY PAINFUL. Weeks after Kira's birth, the experience is still very vivid in my mind. While pushing, I was crying and I kept telling Tricia it really hurt. She told me that I have to try my best to push the whole 10 seconds. She said everytime I let up, she can see the baby's head retreat. She said when I feel like giving up, instead, I should push harder! So, that's what I did. And by 2:19, Kira was out! Trevor was pretty impressed. I remember he said, I can't believe you just did that!
Tricia was holding the baby and she asked me if I wanted to hold her or to have her placed on my chest. I said no. I asked her if she could clean her up first. Tricia kind of smiled (laughing at me), and took her away to get cleaned up. Then, the anesthesiologist busted into the room! He came in and said, I'm here! Well, it was too late. The baby was born already!
The doctor who delivered Kira (I don't remember who it was) pressed down on my tummy and the placenta came out. Then she started working on stiching up my tears. This was a horrible experience. She supposedly gave me novocain, but I could still feel everything. I felt every need poke and every thread tug. I was pretty vocal about it, too. I kept saying "OW", but she just ignored me. It felt like over an hour of stiching before she was done.
While I was getting repaired, Trevor was taking pictures and holding the baby. It seemed like he was getting tired of holding her! She cried a little bit, but not much. I kept asking, why is she not crying? Her hands and feet were very blue. And she had LOTS of hair!! During the pushing Tricia kepts saying she sees hair...lots of hair!
Finally after all the stiching was done, I got to hold Kira. I was really tired and still a bit drugged up. I didn't really know what to think when I saw her. It was a bit surreal. The three of us hung out in the delivery room until about 3:30. Then they took Kira to the nursury and Trevor and I went to our post partum room. They kept her there until about 8 the next morning. Even though she probably should have fed, both she and I were so tired from the delivery, we just slept.
Overall it was a very positive experience. It was scary at times, but now that I know what to expect, I don't think I will be scared the next time. The only thing I would have changed would be to have more pain medication during the pushing! Next time I'm hand cuffing the anesthesiologist to my bed!
It was finally Saturday (Jan 19). Trevor and I had just gone through a long week. On Tuesday (Jan 16), I was rear-ended at a stop light. What a pain that was. Not only was my car towed, but also I was forced to go to the ER for 4 hours of fetal monitoring. The whole time, all I could worry about was the Asthma DB timebomb (an extremely time-sensitive assignment for work). Details about the car accident will have to wait for another blog entry. By the time I had finished the time bomb, I had to prepare for my annual review and address a cold call client inquiry. So, I was very relieved when Saturday came around.
Our plans for the day were to go shopping for last-minute items we needed for the baby. We wanted to hit several stores: Bed Bath and Beyond, Container Store, Barns and Noble, Babies R Us, and the market. Very ambitious, huh? Weekends had become very precious, especially since I was 39 weeks pregnant. We were very aware this may be our last weekend before the baby comes! And we were right!
I had started feeling contractions at lunch (Panera). They weren't very painful, very short and occured every hour or two. I was not in the least bit concerned. I hadn't felt any Braxton Hicks contractions up until this point, so I figured it was probably Braxton Hicks and other signs of false labor. But Trevor was more skeptical. He insisted that if it got worse, we would cut our shopping trip short and go straight home. In the end, we were able to hit all the stores we planned to visit! It was a great feeling to get everything done! I did feel more contractions, but at Barns and Noble I bought a huge bottle of water and guzzled the whole thing and that made the contractions subside a bit.
Once we got home, it was time to make dinner. Trevor was so good to me at the late stages of my pregnancy. I hadn't cooked in weeks. So, Trevor made dinner on his own while I unpacked all the goodies we bought that day. As we were sitting down for dinner, my contractions were getting worse. They were somewhat difficult to ignore. My Auntie Sandy called, and I told her I was having contractions. Then my Daddy called and I told him my stomach hurt. He asked me if the baby was coming and I said I don't think so. Then my Mommy called and I told her my stomach hurt. She was making me nervous, so I made sure Trevor talked to her from that point foward, and not me!
I ate about 1/3 of my dinner. After laying down on the couch for a bit, Trevor suggested that I go take a shower. It was around 9 pm by the time I hopped into the shower. The shower felt good! I could still feel the contractions, but they were much easier to handle. But I knew I had to come out of the shower eventually. When I did, the contractions were BAD! I could barely get dressed because I had to concentrate so hard just to get through the contractions. I started to blow dry my hair and couldn't handle the pain at that point and had to just sit on the floor of the bathroom. Trevor was pretty alarmed. He wanted me to call the doctor. The doctor on-call asked me how far apart my contractions were and I told her they were 2o minutes apart but extremely intense. So, she suggested that I come to the hospital and they would put me on the monitor. Maybe it was false labor, but she would not be able to tell over the phone. So, we put the bags in the car, put Logan in is crate (he would be picked up by Trevor's parents later that night), and headed out.
The car ride was unbearable! The contractions were coming faster and were even more painful. I'm not sure how I managed to sit in the car with the seat being so uncomfortable. The whole ride there I was gripping Kira's blanket. Last weekend, my Mommy insisted that I bring a blanket for the baby even though we had layers and layers of clothes for her. The blanket wouldn't fit in my hospital bag, so I held onto it and it became my focal object during labor and delivery.
When we finally made it to the hospital, we were a bit lost and confused. Beth Israel is a really old hospital and it doesn't really have a main entrance...at least not one that was clearly marked. We pulled up to the Shapiro building, the one were we went for the birthing class. Trevor asked me if he should drop me off. I didn't really want to get separated from Trevor, but I didn't want to make the trip any longer because another contraction could come. So, I walked in, with Kira's blanket in hand. There was a security guard sitting at a big desk. He took one look at me and said "10th floor". I was a little dazed from the contractions, so I just headed towards the elevator, but I kind of wondered why no one was there to recieve me and why I couldn't get a wheel chair. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I was demanding service. I just needed help! The contractions made me feel disabled! Anyway, I just got into the elevator, pressed the button, and got myself to the labor and delivery.
First thing I had to do was register. I had about 4 or 5 contractions by the time registration was done. Trevor came up with all the bags half way through registration. He had one bag cross over his chest to the right, one crossed over his chest to the left, a camera bag, a food bag and what looked like even more bags of stuff. Why he had to bring ALL the bags, I don't know. It was a disturbing sight.
Finally I was wheeled into the triage room. That's where a nurse makes the initial assessment of the status of my labor. I took off my clothes and lay down on a bed. The first thing the nurse asks me is, do you want an epidural. I told her I wasn't sure because it depends on how far dilation has progressed. We learned in birthing class that sometimes the drugs can slow down dilation, contractions and the overall progression of labor. Before I even went into labor, Trevor and I thought it would be a good idea to not get the epidural until I was at least 4 cm dilated, assuming the contractions would be bearable. Plus, I wasn't even sure if I was really in labor. The contractions were still pretty far apart. I mentioned this to the nurse and she kind of chuckled at me. She said, it's pretty obvious you're in labor, but I'll check how far you are dilated. She checked, and it turns out I was 6 cm dilated! That was great news and right away I told her I wanted the epidural.
They took me to a delivery room. My nurse was Tricia, and she was really great. She was very calm and communicated really well with me. I kind of miss her, and I don't even really know her besides in the delivery room. They hooked me up to the monitor and stuck an IV in my arm. By the time that was done, the anesthesiologist showed up. He was a pretty young doctor. He looked a little sweaty and frazzled. Later on in the night I would find out that there were a lot of women giving birth that night and he was very busy. Anyway, he had me sit up on the edge of the bed while he prepped my back. This was easier said than done because I was still having contractions. Everytime I would have one, he would stop what he was doing so I could get through the contraction. Eventually, he managed to get a huge needle into my back just deep enough to administer the drugs. Too deep and I would end up with drugs in my spine, which would lead to an extremely intense headache. Too shallow and I would still be having labor pains. So, it was really important that I stay completely still. What got me through it was thinking about all the flowers on mine and Trevor's honeymoon. Strange, huh?
Once the epidural was all set, all the pain went away! It was 11:15 when the anesthesiologist was finished and I didn't feel a thing until about 1:30. During that time, I relaxed in bed. They kept the lights down low so Trevor could get some sleep. Acutally, Trevor was too jazzed up to sleep. He was chatting online with my cousin Dennis! I managed to catch a few winks, which was very nice. At around 1:30, Tricia checked in on me and asked me if I was starting to feel any pressure. I told her, yes, now that you mention it, I'm starting to feel stuff again. She checked my cervix. It was 9.5 cm dilated. She asked me if I wanted more drugs. I said YES! So she made a call to the anesthesiologists to come back and give me a refill. 2:00 came around and the pressure that I was just starting to feel developed into full blown pain. Tricia checked my cervix again, and I was 10 cm dilated. Time to push!...with or without the drugs!
Pushing was really hard! Everytime I felt a contraction coming on, I would have to curl up my body and sqeeze my abdominal muscles for 10 seconds. Tricia would do the count down. 10 seconds doesn't sound like a long time, but it was REALLY HARD...and REALLY PAINFUL. Weeks after Kira's birth, the experience is still very vivid in my mind. While pushing, I was crying and I kept telling Tricia it really hurt. She told me that I have to try my best to push the whole 10 seconds. She said everytime I let up, she can see the baby's head retreat. She said when I feel like giving up, instead, I should push harder! So, that's what I did. And by 2:19, Kira was out! Trevor was pretty impressed. I remember he said, I can't believe you just did that!
Tricia was holding the baby and she asked me if I wanted to hold her or to have her placed on my chest. I said no. I asked her if she could clean her up first. Tricia kind of smiled (laughing at me), and took her away to get cleaned up. Then, the anesthesiologist busted into the room! He came in and said, I'm here! Well, it was too late. The baby was born already!
The doctor who delivered Kira (I don't remember who it was) pressed down on my tummy and the placenta came out. Then she started working on stiching up my tears. This was a horrible experience. She supposedly gave me novocain, but I could still feel everything. I felt every need poke and every thread tug. I was pretty vocal about it, too. I kept saying "OW", but she just ignored me. It felt like over an hour of stiching before she was done.
While I was getting repaired, Trevor was taking pictures and holding the baby. It seemed like he was getting tired of holding her! She cried a little bit, but not much. I kept asking, why is she not crying? Her hands and feet were very blue. And she had LOTS of hair!! During the pushing Tricia kepts saying she sees hair...lots of hair!
Finally after all the stiching was done, I got to hold Kira. I was really tired and still a bit drugged up. I didn't really know what to think when I saw her. It was a bit surreal. The three of us hung out in the delivery room until about 3:30. Then they took Kira to the nursury and Trevor and I went to our post partum room. They kept her there until about 8 the next morning. Even though she probably should have fed, both she and I were so tired from the delivery, we just slept.
Overall it was a very positive experience. It was scary at times, but now that I know what to expect, I don't think I will be scared the next time. The only thing I would have changed would be to have more pain medication during the pushing! Next time I'm hand cuffing the anesthesiologist to my bed!
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