Since Isla is almost a month old (already!!) I figured I would finally get around to posting about her birth. Isla's original due date was January 11 and she was born on January 10 at 10:30 am. She was 8 pounds, 5 ounces and 21 inches long.
I started to have pregnancy induced hypertension (high blood pressure) in the last two months of my pregnancy, so the last two weeks of my pregnancy, my doctor was worried even though it still wasn't high enough to induce me. I had a regular doctors appointment on Wednesday, January 7th and my blood pressure had gone way up, so my doctor sent me to Labor and Delivery to be monitored for a few hours. Dr. Barton (my OB) was worried that the hypertension would turn into preeclampsia, which can be very dangerous, so that is why I had to have the extra monitoring. After two hours in Labor and Delivery, my blood pressure had dropped enough that they sent me home. I was told to go on "partial bed rest", which meant I pretty much just had to rest all day. At this point, I still wasn't effaced or dilated at all, so Dr. Barton figured Isla would be coming later than her due date. I was also told to go in on Friday for a non-stress test, where they hook you up to monitor the baby's heart rate and movements just to make sure the baby is doing well.
So on Friday, January 9th, I went in for my non-stress test. The girl took me back, hooked me up to the monitors, saw what my blood pressure was and said "Give me just a minute, I need to check on something". She came back a few minutes later and said that she had called Dr. Barton because my blood pressure was so high and he wanted me to go back down to Labor and Delivery. Luckily my OB office and the office where I was supposed to have the non-stress test are both in the same building as Labor and Delivery, so I didn't have to go far.
So down to Labor and Delivery I went. At this point in my pregnancy and with everything that was going on, I was pretty emotional, so I had a hard time with being back in Labor and Delivery while Marshall was still at work. They checked me in and told me I was going to be induced right then. The nurse was really nice and understanding and let me wait until Marshall was able to leave work, stop by our house, then come up to the hospital before starting the medication to induce me.
They started the Cytotec (medication to help me dilate) around 1 pm. I was supposed to have 4 doses of the Cytotec, then they were going to start Pitocin to cause contractions. The first dose of Cytotec didn't really do all that much. I wasn't having any contractions at all and it didn't make me dilate. After the second dose, I started having some back pain and pain down my left leg, but not bad. The monitor showed that I was having small contractions, but I didn't feel them all that much. After the third dose, I could barely stand the pain in my back and leg, and they kept telling me I needed to try to get some sleep. After having my nurse check again, and tell me that I hadn't dilated at all, my water broke on its own at 10:30 pm. After my water broke the pain got even worse, (it turns out that I don't feel contractions in my belly, just in my back and down my leg) so my nurse and Marshall talked me into getting an epidural. I had the epidural around midnight and it made such a huge difference! The pain was gone, but I wasn't totally numb and was still able to move around some. The epidural made me really tired, so I was finally able to get some sleep.
At 4:30 am, they checked me again and said that I was 95% effaced but only dilated to a 2. So I had another dose of Cytotec, then went back to sleep. Then at 7 am, they checked and I had fully dilated to a 10. They said my doctor would be there within 30 minutes and I would start pushing at 8 am. Around 8:30, the nurse came in and I spent about 40- 45 minutes pushing with just her and Marshall in the room. I guess the epidural made me more tired than I realized because I didn't accomplish very much with this pushing. I just didn't have the energy to push how I was supposed to. I started having a lot of pain in my back and left leg again, so i took a break from pushing to wait for the anesthesiologist to come give my epidural a boost. After he came and did that, Dr. Barton came in and told me it was time to have my baby. I only had to push for about 30 minutes, and out she came! They ended up not giving me pitocin until the last 10-15 minutes of pushing because just dilating made my contractions strong enough to give birth, but the contractions became further apart towards the end,
I was so tired from the epidural medication that I don't remember all of the details that well. I felt like I was going to pass out in between each push! This is probably a good thing, so I will want more children. Haha! I think Marshall has a much more intense version of the story. But, this little girl has completely stolen my heart. It is so crazy to me that a month ago, I didn't have her. From the moment I first saw her, I felt like I have always known her and I have always been her mother. She is so perfect and we feel so lucky that we get to be her parents.
Marshall filling out all of the paperwork. He was so great during everything... and took a ton of pictures for us!
The fluids they gave me through the IV made me swell up even more than my pregnancy did. You couldn't even see my wrist bones anymore, so please excuse how completley awful I look in all of these pictures! haha This was the morning Isla was born, waiting for my doctor to get there.
She's Here!!!!
After she was born, we were moved to the maternity floor, where we stayed until Sunday morning. Isla had her first bath and my mom came to visit with us.
We were discharged and went home on Sunday morning. Daddy called Isla our Tiny Dancer in her going home outfit.
