Well after much complaining from my friends, I have decided to pick up the blog again. But I reserve the right to not add a new post for another 7 months. Ha!
So as you know, I am no longer pregnant. Fortunately humans do not need the gestational time that a baby elephant needs. The rest of my pregnancy went really well. I filled out and ended up with a fantastically huge belly (with the stretch marks to prove it - lol). It was pretty uneventful – as far as I can remember anyway. The only thing that sucked about my pregnancy was that work was unbelievably busy during the best months. The last few months were great too. I was just a little more uncomfortable.
There is a ton I could write about so today I have decided to share Our Birth Story. And I precede this with saying that Chris can jump in and add his two cents too in the event I forgot something.
Ana Juliette Picchi
March 1st, 2008
7lbs. 1oz.
19 inches
So Ana was due February 23/24. Well the 23rd came and went. So did the 24th. Soon it was our 41 week appointment on February 29th. Ugh. I was ready to have this kid out…..NOW. The plan was for us to have an ultrasound and a stress test and then probably schedule an induction the following week. We had the ultrasound first so the doctor could check the fluid around the baby. Unfortunately it showed low amniotic fluid and my internal exam showed that I still wasn’t dilated. The always funny Dr. Weeks told us he had good news and bad news. The good news is that we were going to have a baby. The bad news is that we were going to have a baby. Isn’t he the joker….
He sent us to the hospital that evening for induction. What!?! I don’t get to finally clean the house!?!? Yikes!
Since the fluid was low, I was having the baby that weekend….not next week. They planned on ripening my cervix (or marinating my cervix as Dr. Week’s put it) overnight with Cervadil (in hopes that I would dilate) and starting Pitocin in the morning. They gave me the Cervadil on Friday evening. When I woke up Saturday morning, the morning nurse explained to me that since I hadn’t been dilated the night before, I may be on the Pitocin for the next 12 hours and then be given the Cervadil again on Saturday night with a second round of Pitocin on Sunday. As you can imagine, I was not happy. The idea of two days of labor was not what I was looking forward to. Especially since I was hoping for a drug free birth…..well we don’t always get what we want.
The nurse removed the Cervadil Saturday morning to find that my water had broken at some point in the middle of the night. I never felt it which kind of freaked me out. The nurse said not to worry since my fluids had been low. Even she was questioning what she was seeing since it wasn’t a lot of liquid. She also found that I still had not dilated at all. She informed me that we were definitely having this baby today since my water had broken.
She started the Pitocin at about 8am. Immediately the baby’s heart rate dropped from about 140 to under 100. The nurse stopped the Pitocin. I was surprisingly calm so she was convinced that the baby couldn’t handle the Pitocin and called Dr. Frangella (the Dr. on call that weekend) right away. Dr. Frangella thought that the heart rate drop might be due to my stress level so instructed the nurse to try again in a half hour with a lower dose – apparently Dr. Frangella didn’t believe the nurse that I was being quite calm. Knowing how I felt, both my hubby and I agreed with the nurse that the baby probably had an issue with the Pitocin which worried us but we understood that the doctor wanted to be sure that was the case before taking the next step. Before starting the second round I talked to the nurse about not having an epidural if this did work. She was very supportive but did warn me that if I ended up needing an emergency C-section and I did not already have the epidural, I would probably have to undergo general anesthesia.
The nurse left the room to get some things and I freaked out (at least I think I freaked out - Chris says I didn’t act as upset as I apparently felt). I told Chris that he needed to tell her that a general anesthesia was not an option for me and that we needed to plan an epidural at the right time so that I would not be put under in the event of an emergency C-section. I was near tears thinking that I might have to have this baby and not be able to see her right away. He told her when she came in and I of course started crying. At this point I felt like a C-section was inevitable which was one of my biggest fears this entire pregnancy. And I was terribly afraid that I would not be able to hear and see my little girl immediately after being born. Fortunately the nurse (did I tell you her name was Suzette?) was awesome. She held my hand and gave me Kleenex. And said she would do whatever she could to make sure that if I had a C-section, I wouldn’t need general anesthesia
At 8:30am we started the Pitocin again and the baby’s heart rate immediately dropped again. The nurse called the doctor and she came down right away to look at the chart. They immediately agreed that I was going to have a C-section. The baby couldn’t handle pitocin and since I still really wasn’t laboring on my own, this was the best way to go for the baby. I was scared to death but Nurse Suzette was awesome! She had been pretty sure that this might happen so she had already prepped for it. Everything we needed before heading to the OR was already in our room. She and another labor and delivery nurse mothered me while they prepped me for surgery. They wheeled me into the OR where the anesthesiologist gave me a spinal. While that was kicking in, the doctor, nurses, and OR techs were getting ready for the surgery. They finally brought Chris in and he sat next to me as our daughter was being born. It took maybe 15-20 minutes before they pulled her out and suctioned out her mouth. Her cry was the most beautiful thing we had ever heard. She was born at 9:32am. An hour and half after first starting the Pitocin. They brought her over for us to see and then took her to be cleaned. As they stitched me up, my husband got to hold her and bond with her. It was so amazing.
After they took us to recovery, we learned that in the end it was good that we ended up having the c-section when we did. Due to the stress that Ana experienced when I was given the pitocin, she ended up having a bowel movement in utero – which is called meconium. The stinker took two big gulps of it when they pulled her out. Gross. Her cord was extremely thin (about ¼ of the size it should be) and was wrapped around her foot. And to top it off, she was facing the wrong way. It would have been a very hard and complicated delivery.
So in then end we had a beautiful healthy little girl! She is simply amazing.
Since this is so long and probably only interesting to me, I will stop for today and post about our hospital stay another day.
And of course, look forward to my post on our breastfeeding experience. All those who know me, know that I LOVE talking about my boobs and their ability to produce milk…..Ha! Heck, you better prepare yourself for numerous posts about my boobs…..
