Avery’s Birth Story: please note that this is a birth story. This involves somewhat graphic details of which some people may or may not want to read. You have been warned.
We had our 39 week Dr’s appt on 6/2 in which we decided that she because had made little to no progress in the past week, we were scheduled to induce that Sunday 6/6. Once I posted that online, I got so many comments about how she was going to come in the next 24 hours. I was hoping they were right but wasn’t relying solely on that, as 6/4 was her due date.
The next morning woke up around 5:15, which isn’t that unusual for me. I started having some cramps in the front a few times, just like period cramps. It quickly went to my lower back. I noticed I had to go to the bathroom. I managed to go #2 2x’s in the span of about 10 minutes, which is unusual for me. I crawled back into bed and noticed that my back pain was continuous for a short period of time allowing for a break. In the meantime, I got in my iPhone and made a post to my pregnancy forum girls asking if I was in labor. I also used a contraction app to time my pains. I was having the surging back pains lasting about 1 minute and about 5 minutes apart. I timed these for about an hour until Jason got up and came in at 7ish. I told him what was happening and I wasn’t sure if I was in labor because it was only in my lower back. While he’s in the shower I went to the bathroom again, this time just pee. I headed back to bed. As soon as I laid down I got right back up and ran to the bathroom. My water broke!! Luckily I caught it before I made a mess. I was instantly excited because that meant she was coming!!
Did we rush to the hospital? No, like true Carrie form I got in the shower and then straightened my hair, ate some breakfast, double/triple checked our list of things to bring and our bags, texted the appropriate people, then called the MD and left. We had to go to the hospital pretty immediately because I was strep positive and since my water broke, they had to start me on antibiotics early so we didn’t give a bug to Avery.
We arrived around 10am. I was already having contractions about every 3 minutes, lasting about a minute. They continued and increased in intensity, being pretty regular. Around 2pm I asked for the epidural. I had tried to go natural but I didn’t realize what a woos I was for pain. I was sad because I was only at 3cm when I asked for it. But I’ve heard miracles of “spontaneously dilating to 10cm” when relaxed w/ the epidural. I was hoping I’d be one of those. Nope! They also started me on pitocin about 4 units to speed things along.
At around 8pm or so, I told my MD that I was having these “throbbing vagina pains”. He laughed and said he’d never heard that before. It basically felt as if someone was kicking me in the crotch over and over and over again. My nurse pushed the extra dose button 4 times before she called the anesthesiologist to come back and give me an extra surge in my line. That seemed to help a bit. Also during this I had also developed a fever I wasn’t aware of. Started at 99 something and was at 100.3 when they told me I had one.
Around 11:30pm the pains came back. The anesthesiologist decided to redo the epidural, hoping that being in a new position would help distribute the medication. He redid it and I was back to feeling good and was able to nap for a while. I was still maybe only 5cm at this point. Again, hoping that because of the pains I wasn’t able to dilate and then this would relax me some more. Nope! Pitocin was increased to 6 units.
Going on about 2am, pains come back. This time they are in my lower back and way down low in my abdomen. I almost feel like her head was starting to push out. I was so excited that maybe this was it!! Nope!!, only 5-6cm. Are you kidding me?? And to top that off, she was still at like -1 station!! This kid was NOT moving! The anesthesiologist came back and put another surge directly into my line. It felt good, but it never really removed the pain from the front, just the back pain. And with her starting to be basically where my ovaries were, I HURT!!! BAD. Not only that, but they put me on oxygen to “wake the baby” because she had gotten comfy and my contractions weren’t as steady and regular as they had been. I looked over and my Pitocin was now at 8 units, so double what I started at!
I tried to breathe my way through it until about 4am. I just had had it at that point. I broke down crying, hyperventilating, just dying. I began throwing up because of the pain, and probably partly because I was hyperventilating. My doctor came in to check on me and he said I was at 8 cm, but still at -1 station and that she was not dropping. He didn’t know why but he didn’t want to risk giving me more of an epidural only to risk it wearing off and not being able to do a c-section. We decided that due to the pain level, the fact that she wasn’t going to move and I didn’t want to have to replace yet another epidural, we opted for c-section. It would've been one thing to come out of an epidural and feel the pain of your labor, but I went from feeling nothing to feeling 8 units of pitocin at 8cm dilated contractions. Not a pleasant feeling!!
Now at this point since I had been hyperventilating and not doing well, I was shaking bad and I had spiked a fever to 101.3. I felt the fever at that time and was covered in wet washcloths. The anesthesiologist came back as we all agreed to the c-section and decided to give me like 5 times the dose to make sure that I really wasn’t going to feel anything because he didn’t want to do a spinal on me. Luckily it worked relatively quickly and I was feeling somewhat better, but still shaking like a madwoman.
Jason got all suited up, I said goodbye to my sister as they wheeled me in there. The anesthesiologist, who was just phenomenal, started talking to me about how I handle anesthesia. I told him how last time I had fillings I had to take the day off work because I couldn’t talk for about 12 hours after the procedure. He was dumbfounded that the meds had this effect on me. He asked, “Has anyone told you that you’re strange?” I say, “everyday”. Haha.
During the procedure, still shaking, the anesthesiologist says he couldn’t do anything at that moment to help with the shaking but would give me something to relax with once the baby was out. I mentioned how my mouth was dry and he went and got me mouth swabs. The doctor!! He offered to swab my mouth but put the swabs in my hand instead. He could see I was still in distress in started massaging my temples and jaw. This helped considerably and my shaking started to subside. I heard my OB say “Ooops” after they put the curtain up. I was like…”Um, ‘oops’ isn’t really what you want to hear when you’re about to get your belly sliced open…everything ok??”. Apparently the lights were flickering and someone messed with one which prompted the oops. Again, mr anesthesiologist informed me of this. He also got two warm blankets and put them over my chest and arms to warm me up.
The delivery itself was quick, as most c-sections are. I could feel the pressure of what they were doing. I heard them say the head was out, and Jason started to look her way. I didn’t hear her cry but wasn’t worried because I knew that God and the doctors were in control. I heard them say “It’s a girl!” and they kinda showed me her feet (they thought I could see all of her). Jason then went over to the table and she started to cry. The anesthesiologist continued to inform me of what they were doing as well as the fact that he gave me my dose of relaxing meds. I could kind of feel them take effect and the shaking started to subside. A few minutes later they brought her and put her on my chest. Her swollen face was so cute and immediately I noticed that she has Jason’s lips. When I saw her again, her swelling subsided and her lips are like half the size J.
Her stats: 7lbs, 80oz and 20 inches long. Born June 4, 2010 at 5:14 am.
Name: Avery Christine Stone
I managed to get so relaxed that I honestly don’t remember the rest of it. Jason and my sister said when they came back to the room, I was asleep snoring away. I was glad I got the rest because after that ordeal I needed it.
Often you talk to mothers who go through living hell to deliver their babies and minutes after they say that they’d do it all over again.
In a heartbeat…
