Giselle Marie born 4/11 at 4:39 am. We are sooooooo in LOVE! I'll post the birth story below for all my mommy friends. If you do not want to read a birth story - DO NOT CONTINUE. :)
Tuesday afternoon, I had my 37 week appointment and an ultrasound that I requested to check the weight of Kid B. After the labor and ultimate Cesarean delivery of R, I was concerned that I was growing another linebacker baby. I believe the exact words of our pediatrician at R's first appointment were, "Congratulations! You gave birth to a 1 month old!" My FIL brought R to the U/S appointment so he could get a peek at Kid B. A very cute moment happened when R noticed the "hole" in the baby's abdomen - when the technicians were taking detailed pictures of the heart since Kid B was positioned well and one of the technicians was a student. "Papa - Kid B is broken! There is a hole!"
They estimated Kid B to be about 8.2 lbs at 37 weeks. I was watching the measurements on the screen and the percentages that came with those measurements. That's when I saw head circumference - 90%. CRAP! Seriously? R was 95% across the board, including head circumference. At my 36 week appointment, I was 3 cm dilated, so I was just praying that labor would happen sooner rather than later so I had a good shot at VBAC.... even if it were just to help me mentally since I know many women have given birth to larger babies than even R....
My OB was very open to VBAC all along. I asked her if I had the right to change my mind and opt for C/S at any point and she said absolutely! So that helped my confidence again. At my appointment, I was 3.5-4 cm dilated and 90% effaced.
Tuesday evening, I came home and made a yummy dinner of pork tenderloin and something else..... Then at the last minute, I decided to head to Booty Bounce class. Normally I would do both Booty Bounce and PiYo to get a one hour work out, but after my appointment that afternoon, my back was hurting a little and I decided to go home after Booty Bounce. I was thinking planks wouldn't help my back much. :) I got home around 8, helped get R to bed and hopped into the shower to clean up after my work out. As I got out of the shower and dried off, I did notice more water than normal dripping on the floor. I dried off AGAIN and then waited a few seconds to see what happened. Drip, drip, drip. I went to the top of the stairs and called down to EMX -
"Um.... EMX? Call your parents, my water is breaking!"
We called my ILs to come and get R since he had just gone to bed and called the Dr on call. We decided to head right to the hospital instead of waiting around at the house. (Who wants amniotic fluid leaking all over the house?)
We headed to triage, had an IV put in my arm in case I did need a c-section later on and waited to be admitted. Before we were even in our room, we got a text that my two sisters and their guys were in the waiting room. As we walked to our room, we passed the waiting room and gave them a wave. We got our stuff settled and then headed back to the waiting room to chat until my next "check" at midnight.
Throughout those 2 hours, I had consistent contractions 3 minutes apart, but they weren't painful really at all. I could talk through them, and when I was checked at midnight, I hadn't dilated any more at all. The Dr offered pitocin to help get the contractions going and I agreed. I wanted to meet Kid B! She recommended a very low dose. That did the trick. Almost immediately the contractions picked up and started to get painful. I asked for a birthing ball to sit on to help alleviate some of the back labor. It helped quite a bit. Kid B continued to do well through contractions. I continued to breathe through the contractions for way longer than I did with R. (With R, I believe I asked for the epidural after the first contraction, lol.) THANK YOU YOGA! At around 2 am, I was thinking that I still had quite a while before pushing and asked for the epidural. At that point, I was thinking that I was only around 6-7 cm dilated, however, I got the epidural and soon after, the Dr checked me again and I was at 9 cm!
The epidural did begin to work, but only on my left side. I could still feel pretty much EVERYTHING on the right side of my body. The anesthesiologist fiddled around with the epidural placement to see if it was too far in, but that didn't work. I laid on my right side to see if the medication would work itself into the right side but that didn't help either. The only other option was to replace the epidural. At that point, I decided just to let it be since I was getting at least partial pain relief! I also felt that since I was already at 9 cm, I could last the little bit longer. EMX napped for a little bit while I continued to breathe through the contractions. I attempted to lay down and rest a bit, but even the partial pain relief wasn't enough for me to really relax. Around 3:45, I felt like it was getting close to push time and our labor nurse called the OB in to confirm. It was time!
At around 4 am, I began pushing. The OB resident said that Kid B was SUPER low and she thought he/she would be out in 2 pushes. I didn't believe anything that they all said to be quite honest. Having pushed with R for 2.5 hours, I was really not sure at this point that pushing was going to get the baby out. :)
Nonetheless, I began to push. The Drs and nurse kept reassuring me that I was doing a good job and that the baby was moving lower, but again, I didn't believe them! But, after 39 minutes of pushing (and intense pain and pressure), Kid B was born. They announced that it was a GIRL and EMX and I just burst into tears. We couldn't believe that 1, we had a girl and that 2, I actually had a VBAC! They asked if I wanted to hold her right away and I said YES right away! Holding my screaming baby girl kept my mind off of the after labor stuff that was going on and gave me a chance to have the immediate bonding time that I missed with R. (I don't even remember the first time I saw R in the OR.)
At one point, our nurse made a comment about Kid B not being a big girl since we had multiple conversations during labor about the size of R. When she made that comment, it still hadn't hit me that we had a girl and I asked them to confirm that it really WASN'T a boy.
In keeping with making inappropriate comments in the delivery room, EMX busted out with, "Well, I guess I'm going to go and get a gun!"
After I was all cleaned up, my sisters and their boys came in and held our baby girl. We hadn't decided on the name and EMX said that I had to choose before our nurse had to leave for the day. Even though EMX and R really liked the name Nora, I knew in my heart that I just could not NOT give our daughter the name that I've loved ever since I thought about having kids 10 years ago, even before EMX and I were engaged!
Welcome to our family Giselle Marie! We are so excited you are here!
For up to date pictures, go to www.ianober.com. EMX cannot stop taking pictures!
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