Hello everyone. I thought I'd share our birth story and a weblink to our baby's first pictures. I'm still in the recovery stage and beyond exhausted. Seriously I have no idea how I am even functioning right now. Looking forward to more announcements from our group and how everyone is ding as a new mom.
Hinatas Birth Story
We decided not to find out if we were we going to have a boy/girl and the excitement was building as we got closer to the due date, March 14th. It arrived and passed without any signs of labor and I was getting increasingly uncomfortable. The act of sleeping was a challenge. Due to my medical history as well as having gestational diabetes it was decided that we should induce labor on the evening of March 16th. I was excited and scared because I wasnt sure what to expect. I brought my birth plan and everything I could imagine that Id need. We check into the hospital around 4:30 in the afternoon and had a cervical check. It was incredibly painful but I did progress to 2 cm in the last few days and my cervix was very soft and favorable for the induction. Cervidil was placed around 7 pm and I felt our first contractions shortly after.
The following morning we were checked again after the medication was removed. My cervix further softened and I was between 2-3 cm. my water was broken shortly after. The pains of labor increased and we started pitocin to help them along. We walked the halls, bounced on an exercise ball, danced and even swayed back and forth to help ease the pain. We officially reached our halfway point without the use of any pain medication.
It was when I reached 6 cm that things started to turn around. The back pain was indescribable and I had to vocalize/moan through each contraction which were now coming in at intervals of 2-3 minutes and lasting a full minute. I was in labor 24 hours and exhausted. I opted for an epidural. Finally I was able to sleep and the contractions rolled forward. Baby was at zero station and I was 75% effaced. Around 30 hours of labor the contractions became irregular and my blood pressure dropped. Babys heartrate kept going down and I had not progressed past 6 cm. They kept trying to bring my blood pressure up and kept a close eye on baby. We waited for another hour and things got worse. We were taken into surgery in less than 10 minutes and I was incoherent. When Peter entered the room he witnessed me shaking uncontrollably on the table. I couldnt talk. He held my hand. Baby was born minutes later. Its a girl.
The cord was wrapped around her neck twice. The doctors worked on her and she screamed. I cried, knowing that our baby was okay. She weighed 8 pounds 11.4 ounces and 21.75 inches long. Peter held onto the baby before they left to head out to the nursery. He bent down and let me see her beautiful little face and I gave her a kiss. Everything seemed okay but things got worse after Peter left the room.
Within moments after their departure I started shaking violently and was bleeding out. The doctors worked fast to get the bleeding to stop. I lay there hearing them shouting, feeling them pulling, pushing and working to get me back into stable condition. I lay there on the table unable to control the violent shaking. My blood pressure crashed. the last numbers I heard before my eyes closed was 60/30. What seemed like hours were mere minutes. The got me into stable condition and moved me into a recovery area and monitored continuously. my blood pressure was crashing again followed by the uncontrollable shaking. All I cared about, all I wanted to know was if my baby was okay and when Id get to hold her. I passed out. When I wake up Im still in the same condition. I notice Peter is beside me. He had a look of terror on his face. Im shaking violently and the staff is holding me down. Miraculously after pumping me full of numerous medications my blood pressure stabilizes and the shaking subsides. I want to see my baby. I want to hold her against my body.
I remember saying a prayer when we were going into surgery. God give me strength, god give me courage, I put my faith in you lord. I repeated these lines over in my head several times. I think its what really got me through the terrifying moments. Peter never left my side. I was finally placed into a real room and I got to meet my little girl again. This time she was put straight onto my chest. I couldnt believe the mass of hair and the beautiful eyes that looked at me curiously. I regained feeling in my body within an hour. I fed baby Hinata and held onto her. She smelled sweet and it felt nice to hold onto her soft tiny body.
When I was nursing her I noticed she would shake in the middle of feeding followed by a blood curdling scream. I mentioned it to the nurse but she said its normal. Each feeding it was the same. Shed latch on and within moments shed shake, then scream. The nursery staff came by and I mentioned it to them. they watched while I fed and one nurse ran from the room to grab the doctor. Within the hour she was moved to NICU to be evaluated, tested and continually monitored for sepsis and seizures. Peter and I were terrified. I cant tell you how many times I prayed for her but I held onto faith.
We were both sleep deprived and beyond exhausted. Holding onto what little information we had we somehow made it through the night. My blood pressure was showing signs of dropping again and I just wanted to go downstairs to visit my little girl. After being stable for a few hours we got to visit her. It had been 4 days since we arrived at the hospital. 2 more days passed and we received great news. Hinata is okay and she is being discharged from the hospital. After 6 whole days the 3 of us left together headed home. Shes lost almost a pound but our little girl is a champ, overcoming the odds. I am still recovering from the surgery but I feel good knowing that I get to have this little one with me.
https://www.mom365.com/newbornportr...2&babyId=e1edd865-1445-4773-9517-98f9fc7b3d4d
