Hi ladies. Sorry I've been absent for so long. I finally learned why the baby never dropped and why I wasn't dilating.
Audrey was born on July 5 at a whopping 9 lbs, 5 oz and 21 inches long! DH and I are both small, and it was a complete shock to everyone!
My waters broke around 4:00 am on July 4. I called my doctors office and spoke with the on-call OB. I was told to go to the hospital as I was overdue, and I was also bleeding. After getting checked in at the hospital, I learned that I was only 1 cm dilated.
Although I was not feeling painful, regular contractions, and they weren't positive that my waters broke due to the presence of blood (I
knew it had, though), I was admitted. The baby's heart rate was fine on the monitor, and regular contractions were being picked up by the monitors. I was allowed to try to progress on my own until 12:30 when a cervical check showed no significant progress. Pitocin was started shortly after. I originally went in not wanting an epidural (or pitocin) - I gave up that idea after I was upped to the third dose / level of the drug (OMG the contractions were so painful, and I was only 1.5 cm dilated by 5:00 pm). I got my epidural shortly after 6:00 pm and felt so much better (I was finally able to rest!).
July 4 eventually became July 5, and I still wasn't progressing. My Pitocin was suspended for a few hours in the middle of the night because L&D got very busy. I must say it's very disheartening to arrive when it's quiet, and have all of the birthing rooms fill up and then empty while you are there. The on-call OB from my doctors office changed on July 5. She prefers to avoid c-sections whenever possible (like me) and advised that we wait a little longer to see what an increased dose of Pitocin would do. They were closely monitoring the baby's heart rate and watching for signs of infection (due to broken wasters for more than 24 hours) and determined that there were no risks to the baby to wait a little longer. I started getting heavy pressure feelings below, and based on that and the big, constant, overlapping contractions seen on the monitor, the nurse thought I might be getting close. I allowed my epidural to wear off a little so that I'd know when to push, and the nurse checked my cervix - 2 cm.
The contractions were so intense as I waited for my epidural to catch back up. After a couple more hours, the doctor came in to check on me. I was given the option to keep waiting up to a couple more hours or to go for a c-section. She got paged for another delivery, so we ended up waiting, though I knew where we were headed. When she got back, she checked my cervix one last time, and I was only 3 cm. After 39 hours in L&D, off to surgery we went.
The operation went well overall. Audrey was out in no time and received a loud collective "Wow! BIG baby!" From everyone in the room. Hearing her first cries was simply amazing, and I was in love with her as soon as I saw her. DH went to take photos while they looked her over, and I of course remained on the table. My hands and arms were jittery and shaky throughout the operation and afterwards. I lost a lot of blood but luckily did not require a transfusion.
We were in the recovery area of the maternity ward for 4 nights. Between a painful recovery and struggles with breastfeeding (and Audrey losing weight), it's been a tough journey. We've been home since Thursday night. I am so in love with Audrey that I'd go through it all again in a heartbeat.