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Ok, I know some of you ladies may already know about the arrival of our little girl. I just wanted to make it official and share my birth story with anyone who may not know already. I want to say sorry in advance for the incoming wall of text.
Our baby girl was born at 27+6 weeks gestation. It all started Sunday during the day. I was feeling what I did not know was contractions. I could not sleep a wink the night before and it would come and go during the day only a couple of times. I did not think anything of it and just kept pushing through my day. It was not till around 3am Monday morning that I decided to go to the ER to see what could be the problem.
I was so exhausted from not getting any sleep the night before and really wanted to figure out what was wrong. I had no clue what was in store for me. The hospital I went to did an ultrasound and felt my cervix. They were unsure of what I was feeling since my cervix at the time was closed. They sent my ultrasounds to the radiologist and he informed the doctor who was taking care of me that my cervix was smaller than it should be at 27 weeks. They contacted my OBGYN to get his opinion on the matter and they told me to go in to UNC (a good hospital for maternity) just to be on the safe side since the ER was not equipped with the right tools to deliver a baby.
At the time we were just doing it as a precaution and no one actually thought I was in pre-term labor. They arranged for an ambulance to take me to UNC which was 30 minutes away. By the time I got there and the doctor examined me, I was already 2 cm dilated. I had been feeling what I did not know were contractions every 5 minutes. They thought it could be braxton hicks at the ER, but once I arrived at UNC they confirmed I was in labor (due to my cervix being dilated). They proceeded to put me on a magnesium-sulfate drip to help slow down the contractions to give it some time to see if they would stop completely.
They sent me to a labor and delivery room and hooked me up to the machines. I had two IV's, one in each arm. They started pumping me with antibiotics, magnesium, and an IV. They wanted to make sure that if I did end up giving birth that our baby girl's brain would be protected (with the magnesium). They also gave me a steroid shot to help her lungs develop quicker. So essentially it had two purposes. It did not actually slow down all of my contractions, it seemed to only work for every other one. It was about 8am by this time and my contractions were 4-12 minutes apart, and I was 4cm dilated.
They had some people from NICU come in and talk to me about the risks I should be aware of should my baby be born at 27+6 weeks. I was terrified, but I kept my calm and patiently waited to see what would happen next. They ran all kinds of bloods and urine tests to see what could have caused me to go into pre-term labor. All of the tests that they could get back quickly at the time came back negative.
At around 6 1/2 cm dilated is when I opted to get the epidural. The worst part was when they would check my cervix. It was so uncomfortable that I could not help but wiggle around when they did it. I was in a lot of pain by that time and so I wanted to ease it a bit so I could focus more on what was going on around me.
At 5:45am Tuesday October 7th, 2014 is when I gave birth to my beautiful baby girl. She is 15 inches long, and weighed 2 lbs 8.4 oz. I was pushing for only 30 minutes, and was in labor for over 27 hours. I had 13 doctor's and nurses in the room with me when I gave birth. It made me feel a whole lot better for the survival of my baby. They even had one poor doctor who's only job was to stitch me up should I need it which I did not. I felt bad for him as he really just stood there the whole time watching.
I have to say, other than the fact my little angel came early it was the most wonderful experience of my life. Seeing her for the first time really put me into shock. I did not realize she was so big at 27/28 weeks. She looked right up at me right after she was born before my fiance cut the cord. Right before the took her away to NICU I was able to take a few pictures (which I will share in the post). She is by far the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I just wanted to hold her and my heart was breaking because I knew that right now, it was not possible.
I ended up staying in the hospital till October 9th, and did not opt to be discharged till the very last minute. I wanted to spend as much time being able to see my baby as possible. I did choose to breastfeed, and so far so good on the pumping. I also ended up getting a free electric medela pump, which was awesome since I was totally not prepared with a pump.
Our baby girl Riya is doing great so far. She has not needed any extra help with oxygen and is only on a c-pap machine to ensure her lungs do not collapse. All her vitals are good, and the blood cultures came back early this morning all negative. So as far as anyone is concerned we really do not know why she was born so early.
I know, I have totally written a wall of text. So I am going to stop for now and just share some pictures with you lovely ladies of our beautiful baby girl.
Our baby girl was born at 27+6 weeks gestation. It all started Sunday during the day. I was feeling what I did not know was contractions. I could not sleep a wink the night before and it would come and go during the day only a couple of times. I did not think anything of it and just kept pushing through my day. It was not till around 3am Monday morning that I decided to go to the ER to see what could be the problem.
I was so exhausted from not getting any sleep the night before and really wanted to figure out what was wrong. I had no clue what was in store for me. The hospital I went to did an ultrasound and felt my cervix. They were unsure of what I was feeling since my cervix at the time was closed. They sent my ultrasounds to the radiologist and he informed the doctor who was taking care of me that my cervix was smaller than it should be at 27 weeks. They contacted my OBGYN to get his opinion on the matter and they told me to go in to UNC (a good hospital for maternity) just to be on the safe side since the ER was not equipped with the right tools to deliver a baby.
At the time we were just doing it as a precaution and no one actually thought I was in pre-term labor. They arranged for an ambulance to take me to UNC which was 30 minutes away. By the time I got there and the doctor examined me, I was already 2 cm dilated. I had been feeling what I did not know were contractions every 5 minutes. They thought it could be braxton hicks at the ER, but once I arrived at UNC they confirmed I was in labor (due to my cervix being dilated). They proceeded to put me on a magnesium-sulfate drip to help slow down the contractions to give it some time to see if they would stop completely.
They sent me to a labor and delivery room and hooked me up to the machines. I had two IV's, one in each arm. They started pumping me with antibiotics, magnesium, and an IV. They wanted to make sure that if I did end up giving birth that our baby girl's brain would be protected (with the magnesium). They also gave me a steroid shot to help her lungs develop quicker. So essentially it had two purposes. It did not actually slow down all of my contractions, it seemed to only work for every other one. It was about 8am by this time and my contractions were 4-12 minutes apart, and I was 4cm dilated.
They had some people from NICU come in and talk to me about the risks I should be aware of should my baby be born at 27+6 weeks. I was terrified, but I kept my calm and patiently waited to see what would happen next. They ran all kinds of bloods and urine tests to see what could have caused me to go into pre-term labor. All of the tests that they could get back quickly at the time came back negative.
At around 6 1/2 cm dilated is when I opted to get the epidural. The worst part was when they would check my cervix. It was so uncomfortable that I could not help but wiggle around when they did it. I was in a lot of pain by that time and so I wanted to ease it a bit so I could focus more on what was going on around me.
At 5:45am Tuesday October 7th, 2014 is when I gave birth to my beautiful baby girl. She is 15 inches long, and weighed 2 lbs 8.4 oz. I was pushing for only 30 minutes, and was in labor for over 27 hours. I had 13 doctor's and nurses in the room with me when I gave birth. It made me feel a whole lot better for the survival of my baby. They even had one poor doctor who's only job was to stitch me up should I need it which I did not. I felt bad for him as he really just stood there the whole time watching.
I have to say, other than the fact my little angel came early it was the most wonderful experience of my life. Seeing her for the first time really put me into shock. I did not realize she was so big at 27/28 weeks. She looked right up at me right after she was born before my fiance cut the cord. Right before the took her away to NICU I was able to take a few pictures (which I will share in the post). She is by far the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I just wanted to hold her and my heart was breaking because I knew that right now, it was not possible.
I ended up staying in the hospital till October 9th, and did not opt to be discharged till the very last minute. I wanted to spend as much time being able to see my baby as possible. I did choose to breastfeed, and so far so good on the pumping. I also ended up getting a free electric medela pump, which was awesome since I was totally not prepared with a pump.
Our baby girl Riya is doing great so far. She has not needed any extra help with oxygen and is only on a c-pap machine to ensure her lungs do not collapse. All her vitals are good, and the blood cultures came back early this morning all negative. So as far as anyone is concerned we really do not know why she was born so early.
I know, I have totally written a wall of text. So I am going to stop for now and just share some pictures with you lovely ladies of our beautiful baby girl.
.
!
