So here we are 10 days after Hazel's arrival and I finally have found the time to write about her birth. These first few days have been both exhausting and amazing. Marshall and I still can't believe that she is here and that she is ours. Here's how her entrance into the world began (warning... it is very long!!)...
On Thursday, May 7th Marshall and I went to the Doctor's office for our second growth ultrasound. We knew that if it looked like Hazel hadn't grown that we would be talking induction, but somehow I still felt like that wasn't going to happen. I even went to work that morning and told everyone that I was planning on being back that afternoon. Marshall took the morning off so I swung by our apartment to pick him up. The entire drive there we kept wondering what was going to happen and couldn't believe that there was a chance we would be meeting our baby sooner than we thought. Corrie did our ultrasound again and was very open with us the whole time. Hazel was measuring about 4 weeks "behind", her AFI (amniotic fluid) level dropped from an 8 the previous Friday to a 6 and the ultrasound estimated her to be approximately 6lbs 3oz. We then spoke with the midwife, Renee, who gave us a few options. The good news was that while Hazel was still measuring small, she was proportionately small which meant that the IUGR (intrauterine growth restriction) wasn't severe (when it gets real bad the brain is the only thing taking the nutrients so the head starts to measure bigger than the rest of the body). Surprisingly the most concerning thing was the fluid level, since the consensus is that if the fluid goes down to 5 that is grounds for immediate delivery. Renee said we could wait until 40 weeks (at which point if I hadn't delivered yet we would definitely induce) or we could choose to do the induction that day. If we did decide to wait then I would have to come every two days for follow up tests. After talking about it for a bit, Marshall and I decided that the best option would be to induce that day, but we wanted to use Cervidil and not pitocin because it was more natural. The midwife agreed with our plan and scheduled us to come back to check into the hospital at 4pm. Renee then checked me and said I was 1 cm dilated and 80% effaced. When she checked me she also stripped my membranes to see if that wouldn't get the whole process started.
At this point we started freaking out a bit and met with our doula, Natalie, in the parking lot of the hospital. She was very calm and we discussed our plans for how everything would turn out. She told us to go get some lunch, take a walk and try to relax a bit. This was difficult as we were both extremely anxious and excited at the same time! We then stopped by Kaiser so that Marshall could turn in his time card and talk to his supervisors about being gone. From there we went and had a feast of pizza and salad at BJ's. At this point the stripping of the membranes must have worked because I started having contractions. Nothing consistent, but definitely obvious which was great since I really hadn't had many at all during the last weeks of the pregnancy. We then went home, took a nice long walk and got everything ready to go to the hospital.
Once we got to the hospital at 3:30 I checked us in and Marshall started calling family to let them know what was going on. We were brought to our labor room and met our first nurse, Anna, who was really great. She took all of my information and started me on the Cervidil, which is a medicine that they put right up against your cervix to soften it. The cervidil is supposed to take 12 hours to work so we figured that we would leave it in overnight and then discuss what the next steps would be in the morning. Cervidil isn't the preferred choice for many doctors because it is expensive and takes a lot longer to work, but that is why it is so great we had a midwife who was supportive of us using it. At 4:30 pm I was about 2cm dilated when they put in the Cervadil and I noticed it kick in right away - forget the 12 hours! I started having small contractions which turned into very steady and progressively more intense contractions. At this point Natalie showed up and was planning on checking in, going home to sleep and coming back the next morning. However, when she saw how steady and strong my contractions were, she said she would go home and change and be right back. Labor had definitely kicked in and it was kicking hard!
At 7:30 (3 hours after the cervadil started) the contractions were very intense and I was contracting so hard that the Cervidil came out. We decided to leave it out and see if my body continued to labor on it's own, which it most definitely did. I then proceeded to experience the most intense pain of my life. Hazel was head down but face up, so the hardest part of her head was pressing into the spine/back with each contraction and her feet were also kicking me in the back. I honestly felt as if there were two butcher knives jabbed into my back and being twisted with every contraction. Natalie and Marshall kept telling me to try and relax with the contractions so that I could dilate. The pain was so strong though that every muscle in my body tensed up. After nine hours of this pain I was only at 3 cm, mostly because my body was so tense and I was beyond the point of exhaustion. At this point I made the decision that I would like an epidural. The great thing was that I was able to get a light/walking epidural, so I still felt the pain of the contractions and was able to move my legs. It was uncomfortable when he put it in, especially since I had to stay still and was having contractions the entire time. Once I got the epidural, Natalie also thought it would be a good idea to break my water and move the baby down. The crazy thing is that there was almost NO fluid when they broke my water which just confirmed the ultrasound from earlier that morning. When they broke my water, it had been about 45 minutes from the epidural and I had already progressed to a 5 because my body had relaxed. After my water broke I started noticing that the contractions had become more and more intense over the next hour. It got to the point where they were worse than they were before the epidural and it started to freak me out! We called back the anesthesiologist and he gave me a boost of the medicine to see if that would work. When it didn't he decided that he would just have to redo the epidural but before he did that Natalie asked if we could just check on my progress really quick. Good thing she brought that up because in that short hour I had progressed from 5cm to 10cm and was ready to push!!! I couldn't believe how it took me 9 hours to go 1 cm and less than 2 hours to go 7 cm just because my body had relaxed a bit.
The nurse decided that we should try a practice push and once we did that she had a surprised look on her face and said to go get the doctor. They called Renee (our midwife) who all along had been planning on coming in for the delivery and it was decided that she wouldn't be able to get there in time based on how quickly Hazel was coming. Everyone asked it I would be ok to have the on call doctor deliver her and I said that it was since I was not wanting to wait any longer! I started pushing and had my eyes closed the entire time since I was so focused. There are no words to describe how I felt, but euphoric comes the closest. I felt AMAZING and strong while I was pushing and I knew that it wouldn't be long until I got to meet our baby. I pushed for a mere 20 minutes and the next thing I know Marshall said "Laura, open your eyes!! Look at our baby!!" and when I did I saw the doctor holding her up in front of me! She was beautiful and they placed her on my chest as we had wanted. She was pretty blue and hadn't started crying yet so they asked me if they could take her and suction the gunk out of her lungs. I said that would be ok because I just wanted to hear that classic newborn cry and know that she was ok. Marshall went with her over to the other side of the room and they got her pink and crying really quick while they stitched me up. Since she came so incredibly fast I had some pretty serious tearing, a first degree and a second degree tear. Also, it was surprising to note that the doctor who delivered Hazel and had no idea about the IUGR held up my placenta after it was delivered to show me that it had a lot of calcium deposits and looked like it had pretty much stopped working. They brought Hazel back to me which is when I learned her stats: 6lbs 12oz, 20 inches long and she was born at 5:01 am. I was able to hold her and feed her right up against my skin and Marshall and I just marveled at how beautiful she was.
They let us stay in our labor room for a bit longer and then transferred us over to the postpartum side at around 7am. While I recovered they came and did all of their checks on the baby and everything looked good. At first we thought we would like to be discharged that day since we had a shared room meaning Marshall would have to go home at 10pm, but since I was still in a lot of pain and trying to get the hang of breastfeeding, I stayed one more night with Hazel while Marshall got some much needed rest. Everyone at the hospital (doctors, nurses, etc) was so wonderful and we really had a positive experience there.
Overall, I can honestly say that I had the best birth experience possible for this pregnancy and for this baby. I felt like we were a part of all the decisions made and that we made the best possible choices based on the information that we had. I am so grateful that I had the support of Natalie (our doula) and Marshall throughout the entire process. The first week of recovery was really difficult for me, mostly because I wasn't expecting to be in so much pain from the delivery/tearing. Marshall was a rock and took such good care of me while continuing to encourage me. I still can't believe our beautiful baby girl is here. We are so in love.
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