I guess it would be fitting to finally sit down and write
Ginger's birth story during Mother's Day weekend. My baby girl has
already settled into some sort of routine so I am finding more time to
myself these days. So finally, as she nears the two month mark, here is
Ginger's birth.
Everyone said the second time was
easier, but as I was nearing the due date of my second daughter I was
more anxious than ever. I was not only excited to meet her, but I was
not sleeping much at all. I could only fall asleep for an hour or so at
a time, then I would have to change positions, pee, walk around, cry,
anything but sleep. It was dreadful. I actually dreaded the evenings
because I new I'd have to try to go to bed soon, and I knew it would be a
long night of little sleep and lots of panic. I'm not sure why I was
so panicked. The first time around I had no idea what to expect, but
this time I did. I also knew I would be taking care of an infant AND a
toddler this time. Yikes.
At my 35 week doctor appointment
I was measuring at 39 weeks. Double Yikes. I knew she was going to be
big but this was a lot bigger than Juniper was measuring at this stage
(my first was 8lbs 12oz). My doctor scheduled an ultrasound to check
size, which confirmed that she was already 8+lbs and I still had 5 weeks
to go. We decided that it would be best to induce at 39 weeks unless
she came early. I tried everything I could do go into labor on my own,
but no luck. On the Friday morning of St.Patrick's Day, Ryan and I
headed to the hospital to check in and start the induction. I went into
labor on my own with Juniper, so this was all new to me. I didn't
sleep at all the night before because I was so excited and nervous.
We arrived and checked in at the Anderson-Lucchetti
Women's and Children Center in Downtown Sacramento at 8am. They
immediately took me to my birthing room and got me all hooked up to the
Fetal Monitor and heart rate, IV, all that crap. I was given Misoprostol
(to kick start labor) at 9am. The contraction monitor started
detecting contractions at 10am, but I could not feel them yet. Waiting,
waiting, waiting. At 1:30pm I was given my second dose of Misoprostol.
Contractions began to get stronger through out the day. Slowly
stronger and stronger but I was trying my best to breath through them
and let my body do it's thing. This was very different the second time
around. I knew I needed to
breath and focus and remain calm. Last time I was panicked, and trying
to fight the contractions. At 11pm (yes, pm) I was at 3.5cm. I was
hoping for a larger number but whatever. At this point it was getting
pretty hard to manage the contractions on my own and I requested a
'walking epidural'. Basically an epidural that doesn't completely numb
your legs, and you can still get up and pee. I felt like it was getting
close to time, so my parents stayed at the hospital, even though they
had Juniper. Ryan and Juniper tried to sleep in a reclining chair but
it wasn't working to well. I finally told my dad he should take Juniper
home and they should get some sleep. Mom stayed just in case. Ryan
and my mom tried to sleep in the chairs as I dozed in and out through
contractions and check ins from the nurses. At 2:30am I was 5.5cm. and
got another walking epidural. I finally got some sleep and woke up at
5:30am to find I was at 7cm and 90% effaced. I was so excited I'd made
so much progress, I was also in more pain and it was time to switch to
the full epidural.
Around 6am the monitors had shown some
signs of the baby in distress and I was instructed to lay on my side and
had to have the oxygen mask. I was also starting to get nauseous (sign
of baby coming soon), and for some reason some really bad heartburn.
That was a bad combo. my contractions had slowed a bit because of the
epidural so they gave me pitocin
to speed things along. Finally, at 9am I was fully dilated to 10cm.
Let me stop right here and tell you that when talking birth, 10
centimeters is NOT 10 centimeters. It is the size of a bagel. A
BAGEL! i asked the nurse why it was referred to in centimeters but she
did not have the answer for me. This was also much different the second
time around. I still wasn't feeling an overwhelming need to push. I
felt contractions, but that was about it. We decided to wait a bit and
let her get as low as possible on her own before we started pushing. We
decided we would wait until 10am to push.
It was 10am March
18th, and I was very ready to deliver this baby. My mom held one leg
and the nurse held the other, while Ryan (who was sick with a fever, but
still there when i needed him most) stood next to me and prepared for
another few hours of pushing. The nurse had me do two practice pushes
while we waited for the Doctor to come in. The nurse said I was doing
great and that the baby had dark hair. WHAT!? YOU CAN SEE HER HAIR!?
With Juniper it took 2 full hours of pushing to get to this point. At
10:10am the doctor was still not here yet so the nurse said to just do
another push while we wait. As I pushed for the third time, the nurse
gently held her hand up and calmly said, "OK, stop pushing". The Doctor
arrived, quickly got ready and in place, and with my next push my baby
girl was out and screaming on my chest. She was slightly purple, slimy,
and beautiful. I was so happy to see her I wept. This again was very
different than my first delivery. I was done in 15 minutes and I was
crying out of pure joy to see her face (not because I was so glad all
the pain of pushing was over like with Juniper, and because I was still
in pain as they were removing my placenta...sorry gross but true),
everything else after was also a breeze. At this point we had still not
picked a name for our new girl, we wanted to see her before we settled
on one of the two that we liked. We got settled in the recovery room,
and as I held my beautiful girl I just knew her name was Ginger. Ryan
liked it as well and we decided to go with Ryan's first name as a middle
name. Ginger Ryan was here, I was a Mother of two beautiful girls, we
were healthy and happy and I am thankful for every bit of it.
On a side note, I must take a moment and thank every single nurse out
there. You are the true super heroes. Through both of my labor and
deliveries, I had amazing nurses by my side. They not only monitor that
little life inside of me, as well as my life, they also do all the
things no one speaks of and barely acknowledges. Thank you for cleaning
the blood off the toilet seat, thank you for cleaning me 'down there'
when I could barely manage to bend down, thank you for holding me while I
get a giant needle inserted into my back and letting me squeeze your
hand when they accidentally hit bone (ooouuuccchhhhh!).
Thank you for acknowledging that I am doing an amazing job while a huge
contraction rushes through my uterus, thank you for the extra pillows,
and putting my slippers on for me, and for that amazing juice/sprite
mixture you gave me right after birth. Seriously, these people do it
all...because they love helping people, and they deserve so much more
appreciation for it. Thank you to all the nurses at the Anderson-Lucchetti Women and Children's Center, as well as the once was Sacramento Sutter Memorial Hospital, couldn't have done it without you.
Overall, a great experience and a pretty great birth. I am so lucky
to have an amazing boyfriend who was by my side for the entire 24 hours
of labor, and beyond. Thank you to my parents who took Juniper for 3
nights while we were in the hospital, and who waited through hours of
labor to meet their new granddaughter. I couldn't have done it without
all of you as well. Thanks for reading, now back to cleaning some spit
up and changing diapers (smile).
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