Happy Birth Day

Monday, February 28, 2011 was an amazing day for me. That was the day I gave birth to my daughter. I was watching "A Baby Story" on TLC this week (and crying at each birth, of course) and thought I should share my baby story too. I posted my older son's birth story last year as a time warp post. I don't think I ever shared my younger son's birth story other than to talk about how surprised and thrilled I was that he was a boy. I want this baby's birth story on record though. I promise to not get too detailed or gory.

I went to the hospital Sunday afternoon to get pre-induced. This was the first time I had to do that for an induction. The other two times, I was just put on Pitocin and that was it. This time, they used Cervadil to ripen the cervix first. I thought that meant possibly avoiding an IV if I went into labor just from the Cervadil. However, I still needed one because they use it for fluids and other medicines, as needed. I hate IVs, so I was not too thrilled. The nurse who did it was gentle and quick, so that was good, at least. Then another nurse was asking me a zillion health background questions. She had a thick middle eastern accent and I had no idea what she was saying because she was quiet and talked quickly, as well. My husband had to interpret everything. Then she leaned over my bed like she was trying to tell me a secret and instead asked me if I was happy with my life. I told her I was and she went back to her questions. After a while, she came back to whisper another question. She wanted to know if I was being abused physically or emotionally. She smiled as she was asking this, like it was awkward for her to ask. It was awkward, since she asked while my husband was right behind her! He then went off to get something and I explained to her that he is the most amazing husband in the world and she has nothing to worry about. I'm guessing these questions are standard, but it was stupid to ask while he was in the room.

Later, I was allowed to eat a meal before they started the Cervadil. Then I could only have ice chips for about two hours. I also had to stay in bed for those two hours. Good thing the Oscars kept me entertained. Finally, I was allowed to have something light and had a popsicle before going to bed. At around 1:15, I started feeling contractions. They weren't showing on the monitor yet for some reason, so I felt like the night nurse (who was pretty much like a Barbie doll) didn't believe me. They started getting worse over time and I asked for some pain medication. That made me dizzy and I felt like I was walking on a train. She gave me the medication before letting me get up to go to the bathroom. Kind of stupid, since I had trouble walking after that. The other annoying thing was describing my pain level. I don't know how to explain my pain in terms of numbers, since it's so arbitrary. My version of a 2 may be another person's version of a 6. I was originally scheduled to move to labor and delivery by 7:30, but they moved it to 5:30 when they saw that the contractions were really happening and it was affecting the baby's heart rate.

They were still pretty bad when I got to L&D, so I didn't need Pitocin after all. I was able to get an epidural sometime after 6:00. This also was after answering more health related questions. The anesthesiologist was female and had two kids of her own, so she was understanding of how it feels for women to get epidurals and was very patient. Once the epidural kicked in, the doctor broke my water. I went from a 4 to a 10 in no time and was ready to push by 8:30. The doctor was taking his dear sweet time scrubbing up and getting ready for me to deliver. I thought that was annoying. The delivery nurse was very nice though. I just was annoyed that I had to hold up one of my legs while also pushing. There were two nurses in the room. You think I wouldn't have to hold my leg at all. The baby came out in very few pushes and they handed her to me right away and told me it was a girl. I was exhilarated and thrilled from the surprise and the fact that I finally had a girl. (Even if I had a boy, I'd be happy, but probably less surprised since I was building myself up to expect a boy this time.)

After they took the baby from me to clean and examine her, the doctor finished up his post delivery work. (See, I'm sparing you the gory details!) He was not gentle at all and then told me I shouldn't feel anything because I had an epidural. That was infuriating! I felt everything! This doctor should not be delivering babies though. He had horrible bedside manner. I'm just thankful that I was warned about him so that I wouldn't be expecting Patch Adams. :P He rolled his eyes at my husband for not wanting to cut the cord (for taharat hamishpachot reasons, he has never cut the cord). Then he was just gruff in general. Even when he was done, he just said "Congrats Mom. Congrats Dad." It wasn't sincere at all! He also yelled at my husband for holding the baby standing up. Like he's never held a baby before! I'm so glad the delivery nurse was nice because that took the edge off the crude bedside manner of the doctor. The baby was also crying a lot after she came out and wasn't soothed until she had a bottle. So that added to my stress. Toss in the yucky post birth feeling and mothers screaming their heads off in the adjacent rooms and it was not a pleasant morning. My husband jokes that I could be a Scientologist from how quiet I was during delivery. I guess it's easier than I thought to not scream during delivery. I'm also glad this was my third time around, so the other women didn't scare me off from giving birth.

A few hours later after breakfast, lots of happy phone calls, and resting while watching "Pleasantville," I got to go up to the maternity ward. After that, it was pretty relaxing and restful. The first maternity nurse I had was decent. She didn't have much of a personality but she wasn't mean either. Then another nurse took over and she was really nice. She came by to talk to us for a while. A friend of ours also visited in the evening and brought pizza from Ben Yehuda's. :) Then I got to rest and watch "90210."

The overnight nurse was okay. There was an annoying issue involving my OB putting in a prescription for my thyroid pills without consulting my endocrinologist. I had my own pills with me and the nurse was giving me a headache about letting me take them vs. what was ordered. I had instructions from my endocrinologist to take a certain level after giving birth and what the OB prescribed was too high. They finally took care of that issue in the morning, but I was still annoyed that I had to deal with all the scrutiny. The baby slept in the nursery overnight and I tried to sleep, but was woken up at 6:00 to check vitals. Then I couldn't get back to sleep.

My husband came by to spend the morning and afternoon with me. We watched "You Again" and hung out with the baby. Then he went home, picked up the boys and got me dinner from Max's. (Yummy fried chicken.) The boys were happy to meet their sister and had fun helping me while I changed her diaper. My younger son was mad that we didn't let him feed her and he only wanted to hold her because my older son got to do it. After they left, the baby and I watched "Where the Heart is." (I had to introduce the new "chick" in my life to my favorite feel-good chick flick.) There was a point where we ran out of formula and she was screaming her head off. The nurse took forever to bring a new set of bottles and then brought the wrong kind. So frustrating. Then I was about to go to sleep later on and they brought her in from the nursery saying she was inconsolable. So I got her back to sleep and then it took me a while to fall asleep after that.

The baby had a screening ABR at the hospital to check her hearing. She failed and has to go for another ABR in April. While we're worried about whether or not she'll be able to hear, we at least feel more prepared if she has hearing loss. We have great resources at our fingertips, we know how a CI works and we feel she has the best role model right in our house. All things considered, it's manageable.

Things have been manageable at home so far. Nights are rough, but when aren't they with a new baby around. She'll get into a routine soon enough. The boys love her and we're completely over the moon with her. She'll be named at shul tomorrow and then I can't wait to share the name with everyone after Shabbat. I'm especially excited to share it with my boys though. :) We're really glad we get to use the girl name we picked, as we knew we wanted that name from the very beginning.

As Fannie Flagg once said in the title of one of her novels...."Welcome to the world, baby girl!"