Gracie's Birth Story

The earliest that I could be induced was on the 7th so I told my doctor then lets set it up. He told me he wasn't going to be at the hospital that day and I told him that I was okay with that. I had my appointment for 7am. We got there a little before 7 got checked in all that I had to do was tell them my name since I was already in the system. We got taken back a little before 7 they hooked me up to the monitors and said that they would call the doctor and see what they wanted to do. I was dilated to a 4 and about 80% effaced. I was thinking great they will start the pitocin I'll get my epidural sleep for a little while and then we would have a baby. That is what kind of happened with Cameron. Cameron we went in at 11:00pm and had him by 9ish the next morning and the nice thing is I didn't feel a thing after I got my epidural. I figured this time would be the same boy was I wrong.
They finally got doctors orders at 8:45ish that they are going to start pitocin. They asked me how soon I wanted my epidural and I told them as soon as we can get the two bags of fluids in. Since I have been in this hospital before I knew how the anesthesiologist worked. Got my epidural and after that Dr. Balk came in and broke my water. This was the first time meeting Dr. Balk and if Dr. Wilson couldn't deliver I was glad it was her she was so nice she knew my case and we weren't going to be taking any risks. I guess I should say before I got hooked up to everything she ordered an ultrasound to see how big the baby was. We went and did that and the baby looked good head down and she said that the baby was most likely going to be close to 9 pounds. Oh goodie she also said that we could add or subtract a pound. I figured we would be on the bigger side especially since my belly was so big.
After they broke my water that just kept coming and coming and coming I figured this would all be over soon. When all was said and done 11 1/2 hours later we had a baby.
Gracie wanted to keep my nurse on her feet. She kept falling off the monitor and her heart rate kept falling. After a while the doctor wanted to try to add more fluid meaning I had lost so much fluid when my water broke that they wanted to add some back in. Yep just how you think it was not through my IV. Anyway after the fluid was in Gracie got happy so we figured all was good her heart rate went back up. They did this three different times. I had the worst back labor ever even my epidural that they came back and topped off twice wasn't really helping that much towards the end.
They came in once because they couldn't tell how strong my where so they put in an internal contraction monitor. About an hour later they came running in cuz they couldn't find the baby's heart at all. So they ended up putting a monitor on her head.
At 7:00 they came in to check me and said that I was ready to start pushing. So they had me push twice and then said okay you can stop now. You have to love hearing that. At this time I was in so much pain I was screaming I can't stop I can't. They said that my doctor was on her way but we just had to wait. Now the doctor was at the hospital because with the practice I go to they have a doctor at the hospital 24 hours a day 365 days a year. The nurses really hadn't started to set anything up yet. They had the table out and broke down my bed but that was about it. I had two nurses one was the one kind of running things and it was her first time. We knew this because the other nurse said this is all you. You tell us when to call the doctor and tell her what you want her to do.
Everyone was still wondering where the doctor was. Found out that she got the page at 7:08 and I had the baby at 7:12. She figured she didn't have to run to my room but I guess she should have. The nurse that was "running" the show was the only one in the room with gloves on. All they kept telling me was don't push I told them I wasn't but she was coming out. The doctor walked into as the nurse was yelling at the "nurse in charge" to grab her head you are the only one with gloves on. She caught her head as the rest of her body kind of fell onto the table. The doctor had gotten on one glove on and was trying to help since the cord was wrapped around her neck.
They got her untangled and threw her on my chest and she was doing a good job of crying. The doctor got the rest of the way gowned up and they finished setting up the the doctor did what she had to do. Come to find out the reason I was in so much pain and had so much back labor was because she came out sunny side up. She was facing the wrong way and it was not so nice for this mom.
Normally when this happens they come out bruised and stuff from the trauma of coming this way but not in her case she was perfect. She didn't have any breathing problems she didn't poop like her brothers did so everything was good.
I on the other hand was still having a lot of pain after delivery a lot of back labor still kept going most of the night. Since you continue to have contractions it wasn't nice it seemed like this time it took forever for things to calm down. That is one of the reasons why we didn't want the boys to come down that night and they waited till the next day.
They took us upstairs and we got situated Blaine went and got himself some dinner. I was in two much pain to eat. They gave me some very nice percocet that helped. We got to our room around 11:00 and the nurses where great. Gracie was having a hard time eating and the nurse came in to help force feed her. She had to eat so much in a given amount of time otherwise they where going to have to take her to the NICU. Thank goodness the nurse got her to eat. After she left Blaine and I passed out. Gracie did to. I think she was pooped after her hard day of giving us a hard time. The nurse came in at 4 to check on me and said she would be back at 4:30 to check on Grace. She came back in at 4:30 and asked if I wanted her to just take care of her and feed her. I was more than willing so she sat with the door cracked and let Blaine and I sleep. Blaine didn't even know she came in. It was so nice of her to do that because I don't think I could have done it.
The next morning Dr. Balk came in to check on me and I told her that I wanted to go home if it was okay with her. She said that she was good with it and would have my discharge papers ready so if Gracie's doctor said she could leave we could go home later that day.
Gracie's doctor came in and checked her out and said that he heard we wanted to go home. I said I hate this bed and my hubby doesn't like sleeping in the chair so if we could yes we would like to go home and sleep in our own bed. He said that she had to stay for 24 hours because at 24 hours they need to run two tests and as long as her jaundice test came back fine that as soon as they where done we could go home.
At 7:00 they came in and got her did her tests and we left right around 9:30. It was so nice to be in our own bed that night. So that is Gracie's story she wanted to make sure I would remember her story so she made it super painful. Would I do it again yes but I would demand a c-section. Not that we are going to be doing this again. Blaine and I both feel that our family is complete. We will make permanent decision on that later but I got so sick this time and I have such hard pregnancies I think we are done.