Well she is here. Olive Fiona Messier arrived one week ago today at 4:52 in the afternoon. She was 22 inches long, 9lb 12 oz with bright red hair. She ended up coming to us by c-section. Which was definitely not the original plan, but if this last year has taught me anything; "the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry."
When I had my last doctor's appt. they told us that they thought Olive was going to be pretty big. They also said I was still only dilated 1 and 1/2 cm. Mark and I agreed that we were willing to be induced Monday, March 14. That would be twelve days past our due date, and we felt at that point we had given enough time for things to get started on their own.
One of the bonuses of getting induced, was that my parents were able to know exactly when to come to town so they would not miss the birth. They arrived Sunday afternoon, Mark's parents were already in town, and we were all able to go out to dinner together Sunday evening. It was nice to have one last evening out all together in anticipation of our Baby Gator.
The doctors wanted me to come in Sunday night, and if I was still less than 2 cm, than they wanted me to spend the night receiving cervidil, a drug that helps ripen the cervix. Once we got to the hospital, and they checked me I was still only 1 and 1/2 cm. Which meant I needed the cervidil. My Dad ended up spending the night at the hospital with me. We knew that in all likelihood nothing was going to happen that night, and Mark is a notoriously terrible sleeper. I just made more sense to have my Dad who can sleep anywhere to stay with me. With the cervidil the baby had to be monitored at all times, which would not have been so bad except the bed was uncomfortable, and since I could only sleep on my side; every hour the side I was laying on would become so sore, and I would need to flip over. This meant a nurse coming in within 10 minutes of me flipping over to adjust the monitors on my belly. Between that and getting up to pee it was a pretty restless night.
The next morning Mark and my Mom arrived at the hospital. The removed the cervidil, and started me on pitocin. The pitocin wasn't very bad at first. From about 7:30-11:00 I was on the pitocin having contractions, thinking back that time doesn't really stand out for me. I was having contractions, but they weren't that bad. Then around 11 the doctor came in to check me, and break my water. I was dilated to 3 cm. When she broke my water there was meconium in the amniotic fluid. Which basically means the baby pooped in the uterus. This can be problematic for a few reasons, one of the positives for me was that it meant the doctor did not want to check my cervix very often because they did not want to contaminate anything.
At that point the doctor said they were expecting me to dilate about a cm an hour. From 11-4 the contractions got bad. Really bad. They were 1-2 1/2 minutes apart, and very intense. Around 3:30 Mark and I started talking about an epidural. My feeling was that I was already exhausted, and having the contractions so close together for so long meant I wasn't getting any sort of break. I couldn't rest at all and with the lack of sleep the night before I was worried that when it came time to push I wouldn't have any energy left and might end up needed a c-section. Mark and I agreed that it would be worth it to have the epidural if it meant not needing a c-section.
We called for the nurse, and they came in to give me the epidural almost right away. Right after that my doctor came in to check my progress. I had a feeling I had not progressed very far. During my contractions there was a lot of pain, but I didn't feel that much pressure, and at no point did I feel anywhere near needing to push. When the doctor checked me I was still at 3cm. We had not progressed at all. The doctor wanted to do a c-section. She said the baby was trying to push through at 3cm and her head was getting squeezed. She said it wasn't just that I was progressing slower than they wanted, but that even with those intense contractions I had not progressed at all.
Mark and I talked about it, and decided to go with the c-section. At that point everything started happening very quickly. They had me drugged up and in the surgery room within 20 minutes. I tend to have strong reactions to medications and this time was no exception. I became sick from the meds and got to throw up while lying flat on my back. Then my throat became numb so I couldn't feel it,and my mouth would have spit in it,and I couldn't swallow and felt like I couldn't breathe. Finally they pulled her out, and Mark let us all know that he was right all along and it is in fact a girl. I told Mark to go be with her, because I knew he felt helpless with me. They brought her over to me so I could touch her and see her head full of red hair. They took her to the recovery room and Mark went with her, I followed a few minutes later. Once they got her all cleaned off in the recovery room they immediately put her on me to start breastfeeding. She had a perfect latch from the start.
We were stuck in recovery for two hours because the anesthesia took a long time to wear off me. Eventually I could finally move my toes and we made it back to the room. The first couple days everything was fine. My colostrum was coming in slowly, but she was doing fine. Then early Wednesday the nurse took Olive to the nursery to be weighed, and when she came back she told me Olive was jaundiced. Olive has a hematoma on the left side of her head from when she tried to push herself through when I was 3cm. The collection of dead blood cells was causing her jaundice. Also since she wasn't get much to eat, she wasn't able to get the toxins out of her system through pooping and peeing. They wanted me to start her on formula to help cleanse her system.
It was frustrating. The two things I wanted; a natural childbirth, and to be able to breastfeed, were both becoming impossibilities for me. I agreed to start her on the formula. Luckily for me my hospital is really big on breastfeeding, and the lactation consultants continued to work with me during our hospital stay so that Olive was able to have formula and breastfeed.
Because of the jaundice they wanted Olive to have light therapy. She had to be in her little hospital bed which was lit up from below, and then she had basically a sheet with sleeves that held her in the bed against the lights. We were supposed to keep her on the light as much as possible, and the only time we could take her off was to eat. She did pretty well during the day, but it made it almost impossible at night. She would wake up and cry and all we could do to comfort her was to stroke her face and head. I would count down to her next feeding so I could hold her and comfort her.
Luckily early Friday morning her bilirubin level was down so we could take her home without needing any further treatment. From the point we got to leave the hospital things just got better and better. My milk came in on Saturday and I was able to start weaning her off the formula, and can happily say she is completely breastfed now. Her jaundice seems to be fading, and she is a perfectly healthy, and happy baby.
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| Back in the room the night she was born. |
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| Hanging with her Papa. |
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| Daddy's little girl. |
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| Finally home. |
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| Some much needed rest for all involved. |
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| She's very technologically advanced, she is already ichatting. Also, the first girly outfit she wore. |
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| Goodbye Gammie, thanks for staying and helping out. |
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| First carseat ride on the way home from the hospital. |
