Alyssa Quinn's Birth Story

Baby "G" is one week old already! I'm trying to wrap my mind around the fact that time really needs to slow down but won't. Boo! I figured it's time to get her birth story written before too much time has lapsed and details start fading! Also before she wakes up;)

Warning: I considered breaking this up into parts but decided to publish everything together---Which means---This is a long and detailed read:) Nothing too TMI though.  P.S pictures are towards the end. Enjoy!

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I don't remember much about the hours prior to those first mildly painful contractions but I do remember waking up that morning feeling really good! I even remember telling my husband "today feels like a good day to have a baby!"

The day started out like most days; ending up on the computer, obsessing over birth stories, researching natural induction methods and telling myself to stop procrastinating on packing my hospital bag and get my birth plan written! I was 36 weeks and 4 day huge, so time was closing in! 

It all started with my brilliant plan of eating fresh pineapple and drinking raspberry leaf tea because, hey--- girls claimed it worked! R and I had been puttering around  town most of the day, so before returning to the casa, I asked the hubs if we could swing by Wal-mart to pick up the items and MAYBE something sweet...Ya know, for the baby that is;) All of this resulting in THIS post--- 

I knew active labor wouldn't happen if my body wasn't ready. But, it didn't hurt to try and get my body thinking in that direction, right? After all, I was really trying to avoid an induction... I honestly wasn't expecting it to work but the excitement that it COULD was a fun experience. Honestly, I figured all this might result in a baby right before my induction date at 39 weeks...And I was good with that!

8:30 pm: R and I made it back to the house and I immediately tore into my yummy slice of yellow goodness, which lead to the first mildly painful contraction...However, silly me didn't realize it was a contraction. I chalked it up to gas pains, haha! I made it through half the pineapple before my mouth was on fire from all the acid, so I switched gears and started downing cups of yummy raspberry tea...I think I drank 3 before I decided to call it a night. I was tired and thank goodness, because sleep had been VERY elusive for weeks---I was exhausted and managed to fall a sleep within minutes, still contracting, yet bearable; it was gas pains after all! ;)

Then I realized I might have been wrong...

3:30 am: I felt, what I thought, was baby girl kicking me SUPER hard in the va-ja-ja...Dangit, that meant she'd flipped from her head down position into a breech position...SUCK! I was afraid of that. However, there was something different about this kick. The others I'd experienced hurt way less and I could have sworn I actually heard a "POP." with it. I laid there in the dark, my heart rate elevated just a bit, thinking, what if that had been my water breaking? Holy cow, could the pineapple and raspberry tea of worked that quickly? No, there's no way that was my water. I don't feel anything wet down there--- Plus, I had done research on "water breaking" during early labor and it's actually not as common as you think!

3:40 am: I decided to brave it and get up to pee---If it had been my water, there would be some amniotic fluid spillage. Right?

Yup! The minute I stood up, I started GUSHING fluid. It was uncontrollable!!! I couldn't begin tell you the level of excitement, fear and anxiety I felt in those split seconds knowing, it was finally happening...We were on our way to having a baby! I also couldn't tell you how many times the phrase "Holy Crap" ran though my head. LOL. After the initial shock,  I managed to gather some resemblance of thought and decided it was time to wake the sleeping father to be! Poking him gently, I softly but excitedly, told him my water had broke. His sleepy response was "Are you serious?"

 YUP! It was definitely go time---

However, knowing that, it's funny how uncertain I became in those moments---My husband is still laughing about this but I remember asking him, after my water broke "Does this mean we go to the hospital?" HAHA! I didn't want to drive in only to be turned away... R laughed and said "Uh yes babe! We need to go now."

I tried to harness my racing thoughts and think about what needed to happen next---I knew that contractions could get MUCH worse after your water breaks, so I was kinda in a rush to get to the hospital! I had every intention of getting an epidural and I didn't want to miss my window for one in case labor progressed too quickly. Turns out, I did have a fast labor, a long (ish) delivery and an epidural that didn't work...Talk about pain I wasn't expecting to have to deal with! We'll get into that later---

 4:30 am: One hour after the big "POP" I was really kicking myself for procrastinating and not packing my hospital bag and filling out my birth plan!?!? It was on my "to do" list that week! I felt so unprepared for this but, regardless, there was no fixing it now. We needed to leave. So I threw on some grungy pants and grabbed a towel to sit on, while R loaded the car seat and grabbed the few items I could remember we needed.

The 50 minute drive to the hospital was pleasant! I always heard car rides were terrible while contracting so this was a nice surprise. I was hurting, sure, but nothing I couldn't breath through. It was a nice moment for us--- The hubby and I excitedly chatted about the adventure unfolding before us...We couldn't believe it was time to meet our little girl but (boy) we were ecstatic about it! Especially me---I was MAJORLY over all the awful swelling and lack of being able to tie my own shoes! During the drive we called his family in Arizona to let them know my water broke. I also had my sister, who lives with us, mass text family back in Tennessee, Lol...I have a rather large family. Don't judge;)

5:30 am: Once at the hospital, I was whisked away to L&D via the emergency entrance while R parked the truck. I was feeling a bit anxious at being rolled away before he could get back but they assured me, he would be showed the way. Once there, they put me in an observation room and hooked me up to monitors, one for baby girls heart rate and one for my contraction frequency which had gotten closer together and much stronger at this point! Sugarcube was doing wonderful with each contraction making momma worry much less. The midwife came in and grabbed a swab from down under, just to make sure I was in fact leaking amniotic fluid...She knew I was, but hospitals have their procedure's I guess---She also did a cervical check. I was 3 centimeters dilated and 75 percent effaced meaning baby girl was really low. A short few minutes later, she popped her head in, gave me a big smile, and said "you know you're staying right?" I laughed through another contraction and said "oh yeah."

They quickly got a delivery room ready and before I knew it the process had begun. There was an i.v placed because I was a tad bit dehydrated, blood draws taken and wrist bands put on mom and dad. My midwife came back in a few minutes afterwards and said it was a good thing I was in labor. My blood work had come back and was showing signs of changing majorly within the preclampsia diease. She said my body knew what it was doing and that it needed to deliver the baby---

6:30 am: I was checked again and dilated to a 5--- R and I decided to take one last picture of our journey with the belly! Sorry about the crappy image. My sister forgot to turn on the flash---

I told the nurse and midwife that I wanted to hold out until I was dilated to a 6 before I got the epidural. I wanted to make sure I was far enough along because epidurals tend to slow labor greatly or stall it out altogether.

7:30 am: The contraction pain was getting pretty heavy by this point. I was having one right on top of another. I was doing pretty well breathing through them though. Just concentrating, trying not to panic because I knew the pain was only going to get worse...I remember asking my sister "arn't these things supposed to have 3 minutes or so between each one?" Was definitey getting nervous because it seemed like my labor was progressing too fast. Baby girl wanted out! The midwife told me she could offer a narcotic via my i.v for SOME relief if I still wanted to hold out longer for my epidural. I accepted, skeptical though because I had read that it usually just makes you loopy with little to no relief. It was worth a shot though. I immediately felt like I had a really good buzz going on and it did take some of the pain away; enough so that I felt I could handle each contraction again.

9:30 am: The narcotic had completely worn off and I was in some serious pain! Still proud of myself for keeping my cool and just breathing through them, although that was getting tough. R tried his best to give neck rubs, relief and encouraging words. He knew I was starting to really hurt even though I was trying to be tough. I told the midwife I was really starting to hurt again and wanted to see about another dose of narcotic. She said I could do that but the effect would last less then 45 minutes the second time around...She eased my worry of stalling this labor and said that a 20 foot thick wall couldn't slow me down. My body knew what to do and was doing it! She felt it was way past time to get the anesthesiologist in there if I wanted the pain relief so I agreed, preparing myself for that spinal stick we all fear:)

10:00 am: Wow, the anesthesiologist was in there quick as lightening (I'd always heard they drag their feet getting to you.) She had the needle in and situated with one stick, maybe lasting a total of 5 minutes. It was great! I was so worried that I'd need to be stuck several times...With in 15 minutes, the pain had subsided again, but not completely...Hmmm...I thought it was odd that I could lift, move and feel my legs and every contraction still, but hey, the pain was less so I wasn't complaining! Turns out, they checked me after the fact and I was dilated to an 8! I felt awesome for making it that far with little pain relief...Also turns out, had they checked me before, they would never have given me the epidural. That's what one nurse told my sister anyhow.

10:15 am: I send my sister and husband out for some coffee and breakfast. They were looking a bit tired and hungry and it would be another 2 hours, at least, before we could start pushing so they agreed to leave just long enough to feed themselves...

10:50 am: I call my husband and ask him where he's at...Baby girl REALLY wanted out! I went from 8 centimeters dilated to a 10 in 35 minutes. It was go time!

11:00 am: R and the sis make it back just as the nurses and midwife are prepping the room for baby's arrival. Something was wrong though....I was REALLY starting to feel contraction pain again and the need to push was becoming unbearable! I knew I was in for a wild ride when they checked me again and I felt EVERYTHING down there...OUCH! Nothing I could do about it now. It was time to have this baby!

I was hoping for a fast delivery and I guess you could say it wasn't super long, but it wasn't super short either! I ended up pushing for 1.5 hours...Baby "G" was turned sunny side up making it near to impossible to push her out...The midwife said that this was one of the most difficult positions to push a baby out in...Baby girl was also freaking out during the pushing phase. Her heart rate started dropping really low, worrying me sick! I was given an oxygen mask at that point and told I would need to wait out every other contraction just to give her heart time to recover. That seemed to work well enough. However, things weren't progressing fast enough, although I was pushing like crazy! The midwife didn't feel confident that she could get the baby turned so she called in another doctor who had a special touch with turning babies. She also prepped me for the possibility of a c-section if this didn't work...I was panicked by this point but still trying to hold it together.With every push, I would ask "what's wrong with her?!?!" The sound of her heart rate dropping was really freaking me out!! Not to mention the pain was terrible with the doctor down there trying to turn her...My blood pressure was getting scary high as well. If I couldn't bring it down, I would be given magnesium to stave off seizures. The medicine wouldn't have been good for the baby. She would have come out very unresponsive so I'm glad I was able to hold it together!

12:33 pm: I'm beyond exhausted. Very irritated and worried and just feeling like she was NEVER going to come out! The sound of nurses telling me "that was your best push yet" was really starting to make me angry. If I was pushing so dang well, why wasn't I already holding my child!  The sweaty oxygen was irritatiing as well..I would chuck it at my husband with each contraction I could push on. LOL...It wasn't out of anger. It was more of a "I need to push NOW! Get this thing away from me deal;) They allowed me that much; not having to wear it in those minutes--- Another BIG contraction came on and I HAD to push. I couldn't help the scream that left my mouth. I felt bad for my husband. he looked like he wanted to deck the doctor:p  It was 2 more pushes like that and I had a beautiful baby girl on my stomach!!!

~6 lbs 12 oz. 18.5 inches long, born 2/12/2012~

I was in total shock looking at her. I couldn't believe it was finally over! My husband kept telling me through soft tears "That's our baby---That's our baby girl, sweetheart!" I would have cried too had I not been feeling over whelmed. I also couldn't hear much...The blood pressure had built so high that all I could hear was it pounding in my head...After she and I were both cleaned up ( I had tore a +2 so needed stitches) and I got the chance to really look at her, I cried...She was just so beautiful and so perfect. I was in deep love---Baby girl had a few complications being delivered at 36+ weeks. Her blood sugar was a little low and her sucking abilities were really weak. I allowed the nurse, taking care of her, to feed her a bottle for the blood sugar issue. I was in the middle of being stitched up and in no positon to breastfeed. I'd been given 4 local shots for the pain but none of them were working, of course! I felt every prick and pull of the thread, OUCH! Luckily, by the time I was taken to a recovery room her sucking had gotten much stronger....I was and AM so proud of my baby!!

Check out my MASSIVE swollen EVERYTHING! My legs were a bit scary...Definitely not a flattering picture of myself, but its our only picture as a new family of three:)

We were discharged on Valentine's Day and what a perfect day! We did a lot of this---

And R did a lot of this---We're calling him the human pacifier because he's the only one who can talk her off a "crying" ledge when nothing else seems to work. Love that man ♥ R told me yesterday "I get it now" after Carrie Underwood's song "All American Girl" came on the radio. "Mom was right. Every man needs a little girl." That melted me:) She is already such a daddy's girl!

A sleeping angel if I ever saw one! This is my favorite picture of her so far:)

Her sleeping positions crack me up! She sleeps JUST like her daddy---

~Sweet dreams brought to you via milk comatose~

I love this picture of us both...I can't hardly put her down, I'm that in love:)
Although, baby girl does NEED to be held a lot. Those have been her demands since day one! That's why I'm excited for this to arrive any day!

Should help relieve the need for my hands some:)

I'm off to grab a shower, eat and snuggle my sugarcube:) I plan to catch up on everyone soon!! Thank you all for your congrats and well wishes♥