Short story:
Tamsin Aiko
Born June 14, 1:40 AM
8 lbs 1 oz, 20 inches
Long story:
We checked into the hospital a little after 7:30 Friday morning. I was put in a room and a pitocin drip was started. My doctor broke my water at about 9:00. It was a very uneventful morning. I got my epidural around 1:00. Almost immediately my heart rate sky-rocketed - it was at 220 for a long time. They kept monitoring my blood pressure and the baby to make sure my racing heartrate wasn't hurting anything. My doctor and the anesthesiologist were monitoring what was happening and a nurse stayed in the room with me basically just keeping a constant watch on all my vital signs. An echocardiogram was ordered and as soon as he was done, my heartrate started falling (somehow the test was therapeutic rather than just diagnostic), though it would fluctuate and never got below about 100 the entire time I was in labor.
Anyway, I had several more uneventful hours. Around 9, my epidural ran out. The nurse originally didn't say anything about it to me (or the anesthesiologist), so I just started feeling more and more pain. When I was finally told the epi was done, they told me I was so close that it would last until the baby was born. A couple of hours later, I was in a ton of pain and they told me to start pushing. Baby was in an anterior position and I wasn't fully dilated (they called it a lip), so it was more painful than it otherwise would have been. She was also only at +2 station (the same place she had been 2 hours earlier when the doctor said not to push yet - just wait). After about 45 minutes of pushing, I was done. I asked for a C-section (begged and ordered may be more accurate verbs here) a little before 1:00. At that point, my epi had completely worn off, I'd been in labor for 17+ hours and hadn't eaten in about 30 hours. I knew I did not have the energy to push the baby out. I know other women can do it in those circumstances, but I just couldn't.
So, they set up an OR for my C-section and gave me new drugs through my epidural. My heartrate again started racing - I think it stayed around 180 this time. The doctors have decided that when my body is under stress (either physical or mental), my heartrate goes up. There was some small incident in the OR with the baby (I can't even remember the circumstances) when it rose quite a bit while I waited to find out what happened, so I think they're probably right. Anyway, none of that matters, because my beautiful baby girl was born. Her first apgar was a 9 - I'm unreasonably proud of her for that. Kenji went with her to be weighed, measured and cleaned and I was sewn up. They brought her into me in the recovery room, she had a very succesful nursing session and I was taken to my room. Honestly, we think she couldn't be more perfect and we're so happy she's here.
Tamsin Aiko
Born June 14, 1:40 AM
8 lbs 1 oz, 20 inches
Long story:
We checked into the hospital a little after 7:30 Friday morning. I was put in a room and a pitocin drip was started. My doctor broke my water at about 9:00. It was a very uneventful morning. I got my epidural around 1:00. Almost immediately my heart rate sky-rocketed - it was at 220 for a long time. They kept monitoring my blood pressure and the baby to make sure my racing heartrate wasn't hurting anything. My doctor and the anesthesiologist were monitoring what was happening and a nurse stayed in the room with me basically just keeping a constant watch on all my vital signs. An echocardiogram was ordered and as soon as he was done, my heartrate started falling (somehow the test was therapeutic rather than just diagnostic), though it would fluctuate and never got below about 100 the entire time I was in labor.
Anyway, I had several more uneventful hours. Around 9, my epidural ran out. The nurse originally didn't say anything about it to me (or the anesthesiologist), so I just started feeling more and more pain. When I was finally told the epi was done, they told me I was so close that it would last until the baby was born. A couple of hours later, I was in a ton of pain and they told me to start pushing. Baby was in an anterior position and I wasn't fully dilated (they called it a lip), so it was more painful than it otherwise would have been. She was also only at +2 station (the same place she had been 2 hours earlier when the doctor said not to push yet - just wait). After about 45 minutes of pushing, I was done. I asked for a C-section (begged and ordered may be more accurate verbs here) a little before 1:00. At that point, my epi had completely worn off, I'd been in labor for 17+ hours and hadn't eaten in about 30 hours. I knew I did not have the energy to push the baby out. I know other women can do it in those circumstances, but I just couldn't.
So, they set up an OR for my C-section and gave me new drugs through my epidural. My heartrate again started racing - I think it stayed around 180 this time. The doctors have decided that when my body is under stress (either physical or mental), my heartrate goes up. There was some small incident in the OR with the baby (I can't even remember the circumstances) when it rose quite a bit while I waited to find out what happened, so I think they're probably right. Anyway, none of that matters, because my beautiful baby girl was born. Her first apgar was a 9 - I'm unreasonably proud of her for that. Kenji went with her to be weighed, measured and cleaned and I was sewn up. They brought her into me in the recovery room, she had a very succesful nursing session and I was taken to my room. Honestly, we think she couldn't be more perfect and we're so happy she's here.
