Also a cool website :)
Monday, August 9, 2010
Ohh...cool giveaway, cooler website!
These are the lengths I will go to for the chance to win a gift certificate for Tea Collection clothes, love!!
Also a cool website :)
Also a cool website :)
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Birthing Cecelia
July 14th was officially four days past my due date. It was however, still one day before the date Daniel and I calculated as our due date based on when we believe we conceived. Either way I was feeling huge and ready to have a baby and not a gigantic watermelon attached to my front.
I decided to start with the walking cure. In the morning I hiked up the hill to join Megan and Luca at the park and in the afternoon I had arranged to meet Cindy and Elizabeth for a walk around Greenlake. I had been having Braxton-Hicks contractions at regular intervals for about 24 hours, but they hadn't become strong enough to keep me awake or wake me up. During our walk around the lake the contractions felt stronger but they still weren't anything I couldn't walk through, so I didn't think anything of it.
As we rounded the lake and headed back toward Elizabeth's house I phoned Daniel to tell him that he could leave to pick me up (he had insisted that i get a ride to the lake with my dad instead of driving myself). At the same time I dialed I was having a contraction that felt stronger than the others and I was thinking it might be good to stop walking. As Daniel answered the phone and I thought about asking if we could stop I suddenly felt a couple of wet rushes and then there was fluid dripping down my leg. It wasn't a great deal of fluid but it was enough for me to notice, enough to soak my underwear and I gasped into the phone, "um, I think my water just broke." Daniel was shaken and began to gather things to leave immediately to pick me up. Cindy and Elizabeth were excited and were making sure I was feeling fine as we walked the 5 blocks from the lake to the house.
Daniel arrived 5 minutes later with extra clothes, our hospital bag, and a towel for me to sit on. He wanted to go straight to Group Health but I told him I wanted to go home first and call to ask what we should do; my plan had always been to labor at home for as long as possible. It was not meant to be. Because I had tested positive for Group B strep at 36 weeks the l&d nurse told me that they needed to start administering antibiotics right away if my water broke. So we gathered our things once again and just before 7pm made our way across town to the birthing center at Group Health calling our families on the way.
Once at the hospital I had to wait while they confirmed my water had broken. This involved me jumping up and down to get some fluid onto a microscope slide for someone to analyze. The nurse on duty Larisa was very sweet and supportive as she started my IV of antibiotics and got me settled into the labor room and monitored the baby and contractions for the first time.
The labor facilities at Group Health are fantastic. Each labor room comes equipped with a bed, rocking chair, bath tub, fold out bed for partners, and the availability of anything else you might want like a birthing ball or heating pad...they are very, very accommodating. The contractions were definitely stronger and could no longer be ignored. I spent a while walking the halls with Daniel stopping to breath and rock through contractions and hoping that some progress was being made. You see, the other lovely thing about being group B + is that they don't want to check you very often to see how dilated you are because of the risk of contamination. Because of this I went all night before my doctor came in to check and at that point I was only 1cm dilated! Gah!!
The night and next day are a blur. I was in and out of the tub and off and on the bed and ball. Every 4 hours the hooked my IV back up and administered another dose of antibiotics. My new nurse was Tracy and she was fantastically supportive talking me through contractions with the help of Daniel and my mom and making sure I had everything I needed. At about 18 hours I started asking about the possibility of perhaps taking something to take the edge off of the contractions. This was also the point where I decided I was never going to do this again and having one child sounded just fine with me, and adoption was a great idea and an epidural sounded really nice. Daniel reminded me of how I wanted to avoid drugs and Tracy suggested we just try getting through the next contraction without drugs.
At this point I forget the exact sequence of events but the following things occurred close together. Dr. McCandless came in and checked my progress, I was 5cm dilated with a bulging bag of "waters". It turns out my water had not broken completely and much of my labor pain was likely from the pressure of the sack. She ruptured the bag to help speed labor along and the contractions became more intense and closer together, progress was definitely being made. At this point I had been awake for 20 hours of labor plus the 12 hours before I got to the hospital and I was starting to lose my resolve. I told Daniel that I had considered my feelings on the matter and decided that having some drugs to "take the edge off" was a decision that I was totally okay with and would be after delivery as well, and I was definitely sure of this. So, I got two doses of something that while I still don't think it actually made the contractions any less painful it did make me so groggy that I could rest in the three minutes between contractions which allowed me to feel like I could go on.
After approximately 23 1/2 hours of labor I got the urge and the okay to start pushing! Yay! I have to say pushing was the best part of the whole labor. You finally feel like you are doing something productive and it is a satisfying feeling to push through contractions, it makes them, in a way, less painful. Alas, in my family large heads are a rule and not an exception. After 4 hours of pushing the baby's head had not descended very far and my doctor was getting worried that I would be too tired by the end to push her out. She gave me 20 minutes to get the head as far down as I could and we would see if it was far enough to be able to have a vacuum assist. If the OB didn't think he could use the vacuum then she thought we should consider a C-section. The OB on call was consulted after the 20 minutes were up and I was able to get the head to +2 station while pushing. He said he was confident that the vacuum could be used to assist in delivering the baby.
There were a few reasons my doctor was recommending interventions. After 24 hours with a ruptured sack the risk of infection increases even with many doses of antibiotics. I had been in labor for so long that the concern that I would become too tired was legitimate. Even though she was recommending these interventions it was presented in such a way that Daniel and I both felt like I was still in control. Dr. McCandless presented her ideas as recommendations only that needed our support and approval to be carried out. I just wanted to make that clear.
After numbing all around the vaginal opening with lidocaine Dr. Story emptied my bladder with a catheter (not a pleasant feeling at all) and reached in to attach the vacuum to the baby's head. A minute (if that) later another contraction came and I pushed while he pulled. After a short break I pushed again and then once more before Cecelia came out into the world with a rush of blood and fluid after 28 hours of labor. Because it was an intervention birth she didn't immediately get placed on me but was taken to the baby monitoring area to be checked out. Daniel immediately leaned over me to tell me how amazing it was to watch and that he loved me. He then went over to check on our daughter. While Dr. McCandless put one stitch in to the small tear I sustained Daniel was able to cut the cord and then finally brought Cecelia over to me and I held her perfect little body in my arms.
It was definitely, love at first sight.
About half an hour after she was born we gave the go ahead to the nursing staff to let our families in. This came as a relief to the staff since the family had been out in the hallway for over an hour waiting for news and probably disturbing the quiet. All nine of them trouped in for a champagne toast and a round of Happy Birthday, their way of finding out her name. At the line, "happy birthday dear --" they paused and I filled in "Cecelia Claire Lagerquist Vaughan". After much oohing and ahhing and our first experience with breastfeeding our new nurse Megan helped Daniel give Cecelia her first bath and swaddled her into the cutest baby taco Daniel and I had ever seen.
While not what I had imagined my birth story to be back when we got pregnant, I am pleased with how it went and grateful to the nurses and doctors who helped along the way.
We are enjoying our little one so much, even on the hardest nights she's a delight to the eyes and feels so right in my arms.
I decided to start with the walking cure. In the morning I hiked up the hill to join Megan and Luca at the park and in the afternoon I had arranged to meet Cindy and Elizabeth for a walk around Greenlake. I had been having Braxton-Hicks contractions at regular intervals for about 24 hours, but they hadn't become strong enough to keep me awake or wake me up. During our walk around the lake the contractions felt stronger but they still weren't anything I couldn't walk through, so I didn't think anything of it.
As we rounded the lake and headed back toward Elizabeth's house I phoned Daniel to tell him that he could leave to pick me up (he had insisted that i get a ride to the lake with my dad instead of driving myself). At the same time I dialed I was having a contraction that felt stronger than the others and I was thinking it might be good to stop walking. As Daniel answered the phone and I thought about asking if we could stop I suddenly felt a couple of wet rushes and then there was fluid dripping down my leg. It wasn't a great deal of fluid but it was enough for me to notice, enough to soak my underwear and I gasped into the phone, "um, I think my water just broke." Daniel was shaken and began to gather things to leave immediately to pick me up. Cindy and Elizabeth were excited and were making sure I was feeling fine as we walked the 5 blocks from the lake to the house.
Daniel arrived 5 minutes later with extra clothes, our hospital bag, and a towel for me to sit on. He wanted to go straight to Group Health but I told him I wanted to go home first and call to ask what we should do; my plan had always been to labor at home for as long as possible. It was not meant to be. Because I had tested positive for Group B strep at 36 weeks the l&d nurse told me that they needed to start administering antibiotics right away if my water broke. So we gathered our things once again and just before 7pm made our way across town to the birthing center at Group Health calling our families on the way.
Once at the hospital I had to wait while they confirmed my water had broken. This involved me jumping up and down to get some fluid onto a microscope slide for someone to analyze. The nurse on duty Larisa was very sweet and supportive as she started my IV of antibiotics and got me settled into the labor room and monitored the baby and contractions for the first time.
The labor facilities at Group Health are fantastic. Each labor room comes equipped with a bed, rocking chair, bath tub, fold out bed for partners, and the availability of anything else you might want like a birthing ball or heating pad...they are very, very accommodating. The contractions were definitely stronger and could no longer be ignored. I spent a while walking the halls with Daniel stopping to breath and rock through contractions and hoping that some progress was being made. You see, the other lovely thing about being group B + is that they don't want to check you very often to see how dilated you are because of the risk of contamination. Because of this I went all night before my doctor came in to check and at that point I was only 1cm dilated! Gah!!
The night and next day are a blur. I was in and out of the tub and off and on the bed and ball. Every 4 hours the hooked my IV back up and administered another dose of antibiotics. My new nurse was Tracy and she was fantastically supportive talking me through contractions with the help of Daniel and my mom and making sure I had everything I needed. At about 18 hours I started asking about the possibility of perhaps taking something to take the edge off of the contractions. This was also the point where I decided I was never going to do this again and having one child sounded just fine with me, and adoption was a great idea and an epidural sounded really nice. Daniel reminded me of how I wanted to avoid drugs and Tracy suggested we just try getting through the next contraction without drugs.
At this point I forget the exact sequence of events but the following things occurred close together. Dr. McCandless came in and checked my progress, I was 5cm dilated with a bulging bag of "waters". It turns out my water had not broken completely and much of my labor pain was likely from the pressure of the sack. She ruptured the bag to help speed labor along and the contractions became more intense and closer together, progress was definitely being made. At this point I had been awake for 20 hours of labor plus the 12 hours before I got to the hospital and I was starting to lose my resolve. I told Daniel that I had considered my feelings on the matter and decided that having some drugs to "take the edge off" was a decision that I was totally okay with and would be after delivery as well, and I was definitely sure of this. So, I got two doses of something that while I still don't think it actually made the contractions any less painful it did make me so groggy that I could rest in the three minutes between contractions which allowed me to feel like I could go on.
After approximately 23 1/2 hours of labor I got the urge and the okay to start pushing! Yay! I have to say pushing was the best part of the whole labor. You finally feel like you are doing something productive and it is a satisfying feeling to push through contractions, it makes them, in a way, less painful. Alas, in my family large heads are a rule and not an exception. After 4 hours of pushing the baby's head had not descended very far and my doctor was getting worried that I would be too tired by the end to push her out. She gave me 20 minutes to get the head as far down as I could and we would see if it was far enough to be able to have a vacuum assist. If the OB didn't think he could use the vacuum then she thought we should consider a C-section. The OB on call was consulted after the 20 minutes were up and I was able to get the head to +2 station while pushing. He said he was confident that the vacuum could be used to assist in delivering the baby.
There were a few reasons my doctor was recommending interventions. After 24 hours with a ruptured sack the risk of infection increases even with many doses of antibiotics. I had been in labor for so long that the concern that I would become too tired was legitimate. Even though she was recommending these interventions it was presented in such a way that Daniel and I both felt like I was still in control. Dr. McCandless presented her ideas as recommendations only that needed our support and approval to be carried out. I just wanted to make that clear.
After numbing all around the vaginal opening with lidocaine Dr. Story emptied my bladder with a catheter (not a pleasant feeling at all) and reached in to attach the vacuum to the baby's head. A minute (if that) later another contraction came and I pushed while he pulled. After a short break I pushed again and then once more before Cecelia came out into the world with a rush of blood and fluid after 28 hours of labor. Because it was an intervention birth she didn't immediately get placed on me but was taken to the baby monitoring area to be checked out. Daniel immediately leaned over me to tell me how amazing it was to watch and that he loved me. He then went over to check on our daughter. While Dr. McCandless put one stitch in to the small tear I sustained Daniel was able to cut the cord and then finally brought Cecelia over to me and I held her perfect little body in my arms.
It was definitely, love at first sight.
About half an hour after she was born we gave the go ahead to the nursing staff to let our families in. This came as a relief to the staff since the family had been out in the hallway for over an hour waiting for news and probably disturbing the quiet. All nine of them trouped in for a champagne toast and a round of Happy Birthday, their way of finding out her name. At the line, "happy birthday dear --" they paused and I filled in "Cecelia Claire Lagerquist Vaughan". After much oohing and ahhing and our first experience with breastfeeding our new nurse Megan helped Daniel give Cecelia her first bath and swaddled her into the cutest baby taco Daniel and I had ever seen.
While not what I had imagined my birth story to be back when we got pregnant, I am pleased with how it went and grateful to the nurses and doctors who helped along the way.
We are enjoying our little one so much, even on the hardest nights she's a delight to the eyes and feels so right in my arms.
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