Charleigh's Birth Story

Tuesday, May 20th:
Checked into the hospital for induction around 430, in hopes of getting the show on the road faster.  We waited for quite awhile to get that show started, got the IV started and Cytotec inserted around 640.  Originally the doctor had hoped to have me going before 6pm, but that didn't happen.  Oh well...Chad's parents left not too long after that, and Mom didn't stick around too long after that.

We're here!

Snoring away - he had to rest up for the "long day" ahead of him

We attempted to get some rest, knowing that they were going to start Pitocin around 11pm.  Resting didn't quite work for me, of course. I started hurting pretty badly and decided that I was in for the longest night of my life.  Around 1130 or so the nurse came in to check me and said that I was dilated to a 3 - hooray!!!! I asked about getting an epidural and practically got my head bit off.
"What are you afraid of?  You think the baby is going to fall out of you?"
No!  I want the epidural for a few reasons-
 1.  We don't know how she's going to  tolerate induction.  If I need a c section I don't want it to be insane and I have to get general anesthesia.
2.  I want to stay on top of the pain - things could go slowly, but it's still possible that we could be surprised and I progress too quickly for an epidural. I'm NOT doing this without pain meds, that's for sure.
After demanding on our part we finally got the epidural.  Chad was kicked out of the room, and it was somewhat a difficult to get inserted because of my anxiety attacks,  I was shaking and couldn't relax.  Once it was in, I felt much better even though I knew I wasn't getting any drugs yet.  I'm sure a lot of that had to do with the relief I felt knowing that it was one less hurdle to jump.
Since I had an epidural, I also had to get a catheter.  After all was said and done it was 1am on Wednesday morning.

Thank The Lord for epidurals!

Wednesday, May 21st:
I attempted (again) to get some rest.  I may have gotten some, but it wasn't good rest.  It was more that sort of half-ass sleep you get on a car ride where you can still hear everything going on around you.  There were a few times I attempted talking to Chad, but he just snored away.  Not fair.  I can't really say that I was in any pain, because that epidural was magical.  That is why I dubbed 5/21 "National Kiss Your Anesthesiologist Day."



It's baby day!

Dr. Heaps came in around 715 to check me and break my water.  I was really holding out for good news, but that didn't happen.  I was only dilated 1 cm.  REALLY?!?! I told him what the dumb nurse said to me when she started my Pitocin.  Ugh.  He said I didn't go backwards, it was just that she probably couldn't really feel my cervix.  Talk about disappointing.  He proceeded to break my water. That was an experience...
It didn't hurt, but felt really funky, especially when all the warm fluid was gushing out of me.  Poor Chad was sitting in a chair at the end of the bed and witnessed the entire thing.  The look on his face was priceless.  I really wish I'd had my camera ready to take pictures.  The best way to describe it was a strange look of disgust with curled lips.  I, of course started laughing hysterically, which caused the amniotic fluid to start squirting out.  He looked even more repulsed.  This is when he gives Dr Heaps shit about "just sittin' down on the bed, popping my water with a chopstick and no big deal,  just another day at the office." Heaps just laughed at him, especially when Chad told him that he needed warning next time.  He basically told him that he would take it under advisement.  (Yeah right!)
Mom arrived around 8am and I got the pleasure of watching them eat breakfast, and his parents showed up not long after that.  I attempted to relax while laboring, but Charleigh had other ideas - first, my epidural ran out (not her fault, but annoying) and then she started having some pretty serious heart decels.  I was placed on my left side and the pitocin was turned off.  (They were anticipating an emergency c section at this point). It was pretty scary waiting for everything to return to normal, and once it was I was checked again - still only dilated to 1cm, so they had me flipping sides like a pancake every 15 minutes.

All I wanted was a little bit of sleep

Since Dr Heaps takes lunch around 1, they were anticipating him stopping by to check me.  I was anticipating bad news.  (Of course). When 140 rolled around and we'd not seen him my awesome nurse, Ashlei, called him to follow up.  She came to check me and we were both shocked that I was now 5cm dilated.  She promptly called Heaps who said that if I'd not progressed by 445 he was calling it a C Section.  Three hours to go, and I was somewhat relieved because I was terrified of a vaginal birth.  In my eyes, a c section would be a piece of cake.
Around 20-30 minutes later I started feeling really shitty.  Chad was holding my hand and I was squeezing harder than I ever felt possible with my left hand.  I told him that something didn't feel right, but that I was certain I was imagining things.  You don't dilate 5 cm in less than 30 minutes.  Well, some people do, but I certainly couldn't be one of them.  Finally, around 315-ish I convinced him that something wasn't quite right so he went to get Ashlei.  We kicked everybody out of the room and found the reason for that strange feeling - I was 10cm dilated & 100% effaced.  Holy shit!  This was happening much faster than I thought... 



It's baby time!

Our parents came in, collected their things and were sent to the waiting room.
It took awhile to get things moving,  Ashlei explained the plan of action, and I was more than a bit afraid. Was I ready to do this?!  (Side note:  at this time Dr Heaps had another patient pushing, so the race was on.  She'd been pushing awhile before me and they had no idea who would go first.). We started pushing, which was scary.  I was running out of breath and sweating up a storm.  Chad was feeding me ice chips.  I spiked a fever.  (The benefit to spiking a fever was that I got to have a few sips of water.) 

Feverish

Ashlei removed my catheter, and we were on our way.  She had me labor down a few times, which was miserable.  My IV came out while pushing so she had to call for help to have somebody else start a new one.  Charleigh wasn't waiting.  She had to call Dr Heaps and tell him to run over quickly.  They got the new IV going, and Dr Heaps walked in the room just in time.  He honestly barely had enough time to gown up.  Once he got there Charleigh came out quickly.  (Side note: he's such a quiet person, it was strange to me to see just how aggressive he could be and what a cheerleader he was.). I started bawling, as did Chad.  (Okay, another side note - he kept telling me to reach down and feel her.  I was too freaked out and just wanted her out.  I feel like I missed something super important, I won't let myself miss out again.). All I could do was cry - I was a Mommy.  My placenta slid right out and my body did exactly what it needed to do. After she was cleaned off we did some skin to skin time while Dr Heaps finished paperwork. 

Welcome to the world, Charleigh June Coffman!

 When he was finished, he came in to visit for awhile and immediately grabbed our camera and started taking pictures of us.  In my eyes, that was pretty awesome - he captured some very special moments.  Not many doctors would take the time to do that.

Sweet relief

Proud Daddy

The "team'

They decided to send my placenta to the lab, so it was packaged up.  Dr Heaps told me that I didn't tear at all, which shocked the you-know-what out of me.  He and Chad headed to the waiting room to meet our parents and escort them back in, but another delivery was about to take place...
(Somehow I beat the other FTM who had been pushing long before I started!)