Marina Melody Becher
March 9th, 2018
9:48pm
7lbs & 11oz
20.5 inches
I can’t believe our sweet baby GIRL has been with us for 2 weeks now.
March 9th, 2018
I was 39 weeks and 6 days pregnant.
I was woken up at 4am to a contraction. I got up, went to the bathroom, and went back to bed wondering if today would be the day we would meet our sweet little baby. The contractions continued and at this point were uncomfortable. Jaime and I started to time them as we sat in bed watching tv. They were still too far apart to go in and we knew early labor could last hours and hours. Jaim decided to go into work for a few hours to finish up a few things and told me to call him if they get any closer and he would come home right away.
Around 7:30am I told Jaime to go home and we called the hospital to let them know we would be arriving soon. We got to the hospital at about 8:30am and went straight to triage. The doctor checked me and I was 2cm dilated. At my appointment a few days earlier, I was about 1.5cm dilated so I had progressed a little bit but not enough to be considered in labor. They told me to walk the halls for an hour and they would then check me again and see if I progressed at all. As we walked the hall, I had to stop walking during every contraction so I thought we would for sure be staying. After our hour of walking, we went back to triage to be checked again and my contractions practically stopped since I was no longer walking. I was rechecked and was still 2cm dilated.
I was heartbroken.
I really thought I was going to meet my baby.
The doctor swept my membranes again and then gave me the option to continue to walk the halls for a few more hours or go home and get some rest. We chose to go home, have lunch, and just relax.
I had my induction scheduled for March 14th but my doctor happened to be on call on March 10th and offered to reschedule it for then. So we rescheduled my induction for the next morning at 7:30am. We were discharged at about 11:30am.
We stopped at the grocery store on the way home and grabbed some potato wedges, a pizza, and starburst jelly beans. I know super healthy lunch haha. My contractions stopped completely and we just spent the rest of the afternoon watching Shameless and both ended up taking a nap.
Fast forward to 5:30pm, and my contractions started back up again. They were much stronger than they were earlier in the day. I tried a few different positions we learned in our labor class but nothing seemed to help. Around 6pm, we started timing them again. I felt so discouraged about being sent home from the hospital earlier in the day and did not want to go back for a second time the same day. At about 6:30pm I tried to take a bath to help ease the pain which looking back I definitely would not do again! My contractions were coming about every 2.5 minutes but if I moved too much, I would get another. Undressing and then trying to redress after the bath I think caused me way more contractions and because we don’t have a deep tub the water didn’t actually cover my belly!
Once I finally got redressed, we decided it was time to go back to the hospital. Jaime called the hospital and let them know we would be there in 15 minutes. I called my parents on the way to the hospital to let them know I thought I was in labor. They were about a half hour away from getting to my house since I was scheduled for an induction in the morning. Looking back now I am so thankful they were able to get to the hospital in time!
We arrived at the hospital for the second time that day at about 7:45pm… right before the doors locked at 8pm! Jaime dropped me off at the doors and he went to park the car. I was so scared at this point because every contraction Jaime helped me breathe through and I knew I would have to go through a couple on my own while he was parking. By the time we made it up to labor and delivery and got checked into triage (and finished with the million questions they ask you) it was about 8:30pm. The doctor came in and checked me and I was 5cm dilated! Jaime was so excited that I had progressed so much but I was in too much pain to be excited. As the doctor was checking me she accidentally broke my water and I was officially admitted!
They helped me over to my room and put my IV in right away. I tested postive for group b strep so you are supposed to be on antibiotics for 4 hours prior to birth if positive. During the initial triage questions, they asked me what my birth plan was. I told them I would like to have her naturally but am not against an epidural. It was now 9pm and the doctor checked me again and I was 7.5cm dilated. The doctor gave me an IV pain medication that was supposed to help relax me between the contractions. As soon as I was given the medication, I instantly was dizzy and practically couldn’t open my eyes. Jaime was by my side the whole time reminding me to breathe. I was breathing so heavily that my throat and mouth were so dry so I had to have him keep bringing me my water bottle. I really couldn’t open my eyes though so he literally had to put the straw in my mouth for me between each contraction. I am so incredibly thankful to have him. As soon as the doctor checked me and I was 7.5cm, I asked for the epidural. I couldn’t handle how much pain I was in even though I was so close to the finish line. I was physically and mentally exhausted. Between each contraction I kept saying “I need help”. It took about a half hour for the anesthesiologist to arrive. I kept asking how much longer until he arrives and they kept telling me hes on his way and he will be here soon. I told them to tell him to walk faster haha. The anesthesiologist finally arrived at 9:30pm and was prepping everything. He numbed my back and was about to put the epidural in when the nurse told him to stop. She told him I looked like I was in too much pain and had to check how far along I was before I get the epidural. The nurse checked me and I was 9.5cm dilated. She told the anesthesiologist that we no longer needed him and I would be having this baby without the epidural. I told the nurse that I needed to go #1 so bad and I couldn’t hold it any longer. Little did I know that was just my body needing to push.
I had no idea how to push. The whole time you are in labor they tell you to keep breathing and then you get to the pushing portion and you are supposed to hold your breath. My doctor was not on call and so the on call doctor from the practice, Dr. Taylor, was the doctor who was going to be delivering our baby. It was 9:40pm when I started pushing. I asked Dr. Taylor how long this was going to take (as if he knew) but mentally I needed a time frame to get through the pain. He told me anywhere from 2-20 minutes depending on how hard I pushed. I pushed through a couple contractions and the doctor told me that I needed to push as hard as I could or he was going to need to use the vacuum to get the baby out. For some reason I was very much so against using a vacuum or forceps so that was the last thing I wanted. I pushed for 8 minutes and our little babe was out. I immediately looked to see if we had a baby boy or a baby girl and I said twice “It’s a girl!”. It was such an incredible moment. Our baby girl was so healthy and was put on my chest right away to do skin to skin. Daddy got to cut the cord. We were officially a family of 3. We were parents to the most precious baby girl.
We love you so much Marina Melody.
Love,
Nicole B
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