Delivery Story

Now that I have a little time, I can write down how our little girl came to join our family.

I had my last day at work on Tuesday, December 11th. I like having a plan and a definite last day that I could prepare for. If she decided to come early, then I'd deal with it and so would my sub. As hard as it was to work clear through, I'm glad that I did. It just means a few more days with my little girl!

Wednesday, the 12th, was Scott's birthday and we got a decent amount of snow. We drove into Anchorage so that he could turn in a couple of things for school. It was a day of bumpy roads for me. I also road around with Scott while he plowed the driveways of some of the apartments his boss owns. Riding on bumpy roads was one suggestion to help go into labor. Not sure it it worked, but maybe.

Around 2am on Thursday, the 13, (my due date) I started waking up every couple of hours with stronger contractions than the ones I'd had before. They didn't hurt super bad like people said labor contraction do, but they were definitely stronger. Come morning, after I cleaned up and vacuumed the living room, I decided to call the hospital and get their opinion. The nurse said I was probably in early labor but to just hang out at home, rest, and go to my doctor's appointment I had that afternoon and see what they say. So that is what I did. I ended up getting called in to my doctor's office early because of another person going into labor. At my appointment, they said I was about 90% effaced and dilated to a 2. The midwife that ended up seeing me was sympathetic to my wanting my little girl here before family showed up, so she did what she could to help me dilate. After my appointment, I did the last of my Christmas shopping and then went home. As the even wore on, my contractions began to hurt more and more. However, I was never really sure if these were the labor contractions that people say that "I would definitely know". I felt silly but I didn't know. I never felt sure. Ya, they hurt but was it intense enough? I don't know. Scott was working on his last take home final that was due the next day and I didn't want to feel silly by going to the hospital and them sending me home. Finally around 8:30pm, I said let's go. We got to the hospital and sent to the triage area. They checked me and there was no change from my appointment, 90% effaced and dilated to a 2. *insert disappointment and fear they would send me home* Luckily, they said to hang out at the hospital and they'd check me again at 10:30pm. We walked around for a little bit but then Scott still needed to work on his final. So I wandered with the iPod in to distract me but eventually just went to lay down because it was hurting more. By the time 10:30 came around, I was dilated to a 4 and they admitted me. The nurse said that my cervix was still pointed toward my spine and thats why my contractions hurt the way they did. But I'm glad I was admitted when I was because we got the last labor/delivery room.

Once I was admitted, the nurse had me sit in their big tub. It was pretty nice, however, after 1 1/2 hours, it wasn't helping much and I wanted out. My only complaint about my delivery is that I had asked for an epidural (at 10:30) and it seemed to take forever to get. Some people have called me a cheater for getting an epidural but I think it really helped me enjoy my delivery experience. Once the anesthesiologist got there at 2am, it was great. He was awesome at his job too. I didn't really feel a thing  and I got control of a cool little button that would give me an extra dose of the medicine if I was still hurting. Scott took a nap on the couch and I rested after I received my epidural. At about 6am, I was fully dilated and the doctor decided to have me start pushing. I let my epidural wear off enough so I could feel the contractions but keep off the lower back pain I constantly had. I pushed for 2 hours before the other doctor from my office came to relieve the doctor that had been there literally all night between 3 different people. Dr. Downey decided that since it'd been two hours and she hadn't budged that they would just let gravity do its thing. So I slept for three hours thanks to the epidural. In the morning Scott missed breakfast in the cafeteria by 10 mins and when the nurse came in a little before 11am to say that we were going to start pushing again, he asked if we could wait until he was able to get eat some lunch. So we waited until a little after 11am to start pushing.

It was a pretty laid back delivery. The epidural kept me pretty calm and lucid. Scott teased me, like normal, saying that he could get a rope to help her come like they do with cows. That started a lovely conversation about cows (Scott), goats (our nurse), and pigs (our doctor). Eventually the doctor got a little handheld vacuum to hold our baby's head straight. She had dropped and was coming, but she kept her head turned sideways, trying to come ear-first. Scott joked that the little vacuum was his rope to pull her out. She also had meconium (she had a bowel movement while still in the womb), so the pediatrician was there to help in case there were any problems.

Our little girl, Kasila Summer, made her appearance at 11:55am on December 14, 2012.

Scott was able to hold her right away, he changed her first diaper (a first for him!) and he was very helpful to me and things that I needed.

Another plus of our hospital stay, the food was delicious! I had halibut three times, and Scott had a steak as part of our celebratory meal. :)