For all who are interested... here is the full story of how Piper Quinn came into our lives.
Tuesday night Jason & I were sitting on the couch watching TV when I felt a little gush. I figured it was just normal discharge or maybe I had peed myself. Well, I went to the bathroom and when I was done peeing there was still fluid flowing into the toilet. I knew this had to be my water. So we called the Dr. and she said to come in to the hospital. Jason and I each took a shower, got our bags put together, and were off to the hospital.
Now just for the record, I blame this all on jelly beans... I was eating some jelly beans while we were watching TV (OK, "some" might be an understatement). I guess the sugar rush must have gotten to Piper because at one point I felt a sharp jab in my side. Well, it was about 20 minutes later when I felt my water break. It's my assumption that Piper got all worked up from the jelly bean sugar rush that she poked a hole in the amniotic sac and broke her own water.
When we got to the hospital they confirmed that my water had indeed broken (which was pretty evident considering it was still flowing) and admitted me. At that time I was 3cm dilated (no change from my appt. the previous Friday), 90% effaced, and Piper was at a -2 station, meaning she still had a bit to drop down before being born.
Because my water had broken the Drs. wanted to limit the amount of exams I got to avoid any infection. They started me on pitocin right away since I wasn't contracting on my own yet and Jason & I just hung out in the room for a while. According to the monitors I was contracting pretty regularly, but I couldn't feel them so the intensity wasn't that great. At noon the next day (Wednesday), so about 12 hours after being admitted, they did another exam and there hadn't been much progress. I was approaching 4cm dilated, but still 90% effaced and Piper was still at -2 station.
They increased the dose of pitocin, but I still wasn't feeling the contractions (and they weren't being very productive either). At around 4:30pm, they did another exam and this time I was 6cm dilated, still 90% effaced, and Piper was now at -1 station. It was also around this time I started to feel the contractions, so I ordered my epidural. Unfortunately, the anesthesiologist had just gone into the OR and it would be a little while until he could see me. About an hour or so later, he came in and I finally got the epidural. Once it was in everything was great. No matter how many times you hear other people say it, it's hard to understand how wonderful an epidural is until you actually need/get one yourself.
I was checked again around 9:45 and much to my (and everyone else's) surprise I was complete - 10cm dilated and 100% effaced. Piper was still a little high up so we decided to wait a little to see if she would drop down before I started pushing. At 10:30pm I really started having the urge to push so even though she hadn't dropped down as far as the Drs. would have liked, we decided to do a few practice pushes and see where that got us.
Not to toot my own horn, but apparently I'm a pretty good pusher. The Drs. and nurses were all very impressed at my technique. Each time I pushed I was able to get her a little further down. Given the time and how great they all said I was doing Jason and I kept wondering if this little girl was going to be an April Fools Day baby after all or if maybe she'd end up being born on the 2nd. But as it always goes, each time I stopped to rest between pushes she would go back up a little bit. The Drs. said it was like taking 3 steps forward and 2 steps back. I think it was more like taking 2 steps forward and 3 steps back.
I pushed for about 2 1/2 hours when my epidural started wearing off. The Drs. said we had a few choices at this point. They could see if they could offer assistance with either a vaccuum or forceps, I could try to push more, or we could discuss a c-section. It turned out she was still a little too high up to use the vaccuum or forceps. I was too tired at that point just keep pushing on my own. And I really wanted to avoid a c-section. So I decided to have them re-dose the epidural, rest for a bit, and then try to push again.
When I started pushing again after my rest I was optimistic that this would be it. It was about 2am at this point and I thought, for sure, she would be born soon. Actually, at that point, I knew she had to be born soon or I was sure I was going to die. I was so exhausted I wasn't sure how much longer I could go. I pushed for about another hour when the epidural started to wear off again. This time the pain was much worse than last time it wore off. The Dr. said she had made it a little bit farther down, but she still wasn't all the way. And since I had been pushing for so long she thought it might be something physical that was preventing Piper from coming out, not a lack of effort. It was then she said she wanted to re-dose the epidural again and have me push just 2 or 3 more times to make sure she couldn't come out on her own. We did and she didn't. So off to the OR we went.
Once I was prepped and ready to go, they brought Jason into the operating room. He held my hand while they performed the procedure and at 4:49am on Thursday, April 2, 2009 our little girl was born. She was 8lbs, 8oz and 19 3/4 inches long. She had a head full of dark brown hair (just like I did when I was born) and was the most beautiful baby ever born (not that I'm biased or anything). As soon as I heard her cry I started crying. I was so unbelievably happy and relieved that she was finally here. They quickly whisked her away to get her cleaned up and make sure she was ok (which she totally was). Then Jason brought her over to me to see. She was absolutely beautiful! It was awful not being able to hold her or touch her, but just seeing her little face made it all worthwhile.
It took about 45 minutes for the Drs. to finish the c-section and close me up. We were then taken to the recovery room where I was able to breastfeed her for the first time. Then she was taken up to the nursery for more tests and I was taken to my room on the post-partum floor. Unfortunately, all the private rooms were already taken so we got put in a shared room. Luckily, there wasn't anyone else in the room, so we had it to ourselves. We did, however, ask the nurses if we could move as soon as a private room became available.
The first day and a half were pretty rough. I still had a catheter in from the c-section and I had and IV for the morphine drip, so I couldn't get out of bed at all. By Friday morning I was really starting to get sore and cranky... and ready to take a shower. Luckily, late that morning they unhooked me and I was allowed out of bed. Since then thngs have gone really well. Piper has really gotten the hang of breastfeeding. Well, we both have. She is a little jaundice so they had to take her down to the nursery to put her under the phototherapy lights. They're going to keep her under the lights overnight to see if that helps. If she's better by morning we should be able to go home tomorrow. Otherwise, we may have to stay until Monday. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the therapy tonight works and we can bring her home tomorrow.
