Since my baby is a whole year old today, I thought it would be fun to reminisce, and post her birth story. So, for those of you that haven't heard it, I hope you think it is as funny as it really was!
Happy Birthday Hannah!!!
When I went to the bathroom on Friday morning just after waking up, I was surprised to see thee "bloody show." This is my 5th baby and I have never had anything like that before, so this was new to me. Brian had to decide if he was going to go to his military weekend drills that night, so I was very interested to see if the ‘show’ meant that labor would be happening soon, and if so - he needed to stay home. I tried looking on the internet and calling my friends and couldn't come up with a definite answer. I called my ob's office but both my ob and my midwife were out of the office, so I left a message with the triage nurse and decided to call a neighbor who is a midwife. When I called her, I asked her if the ‘show’ actually meant anything. She responded with a few questions.
"When is your due date?"
"Today"
"Have you had any contractions today?"
"Yeah - about 5 an hour"
"Have you had any lower back pain?"
"Yes – it has been REALLY bad since last night"
"Have you had any diarrhea?"
"Yes, since yesterday"
– Her answer was then, "Honey, I think you are in labor!"
She asked if I wanted her to check me and see if anything was happening because I live about an hour away from the hospital. I said sure, so she came over to my house and told me that she thought I was dilated to a 4 and about 70% effaced and that she thought the baby would be here in the next day or two.
Just after she left my house, my ob's office called back and when I told them what was going on, they said that they would like me to come into L&D so the on call doc could check me and figure out what was going on. I told them that I would come in as soon as Brian got off work. We had some errands to run that were important, so he was planning on coming home at 3. At 2 o'clock I called him and told him that he needed to come home sooner because I was having real contractions and I thought this might be it! At 2:30 I called him again (he only works 2 miles away from home) and told him he needed to come home NOW. This was it and we needed to get to the bank to sign some papers before we headed into the hospital. My mom called a neighbor for me and she came over and picked up the other girls and Brian came home and we headed to the hospital by way of the bank. The people were very nice and even brought the papers out to the car so I wouldn't have to walk inside to sign them!
We got to L&D and the doc on call came in to talk to us. I was very nervous because I didn't particularly like this doc and I had not been impressed with our last encounter. She came in and was very nice and did an exam and told me she thought I was a 4 ½ and 70% effaced and a -2 station. She wanted to see how the baby was reacting and if I was having any contractions, so they hooked us up to the monitor and said they would be back in 15 min. 15 min later, the nurse came back and said that they were a tiny bit worried about the baby, because she wasn't reacting as well as they thought she should be, but I was having consistent contractions and my due date was today and I was GBS+ so the doc had decided to keep me. They wanted to start the IV antibiotics and after 2 doses the doc would break my water and we wouldn't be going home without a baby!!
Well, the 2nd dose of antibiotics was finished at 9:30 pm and so we asked when the doc was going to come in and break my water. The new nurse said that the doc had actually decided not to break my water anymore because I wanted to go natural and that breaking my water would make the contractions harder. I explained that this was my 5th baby and I understood that and that we WANTED my water broken, because my labors don't progress very fast until then. The nurse then said that she would talk to the doc and let us know. We didn't hear back for about a half an hour so we called the nurse again and she said that the doc was taking a nap and that she had another patient that was getting close to a 10 so they weren't going to wake her up until the other patient was ready to push, then they would talk to her about me.
It was at this point when we figured out that things weren't going to go as well as we had hoped. We waited until 11:30 and finally told our new nurse that we REALLY wanted to know what was going on and that it wasn't right or fair that we weren't allowed to talk to the doctor until someone else was fully dilated. The nurse said that she would talk to the doctor and be back. She came back 20 minutes later and told us that the doc was awake and said that she didn't want to break my water because she had 2 other patients that were actually her patients in active labor and if she broke my water, she knew that I have fast labors and she risked missing one of her patients deliveries because she would be delivering my baby – so if I wanted to get an epidural now and go to sleep, that would be fine, but she wouldn't be breaking my water before 7am.
WHAT???!! I was promised that she would break my water at 9:30pm! We told the nurse that this was unacceptable and we wanted to talk to the doc herself. She left and a few minutes later the charge nurse came in and asked what was going on. We explained what had been told to us when we checked in and that now we were being told a different story. She said that she was friends with the doc and she would go talk to her. She didn't come back for over an hour! When she came back, she said that the doc was right and that I wasn't a priority because I wasn't in hard labor yet and that I could have an epidural now, or just wait until the morning. We told them that was crap and that they knew I wanted to go natural so why would they offer me an epidural? And if I wasn't in active labor why would they offer me an epidural? The whole mood of the L&D staff had changed and we knew that we would not be getting the care we needed – so we told them that we were leaving (BTW – I was still having consistent contractions every 3-4 minutes on the monitor). The charge nurse then threatened that if we left - against medical advice, my insurance would not pay for the last 10 hours that we had been there. WRONG! My mom works for the insurance company and she flat out told her what she was full of and that we would be leaving since they said I wasn't in active labor.
I was devastated – they promised I wouldn't be going home without my baby! I was tired, and hungry. Brian and I stopped at Taco Bell to get some food, since they don’t let you eat in L&D. While we were in the drive through, my mom called to make sure I was doing ok. She had driven her own car, so she was driving home separately, and she was worried about my state of mind. She told me that she thought it would be a good idea for us to say a prayer for safety before we headed home. I thought it was a good idea also, so we said a prayer and headed home.
We drove the hour home and I was still having contractions. About 5 miles away from home we were driving down the highway and we hit a deer! I was in the middle of a contraction and all I could think of was "What a great way to end the night!!" After making sure we hadn't killed the suburban (believe it or not there was NO damage) and getting the dead deer out of the road we continued home. We finally got home around 2am. Thank goodness we said that prayer!
I continued to labor at home for the rest of the night and at 6:30, Brian and my mom decided it was probably time to head back to the hospital so we didn't have the baby at home. We got back to the hospital at about 7:50 (knowing that shift change was at 7 so the ornery nurses from the night before should be gone) and I was wheeled into L&D. The day time charge nurse from the afternoon before was on again, and actually all of the nice nurses from the afternoon before were back and were all VERY surprised that I was 'coming back'. They all thought I had my baby last night and had been moved up to the recovery floor.
It was obvious I was in hard labor and the charge nurse just told us what room to go to and that I could get in the tub and that she would be down to check us in, in a minute. We went to the room and I got in the tub and was immediately relieved. I stayed in the water for about 40 minutes until the doc on call came in. I had been told that the doc from last night was on call all weekend – but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was a different doc this time – the same doc that had delivered my last baby! He came in and 'recommended' that I get out of the tub, let them monitor me for 10 min while they start another IV for antibiotics and he would break my water – if that was ok with me. That was ok. I waited a little longer then got out of the tub and he came back down to the room. He checked me and told me that I was dilated to an 8 and then broke my water at 9:50 am. I started 'transition' at 11:00 am so the nurse checked me again and said I was only barely a 9 and that the baby was still pretty high. She left and 2 minutes later I was ready to push. My mom called the nurse station and told them – but no one came. My aunt ran out into the hall and realized that they didn't believe that I was really ready to push – she ran to the doc and said "Room 3 – the baby is here!" and ran back to my room. All of a sudden you could hear the stampede of the hospital staff running down the hall. The doc was washing his hands and told me to not push and I yelled back at him “Yeah right!” He came over to the bed, looked at Brian and said "I just washed my hands" as he caught our little Hannah and put her on my belly. Hannah was born after 3 pushes at 11:10 am! He then went back to the sink, re-scrubbed, put his gown and gloves on and was very proactive in stopping my hemorrhaging.
In the end, it turned out to be a beautiful experience and I was VERY thankful that we made the decision to go home on Friday night and come back to a different staff. Hannah was born in a very caring and compassionate environment. She weighed 8lbs 10 oz and was 18 ½ inches long.
"When is your due date?"
"Today"
"Have you had any contractions today?"
"Yeah - about 5 an hour"
"Have you had any lower back pain?"
"Yes – it has been REALLY bad since last night"
"Have you had any diarrhea?"
"Yes, since yesterday"
– Her answer was then, "Honey, I think you are in labor!"
She asked if I wanted her to check me and see if anything was happening because I live about an hour away from the hospital. I said sure, so she came over to my house and told me that she thought I was dilated to a 4 and about 70% effaced and that she thought the baby would be here in the next day or two.
Just after she left my house, my ob's office called back and when I told them what was going on, they said that they would like me to come into L&D so the on call doc could check me and figure out what was going on. I told them that I would come in as soon as Brian got off work. We had some errands to run that were important, so he was planning on coming home at 3. At 2 o'clock I called him and told him that he needed to come home sooner because I was having real contractions and I thought this might be it! At 2:30 I called him again (he only works 2 miles away from home) and told him he needed to come home NOW. This was it and we needed to get to the bank to sign some papers before we headed into the hospital. My mom called a neighbor for me and she came over and picked up the other girls and Brian came home and we headed to the hospital by way of the bank. The people were very nice and even brought the papers out to the car so I wouldn't have to walk inside to sign them!
We got to L&D and the doc on call came in to talk to us. I was very nervous because I didn't particularly like this doc and I had not been impressed with our last encounter. She came in and was very nice and did an exam and told me she thought I was a 4 ½ and 70% effaced and a -2 station. She wanted to see how the baby was reacting and if I was having any contractions, so they hooked us up to the monitor and said they would be back in 15 min. 15 min later, the nurse came back and said that they were a tiny bit worried about the baby, because she wasn't reacting as well as they thought she should be, but I was having consistent contractions and my due date was today and I was GBS+ so the doc had decided to keep me. They wanted to start the IV antibiotics and after 2 doses the doc would break my water and we wouldn't be going home without a baby!!
Well, the 2nd dose of antibiotics was finished at 9:30 pm and so we asked when the doc was going to come in and break my water. The new nurse said that the doc had actually decided not to break my water anymore because I wanted to go natural and that breaking my water would make the contractions harder. I explained that this was my 5th baby and I understood that and that we WANTED my water broken, because my labors don't progress very fast until then. The nurse then said that she would talk to the doc and let us know. We didn't hear back for about a half an hour so we called the nurse again and she said that the doc was taking a nap and that she had another patient that was getting close to a 10 so they weren't going to wake her up until the other patient was ready to push, then they would talk to her about me.
It was at this point when we figured out that things weren't going to go as well as we had hoped. We waited until 11:30 and finally told our new nurse that we REALLY wanted to know what was going on and that it wasn't right or fair that we weren't allowed to talk to the doctor until someone else was fully dilated. The nurse said that she would talk to the doctor and be back. She came back 20 minutes later and told us that the doc was awake and said that she didn't want to break my water because she had 2 other patients that were actually her patients in active labor and if she broke my water, she knew that I have fast labors and she risked missing one of her patients deliveries because she would be delivering my baby – so if I wanted to get an epidural now and go to sleep, that would be fine, but she wouldn't be breaking my water before 7am.
WHAT???!! I was promised that she would break my water at 9:30pm! We told the nurse that this was unacceptable and we wanted to talk to the doc herself. She left and a few minutes later the charge nurse came in and asked what was going on. We explained what had been told to us when we checked in and that now we were being told a different story. She said that she was friends with the doc and she would go talk to her. She didn't come back for over an hour! When she came back, she said that the doc was right and that I wasn't a priority because I wasn't in hard labor yet and that I could have an epidural now, or just wait until the morning. We told them that was crap and that they knew I wanted to go natural so why would they offer me an epidural? And if I wasn't in active labor why would they offer me an epidural? The whole mood of the L&D staff had changed and we knew that we would not be getting the care we needed – so we told them that we were leaving (BTW – I was still having consistent contractions every 3-4 minutes on the monitor). The charge nurse then threatened that if we left - against medical advice, my insurance would not pay for the last 10 hours that we had been there. WRONG! My mom works for the insurance company and she flat out told her what she was full of and that we would be leaving since they said I wasn't in active labor.
I was devastated – they promised I wouldn't be going home without my baby! I was tired, and hungry. Brian and I stopped at Taco Bell to get some food, since they don’t let you eat in L&D. While we were in the drive through, my mom called to make sure I was doing ok. She had driven her own car, so she was driving home separately, and she was worried about my state of mind. She told me that she thought it would be a good idea for us to say a prayer for safety before we headed home. I thought it was a good idea also, so we said a prayer and headed home.
We drove the hour home and I was still having contractions. About 5 miles away from home we were driving down the highway and we hit a deer! I was in the middle of a contraction and all I could think of was "What a great way to end the night!!" After making sure we hadn't killed the suburban (believe it or not there was NO damage) and getting the dead deer out of the road we continued home. We finally got home around 2am. Thank goodness we said that prayer!
I continued to labor at home for the rest of the night and at 6:30, Brian and my mom decided it was probably time to head back to the hospital so we didn't have the baby at home. We got back to the hospital at about 7:50 (knowing that shift change was at 7 so the ornery nurses from the night before should be gone) and I was wheeled into L&D. The day time charge nurse from the afternoon before was on again, and actually all of the nice nurses from the afternoon before were back and were all VERY surprised that I was 'coming back'. They all thought I had my baby last night and had been moved up to the recovery floor.
It was obvious I was in hard labor and the charge nurse just told us what room to go to and that I could get in the tub and that she would be down to check us in, in a minute. We went to the room and I got in the tub and was immediately relieved. I stayed in the water for about 40 minutes until the doc on call came in. I had been told that the doc from last night was on call all weekend – but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was a different doc this time – the same doc that had delivered my last baby! He came in and 'recommended' that I get out of the tub, let them monitor me for 10 min while they start another IV for antibiotics and he would break my water – if that was ok with me. That was ok. I waited a little longer then got out of the tub and he came back down to the room. He checked me and told me that I was dilated to an 8 and then broke my water at 9:50 am. I started 'transition' at 11:00 am so the nurse checked me again and said I was only barely a 9 and that the baby was still pretty high. She left and 2 minutes later I was ready to push. My mom called the nurse station and told them – but no one came. My aunt ran out into the hall and realized that they didn't believe that I was really ready to push – she ran to the doc and said "Room 3 – the baby is here!" and ran back to my room. All of a sudden you could hear the stampede of the hospital staff running down the hall. The doc was washing his hands and told me to not push and I yelled back at him “Yeah right!” He came over to the bed, looked at Brian and said "I just washed my hands" as he caught our little Hannah and put her on my belly. Hannah was born after 3 pushes at 11:10 am! He then went back to the sink, re-scrubbed, put his gown and gloves on and was very proactive in stopping my hemorrhaging.
In the end, it turned out to be a beautiful experience and I was VERY thankful that we made the decision to go home on Friday night and come back to a different staff. Hannah was born in a very caring and compassionate environment. She weighed 8lbs 10 oz and was 18 ½ inches long.
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