Saturday, July 3, 2010
My Labor and Amelia's Delivery
April 8, 2010
I was induced 10 days early with this baby. It was elective, and my reasons for doing so are 1. I wanted to have Dr. Benezra deliver my second child and 2. I was over being pregnant. It’s tough being pregnant when you have a toddler at home.
We checked into the hospital at 6:35, we didn’t have to be there until 7 a.m. but we knew we had a better chance of getting a bigger room if we got there early. Again, our neighbor knew we were coming and gave us the third biggest room! It was room 412. She also gave us the BEST nurse, Jane. She was absolutely wonderful.
Dr. Benezra comes into to check me at 7:30 am. He says I need the cervix softener (Misopros) because my cervix was not favorable for birthing a child. He considered having us check in the night before for this to happen, but decided that we should be home with Brooke on her last night as an only child.
The Misopros was inserted at 8:00 am and you must wait 2 hours to see if it did its job. While this happens, you must stay in bed. Chris and I watched “The Blind Side.” At 10:17, Dr. B checks again and my cervix still isn’t ready, so we have another two hour wait. According to my notes, my contractions are increasing, which can happen with the Misopros. The nurse started my penicillin drip at 10:30 because I tested positive for Group B strep.
Dr. B checks me at 12:10 pm and I am finally dilated. It’s only a centimeter, but that is better than nothing! I was able to have some chicken broth and jello, which was wonderful. It’s amazing what tastes good when you haven’t eaten for hours! The pitocin was started at 12:24 p.m. at 6 units. 45 minutes later, it was increased to 12 units. By 2:21 p.m., the pitocin was at 36 units.
We still didn’t have a final name picked for either a girl or boy. I think we were down to three final names for a girl and two for a boy. It’s funny to think we were still indecisive just a couple hours before the birth.
Dr. B came in to check me again at 2:29 p.m., I was 1-2 cm. At this point, he broke my water, luckily the fluid was clear. At 3:15 p.m., the pain was getting pretty bad, but just like my labor with Brooke, I really didn’t want to have an epidural. I asked for Stadol at this time. At 3:16, the pitocin was again increased to 48 units. By 3:18, I was seeing elephants all around the room. They were little tiny elephants and they were mostly situated on Chris’ checkered pattern shirt. I also started getting upset during this time, because I really wanted Brooke to be at the hospital. I didn’t want her in the delivery room, but I wanted her there as soon as the new baby came!
At 3:45 p.m., Dr. Benezra came in and reported everything was going smoothly. He predicted we would have a baby somewhere around 7-8 pm. I was really hoping for much sooner. A few minutes later, Dr. B came back in and did an internal exam, I was dilated 4 cm. He changed his time estimate to 6:15 p.m.
Around 4:30, I asked for more Stadol. The nurse had to check with Dr. Benezra because it had been less than 3 hours in between doses. Dr. Benezra confirmed the dose. As soon as she gave me the Stadol, I knew something was going on. I was in a tremendous amount of pain. The nurse checked me and said I was 9.5 cm. I heard her call Dr. Benezra and say “9 cm, no epidural, ready to have this baby now.” I could barely sit still; I was all over the bed, writhing in pain. Dr. Benezra came in, I pushed for about 8 minutes according to Chris, which was about 4 pushes and our sweet baby came into this world at 4:47 p.m. I was still a bit loopy from the Stadol because I had just gotten the dose immediately before pushing. I thought it took SO long for him to tell us if our baby was a boy or girl, but it was probably just a few seconds. He said girl, and I lit up! I was so happy to have another little girl and a little sister for Brooke. The nurses asked us her name and I said it will be Amelia Lloyd. She scored 9 on both the 1 minute and 5 minute APGAR.
Chris went out to the waiting room to tell our families. This time was different, everybody hadn’t arrived at the hospital yet because we thought we were delivering much later in the day, but I went from 4 cm to 10 cm in less than an hour. I remember answering my cell phone right after I had her. It was my brother, George; I told him the news and told him not to tell anyone because it was just moments before that she arrived in the world. In the waiting room, Chris had a pink and a blue puppy, he held them both up in the air, and again, like with Brooke, he dropped the blue puppy to the ground. He’s hoping that next time, he gets to hang onto the blue puppy, if there is a next time…
Thursday, April 8, 2010
in the hospital
Getting the cervix softened right now.
Will write more later.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Pictures galore...
I am officially the worst blogger (sounds familiar!)
Do you want to know my schedule?
Wake up 6 am
Make my lunch and Brooke's lunch
Get ready for work
Leave house by 7:15 am
Drive to work (one hour commute)
Work from 8:30 till 4:30 or 5:00
Drive home (one hour commute)
Dinner
Dishes
Spend time with Brooke and Chris
Get Brooke to bed around 8 or 8:30
Clean up the house
Take a shower
Go to bed
I am absolutely exhausted by the end of the day and I have no desire to get on-line, write an email, pay a bill, edit my blog, etc.
So, maybe it will happen and maybe it won't. Maybe it will happen a little more frequently when the baby comes.
Speaking of that, everything is great with the baby. He/she is measuring right on target. I am due in 9.5 weeks.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
15 weeks
Baby's now the size of a naval orange!
Continuing the march toward normal proportions, baby's legs now out-measure his arms. And, finally, all four limbs have functional joints. Your fetus is squirming and wiggling like crazy down in the womb, though you probably can't feel the movements just yet.
I wish the naval orange would let me enjoy hamburgers and chicken. We eat a lot of chicken in our house and if you can't keep it down, it's pretty hard!
Still have a few days off before I start my new job. I wonder if I blogged about that.
I resigned from Cochlear in the beginning of October to take a clinical audiology job so that I can be home every night. And, a 4 day work week. That's the best part! I have had a couple of weeks off in between jobs as well, that has also been nice. I haven't done anything exciting, but that's okay, it's nice to just hang out.
I have to post pictures from our NC trip, but that will have to come later.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Week 14 and vacation
Your adorable little fetus is busy with thumb sucking, toe wiggling, and (not so cute but equally amazing) making urine and breathing amniotic fluid as the liver, kidneys and spleen continue to develop. Lanugo (thin, downy hair) is growing all over the body for warmth.
I am officially on vacation until 11/1 when I start my new job at an ENT clinic in Vero Beach. I resigned from my job because I wanted a more normal job where I could be home every night and see my daughter and husband every day. :)



