Macy's Birth Story

I wrote most of this back in May, and am finally getting a chance to edit and post!

Life finally seems to have slowed down a little bit since our littlest babe made her grand entrance.  She is almost two months old, so I figured I needed to get this written down somewhere before I completely forget all of the little details of Macy's birth day.

On Monday, March 28th, I went back to my doctor for another cervical check.  I was feeling pretty defeated at that point, still not having gone into labor. I had pretty much resigned myself to having a c-section on April fools' day (of all days).  However, my doctor felt like I had progressed a lot since my appointment the previous week, and agreed to go ahead and schedule what I'm calling a gentle induction on Thursday morning, the 31st.  He said he'd start me on a very low dose of Pitocin and then break my water.  I can't begin to describe the feeling of relief I felt leaving there, knowing that I was going to at least have a chance to push this little baby out rather than having her cut out of me and facing that recovery again, this time with a 3 year old.  I left the doctor and went for a labor inducing massage at Barefoot RNR in Madeira.  The massage didn't work, but it felt absolutely incredible and the ladies who work there were fantastic.  I hadn't felt that relaxed in a long, long time.

By Wednesday I still hadn't gone into labor on my own, so we knew Thursday was going to be the day.  As we did with Sam, it was kind of a weird feeling knowing that Wednesday night was our last night before our world was completely changed.  Sam and I had a mommy/Sam day on Wednesday.  I dropped her off at preschool and then picked her up and took her to Chipotle for lunch.  When we got home I painted her nails and then we went to the Dari Bar for a special treat before her afternoon nap.  It was a wonderful day with my first baby, and I'll never ever forget it.  That night we laid low at home and snuggled and played with Sam.  I remember feeling pretty weepy when I put her to bed on Wednesday night, knowing it was her last night as our only baby.

Thursday morning we woke up early.  We had to be at the hospital at 7:30 so we got ourselves completely ready (yes, I showered and put makeup on) before we woke Sam up to say goodbye.  She is just the sweetest thing.  She definitely knew something was up, and just kept telling us over and over again that she loves us.  We got lots of hugs and said good bye.  About 2 minutes after we pulled out of the driveway, my dad called because Sam was having a meltdown that she didn't get to say goodbye, even though she said it at least 400 times before we left.  Three year olds...

We got to the hospital right on time and hauled all of our stuff up into the room.  We remembered as I was changing into my hospital gown that we hadn't taken one last belly pic, so I quickly put my tank top back on and had Jake snap a quick picture.  It's pretty dark and terrible, but we took it!  I don't know what my final weight gain ended up being, but it was at least 40 pounds.  Needless to say, as I write this I still have a lot of work to do.  Anyway the nurse got my IV hooked up and started the Pitocin right around 9am.  One of the nurses that was monitoring my contractions said she thought I probably would have been in to the hospital on my own in the next 24 hours since my contractions were pretty much instantly 4 minutes apart when the Pitocin started.  That made me feel a little bit of relief that hopefully the Pitocin would just help move things along they would have anyway, rather than trying to do it all on its own.

My doctor came in and broke my water around 11am.  He stood there like a sneaky mofo holding that crochet hook they like to call a medical tool.  I could tell he was kind of trying to hide it behind his leg because he didn't want me to freak out.  Now that I've experienced that special kind of hell, I know why he was trying to hide it.  #OUCH  I felt like a champ through my contractions for a few hours but at a certain point they just seemed to pick up to a level that I can't even begin to describe.  Most of my pain was in my hips and my lower pelvic area, so the "birthing ball" was basically useless.  I was arching my back in bed to get through them to try to take the pressure off of my pelvic/hip area.  I think it was about 2pm when I finally told the nurse I couldn't take it anymore and wanted my epidural.  I was really hoping to hold out to 5 or 6cm before I got it, but I was only at 3cm and basically felt like I was going to die.  The anesthesiologist that came in was a total jokester.  I was in horrible agonizing pain, but he got it done really quickly and without any additional pain from placing it.  As soon as he was done he said "I can't hang a picture on a wall but look at what I do for a living."  I'm really glad you said that after you stuck a huge needle in my back, bro.  It took about 10 minutes for the drugs to kick in and after that I felt like a brand new woman.  I honestly do not have the SLIGHTEST CLUE how anyone could possibly bear those contractions for any period of time without drugs.  If I had to endure that for the 5.5 more hours that I was in labor, I am pretty sure I would have died and Macy would have been left without a mother.  So kudos to all you weirdos that give birth without drugs, I am in pure disbelief of the level of your pain tolerance.  I spent most of my afternoon just chilling in the hospital bed watching Friends, wishing I could eat something, and trying to sleep a little bit.

Around 5 or 6pm, doc came back in and checked me again and I was at about 4 or 5cm (it's been almost two months, I'm having a hard time remembering the details).  At that point I was getting pretty discouraged (and really FLIPPING HUNGRY).  He said he really expected me to make "my move" in the next hour or so, and if I didn't, we'd have to talk about "options".  Read: surgery.  So he went to get dinner and came back a little while later to check again.  Much to my surprise and excitement, I was at 8cm.  Even though this news was super exciting, doc said Macy was facing up.  Since babies are supposed to come out face down, he had to go into the whole "we may have to use forceps or a vacuum if she doesn't flip, it's just going to be harder on you" blah blah blah spiel.  The last ditch effort to get her to flip over was putting me kind of on my right side, kind of on my belly, with my left leg in a stirrup and a peanut shaped medical ball in between my legs.  They called it the flying nun.  The nurse had said the longer I could stay in that position, the better chance she had of flipping.  Doc had said he'd be back in 45 minutes so I braced myself to be in that bizarre position for a while.  Jake turned on the hospital playlist I had made and came over to my side of the bed and we had a little emotional moment together.

At one point I was feeling like I really needed to push, and my contractions were starting to feel a little more intense and painful, even with the epidural, so I pushed my little button and got another small little dose to help ease the pain.  When Doc finally came back over an hour later, miss Macy had gone right ahead and flipped herself over and it was time for me to push.

I honestly had been terrified of the whole process of laboring and giving birth, but at this point I was just so excited that I was actually getting to experience a vaginal birth, that I was ready and raring to go.  I pushed for about 25 minutes.  The last push before she came out, Doc said I may have to hold off because they thought the cord was around her neck, but it turned out it was just her single umbilical artery compressing because it was so small.  She came out red and gunky and screaming at the top of her lungs.

**A little side note - when Sam was born, we wheeled into the OR and they had Sister Hazel playing on the speaker.  At our wedding, our first Dance was In the Moment by Sister Hazel.  The anesthesiologist tried to find our wedding song on the CD they were using, but he couldn't find it.  We still thought it was pretty cool that of all the music they could have been listening to when she was born, they chose Sister Hazel.  Well, fast forward 3 years later and Macy literally came out of my body while our wedding song was playing on the playlist I had made.  I didn't even notice it, but Jake looked at me and said "Do you hear what song is playing?"  Oh my heart...

Jake said one of the first things I said after she came out was "Jake, I'm not pregnant anymore".  I had the post-birth shakes pretty bad again, and I remember even shaking pretty bad when I was pushing her out.  After what I would say were some of the most emotionally and physically difficult months of my life, I can't begin to describe my relief and joy when I finally got to hold my sweet, healthy little baby for the first time.  And unlike when Sam was born, they put her right on my chest when she came out.  I'm guessing she's going to be a little spitfire just like her sister, because within minutes she had peed on me.

Even though my recovery was a lot easier this time around, I have to say that I had two pretty wonderful birth experiences.  In a weird way, I am actually glad I got to experience both a c-section and a vaginal birth.  I felt nervous both times, but I also felt very much at ease and at peace with my doctor and the nurses there.  I am so blessed and grateful to have two beautiful, healthy babies.  My heart could not be more full.