Check this out. Thanks.

My epidural because my anesthetic. It worked out well for me, because I felt somewhat normal a short time after delivery. I was able to move my legs and toes during surgery, but felt little more than pressure while the incision was being made. I was cold. I vomited the green drink I was given, and felt myself starting to panic when I had the chills. Two nurse anesthetists were by my head during the surgery. I remember both of them distinctly. One was named Crystal, and one was Paul. Paul cracked little jokes to make me laugh. Crystal would look into my eyes and tell me she wasn’t leaving my side until surgery was over, that I was okay to be afraid, and I was being really strong. Scott finally came in and as there with me, but Paul and Crystal were truly my lifeline. I think I might have lost it if those two nurses weren’t there with me, especially since Teri was on the other side of the net, functioning as a surgical assistant. Before long, I was being cut open. I didn’t feel anything, just pressure.

Finally, they made it to Alex. The first words I hear from the other side of the net regarding my child? “Woah, that’s a big baby!” I felt a yank and people scrambling to clean him. Scott said he caught a glimpse of Alex and he was completely covered in green meconium.  While he was being clean, Scott walked over to see our son for the first time.

“Who does he look like?” I asked.
Scott’s response: “Well, he has your ears.”

After Alex was cleaned, Scott walked him over to me where I was able to briefly see my son for the first time. I was amazed to see a little of myself in this boy. He had brown hair with blond streaked throughout, large blue eyes, insanely chubby cheeks, and poor child did indeed have my ears but they didn’t stick out the way mine did as a baby. He wasn’t red or wrinkled like so many overdue babies. He was beautiful, perfect, and pink, but they had to take him away from me. Alex needed to be observed in the NICU for lung distress. Scott went with him. I needed to be closed up.

Sadly, ending the procedure was not as peaceful as the beginning. The uterus needs to continue contracting to prevent hemorrhaging. My uterus was so tired that it was no longer contracting. I had my best friend pitocin injected directly into my uterus to keep it contracting… and boy could I feel it!  It was this horrible cramping sensation, worse than a regular contraction, that I wasn’t expecting. Crystal helped me focus so I could breathe through the pain. It lasted several minutes. Let me tell you now, if I can live my life without ever encountering pitocin again, I will die a happy woman.

Finally, the surgery was over. I was sent to recover in the room where I labored.  An hour later, Scott came to see me. He said we had a visitor… and Alex was wheeled in. Despite passing meconium in the womb, Alex was completely fine. I was able to hold my tiny, chubby cheeked baby for the first time. He was very alert. We nursed immediately and he was able to latch as if he’d been nursing for years.  Finally, after those long months of carrying him, our concerns for his health, our preparations, and my long labor, Alexander was finally here.  Together we are beginning a new journey as a family of three.

So, now for the appeal. My sweet munchkin is just growing too fast. He has lots of cute newborn diapers, but is already growing into the one-size diapers we have. I still need to finish my diaper stash. I am over halfway there, but any little bit helps, right?

Here’s where you come in…. A wonderful mother named Carroll makes cloth diapers.  Her company is named BC Fleecy, and she is currently running a photo contest on her blog. (Yes, of course I entered a photo that I took, duh.) The winner of this contest wins a free diaper. I have a cover from her that I absolutely love. I plan to purchase more diapers from her quite soon. However, if I could win a free one? Yes, please! I like winning things! So, if you feel so kind, vote for Alex here. He is baby number eight, but I am sure you can pick him out of the crowd. Voting is open until January 11. Now, help wrap Alex’s little bum in cloth diaper goodness!

-Drop in blood pressure
-Spinal Migraine, which means your spinal fluid is leaking from where the needle was inserted into your spine
-Increased heart rate for baby
(Here is my source)

And now, why I didn’t want pitocin, the drug that encourages artificial contractions:
-Generally causes longer and harder contractions, leading to the need for more interventions (epidural, caesarean section)
-Uterine rupture
-Fetal distress

Now, I don’t look negatively on women who have these interventions- in fact, I did!  I am Captain Suspicious, and have a tendency to be that low percent of people who have negative reactions to certain medications or procedures. I wanted to recover as normally after having a newborn as possible, without having other issues.

Around seven am, my regular midwife Teri was on staff for the day, and the anesthesiologist came to administer my epidural. He quizzed me on why I wanted it- I said I was having back labor, could use some rest, and relax a bit from the pain so I could push. Evidently my answer was satisfactory, because he gave me the shot. As far as the epidural goes, it was what I might have imagined to be a perfect epidural. I received pain relief, but could still lightly feel my contractions. I was still able to move my legs and wiggle my toes, so I didn’t feel out of control of my body.  After my epidural was administered, Scott and I attempted to sleep. I’d been laboring for twenty five hours, and you could say the adrenaline rush was wearing off. About twenty minutes into my cat nap, a nurse came in to flip me onto my opposite side, so that the medication wouldn’t pool in one place. Within moments, an alarm on one of my monitors was going off and I was surrounded by nurses. In my groggy state, I had a nurse shove an oxygen mask over my face, Teri instructing someone to turn off the pitocin, and several other nurses flipped me back over. I received a shot, which I later discovered is used to stop contractions. Once things calmed down, I found out that part of Alex’s umbilical cord was with him in my pelvis, and with the pitocin and getting flipped, that his cord was being compressed. At the same time, I was having one long, hard, unnatural contraction, and all these factors led to Alex’s heart rate dropping dramatically. Thankfully, it corrected itself quickly. A sense of dread began to cover me. I wasn’t sure how much more pitocin my little guy could take.

Per Teri’s orders, the pitocin was turned off for two hours, then slowly reintroduced. Pitocin is administered on a scale of 1-30. Everytime I started to approach 6, which was my pain threshold before I requested the epidural, Alex would show signs of distress. Teri decided to do a procedure called an amniotic replacement to see if it would cushion the contraction impact. It helped some, but anytime the pit hit higher than six, my little guy would still have a heart rate drop. I was still at eight centimeters. After five hours of playing Russian Roulette with the pitocin to get me to dilate, Teri woke me from my slumber with a grim look on her face.

“I’m going to give you one more hour, and then we’ll start having a hard conversation.” I knew where Teri was going. My heart sank in my chest. She was going to suggest a C-section. Teri had allowed my labor to continue past the point of many doctors. She didn’t want me to have a c-section, either. The midiwiifery practice at my hospital has a very low c-section rate. However, I wanted my little guy out safe and sound. I didn’t want him to be dealing with the pitocin anymore. I felt as if my labor stalled into a hamster wheel. We needed to make a decision. I told Teri to allow Scott and I to talk, and we’d have a decision in a few minutes.

Scott weighed in first. He said while he didn’t want me to have a c-section, he knew that it was going to be the end result. I agreed, knowing another hour likely wouldn’t make a difference. We discussed my recovery. Scott has endured gastric bypass, so he would be the perfect empathetic person to help me recover quickly. We knew if we agreed to the c-section before it became an emergency, that Teri would have her pick of whichever surgeon she wanted to attend the delivery. I would be able to use my epidural in a higher dose as the anesthetic, meaning I’d be more alert after surgery. I called Jenni to seek her imput– after having three c-sections, I figured she was the person to speak with. I was advised to go for it. She listed the current factors: Baby wasn’t responding to pitocin well. I wasn’t dilating with the current dose the baby could tolerate. They had to do an amniotic fluid replacement, which she said would scare her. Jenni told me I was amazing for trying as long as I did, but Alex needed a safe delivery. Also, with a great husband like Scott, I’d recover just fine.

That cinched it. It was time to throw in the towel, but it was totally for my baby boy. I cried briefly, allowing myself to mourn the loss of the experience. Then I steeled myself as we headed in for surgery prep. I needed to remain brave and calm. I was determined to allow this experience to be positive as well.

Ok, so this is super long. I think I am going to make a Part 4. I am so so sorry! I promise to finish by the end of the week!

However, breaking my water seemed to help speed things along. I quickly hit transition and dilated to eight centimeters in less than two hours. During this time, I became really whiny and started making lots of strange comments. I largely lost my focus, but I was still somehow able to remind myself that this part of labor was the worst and the end was near. My back labor intensified, and I chose to accept an IV medication to take an edge off the pain and rest in the bathtub. Exhausted, I quickly fell asleep.

Around 3 am, Melanie came to check my progress. I was comfortable– too comfortable. In fact, my contractions appeared to have completely fizzled. Since water was broken, they couldn’t really send me home. In light of the circumstances, I chose to accept the drug that causes augmented labor- pitocin. I hate to say it folks, but my pitocin labor was much worse than my natural labor. At first, the lower doses were bearable. Slowly, Jamie would bring the dose to a higher amount, and my back labor intensified. By 6 am, I was totally and completely exhausted. My back labor could not longer be relieved by water, counterpressure, or any of the other techniques I’d used during my natural labor. I finally begged for another intervention I didn’t want- an epidural.

Yes, I realize epidurals are very common these days. I have no issues with them… but I wanted to see if my body could withstand the test of the birthing experience on its own. I wanted to see if I could endure in labor. I don’t think of myself as having a high pain tolerance, and felt as if a natural childbirth was like the ultimate test. Scott attempted to talk me out of my epidural, as I’d instructed him to now allow me to have one. But after 24 hours of labor minus medication (except for a dose of an IV drug that lasted a mere hour) I was completely exhausted. My back labor was only going to become worse as the pitocin was increased. I said we needed sleep, because I would need the energy for pushing. I hoped an epidural would help my body relax enough to where I’d be able to dilate the last two centimeters I needed to deliver Alex. I don’t regret my decision, because I did rest. At seven am, I received my epidural. It was after this point that my labor became far more eventful.

I woke up on Monday morning with strong contractions, about seven minutes apart. I shooed Scott off to work, not wanting him to miss more time over a false alarm. My friend Sharon was already on board with taking me to my appointment. I attempted to go about my morning routine, but the pain grew increasingly worse. I called Sharon and asked her to come early. I took a shower and my contractions persisted. Sharon came and helped me fix something to eat and sat with me until it was time to leave for my appointment. I mostly sat on my exercise ball to help deal with the pain. Once I was in my appointment, my back labor became increasingly worse. Sharon was an amazing support, applying pressure on my back as I breathed through the contractions. When Melanie, my alternate midwife came in to check me, she said I was almost fully effaced but only a centimeter dilated. Melanie, knowing how I feel about invasive procedures, sent me home so I could labor in peace and told me she’s probably see me tonight. I called Scott on my way out of the hospital, and told him of my progress. I told him it was up to him if he wanted to come home or not, considering that I still had a long ways to go.  My wonderful husband opted leave work and rush home. He was right behind Sharon and I when we arrived back at the house. Scott helped me inside and Sharon ran to grab us lunch.

After I ate, my contractions became more spaced apart, and I was concerned my labor stalled. I called Melanie to give me some advice. She decided it was time to jump in the bathtub and to take a Benadryl so I could get some rest. Scott helped me in and I just sat, breathing through each contraction. I found myself trying to just focus on dealing with how much my back hurt a little at a time, reminding myself it was pain with a purpose. Scott played me Michael Buble’s Christmas album, and I distracted myself with singing parts of the songs when I wasn’t contracting. I alternated laboring between my ball and bathtub, and used my towel bar to put myself into a squatting position. Scott applied counter pressure to my back as each contraction. Within a couple of hours, things picked back up and we began to time the contractions. After an hour of timing, my contractions were finally at an average of three minutes apart and lasting over a minute. By this time, it was around five o’clock in the evening. We knew it was time to leave for the hospital, so Scott helped me into the car. My focus was broken so I was just in pain as we rode the short distance to Avera. Scott pulled up to the main entrance of the hospital, had our car parked by the valet, and wheeled me up to the maternity ward. Seeing that I was in active labor, they skipped triage and just admitted me right then and there. When I was checked, I was dilated to four centimeters. I was in for the long haul.

Alexander Daniel!

How many of you thought I was naming him Athanasius?

It’s weird to see my own eyes in that sweet, chubby face. He is a perfect combination of Scott and me. Don’t you just love that hair?

Anyway, I’ll post installments of the birth story next week. It was a long labor, didn’t end the way I wanted it to, but I was comfortable and confident with my choices each step of the way, so I am fully satisfied with the experience.

]]> http://emilyrebekah.wordpress.com/2011/12/24/introducing/feed/ 5 emilyrebekah 379480_2918197362844_1498050014_33062981_1781188540_n http://emilyrebekah.wordpress.com/2011/12/17/so-much-for-a-surprise/ http://emilyrebekah.wordpress.com/2011/12/17/so-much-for-a-surprise/#comments Sat, 17 Dec 2011 20:07:09 +0000 Emily http://emilyrebekah.wordpress.com/?p=1449 ]]> Today, my brother in law Nathan and his lovely girlfriend Autumn (and fellow Iowan, we’re taking over this here family) stopped in to say hello and drop off a personalized gift for our baby boy. Inside the box was a beautiful ornament from the Czech & Slovak Museum in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. For those of you who are aware of where I am from, Cedar Rapids is a short 45 minutes south of Waterloo. Autumn’s late grandfather was instrumental in starting this museum, so the ornament is particularly special. It says his name, the year of his first Christmas, and who the ornament came from.

Nate cracked a joke about how the baby’d better come soon, or we might need to change the date of the first Christmas. He mentioned how he accidentally told my sister in law, Amy, the name of the baby,w hen he made the same comment around her. You see,  we have been particularly vigilant not to tell Amy, she doesn’t want to know until he is born. I was behind keeping the name a secret, but I have been calling the baby by his name for months around the house. It was nice to personalize our Little Stranger with a real name. A few months ago,I was chatitng on the phone with my mother-in-law, and let the baby’s Real Nickname slip out. Knowing the family wanted to be kept in suspense, I apologized profusely. Have I mentioned Monica is the person who is usually In the Know and a Dispenser of News? We won’t call her a gossip, but if you need knowledge, go find her. With that being said, she is adept at leading a conversation. She isn’t quite up to my level of jaw-flapping (few are, really) but you know how talkative souls are, sometimes we spill our guts far too much. Despite her best efforts, she let his name slip to my father in law, Terry who promptly forgot… but then the name leaked to cheerful, smiling Natalie.  Natalie, who is about as good at keeping secrets as her mother or myself, kept the name mum for a couple of months, but recently let it slipped to Nathan. That turned out to be okay, because Nate and Autumn wanted to give us the personalized ornament.That is, until the name passed Amy’s ears.

Amy is possibly one of the most laid back people I know, but I think she’s pretty ticked off.

The family sat and began to trace back to where the Name Disclosure started. Amy’s went back to Nate; Natalie’s went back to Monica, and well, Monica only knew because of me.

Leave it to the biggest blabbermouth of all to slip on the surprise!

Oh well, Monkey is coming on his own terms. He is really keeping us in suspense!

In the meantime, my friend Heather is sponsoring a cloth diaper giveaway on her blog, Mommy’s Favorite Things. Heather is currently baking her own baby boy, and at this rate is going to have her baby first… anyway, back to the giveaway. She is having a giveaway for an Oh Katy pocket diaper on her blog here that you should check out. Heather says this is one of her favorite diapers, and I trust her opinions on cloth diapering because she used them on her daughter Avery. So, go check out her review, and tell her I sent you!

Softbums Giveaway- This is an All-in-Two diaper, made in the USA. An all in two diaper is a cloth diaper that is a combination of a diaper cover that has insert that you add with each change as long as the cover is clean. An all in two diaper is a very versatile system You can use these covers over many different types of cloth diaper styles, including fitted and contour diapers or prefold diapers. Instead of snaps, the legs are adjustable to customize the fit.

FuzziBunz Elite Giveaway- FuzziBunz is an incredibly well-known cloth diaper maker. It is a pocket diaper that you stuff with inserts, making it simple to keep the diaper incredibly absorbent. The newest edition of the diaper has some new features, most notably an insert made of minky fabric instead of the typical microfiber. Microfiber inserts are absorbent, but can build up detergent over time. Minky is said to be more absorbent, more trim, and less likely to have detergent and scent buildup.

Now, go enter and GOOD LUCK!