My Labor and Delivery Story

It's been 1 whole month since Raffaella's birth and "having a baby changes everything"--just like the tag line from one of those Johnson and Johnson commercials that make me cry every.single.time. I still look back at that day and relive it in my head over and over. It was one of the single most perfect day I've ever had in my life. Period!


My labor and delivery lasted about 16 hours and as I tell my story, some of it can be a bit gross. A few days before that Saturday, I had been cleaning and "nesting" like crazy. Which was a good sign that Raffaella would be coming soon-----not that I thought that then. That Friday night, I stayed up late to watch Jarhead with the husband on HBO. I wasn't all that tired, but finally went to bed after the movie finished, at about 1:00am. Steve hadn't come to bed until 2:00am. It was a normal night, until 3:25am, when I felt this sensation of water flowing out "down there", I freaked out and thought to myself, that didn't feel like pee, but for some reason I didn't believe it could be my water breaking. I rolled over and told the hubs, "I think my water broke". He was out of it and didn't panic or jump or anything. I got up to go the bathroom to take a look and as I got up more fluid had dripped down my legs. I felt like I had no control over it unlike when you urinate. I paced around the house a bit, got on the internet to do some research. An hour later, I finally went in to tell the hubs again and he was more responsive this time. I started feeling contractions by this time, it felt like mild menstrual cramping. Tolerable by all means. I told him I was going to take a shower because it would be the last good shower I will have for a while. Another hour past and the contractions got a bit stronger and by this time my mucus plug had also come out. All the things I read in my pregnancy book was happening to me. I wasn't sure if I should go to the hospital now or wait a little bit, because I'll probably be there for quite some time and won't be allowed to eat (I didn't eat anything for a total of 24 hours and after her birth I was actually not hungry). But since my water broke, and I remember my OBGYN telling me to GO to the hospital if that is the case and don't worry about timing my contractions.

all hooked up

So at about 6am we left the house and went to the hospital. They put me in the labor/delivery/recovery room. Hooked me up 2 monitors that wrapped around my belly, one for my contractions and one to track the baby's heartbeat. The labor pains were starting to get more intensified, but I was told I was only 1 centimeters dilated. Good news was that I was completely effaced. Normally they would have sent me home, but since my water did break, I was admitted at that time. I pretty much ate ice chips the whole time, I kind of just hung out in bed watching the US Open all morning and some Degrassi High as well as some shows on the Food Network. I really wanted a natural birth, which I have been telling everyone that was the route I plan on going throughout my pregnancy, but........... I was open to getting pain relief if I felt it was too much for me to handle. So when the pain become unbearable I decided to get the epidural (I did not know that labor pains would be so painful and my pain tolerance is pretty high), even though I told the hubs to help me avoid it. He tried, of course I just got annoyed with him and his "just breath honey--it will be okay". My poor husband =(, yeah I did get bitchy. There was no working through the pain anymore, so at about 10am I ordered the epidural. However, I was told the anesthesiologist would be about 45 minutes because he was in surgery, GREAT!!! I should have accepted it earlier when the nurse offered it to me. By this time I had dilated only to 3 centimeters. I cried like a baby when they were putting the needle and catheter for the epidural in my back. The doctor said he hasn't had a crier in a long time while doing this procedure. Once the epidural kicked in, I was in heaven. I can't believe I thought I could go through labor without it. I mean you don't know until you experience it and the pain was something I've never felt in my life, so I won't berate myself for not going au naturel. If we have a second child, and that's a big IF, because I am so in love with Raffaella that I can't imagine sharing my love with another person =), I think I can handle the pain, since I now know how labor pains are suppose to feel like.

before the epidural, i did my best to muster a smile through the pain

after the epidural--much happier

My mood was much better by this time, because before the epidural, I was nauseated and vomited a few times. I pretty much had to stay in bed. I had a catheter put in to drain my urine, an IV hooked to me plus the 2 belly monitors, so I had to stay put. After the epidural the nurse added pitocin to my IV to help speed up and intensify my contractions, all of which I did not feel. So it took about 8 hours to get to 3 centimeters, but with the pitocin, I went from 3 to 6 centimeters in 1 hour and then another few hours I was at 8 centimeters. When I was finally at 9 centimeters it seemed like forever to get to 10. But it really only took about an hour and half. When I was at 8-9 centimeters the pressure of her head on the birth canal was intense. I felt very ready to push, but I was told not to. It was painful, I had the nurse amp up my pain relief, but this was something not even the epidural blocked. So I felt some pain after all. My OBGYN was not working that weekend, so they had another doctor on duty. Oh btw, we were told the hospital had one of the busiest weekends for deliveries. I guess when it's cold outside people decide to make babies =). I saw the "substitute" doctor once in the morning, he introduced himself and then not until the baby was about to come out. I think he was working several deliveries around the same time I was pushing. It's the nurses who do all the work anyway, and I'm glad I had one who knew what she was doing.

Finally the time came for me to push. Right before, in the other room, I heard some other patient pushing as well, it was very surreal as I knew I would be doing the same thing and getting very excited to finally meet her. It was just my nurse and Steve in the room, I had pulled my legs up and back towards my chest and Steve and the nurse helped by pushing at my feet to give me leverage. Pushing only lasted about half an hour, but all the breathing techniques I learned pretty much went out the door, I had my breaths all wrong and I was pushing out from the cheeks on my face rather then the ones on my bottom. Finally the doc came in, and to make it easier he did an episiotomy because my pushing alone really wasn't getting us anywhere. So with the incision made and two strong pushes later, she slid right out. Making her entrance at 7:10pm. As soon as she came out, it seemed like time stood still, I no longer felt pressure or pain, and then they rested her on my belly and a few seconds later she starting crying. It was an amazing moment, I touched her wet slimy little body and tried to study her as quickly as I could before they wist her away. I was crying from the exhaustion and at the miracle that just took place. Steve then cut her cord and she was taken to the infant warming table at the end of the room. The nurse did her apgar scoring, she scored a solid 9, she was cleaned off some and brought back to me.

there she is, about 5 minutes old

While the nurse tended to the baby, the doctor delivered my placenta, which was also painful. He pushed on my abdomen and pretty much stuck his whole hand up my vajayjay and pulled out this sac that was Raffaella's home for 9 months. I've seen it in pictures before so I did not even ask to take a look at it. It was pretty gross. He stitched me up and everyone left the room, so it was just Steve, Raffaella, and myself bonding during our "golden hour" together. During this time I breastfed and had some skin on skin bonding action. All of this is something they recommend new moms do. She would look me in the eyes with curiosity and I did the same. Some mothers don't always bond with their newborns right away, but for me it was instant. It was a great experience, and then after about 90 minutes or so she was taken away to the nursery to be monitored for a few hours, get bathed, weighed and measured. We were then moved to the postpartum room, I had a chance to rest a bit. After a few hours she was brought back to us for good. When the nurse brought her to us, the reality of it all sunk in, we were now responsible for this tiny human being and we were scared shitless. All the classes, books, and advice from people didn't help one bit (well at least not at first). I asked the nurse before she left, "um, so like what do we do?" I sounded pretty dumb, but I kind of just blanked. Luckily, we figured it out =).

We delivered Saturday night and left the hospital Monday afternoon, it was a short stay. I was very sore all over and especially down there, but I was up and about right after her birth, so I recovered almost instantaneously. We kept it very low key, we didn't have any visitors the last day, we went home to an empty, quiet house and begun our new life as a family of three.

Happy 1 month my dear baby!!!