isla's birth story. part 3

part 1

part 2

may is preeclampsia awareness month, and hopefully i am going to get back into the habit of being a good blogger by overloading you with lots of information!  i wanted to start by finishing isla's birth story, which is also basically our preeclampsia story. 

so where i left off was either sunday or monday... i honestly don't remember.  i know monday i was woken up the same way i was on sunday (and to follow until thursday) with a 6 am blood draw.  it was pretty much the same as my last few days- new nurses, constant blood pressure checks and contractions! 

i went back and checked and i did NOT have my epidural on sunday.  early monday (after midnight) is when pitocin was started and i was still only dilated to a 1.  my blood pressure was up and down and my energy was zapped.  by that morning, i was starving and just exhausted.  they allowed me to have the liquid diet tray to get some nutrients in me, but sitting up to eat that pretty much killed any little spurt of energy i had.  i was even more swollen from the fluids and  my lung capacity was diminishing.  my biggest concern was that i wasn't going to have the energy to deliver the baby and that i was going to need a c-section, which was the last thing i wanted. 

sometime around lunch the ob came to check me again.  i was only a 1.5.  during the check i felt a weird gush... water breaking.  the ob claims that she accidentally broke it... whether or not it was an accident, i guess i'll never know.  when that was happening, the nurse in the room had her hands on my belly and felt baby drop- so we were headed in the right direction.  i had been thinking about it, and around 1-1:30 i decided i was going to have an epidural.  i was just feeling crappy, and i figured if there was at least one thing that might make me feel better, i might as well have that.  the epidural totally changed everything.  it was more painful than the one i had with ian (which i later figured out was because with ian i had received iv drugs), but after it was done, i felt awake.  dave even said my face changed!  however, like with most pain meds, i was having a reaction and needed benedryl to counter that, which wasn't helping.  by 2:30 i was a 3, and by 3 i was a 4.  when my nurse checked me, she told me she had a meeting to go to, but would be back in a bit.  she said i was progressing around a centimeter per hour and at that rate we would have a baby by dinner time.  dave sent a text to our family and at that point i decided i was going to rest some- i had been chatting with friends on fb and i put my laptop away and tried to rest. 

i don't know how long i had been laying there (maybe 10-15 minutes) but i remembered being super uncomfortable.  like feeling really bad.  i looked over at my screen that was monitoring contractions and i could tell i was having them.  i just breathed through how bad i was feeling and i kept quiet.  around this time dave told me he was going to go into the bathroom and he joked "don't have the baby while i'm in there."  while he was in there, i had another painful contraction and decided something wasn't right, so i paged the nurses station.  when they answered i just told them that i was in a lot of pain and to come quick!  when the nurse came in, it wasn't my regular nurse and i was explaining to her that i was feeling a lot of pain, and she was telling me, "oh, you can just push this button here if you need more from your epidural."  well, during that time i had another contraction, and i told her, "no, i don't think that's it, i mean, i feel like i might need to push.  she came over and checked me and said, "oh, i can see her head!!"  everything went kind of crazy after that as there were people all over my room- 3 or 4 nurses for me, plus nurses and doctors for isla.  i remember a really tiny nurse jumping and trying to pull the lights down from the ceiling and my nurse rushing in and telling me, "i wasn't even gone for 20 minutes and you tried to have a baby without me."  and then, of course, my doctor comes in and she was furious... "why didn't anyone call me?!"  and a nurse replies, "she was a 4 just 15 minutes ago."  and poor dave when he came out of the bathroom, the look on his face just said "really?!"  it was chaotic, and they didn't have time to get everything in place, but i was ready to push.  she needed some vacuum assistance, and i screamed at my doctor, "i AM pushing" when she told me i would have to work harder or i would have to have a csection (which seems to be all the motivation i ever need).  i think i pushed maybe 5 times?  isla arrived in about 20 minutes i think, and they let me hold her right away for just a quick minute before the team whisked her over to the warmer and checked all her signs, weight etc.  she was wrapped up and given back to me for a few short photos and then whisked off to the nicu while i finished delivery.  the room was straightened up and dave and i were left a little confused and alone.  not long after that, the lc came in so i could start pumping because i was going to be unable to feed.  not too long after that the milk was collected and taken to the nicu and i was moved into another room. we had done it though!  our sweet little girl had finally arrived. 

the rest of my hospital stay is a whole 'nother entry.  maybe one day... 

isla olive mcfadden.  june 17, 2013.  3:48 pm.  4 lbs.  3 oz.  18 inches. 

if you don't like pictures of babies being born... now's the time to leave...

 poor misshapen head baby!