Emma's Birth Story and Name Choice

I realize now that my baby is nearing her first birthday that I never wrote down her birth story.  I guess that is another thing that I have let slip a little now having three kids.  But I want it recorded so she can read it later on and for the benefit of others.

I was totally expecting my 3rd baby to walk out. Andrew was 4 days over and Callie was only 2.  Plus, Andrew's labor was 20 hours long and Callie's was only 4! I thought she would come very close to her due date, if not on her due date, and was almost fearful that I wouldn't make it to the hospital in time.  That, was not the case at all.

My appointments at the doctor in the weeks leading up to her due date showed little progress.  I wasn't against help to start labor but had not at all needed it with my other two births.  So when my doctor asked if I would like him to strip my membranes at all 3 appointments before my due date, I declined.  I had a kind of, "You'll see. I won't need that" attitude. Plus this particular doctor must have had small hands I thought because it was a little more painful than normal to be checked. I though it very odd that I wasn't progressing even a little in the weeks before my due date.  It worried me a little. I was having plenty braxton hicks and cramping when I was on my feet.

40 weeks with baby 3

I had a different doctor the appointment after my due date. I just so happened to be 5 days past that "guess date".  I was a little baffled.  I tried to walk a lot, and even walked up my street straddling the curb to help open my hips. I even tried nipple stimulation like I did with Callie. I went to that appointment a little stressed out and had a whole list of things I wanted to talk about and try, before I would let them induce me.  I was even more stressed because the doctor I was to see was very abrupt.  I had met her before and felt like I was being talked down to.  I like it when my doctors talk and confer with me and help me understand.  I like to come to conclusions together.  I knew from the previous doctor (with small hands) that she would not be happy I was this far past my due date and would be mad he hadn't scheduled an induction date, especially because I was measuring 2 weeks ahead anyway.  But I didn't want a date scheduled until after I was over my due date and wanted to be able to go over. I just knew I would go into labor on my own. I have also never had a problem going over my due date.  I liked them fully cooked.  I was uncomfortable sure, but I never begged anyone to induce me early. They come when they are ready.

At that last appointment I had progressed but my blood pressure was high.  So the doctor said I was to go straight to the hospital to be induced.  I wanted to do a non stress test, try to have my membranes stripped. But I didn't want to be induced. The doctor left to make the call to the hospital to see if they had room for me. I started to cry. This was not what I wanted. The nurse was very kind.  I had rehearsed what I wanted to say, because of this doctor's personality and she wouldn't ever hear me out. She didn't even give me any alternatives, or ask to know what I wanted. They had room at the hospital and I was suppose to go straight there.  But I didn't.  I called Briant in the car and I decided to go home first until a babysitter could get there to be with my kids.  I had plans and I wanted a little bit of control. I called my mom in the car and had a good cry about the situation. About an hour later we were on our way to the hospital. The babysitter was at my house and our bags were in the car.  I felt good leaving knowing my kids were being taken care of.

We got to the hospital and got checked in around 3PM. I was at 3cm and contracting sporadically on my own about 7 minutes apart. My blood pressure was also normal.  I think I need to have that good cry and feel in control.  I wasn't stressed out anymore and I honestly think that is why my blood pressure was elevated in the first place, because that doctor stressed me out going into that appointment.  I knew she wouldn't be on my side and I would have to try to convince her to do something she wouldn't want to do.

The doctors at the hospital were VERY kind.  They talked with me, and told me they would let me choose if I stayed to be induced.  They heard my side of the story and my reasons.  They let me talk it out. We talked about the dangers of high blood pressure and said everything was looking good know and that it would be nice for things to stay that way for the birth.  I agreed.  I always like to be safe rather than sorry.  I wish now I would have remembered my wants back in the office and just had them just strip my membranes and done a lot of walking to try to make things get more regular.  But I forgot all of that and I agreed to stay and start Pitocin.  We talked through my birth wishes and what they could let me do.

We started with a low dose at around 5:30PM.  I was determined to still have as drug free labor as possible. I started out sitting on a ball watching TV.  As the hours passed and they turned up the pit. the contractions indeed strengthen and got closer together.  After being on the ball I stood for a while, as I knew that would bring baby down.  Then I got in the bed on knees and knelt over the ball for a few contractions. The nurses were so nice and supportive. It didn't feel comfortable like it had with Callie.  They were getting more intense.  I layed in bed on my side and listened to a calming playlist I had made.  I began to moan through contractions.  That's a good sign things were getting closer to being over.  I was getting through them but it was getting harder, and there was not the 3-4 minute break between the surges that I had had with Callie.  That pit. was not giving me the breaks that I needed.  During Callie's birth I could tell myself that I just had to make it to the next break and that was a big part of what got me through Callie's labor. This time around they were so close together I felt like I never got time to breath and rest. Nevertheless, I persevered and kept going. I don't remember what exactly Briant did, but he was there to help whenever I needed something new.  He was there to support me in new positions and I knew he loved me.

They checked me around 11PM and I was a 10cm.  We joked it would be great to have this baby today, because her birthday would be 11/7 and our anniversary is 7/11.  I was then after that determined to have her before the new day, and worked harder for that. I don't remember the same urge to push as I had with Callie.  I just knew I need to.  I was also lying flat on my back and I wish I would have asked to sit up a bit more, because I was harder to curl up. They didn't count... I didn't need it. They did encourage me when the right kind of pushing showed good progress. I was hard to push her down.  I know now this is because she was a bigger baby.  When she was crowning, it really hurt.  I knew I couldn't stop and I just had to get this over.  Before I knew it, she was born and crying, and HUGE!  She was born at 11:29PM. Wow! She was so chunky and those cheeks!  So was gorgeous and perfect! I was able to hold her right away, and catch my breath!  They honored my wishes to delay cord clamping until the cord stopped pulsing.

She latched on soon after and nursed like a champ.  Because she was so big, they had to monitor her blood sugars.  They weighed her and she was 9 LBS, 3 OZ and 20.75 inches long! I felt every pound of that as I accomplished my wish of a pain drug free.

Girl talk coming up:
I asked them to get me something to eat!  I was hungry.  After they did all their work on her, Briant held her and they asked me if I would like to get up to go to the bathroom. In the back of my mind I knew I wasn't ready yet, but I agreed. Before I came back to bed I was standing up and the nurse was helping me clean up.  I remember feeling dizzy and the next thing I knew I was laying on the floor seconds after.  There was another nurse there to help get me back up and into a wheelchair.  My BP dropped. I got back into bed and stayed there a long while. They checked my bleeding and uterus several times as they always do to make sure they were shrinking down and not bleeding too much. My bleeding was good. No hemorrhaging. They were concerned about my uterus however because it didn't seem to be contracting down as quickly as it should (even though I was cramping a ton). They said it felt squishy.  They gave me some medication anally to help with that. Afterwords, I tried to get some sleep.  I was freezing and I couldn't get warm.  After almost sleeping for a while, I was feeling  better.  They moved me to my new room. My pubic bone had been hurting for the last bit of my pregnancy as it always does and made it difficult to lift my legs.  The nurse thought I had had an epidural.  It was a problem until I got adjusted by my chiropractor a week later. Anyway,it was difficult to get in and out of bed. After I got to my new room, I wanted to hold that sweet baby again. I once again got to love on and adore my new baby girl. They did some blood work for her because of her blood sugars, then we did more skin to skin and tried to rest.

I didn't feel like I got much rest in the hospital.  It is a teaching hospital and so there are always students and people coming in to check you and baby out.
I feel like it was harder to recover from this baby than my others.  Maybe because I'm older. I don't know. I felt pretty crappy for a good week after. So hard to get in and out of bed, turn over and such.  I had terrible hemorrhoids. Sorry, TMI.  But after a few weeks I started feeling much better.

NAME CHOICE:
We both like the name Emma.  It stuck with us early on and we just never found another name we like better.  For her middle name we gave her my middle name.  I have the same middle name as my mother and so we three generations of Kaye.