The Delivery

To make a long story short: 

Jane Madeleine Taylor was born on Monday, May 24th at 11:45 am.  She was 8 pounds 5 ounces and 20 inches long.  The labor was short and mom and baby are healthy.  We came home the next day and Jane had a doctor appointment Wednesday for a 48 hour evaluation.

Here is the long story:

At my last doctors appointment (Thursday May 19), my doctor stripped my membranes and we hoped to see each other really soon.  We talked about the possibility an induction.  If I didn't deliver over the weekend, I could call in on Monday and get a time to be induced.  Saturday was my due date and I really just hoped that I wouldn't last the weekend.  I was 70% effaced and dilated to a 4.  That night I had contractions, lost my mucus plug and we got really excited.  But the contractions stopped and we woke up the next morning rather disappointed. 

Daniel's brother, Ben, was going to watch the boys when we went to the hospital, so he said that we should just take them over on Friday.  I think that Ben would rather watch the boys an extra day or two to avoid having to make a middle of the night trip to our house to pick them up! 

Monday morning I called the hospital and they said to come in at 7:45 am.  We looked out the window and it was snowing!  It is the end of May and we had to drive to the hospital in a snow storm!  We only live a few minutes away from the hospital, so it wasn't too stressful! 

I was checked in at 8 am and they evaluated me at 8:30.  I was 80% effaced and dilated to a 6.  I had been having contractions, but nothing consistent.  My doctor thinks that I was in early labor and I would have been coming in pretty soon on my own.  He broke my water at 9am and said that if I wanted an epidural that I should get it now, because things might move really quickly and it would be too late.  

I opted for the epidural and the anesthesiologist came in.  He said that my platelet count was pretty low, but that he could still give me an epidural.  My count was at 86 and hospital policy won't allow one if the count is at 80.  (With Seth my level was at 108 and the anesthesiologist there wouldn't give one if I was under 100.)    

We had some difficulty inserting the epidural, it was sending shocking pains on my right side, so he moved the catheter and I was hurting on the left.  It was crazy and kind of scary.  He got it inserted and my left side went numb.  Twenty minutes later I could still feel my right side.  The contractions were picking up and I could feel them only on the right side.  We got the catheter moved around and it finally numbed my right side. 

My blood pressure was really low and the alarm on the monitor would go off every time it took my blood pressure.  The nurse finally showed Daniel how to turn it off!  My blood pressure is normally pretty low, so when I get the epidural, it goes lower. 

I was fully dilated around 11:35 am.  The doctor came in and I started to push.  I pushed through maybe 5 contractions and she was here!  When I was pushing, the doctor said "Get angry, get mad"  and I thought that it was the funniest thing ever to hear, so I started laughing and couldn't finish pushing through one of the contractions. 

The cord was wrapped around Jane's neck, and it was prohibiting delivery, so the doctor cut the cord and then delivered her.  Jane Madeleine Taylor was born at 11:45 am.  She weighed 8 pounds 5 ounces and was 20 inches long.  The nurses joked that half of the weight was in her cheeks!  While Daniel was at the weighing station with the nurses, the doctor delivered the placenta.  I was fascinated with it, so he took a few minutes to let me examine it.  When it is pulled out, it is inside-out, so he turned it so that I could see what it looked like.  I saw where it had been attached to my uterus and then he showed me where the umbilical cord was attached and where the hole was from breaking my water.  It was really cool.  It was amazing to think that that was were Jane had been for 9 months! 

I had three minor tears that he stitched up.  Daniel and I spent some time with Jane and then I went to the recovery room.  They bathed Jane in my room and then I had some time alone in my room with my baby.  i held her and admired her chubby cheeks.  Her cheeks were so adorable.  I loved just sitting and holding her and staring at her.  Daniel went home for a while and then came back with the boys.  They were so gentle and sweet with her.  They were amazed at how tiny she was. 

Jane was awake a lot during the night.  She nursed really well, and she nursed often.  I couldn't sleep well in the hospital anyhow, so I enjoyed spending time with my baby. 

I had retained a lot of fluid and my whole body was swollen.  Because of the low blood pressure, I was given several extra bags of fluid.  I was super thirsty and spent a lot of time going back and forth to the bathroom.  I thought that it was crazy that I was going more often than I did when I was pregnant! 

I was given clearance to go home Tuesday morning.  We just had to wait for Jane to get her hearing test, and two blood tests done.  The bilirubin test needed to be done as close to her 24 hour mark as possible, and then it took about one hour to get the results.  Her pediatrician said that as long as she passed the bilirubin test, she was good to go.  He also wanted us to bring her in to his office the next day for her 48 hour evaluation.  I really didn't plan on following through with the 48 hour evaluation as my other kids never had one, but Daniel was there in the morning when the pediatrician was there, so he called the office and set up the appointment.  They were late ordering the blood tests and then they came and did the bilirubin test.  They didn't do both blood tests, so they had to come and get Jane again to prick her for more blood.  I felt like it was taking forever and I just wanted to get out of the hospital.  Daniel and Seth came over to the hospital after Seth's preschool graduation and we were just waiting for the paper work to be done so we could go home.

Seth was playing a game on my laptop, Daniel was resting on the couch in my room and Jane was asleep, so I thought that I'd catch a few minutes of rest.  As soon as I got comfortable, I was interrupted.  I had Social Services come and talk to me because I had requested a prescription for an anti-depressant.  He told me what postpartum depression was and how it differed from the baby blues.  Then a pharmacist came in to explain what the medications were that my doctor had prescribed for me.  He went into detail about what Motrin is prescribed for, side effects, etc.  He also went into detail about why my doctor prescribed a stool softener for me.  Seriously?  I know what a stool softener is for.   I was going crazy.  I WAS GOING CRAZY.  I would really rather get 30 minutes of sleep than listen to a people tell me things that I already know. 

We were released from the hospital and we went home.  I started crying when we pulled into the driveway.  It was so good to be home. 

We had a good, but long night together Tuesday night.  I was enjoying breastfeeding and she was doing well.  I was tired, but elated to have my baby in my arms. 

Wednesday morning I got dressed (in my maternity clothes) and took Jane to the doctor appointment.  I really don't like carrying the big car seat around, so I took her out and held her.  In the elevator, a woman asked me how old my baby was.  I told her that she was born on Monday.  The woman looked at me and said "Is she YOUR baby?"  When I answered yes, she looked at me again and told me that I looked great.  Wow, that made me feel good! 

At the appointment, the doctor was finishing up the evaluation when I looked over at Jane and saw blood dripping down her stomach.  She still had the clamp on the umbilical cord because it hadn't dried enough when we were leaving the day before.  The doctor was going to remove the clamp at the visit.  Apparently the clamp got tugged on and it pulled on the cord stump and it started to bleed.  It was bleeding quite a bit and I was so glad that this happened in the doctor's office and not at home.  He was able to stop the bleeding by using silver nitrate to seal the wound.  He said that he had never seen this happen in the 15 years that he has been a doctor.

The nurse fell in love with Jane's cheeks and she took her to the ladies in the office to show them off! 

I am so happy to have my healthy baby girl here with me. 

Welcome to the world Jane!

(See, I told you it was a long story!)