Sophia's birth story

*This is more for my memories than anything...stop reading now if you don't want to hear all the details of the birth!*




It's Friday evening and I am 37 weeks pregnant. I went to bed about 10:15 and woke up to Hector coming home at 10:40 with a kiss to tell me he was home. I changed positions slightly in the bed while laying on my left size and felt a lot of wetness so I got up and headed to the restroom to pee. I wasn't really sure what happened but as soon as I finished peeing and stood back up another gush came out. I called Hector back into the room and started crying and told him I thought my water broke. He immediately asked if we should go to the hospital but I wanted to be absolutely sure so we waited a few more minutes. More small gushes happened so Hector called his parents and i called mine. I'm in total shock and disbelief. I can't believe this is happening. I'm only 37 weeks. Yes they say that's full term but I'm not ready. I'm scared and nervous. I'm sad to leave the boys. I didn't even get to tell them goodbye or what was happening. They will find Bianca and Matt at the house when they wake up in the morning. While I was packing a few things for the hospital, hector made the arrangements with his family. I hadn't packed my hospital bag yet....I really wasn't prepared for this! We have no choice since my water broke, we have to go to the hospital. Hector and Linda came over and drove us to the hospital and we arrived at 12:30. I began feeling small contractions on the way there. They felt more like waves of menstrual cramps but didn't really hurt yet.




When we got there, we had to enter through the emergency room since the main entrance was closed. They were super nice and told me to sit down and they would call L&D because the don't deliver babies in the ER. They came and put me in a wheel chair and wheeled me to L&D. They checked me - I was only 1.5 cm dilated and I was barely feeling contractions. Small menstrual like cramps in front and small pain discomfort in tailbone.
They moved me to L&D and got my IV in and administered my first dose of penicillin for positive group B. I was going to need a dose every 3 hours until I delivered. Hector and I walked the halls for about 45 minutes to try and get my contractions to pick up. We got to talk in excitement about how our little girl would be here soon and how much our lives were going to change!




Around 2:30, the anesthesiologist came in and inserted my epidural line. I had told the nurses about what happened when I was in labor with Gabriel and how they attempted my epidural for over an hour with at least 12 sticks in my back and were unsuccessful getting the line in until right before Gabriel came. I had no relief from the pain until right after Gabriel was delivered. I was scared of that happening again and my doctor recommended I do things this way this time around to avoid this happening again. I wasn't going to start the medication until I was in more pain. I didn't want the meds to slow the process down and I wanted to be able to move around some. The Nurses told me I was contracting every 3-4 minutes but the pain is still real manageable. Nurses are encouraging me to sleep but I can't! I insisted on Hector getting some rest. There was no need for us both to be up all night long. He fell asleep and slept off and on on a very uncomfortable looking chair that pulled out into a bed.
3:15 now
My back got real sore from the epidural needle and made it uncomfortable to move positions in the bed. Getting the Epidural was scary - I got lightheaded a little and felt nauseous. I made it though! I prayed silently while they had me get in the proper position and the nurse was really encouraging and let me squeeze her hands in anticipation of the needle being Inserted. The pressure of it going in was very awkward feeling and I think that's what made me light headed. I wasn't allowed to walk anymore because they didn't want me to pull out the epidural line so now I just had to lie in the bed and wait.
By early morning, my contractions still weren't getting real regular so the doctor on call ordered me to start on pitocin. He was hoping since this was my third baby that I wouldn't need the pitocin. But I was ok with it because I was starving and ready now to have my baby girl in my arms. After they started the pitocin in my iv, my contractions immediately started picking up in intensity and getting more and more regular. They were going from 3-4 minutes before and then stretching out to about every 7 minutes. The pitocin helped change that and made them get real regular real fast.




A few hours later, I was ready for my dosing of meds in the epidural. The nurses called for anesthesia and it took awhile for that dr to come in. It was a different dr since it was now the day shift and I had to explain the whole situation again about why I requested to have the line put in way in advance. He seemed a little unsure about this approach but I told him my dr had recommended me do it this way and frankly I didn't care what he thought about the approach. I was glad the line was already in and all he had to do was hook up the machine to my line and I would begin to feel less pain shortly. I was allowed to dose myself by pushing a button every 20 minutes but it would regulate the dosing by not allowing more than 3 doses in an hour. I was still feeling a lot of pain on my right side down low when contractions came so my nurse had me lay on my right side to try to help the meds even out. It seemed to help a little although I was still feeling alot. The nurse checked my cervix as I laid on my side and told me I was at 5-6 cm. She could feel that the baby was definitely head down but not in the proper position to be delivered. She wanted me to change positions to try and help her get more up and down and ready to come out.



About 20 minutes went by after the nurse left us and told us to call when and I started to feel a lot of pressure . Hector was at the bedside with me holding my hands and being super supportive through each contraction. I could feel a lot of pressure and it hurt so I had him call the nurses back in. Sure enough, she checked me again and I was ready to go. She went and called the doctor in and he came in and it was time to have the baby! I began to push but apparently she was coming out face first. Her nose up to her forehead was presenting itself and it was extremely hard to push her out. I'm not sure how long it took but it was probably about 10 sets of three pushes in a row before I was able to get her out. The doctor had me pulling on a baby blanket tug of war style with a nurse to help me push. I literally had to use my whole body to push her out. The doctor had to do a small epitosomy because of the way she came out. She was face first and looking at the ceiling instead of crown first and face down to the floor. They call this "more than brow presentation.". The doctor said if she would have been my first baby, he would have taken me to the OR for a csection because I wouldn't have been able to do it. Thank goodness I did it! It was extremely hard work and it caused my sweet girl to come out very bruised and very swollen.




She immediately swelled in her eyes - especially the right eye and forehead area and turned purple. But she was still beautiful!!! I cried pretty hard when they placed her on my chest. I was exhausted and relieved and extremely happy to see her! So was Hector!








I was able to breastfeed her right away after they cleaned her up a little. She latched right on and has been feeding well ever since. My milk came in in 2 days and came in gradually instead of all at once like it did with the boys. Both boys had to be swept away briefly to the nicu when they were born so I wasn't able to try to feed them for a several hours after they were born. Its a little ironic that both boys who were truly full term had to be taken to NICU and this little girl was three weeks early and had absolutely no problems and got to stay with us from the beginning.




The doctor, Dr B, who delivered her was really nice. None of my babies were delivered by my actual OB but that couldn't be helped! Dr. B and the nurses nicknamed my baby girl "Rocky" because of her bruising and swelling. She has experienced some jaundice as she fights the bruising and we have gotten to watch her bruises on her face change daily as it has improved. It's going through the colors of the rainbow and now at almost two weeks old she looks like she is wearing a nice purple and blue eye shadow!




It's amazing how different every delivery of mine has been. Difficult in different ways but they all have resulted in a beautiful healthy babies. Each delivery has had it's challenges and its simply amazing what a woman's body, my body, is capable of. It truly is the miracle of life. I'm so thankful for my children. They are my biggest accomplishment and I am so happy!!!




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