epidurals hate me!

Randomly my mom found out that she actually was going to be able to come down for a few days, since she had a break from cancer treatment stuff, so I scheduled an induction on Capri’s due date, Friday, May 6. My mom was here for Brody’s delivery and I LOVED having her in the room, so I was so excited when I found out she could come again!

Don and I arrived at the hospital at 12am. I needed to be that early because with Brody I had group-B strep, so every child I have, I have to have antibiotics running through me for 4 hours before I deliver.

After doing paperwork and stuff for an hour, they had my IV in, antibiotics going, baby heart monitor on, and the contraction belt on. The nurse said my contractions were 5-6 minutes apart and I was dilated to a 3. What?! I’m contracting?! I thought she was just kicking really hard on the upper part of my stomach. Over the next 2 hours, my contractions got to 3 minutes apart. I guess I didn’t even need to schedule an induction, since she was ready to come, but I’m glad I did, so I didn’t have to rush to the hospital or anything! The contractions were getting harder to handle by this point.

They started a very low dose of Pitocin at 4am.

At 7am they gave me my first epidural and then put in the catheter soon after that; which I felt the whole thing. Ouchie! When they were putting in the catheter, they had me leaning backwards and I was directly on my back. It made me feel very queasy, cold sweaty, and sick. My blood pressure dropped to 70/30. They gave me some ephedrine, turned me some, and gave me oxygen. And soon after I was okay, except that the epidural was still not working. I told them I could feel everything and that the epidural wasn’t working. By this time I was dilated to a 4.

During labor the nurse had me use a peanut ball, which worked wonders I think. It made the baby come so much faster, instead of just lying on my back, like I did with Brody.

At 8:45am Dr. Howard, my OB, came in. I was dilated to a 5 and 70% effaced. He then broke my water. I could feel the warmth of it all. I felt like I had totally peed the bed.

At 9am the contractions were really strong, especially since my water was broken. Some student nurses and doctors took a sample of my amniotic fluid so they could look at it under a microscope.

At 9:20am I was dilated to a 7 or 8 and 90% effaced.

At 9:35am they re-did my epidural. It worked some, but I could still feel so much. Definitely felt the contractions and Capri getting much lower.

At 10am I was completely effaced and dilated to 9+ but the baby still needed to rotate some, the nurse said.

At 10:05am the contractions were VERY strong. They were 2 minutes apart but lasted long. Ouchie!

At 10:10am I was feeling SO much pressure. Capri was ready to come out!

At 10:20am the nurse called my OB.

At 10:30am my contractions were 1.5 minutes apart.

At 10:35am on May 6, 2011 Capri was born! The pushing was SO intense, but I’m glad I only had one pushing session. Brody was a very different story!

Capri’s Apgar score at 1 minute was an 8 because she was a tad purple and blue. At 5 minutes it was a 9. Healthy baby girl weighing in at 7 lbs, 7 ozs and 22 inches long!

At 10:45am Capri received her first Hepatitis A, Vitamin K shot

At 11am Capri nursed for the first time and latched on right away. Different story from her brother.

 

We are THRILLED that Capri is finally here! As of right now, she is a much easier baby than Brody was, but maybe it’s because we knew a little bit of what to expect.

We LOVE you Capri!