Magdalena's Birth Story

To my best recollection:

Thursday October 8th, 2009
I was up at 4am. We were scheduled to arrive at the hospital at 6am for a pitocin induction. My alarm was set for 4:47am, but at 4:00, I finally gave in and got out of bed. I sat down and typed up a quick blog entry and updated my facebook status. At 5:15. I woke up Jay and at 5:30 my dad arrived to stay with the girls (who were still sleeping) until my mom came home from work. Jay and I left the house about 5:45 and stopped for magazines and m&ms. We got to the hospital right at 6:00am and they didn't even escort us up to l&d because they figured after 3 others, we knew the way. :)

I got checked in and sat and waited for my nurse to come and start my i.v. She didn't have much luck, so I had to wait for another nurse. After 6 or 8 pokes, they finally got me hooked up a little before 9am. My veins are terrible and hard to get. I was pretty bruised up after that fiasco. My dr. came in to say hello about 10am and told me that they were going to get me going slowly because he had back to back surgeries at 11 and 12. So, my pitocin drip was nice and slow and Jay and I enjoyed our "morning out" and relaxed while reading and watching tv. At some point, he went and got himself breakfast.

At 1:45pm, my dr came back to check on me and I was at 6cm. I was actually shocked because I knew I was having contractions, but not one hurt. Nothing more than a little cramp. And they were regular and about 2 minutes apart. The dr broke my water and said that he was right around the corner since we all expected that it was going to happen quickly. I think it was about 2:15 when that happened and I refused my epidural. I was still sitting up in bed and handling everything really well. I was still shocked that things were going so smoothly. Around 2:30pm I felt really pushy. Jay went to find the dr and when he checked, I was only 8cm.

Well then the shit really hit the fan. I went from listening to my hypbirth cds all relaxed and chillin to thinking I was going to die. Transition without an epidural is not that great! Transition started about 2:50. I cried. I screamed, I BEGGED for that epidural (but was way too far along.) In retrospect, I think I felt worse for Jay than myself. HE was scared and had no idea what to do. All of a sudden I got that unmistakeable feeling right about 3:00. I guess they are right and transition is short because the pain was only unbearable for 10 minutes or so.

I'm not sure if Jay went out to find the dr or if they heard me screaming that it was time and came in. That part is a little blurry. Wonder why....The dr came in and I flipped over to my back to start pushing. Only I really don't remember pushing all that much. The baby decided that he or she was in too big of a hurry to wait for them to break down the bed or do much of any preparation. Thank goodness the nurse listened when I said I usually go fast and started bringing in the delivery cart when the dr broke my water. I remember feeling the baby crown and then the dr rotating the baby to get the shoulders out. I think I gave one little push for the shoulders. That was it. LEss than 8 minutes from complete to delivered.

I cried and cried and cried. Jay cried...and cried and cried. Then the baby cried. I asked Jay to tell me what we had because he was so lost in the moment I think he forgot that was his job. haha. I was thrilled to find out we had another girl. I kind of thought it was a boy, but was over the moon to hear it was a girl. Jay cut the cord and baby was passed up to me. She was beautiful!

After taking Magdalena over to get her assessments and get weighed, they brought her back to me and after looking her over and 'mashing her a little, I offered her the breast and she took right off nursing. I have never had a baby so alert and ready to get down to business. But I have also never had an all natural delivery, either. :)

I called my mom first. I was more excited to tell her about my accomplished natural delivery than I was to tell her about the baby- thats horrible, right? I was so proud of myself and a little mad that I didn't go natural sooner. Oh well. I did it once.

My mom and dad didn't tell the girls about their new sister. They actually just told them they were going to visit me and the hospital. So when the girls got there, my parents sent them in first so we could have some bonding time with just our family. The girls were so so so excited to see that I had the baby and they had a sister. They ran right out and told my parents and brought them back in to introduce them to Magdalena.

I don't think I could have asked for anything better than the birth experience I had. It makes me sad to think that this is probably the last one. Unless I can talk my husband into a few more....