Her birth story:
On Feb. 8th, in the morning (36w 6d), I sat down on the floor to do some cutting/pinning of diaper fabric. I had been on strict bedrest for weeks for pre-e, but tried to do a little bit of diaper work at a time-I figured since I was sitting and it was for such short periods of time, no biggie. Anyway, I sat down and a minute later, felt something wet. It wasn't a lot, so I thought I either leaked a little urine (yeah, gross, but its common at the end of pregnancy for any woman) or maybe had a little discharge or something. So, naturally, I got up and started to head up the stairs to change my undies. As I got to the bottom of the stairs, I felt a gush. Then another. Yep, it was my water....and there was a lot of it!
After letting Scott now, I went upstairs to change and put on a pad. I had been planning a homebirth so I had supplies for that, including a bunch of post partum pads. Those came in very handy!! Unfortunately there was so much gushing that I ended up having to change my pants and underwear 3 times before we left. Arg!
I had planned on staying home until labor was underway, but with PROM and the fact that Mieke hadn't been moving much at all (I had already gone to the ER once that weekend for not feeling movement all day). I waited an hour or so and when I hadn't felt any movement, I got worried so off we went to the OB. Looking back I wish I'd just had Scott check for any cord and see if she'd move for him, but hindsite is 20/20 right?
The OB checked me and said I was at a 3. He admitted me to the hospital of course...but my room wasn't ready and for some weird reason the OB didn't have any large pads, so within a few minutes the pad they gave me was soaked. Pretty soon I had fluid running down my legs while we waited. It was NOT a nice feeling, lol.
Finally we got into our room and hung out. We were worried that I'd go super fast like last time and didn't want Scott to miss the birth, so I just stayed in bed while he went to pick up the kids from school. After he got back, I started walking the halls but that quickly got overly annoying-I'm assuming due to the position Mieke was in, they had a hard time getting her heartbeat and keeping it while I was walking seemed impossible. I was spending more time having the monitor fixed than I was walking, grrr.
I stayed on my feet and tried squating and hands and knees, swaying with the contractions. Anytime I sat down, the few contractions I was having would die down to nothing, even on the birth ball, so I spent hours and hours on my feet. After checking me twice over the course of 12 hours, with no progress at all, they started pit. They even went above normal limits for a VBAC, but even with the pit my contractions were mild and not doing any good. I was still a 3. Finally I decided, as a last ditch effort, to get in the tub. I knew it'd slow the contractions while I was in it, but hoped that when I got out they'd pick up as a result (this had happened to me with 3 of my previous babies). No such luck...even with the pit going, my contractions were down to nothing again and spaced very far apart.
Finally, after about 20 hours of trying everything I could think of, not eating, and being so very exhausted from all the standing and no sleep, I gave up. I told them I was ready for a cesarean. By then I felt that she was in a bad position and that now, with no fluid left, she was really stuck there. I felt that I was just postponing the inevitable and I still believe that.
Anyway, I was prepped for surgery. The spinal went much much better this time, though I was still totally freaked out (I have odd back anatomy and have a problem with them hitting nerve bundles, which is incredibly painful). The spinal also left me shaking like last time and I was so cold. But, what scared me more was that I could still feel this odd tingly sensation all over for the longest time. I had remembered how last time, I was almost immediately numb and it wasn't happening this time. Everything was fine though, my feet and lower legs stayed tingly for some reason, but I didn't feel anything.
Scott got there just as they were starting the surgery. I was so relieved to have him there. They let me know that I didn't have much scarring at all and before I knew it, they pulled my little girlie out. My first thought was oh my, she looks JUST like her dad! She really does, its like a mini version of Scott. He went over with her to the warming table (after I told him to, he didn't want to leave me) while they weighed and measured and wiped her off. Then they wrapped her up and handed her to her daddy, who brought her to me to see.
It was very nice in that he was able to hold her the whole time from then on. After they stitched me up, he was able to carry her to our room and continued to hold her while they set me up in there. She didn't leave his arms once they had given her to him, until I was ready to try nursing. I also have to say, I have never seen a baby so ready to nurse! She was sooo alert and looking around, making these little noises, and by the time she was 30 minutes old, she was rooting all over. She hadn't nursed yet but she knew she was looking for something! Once I was able to, our first nursing session went perfectly. She nursed for about 2 hours and then crashed.
Anyway, her full name is Mieke (said Mee-Kuh) Kelli (named after her grandma) Wike, she was 6 pounds 10 ounces, almost 20 inches long, and born at exactly 37 weeks (by about 2.5 hours, lol) making her full term.
She's doing wonderfully, with the exception of some reflux, and is such a sweet, calm, happy little girl. Knock on wood. :)