HI! Remember us? Yes, we're still here. It's been over 2 years since I last posted anything and SO MUCH has happened in that time. I had good intention of posting, but kept getting distracted by other things and never got around to it. {I started this post months ago. See...distracted.} I really want to go back and fill in some of those missing pieces, but for now I'm going to jump ahead a little bit to life's most recent event. This is going to be a detailed story that most people probably aren't interested in reading. However, I want it written down for us and for her if she ever wants to read it. So, here it goes. The story of Ninja Baby.
While I was pregnant I called her Ninja Baby. I never knew something so small could kick and punch so intensely. I was CONVINCED this kid was coming out in full Ninja costume. She's continued to live up to that name. I'm not sure if it's to confirm my feelings or to spite me.
So, Ninja Baby's story... At my 39 week doctor appointment my doctor assured me that I would not still be pregnant at 41 weeks. So at my 40 week appointment we pulled out the calendar to schedule induction. This was on a Monday. Conveniently my doctor was on call beginning Friday morning, so we agreed to schedule for that weekend instead of waiting until the following week. Tho we were ready and anxiously awaiting her arrival, leaving the clinic with an actual date was one of the weirdest feelings. Exciting, but weird. The plan was to go in Thursday night so we spent the days between Monday and Wednesday wondering if she'd come on her own before then and doing what we could to relax, prepare, and enjoy the last few days before life would forever change. We went out to eat Wednesday night at Ruth's Chris for a much-too-expensive "last supper" knowing that might be the last nice meal we would get to enjoy in a long time. We both worked Thursday which was again a very strange feeling. We were keeping our induction date a secret, so I did my best to act like it was any other day. Those strange feelings lasted all day as I secretly went through all of my "lasts" with my kiddos at school. Leaving without really saying goodbye was the strangest moment of all.
So, Thursday night. We were told to be at the hospital at 6:30 so they could give me cervidil. I wasn't dilated at all. The cervidil helps to start that process usually without causing any contractions or other signs of labor. Until that point I hadn't had any signs. We'd spend the night at the hospital then I'd be induced in the morning. We were told to relax, get some sleep, and stay comfortable as the cervidil would cause some cramping, but again, most likely not any labor.
Funny joke. It was 7:30 when they placed the cervidil and by 10:00 I was 4 cm dilated and having contractions. I went from 0 cm to 4 cm in just 10 minutes. A call to my doctor confirmed that yes, the cervidil had done its job and they should remove it so that it didn't continue to give me medicine. Again, we'd relax the best we could and evaluate in the morning. The problem here is that the nurse couldn't find the cervidil. It gets inserted in you and is attached to a string for easy removal. When she couldn't find it we assumed it had fallen out when I went to the bathroom and I just didn't notice it.
At this point I began to realize that I wasn't going to get any sleep. Adrenaline kicked in, nerves took over, and the cramps they said might happen were more than just cramps. We spent the night walking the hall, bouncing on a ball, really doing whatever we could think of to make me comfortable as labor continued to progress. Around 1:00...maybe 2:00...the next few hours were kind of a blur...they gave me pain meds thru an IV. It was enough to take the edge off and allow me to sleep for an hour. When I woke up tho the meds had worn off and I was instantly asking for more. Of course it was too early to get more. I spent the next little while wondering how people do this naturally and decided it was time to request the epidural. Of course it takes time for the anesthesiologist to arrive so they gave me another dose of IV meds to hold me over. They failed to mention that this second dose doesn't always work for people. You guessed it-I'm one of those people that it didn't work for. The anesthesiologist arrived at 4:30. I don't know if I just looked incredibly miserable or if we were nearing that point of no return where you can't have an epidural, but he moved QUICKLY. At this point my contractions were coming hard and fast. Again, congrats to those of you who have done this without drugs. I can't imagine how you did it. They already had me leaned over a table in position for the epidural when the anesthesiologist arrived, he gave me some quick info and said we'd sign all the papers when we were done. The epidural itself didn't even hurt. In fact, I couldn't feel it over the pain of the contractions.
As soon as they started moving me back into bed my water broke. Another one of those "this hardly ever happens" moments. Paul and I were quickly realizing that if they said those words, it would happen to us. The epidural worked wonderfully and I was finally able to get comfortable. They called in my doctor who said that I was now about 8 cm and we'd keep monitoring everything. During this exam they found the missing cervidil! It hadn't fallen out and had continued to give me meds the entire night. The exact opposite of what we had wanted to happen. While I'm convinced it contributed to my quick progression of labor the nurse and Doctor did say that because of how quickly things went I likely would have gone into labor on my own at home that night.
At around 7:00 am they came in and had me start pushing. After about an hour we took a break to allow the baby to get in a better position. Her head was getting stuck on my cervix and the hope was that a break would allow my body to fix the problem itself. At this time we told Paul to order breakfast. Baby adjusted and his french toast arrived just in time for me to start pushing again. Luckily he has a strong stomach as he was eating his french toast while I was throwing up.
After a couple more hours of pushing my contractions had slowed down to only every 5-7 minutes. They weren't able to make them come faster and baby's heartbeat was starting to slow down with each contraction. My doctor came in at 11:00 and decided that we would try to use a vacuum and if that didn't work, baby would need to be born via c-section. She was face up and not coming any further than she had been for awhile. This is where things got scary for us. She was fine, I was fine, but when 20 doctors and nurses suddenly show up in your room you start to panic. When they made the decision to try the vacuum they started calling all of the necessary people in case we went to c-section so they'd be ready. We tried the vacuum through 3 contractions. She was so stuck it kept popping off her head and our doctor explained that if it hadn't worked already, the vacuum wouldn't help us. So, to surgery we went.
The anesthesiologist for surgery was amazing. He was like the voice of God talking over my head. He explained everything and kept me calm through the entire surgery. He said that the additional meds he gave me for surgery might make my arms tingle. Funny joke. My arms and hands were totally numb for the entire surgery and the 2 hours following. When they cut me open we heard my doctor say, "Is that an arm???" Ummm, how do you not know? It turns out our little ninja had somehow turned herself into a breach position between the labor and delivery room and the operating room. She had been head first. They attached a vacuum to it, remember? The doctor told us later that she has never seen a baby that engaged in the birth canal be able to back up and turn around. Our little ninja was going to live up to her nickname for as long as she could!
Everything went well with surgery and our baby girl was born happy and healthy. She spent the first two hours of her life screaming her head off. We got to hold and snuggle her before our flood of visitors arrived {and continued coming for the weeks following}. We feel so lucky to be parents to such a wonderful baby girl. We love her more than we knew you could possibly love someone and are loving every moment with her. Welcome to the world, Ninja Baby!
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