Stella Chiara arrived at 11:44 pm on August 22. She weighed 8 lbs 3 oz, and she measured 21 inches long. I started my induction on August 21 at 7:00 pm, which led to a long labor on Friday, and eventually had a C-section late Friday (despite the doctor's best efforts to commit to a natural birth). Even though this was exactly the birth I feared, I couldn't be happier with the final result!
For the more detailed version, read on after the photos.
I went to the hospital at 6:oo pm for my scheduled induction (I never got into labor on my own, even at a week past due). After about an hour of questions and registration, I started on Cervidil. The nurse gave me something to help me sleep, but being in a new bed, with people constantly coming in and out of the room to check something on me, I didn't sleep more than 3 hours Friday night.
Friday morning I started Pitocin to get contractions started. I had dilated from 0 to 1.5 cm overnight, so the hope was that the Pit would get the cervix to open more. Two hours after the first dose of Pit, I was only 2 cm. They upped the dosage, two hours later I was 2.5 cm. They upped it again. At this point the contractions were really bad, and one came right after the other with no recovery time, so I opted for an epidural. Wow, what a relief - I napped for a large part of the afternoon.
Again, the doctor measured me and I was 4 cm. My parents came by to see me, and Gian and I both thought that the baby wouldn't be here until Sunday. However another couple hours and I was 6 cm. Then I started having the urge to push, and I was at 7-9 cm really quickly!!
I pushed for an hour, but with each push the baby's heartrate dropped a lot. The doctor said that there was too much stress on the baby at this point, and that the only safe measure would be to have a c-section. I went into surgery at 11:15 and Stella Chiara joined us at 11:44.
Apparently Stella's head was tilted when it entered the birth canal, and she was wedged on top of it, preventing her from straightening out and moving forward. She has two "skidmarks" on her upper forehead from my pelvic bones.
Also, the sacral part of my spine is posterior, or concave, which made it virtually impossible for Stella to get into position for active labor. My doctor said had she known this, she would have probably scheduled a c-section right away.
I was taken to recovery, where I stayed until about 2:00 am, drifting in and out of sleep. I was checked every two hours after that until 7:00 am.
Over 24 hours after starting the process, I was so relieved to finally have our little one with us. And I can't begin to tell you how surprised we were that it was girl - so many people guessed it was a boy, that we had pretty much committed ourselves to a little boy! Gian has been a great support and an even better Dad (I have a great diaper story for another post)! It has been a long 48 hours, but I will write more as I think of it, and post pictures as they are taken. Thanks for all of your warm wishes and congratulations!
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