Ella's birth story

See? I told you that I'm just a terrible blogger.

I figured now that I've had Ella this might be the time to actually update. I'm gonna just start from my birth story.

My due date came and went with nothing but a few mild contractions and a quick fleeting hope that my water had broken. When I went to my post-due appointment, I had an ultrasound and a non-stress test. A non-stress test is a simple monitoring of the baby's heart rate and to see if I've had any contractions. My ultrasound was great as was my NST. Dr Travias came in and said “Do you want to set up a game plan?” The answer was absolutely. I could not be induced until I was 41 weeks which was the following Tuesday, a mere six days away. The plan was I'd go in at 4pm for some medication and then they'd give me the hard stuff the following morning. YESSSSSSSS! They still gave me the hope that I could spontaneously go into labor, but I had a feeling Ella had decided that her birthday was set.

On Monday June 11^th, I was lazing around the house, thinking of all the things I wanted to get done that day and the next. Clean out the car, pack the last minute bag, bake cookies and take a nap. My phone rang at 430 pm and from the number, I realized it was my hospital. When I answered, there was a nurse on the other line “Shawna, we were wondering where you were. You were supposed to be here at 4pm.” I sat up quickly saying my induction was set for Tuesday, not Monday. “Apparently, it got bumped up. Did no one call you? Did you want to come in tonight or still tomorrow?”

I called Shawn and he said to go in, he'd come as soon as he got out of work. I anxiously started walking around finding the last bit of clothes I'd need and called my mom. I didn't want to drive in by myself. I dropped the dogs off at my in-laws and I was on my way!

I got to the hospital at 6pm. I rang the buzzer and when they asked who I was I said, “I'm Shawna Haueisen and I'm here to have a baby.” They showed me to my room and had me lay down and wait. They put me on the monitors and started an IV lock, which is just the needle without the meds (not yet anyway!) When I got checked by my doctor, I was at one cm and still 50% effaced (that's the shortening of my cervix) but I'd made progress. I had the Cervadil put in which help preps my body for delivery. 12 hours after that they'd take it out and start pitocin.

Shawn got to the hospital at about 845 and we settled in for our stay. I was woken up at 630 am to order breakfast, take a shower, and get this labor ball rolling. I started having small contractions. They told me they were going to increase it every 20 minutes until my contractions were 2 minutes apart lasting at least a minute. Around 11 am that's where they were. They weren't very strong yet. This was when I met an angel named Heather. Heather was my day nurse. She was funny, soft spoken, but stern sounding and the most reassuring person there.

At 130 I told Heather I wanted to get into the labor tub to help with the painful contractions before I got the IV medication. I sat in the tub laboring for an hour. Eleanor would not stay still and with each contraction we were unable to track her heartbeat. It was hard to relax between each contraction when Heather had to come in and locate her heartbeat.

We decided it was time for the IV meds. This is when my contractions were really getting intese. Heather and Shawn were coaching me through each one. Deep breath in. Slow exhale. Deep breath in. Several short exhales. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. The story was the same. Each time a contraction came, Ella moved and there was no relaxation time between. I was starting to get tired and cranky.

Heather called Dr Rubin in to check me and see where I was at after being on pitocin for about 10 hours. He came in an checked me. 4 cm! He said he thought it was time for a epidural and it would help me get to the next part. I completely agreed. Shawn helped me as I wrapped around a pillow. The epidural process didn't take long and it didn't hurt. There was a quick feeling of a string in my back but it quickly went away. Within 20 minutes I was feeling no pain. My doctor came in again, checked me (6cm!) and broke my water. That was at about 630 pm. Heather had to leave about an hour earlier for one of her classes but said she'd try to come back and hopefully I'd be holding my baby.

At about 8, I started to feel an intense amount of pressure. I wanted to push, but didn't think I had enough time to dilate to a 10. I called my new nurse into the room and was checked again. I was at 9.5 with a little bit of a lip left to my cervix. It was freaking go time. At 815. I started to push with each contraction, 3-4 pushes per contraction. Before labor, I didn't understand what it meant to push more than once. It's basically my lather rinse repeat until the pressure goes away.

I looked up at about 9 and saw Heather. She'd come back to check on me. I was so happy. It wasn't that I didn't like my nurse, I just really liked Heather. She had a very calming and relaxing voice that I could concentrate on when everyone else was kind of shouting at me.

After about 2 hours of pushing without a lot of progress, we started to try some other methods. I rolled to my side but it was extremely uncomfortable. While you can't feel pain, the pressure is intense. No one ever explained that to me. The way I keep describing it is, I felt like there was an airplane shoved up my ass. Everyone was encouraging and telling me I was doing great, but I didn't feel like I was doing great. I felt tired and frustrated that she was right there but not here. The nurses started to talk amoungst themselves. They called Dr Rubin back in at about 11. “It seems that baby is stuck behind your pelvis. I'm going to give another half hour, but I think we're leading towards a c-section.”

When I was about 22, I went to the doctor and she told me there was a pretty good chance I'd need to have a c-section because I have a low pelvis. I've had in in my mind for years that I would probably need a c-section. I was prepared for the possibility, so it was not devastating to me when they told me I could not deliver vaginally.

I tried for another fifteen minutes, but they were the worst fifteen minutes of the entire labor. My contractions were right on top of each other and I couldn't take time between. Heather put a nice cloth on my forehead and told them to call the doctor. I was done. I was sobbing, not because I didn't want to go into surgrey, but I was scared they were going to have me try more.

After that, it was pretty quick and kind of a blur. I was told I could not push anymore. Shawn was taken away to get into his scrubs and tell our parents what was going on. There was suddenly 10 people in my room and we were moving. My epidural was upped for surgery and I was given morphine. Man, morphine is the bees knees. I was floating on a cloud. They were prepping and I just laid back.

Shawn came into the room and sat with me, holding my hand. Since I'd gotten her mostly out, they had to pull her back out to get her out. That did not feel good. I didn't feel pain only pressure. Suddenly there was no pressure, and there was this noise. It took me a minute to realize it was my baby crying. I started tearing up. She was here.

Shawn went over and cut the cord. They wrapped her up and he brought her over to me. She was squalling something fierce. I touched her little hand and said “You're my baby. Hello Eleanor Cadence.”

The rest is boring. We were in the hospital for five days. Ella had a touch of jaundice and had to lay in under Bili lights for a whole day. Breast feeding didn't work for us, so I've been pumping milk. It's tiring but I don't want to pay for formula, so we're going to make it work.

We've been home since Sunday. We're working on getting into a schedule, any schedule. Ella is eating like a champ. Shawn is really great with her. I love them.