The Delivery and the NICU

Okay so this blog is much over due... This is the story of Gianna's birth. Please forgive the typos and mass grammatical errors that you will soon encounter as I am tired and typing with Gianna sleeping on the my brest friend that is strapped around my lap.

On Saturday I had braxton hicks all days long and was starting to loose my MP. Then on Monday 9-15-08 I woke up at 4:40 am with a really bad contraction but after it passed I was able to go back to sleep. I woke up again at 7:19 with another contraction and told Mr.F I thought my labor was starting. He got out the stop watch and we started to time them. After a while I was tired of being timed and wanted to take a break. Frank decided he ought to leave and hook up with his friend who was going to check and make sure we put the car seat base in correctly.

I decided while he was gone to call my OB and see what he said. I told him how far apart they were and the pain level. He told me I needed to wait until they got worse and then call him. About an hour later (5:30 pm) the pain level had really increased and we called my OB again. He suggested we meet him down at the hospital. Driving in the car was really not fun. All I can say is the contractions were similar to having really bad menstrual cramps. All I wanted to do was sit on the toilet so I could get some relief.

After we arrived at the hospital a nurse came in and checked me to see how far I was dilated. This was an awful experience. I had no idea how badly it would hurt to be checked or how far they would shove their hand up there! Worst of all she told me I was only 1 cm dilated. Kind of embarrassing since I was in so much pain. About an hour later my OB arrived and he also checked me. This time I could not stop the tears the pain was just too much. The good news was that I was 3 cm and 90% effaced.

So he told me I could either go home and he would give me a sleeping pill or I could stay here and get an epidural. I am sure you can guess that I chose to stay and get the meds. I was pretty nervous about getting the epidural but it was no big deal. I was lucky that I had the head of anesthesiology there to give it to me. From there it was all a waiting game. At about 2:00 am my water broke and I was fully dilated. I pushed for an hour to no avail. Turns out she was sideways. Not sunny side up but sideways. So my ob had me wait and had them have me lay on my side and then switch every 1/2 hour to see if she would move. By 7:00 when he showed up she still had not moved. So he had me start pushing while he tried to get her to turn. Finally after 2 hours of pushing he had to use the vacuum. I was so bummed because I did not want her head pulled like that. But the reason he had to was because I spike a 102.9 fever! So after using the vacuum he was able to pull her into the birth canal and then I pushed her out.

It was so amazing because I got to actually pull her out and put her up on my stomach. I was crying so hard I could barely even see her. My mom and Mr.F's mom were both hugging and crying while they looked at her. She was born at 9:24 am 7lbs 6 oz and 20" long. The nurse who helped deliver her was amazing (she was actually nurse of the year) and of course my OB was fantastic. I think most other OBs would have done a c-section but thankfully I did not have to. He was so patient and we did all kind of techniques for pushing that midwives use.

So now the info on why she went into the NICU.

1. She could not maintain her body temperature it kept on dropping - sign of infection

2. She is B positive and I am O positive blood type - because of my long labor our bloods mixed and my blood formed antibodies to fight off her blood. So she had antibodies fighting off her B blood

3. She was cumms positive for jaundice

4. She had a big hematoma on the back of her head - collection of blood in between her scull and skin.

All of these factors meant she needed to be on Antibiotics via a IV and spend time under the lights. When they took her to the NICU it was the worst moment for me. I just sat and cried. That night in the hospital Mr. F and I sat and cried together.

Over all the experience in the NICU was really great for what it was. The nurses were super sweet and caring. They taught us a lot and I also had visits with a lactation consultant daily. We had to leave the hospital on Friday so we stayed at my parents house the remainder of the days and went to the hospital early and came home late. Gianna did 7 days of antibiotics and on Tuesday 9-23 we took her home. Before we left we went into the healing garden at the hospital with our families and my Dad dedicated her to God. It was very special time to share with our parents.

I still need to write about what it's been like since we got home but I am all blogged out for now. I will say that breastfeeding has been sooooooooooo hard. Taking a baby home from the NICU makes BF 10x worse. The reason is that to get rid of jaundice they have to get them to poop so they feed them tons. So when you take them home it is so hard to train them to only BF and not expect so much food without any work (IE a bottle). Today is a good day but almost every night I have the fall aparts. I have an amazing lactation consultant that I am emailing with daily who is helping me make it through this transition.

Thanks for reading this really really long post. Jewels