Anyway, we stopped in to the pediatrician's office today and Kenna got a clean bill of health and I was able to clear up a couple questions. With such a fast delivery, she has been gagging on mucus that chokes her. Did any of your kids do that? They suctioned her tummy out at the hospital, but it was still occurring and making me nervous about going to sleep and not being awake to rescue her. Anyway, the Nurse Practitioner saw her in action (lucky timing!) and said that it would be okay. Relief to my mind.
So as for the delivery.... I'll give you a quick run-down.
As you know, I'd been slightly dilated for weeks, but was apparently not making any progress which is unusual for me. At the ultrasound they said I had a lot of amniotic fluid, but otherwise Kenna looked fine and healthy. During the NonStress Test, Kenna wasn't cooperating as much as the nurse would like. She scheduled me for a follow up test, but then called the on-call doctor to see if she should check my dilation since I had been having contractions while on the monitors. He said check, she told him how far along I was, and he came up with an induction plan. The idea was to admit me in the evening, give me a low dose of pitocin and some morphine (so I would sleep) and see what my body would do with that. I got the pitocin, but skipped the morphine. I was worried that the pitocin would work too well and there are risks to the baby if it is born with morphine still in it's system. Anyway, I was able to sleep fabulously during the night because the pit was too low and I never felt the contractions. In the morning, I was the same! So they started upping the amount of pit, trying to get regular enough contractions so they could break my water. The doctor said that the contractions had to be strong enough that Kenna would finally drop and avoid the risk of her umbilical cord wrapping around her neck. Anyway, that happened when he came about 11am. I was still not very dilated, but at least we were making progress with the induction. I had TONS of fluid. Afterwards, the doctor said that Kenna was floating so happily, she just wasn't putting enough pressure on my cervix to make labor proceed. So at 1pm the doctor came back, checked me and said I was 6.5cm and he'd be back in an hour. Darn it! I wasn't sure I wanted to wait an hour. After he left the room, Kenna pulled a Logan. I had another contraction and the nurse (whom I really liked at that point) told me it looked like my body was kind of pushing a bit during the contraction. I'm glad she was observant. She went running after the doctor and he came back. He checked my next contraction and said I felt more like 8cm now and he'd go change and be right back. And as with all the rest of my deliveries, he comes in, sits down, and we start pushing the baby out! I was hating life at that point - still on the pit - I kept thinking "I don't want to do this and I really didn't want to have pitocin". I had asked earlier about Fentanyl - which is supposed to take the edge off the pain, but the doctor was all "you don't need that" and that was driving me crazy. Like he's had a baby before! I do know that when the pain gets unbearable, that means it's about time to deliver, which is always such a relief, you know? Anyway, the nurse suddenly got all weird and new-age on me saying things like "you are a conduit for the pain, let the contractions slide through you", and "open your mind to the pain so that you can appreciate this gift you are giving your baby". I really wanted to shout for her to shut-up! Thank goodness I had Josh, who just kept saying what a good job I was doing and how close Kenna was. I think I was the most out of control during the pushing as I had been for any delivery. The nurse, instead of coaching me, was doing her new-age stuff and I had a hard time focusing my energy. I almost pushed myself right off the bed and had to pull myself back up! Kind of funny, but I wasn't as efficient, I don't think, as I have been in the past. Anyway, she was beautiful when she came out - pink and clean and gorgeous and round-headed!
My milk is starting to come in - always a fun experience. So far nursing has been better than expected. I am sore like nothing else on one side, but the other side is bearable so I just have to be patient. Kenna's a pretty good nurser. She doesn't get frantic. In fact, the opposite problem is that she calms down a little when I try to latch her on and just sort of wiggles her tongue around to taste. : -) Because I'm so sore, I get nervous about every latch on and wait for that magic moment when her mouth is super wide open. Good thing she's patient. Hopefully she stays patient when her hunger gets stronger!
No comments:
Post a Comment