Two becomes Three

The longest 3 days of my life. That is how I would describe our experience that brought us the greatest gift we have ever received... Our little Jaycelyn Exie.
Our birth experience was not at all what I had imagined. I wanted a completely natural birth. I did not want an epidural. I didn't even want an IV. I wanted to be able to move around. I wanted to be able to be in the tub. I wanted to be able to be me and be aware of everything that was happening. And after our wonderful birthing class, I felt confident that I could do it.

But about a month before Jaycelyn was born, we went to a check up and my blood pressure was high. The next week it was a little higher. The following week higher and I was put on bed rest. The only problem with this is that we were moving! In fact at the very same time Shane and I were in triage being told I was to stay in bed, Shane's awesome family was moving our furniture (bed included) into our new house. Kind of hard to be in bed when it leaned up against the wall (hahaha). To make matters worse, the following week was teacher planing week and the school STILL had not provided a substitute for my classes (they actually did not even get one until a week AFTER school started... but that is a whole other story). Not a good situation for my blood pressure. So not surprisingly the next week at our check-up we were once again sent to triage because my blood pressure was so high. The doctors decided that it was high enough and it was time to bring this baby into the world. That was 2 days before my due date...

On of two pictures of my in labor... I was not a fan of the camera

So on Wednesday August 18th, 2010 we checked in at the hospital at 8pm. We were finally settling into our room around 9:30 and the nurse came in and started explain how the induction was going to work. I was not exactly happy to have to be hooked up to an IV, but I was very excited that I was about to meet my little girl. The induction was started, and I started feeling contractions. There were not really uncomfortable at that point, but I felt them. But as excited as we were, we decided to get some shut eye and try to be rested for what was ahead.
I was able to sleep some between check from the nurses and the insane commotion that was going on in the next room (LOTS of screaming and nurses yelling in the hallway, "I need a doctor NOW!" We later found out that was our nurse and she had deviled the baby about 30 seconds before the doctor actually arrived.) But we made it through the night and woke the next day ready to meet our little girl. My mom and sisters had driven up from Sebring and both of our families were anxiously waiting in the waiting room.

Things were progressing slowly, but then Jaycelyn's heart beat dropped and they decided to dial back the medications to help keep her stable. But dialing back the medication keep our condition kind of static. At this point a nurse said to me, "They told you inductions can sometimes take a couple of days." Well you know they did not, that might have been useful information. It got late and they decided to let us get some sleep and then start increasing the medication again in the morning. The contractions were a lot more intense now though and I did not get as much sleep as the night before.

So we awoke on my due date (August 20th) ready to bring our baby into the world. How fun was it going to be to say the our daughter was born on her due date! They started the medication up again and things progress slowly again. FINALLY I made it to 3cm and they were able to break my water. And that did the trick... things got on a roll. I was doing well coping with the contractions and we were getting very excited.
Then Nazi nurse started her shift. My contractions were getting a lot worse and I was starting to want to move around more. But Nazi nurse would not let me get out of the bed. She made me stay attached to the fetal monitors and blood pressure cuff at all times. I would finally find a comfortable position and her she would come. "You have to move back, the monitors are not reading". After about 42 hours of contractions every 2-4 minutes I was getting tired. And that damn blood pressure cuff was taking my blood pressure like every 10 minutes (and I am not exaggerating). And then she started pushing me to get an epidural. I told her adamantly that I did not want one. But she kept pushing. The contractions were getting worse and it was getting later and later. I was starting to become really tired and overwhelmed by the whole situation. And I started to cry.

I wasn't crying because of the pain, but because I was so overwhelmed and tired and mad at the stupid nurse. And poor Shane just does not know what to do when I'm crying. And here comes Nazi nurse AGAIN to fix my monitor and tell me there is no need for me to be in pain. So I decided to get some IV pain meds so I could get some sleep and a break from dealing with her. Biggest mistake ever! They were AWFUL. I felt drunk, but 10 thousands times worse. I couldn't keep a thought in my head long enough to say it. I couldn't focus. I did NOT want to be like this when my daughter came into this world. And here comes Nazi nurse AGAIN.

I could not take it anymore and I caved. After 48 hours of labor I was getting an epidural. I have a terrible fear of needles and was deathly afraid of an epidural. But I was so desperate to have a change. And getting the epidural was the absolute worst moments of my entire 64 hour labor (yeah you read that right). The epidural was not as bad as I thought it would be, but after hours of the blood pressure cuff going off every 10 minutes my arm was really sore. And during an epidural they take your blood pressure like every 30 seconds. The pain was unbearable. I cried so hard I was shaking. And you know what that damn Nazi nurse said to me?! "You are being ridiculous. This does not hurt. You are fine. And stop it because he can't give you the epidural if you are shaking like this." (I am in tears as I write this... remembering how awful she was is hard for me). I felt so defeated and so disappointed in myself for doing the one thing I was adamant about not doing. In hindsight, I kick myself for not simply asking for another nurse. The solution was so simple, but I was not thinking clearly. LESSON LEARNED!

The epidural did slow down my labor significantly, but I was able to get some sleep. I woke up the next day and felt much better and ready to take on the day. Nazi nurse came in and changed my bag of Pitocin. As she did she told me, "In over 20 years of being a labor and delivery nurse, I have never changed a bag of Pitocin." That was a record I was thrilled to have! But shortly after I got a new nurse thanks to yet another shift change (I think we had 5 or 6 different nurses and 4 different doctors... in fact our first nurse was getting off for her 3 days break when we checked in and she was able to come see Jaycelyn as she started her shift right before we got moved to recovery!). Our new, very pleasant nurse checked me and said that I was 8 cm (yes that was all after 2.5 days!) and that she thought I would have Jaycelyn around 3:00. About an hour later I called her back in (it was about 10:45). I told her that I was felling a lot of pressure and that I felt like there was something between my legs. She said that everything was probably fine and that she didn't want to check again to help keep contamination down. But just in case she was going to get some more epidural fluid. Less than 10 minutes later, I was telling Shane, "Get her back in here. It is time NOW." It is amazing how your body can tell you exactly what you need to do.

Jaycelyn's First Photo

I pushed for about an hour and after 64 hours we FINALLY meet our little girl. It was the greatest monument of my life. She was beautiful and perfect in every way. She was born Augsut 21th, 2010 at 12:18pm. She was 7lbs and 13oz and 19.6 inches long.

It was when they were stitching up a small tear (boy did that hurt!) that I realized my epidural had started to wear off before I started pushing. I actually remember thinking while pushing, "Geeze this hurts a lot even with an epidural"... no wonder! And the second worse part about having an epidural is coming off it. I was freezing and shaking violently and uncontrollably. It was miserable! I couldn't even hold Jaycelyn. I hated it!

We settled into our recovery room and enjoyed our time with our new little one and our families. One of the funnest things I remember is that Shane and I (who do not have cable at home) watched HGTV the entire time we were in the hospital. The nurses thought it was hilarious that that was all we watched. We had to stay for 3 days in recovery as well because they wanted us to wait of the pediatrician who didn't come in on Sundays. So on Monday (that's right we were in the hospital for 6 days!) we FINALLY got to leave the hospital and bring our little bundle home.

First Family Photo

It is still sad for me to think about how badly our labor went off track. I am a little shocked at how emotional I got writing our story out. But I am so very thankful that I was able to deliver without having a c-section and that Jaycelyn was born happy and healthy. I learned many things from this experience and know what to do differently with my next delivery if we are blessed with another child. And it is quite funny to watch peoples' reactions when I tell them that I was in labor for 64 hours!