of the birth story! Please refer to Margot’s story for the non-medicated and possibly more accurate version.
Monday afternoon I went to the hospital having contractions and horrible back labor. Throughout the night I was in exteme pain and the midwife gave me Nubain to take in order to get some sleep. Unfortunately, it didn’t touch the pain and I continued to labor through the night. By morning time I was 4cm and 90% effaced.
The midwife that had been treating me through the night wanted to send me home to labor and I said absolutely NO! So I ended up staying and waiting for another midwife to come on duty.
Lucky for me…I have two favorite midwives and this was one of my favorite midwives. She did a check and I was close to 5cm and she suggested going with an epidural and pitocin to get things moving since I was so exhausted.
Everything went really great and within minutes after the meds I had started contracting more — however, I still felt some pain due to the catheter. I was given the meds at 2:00 - Tuesday afternoon. I dilated quickly and they decided to pop my buldging bag of water. The noticed some meconium - which of course scared me to death.
That made me a little anxious and throughout the delivery I started shaking uncontrollably. Not to mention, I was really out of sorts and in another world. The midwife asked everyone to leave the room for a few minutes and she ended up giving me a shot of something for the anxiety.
By 3:00pm I was transitioning and ready to start pushing. They got the mirror out and I saw every little push move the baby’s head down. It was so amazing to see her black hair in the mirror and once I got into the groove it went really fast and I was so determined.
Emerson Dy (said Dee - Margot’s mom’s maiden name) was born 3:35pm weighing in at 7lbs 3oz and 19 1/2 inches long.
When she was almost out the midwife asked that I stop because she had to get her sterile gloves on. Of course, they couldn’t find her size and so I had to hold the baby in for what seemed like days. After trying on two different pairs she was ready to catch the baby and I was ready to push her out.
Once her head came out — they realized the cord was wrapped around her neck. The midwife cut the cord and I pushed the rest of the baby out after that.
The baby didn’t cry and was a dark blue. She didn’t move and was completely limp. I was so scared and at the same time I kept thinking horrible thoughts. At one point I looked at our friend who was videoing the birth and said “I think she’s dead.”
After a minute of them rubbing her and getting her to breath - she started opening her eyes, moving her arms, and finally we heard her beautiful voice. The first minute she scored a 4 on her apgars. At the five minute point she scored an 8.
She was taken to the NICU and Margot followed. I was left on the table and delivered the placenta. It was the best feeling in the world to birth the placenta and of course I just kept thinking about the baby.
I had a first degree tear and had to have four stitches. Shockingly enough … my vagina feels fine. It’s the hemorroids that are killing me and at this point I can barely sit or lie down.
The baby was in the NICU for two days because her oxygen saturation levels were low and they thought she might have digested her poo. X-rays show that she didn’t. Plus, her blood counts showed that she was fighting an infection and her white blood count was over 40,000. They said that was attributed to the stress caused by the cord around her neck.
We were discharged today and I could not be happier. Our journey has been long and hard — but in the end…AMAZING. I’m so greatful for having two healthy and beautiful daughters and I feel so complete. Despite all that we’ve been through including shots, frustrations, disappointment….I’d do it all over again in a minute.
We’re home loving every minute of it! My milk came in this morning and I can feed a small village. I’ve given up on breast pads at this point and I just let it drip all over. Emerson is a great eater and loves the boob!
In fact, when she’s done nursing she cries if I take her away. She falls asleep with a face gooey with milk and loves to sleep right next to my nipple.
Graem is a great big sister and loves holding little Emmy. She’s been a little needy but we’re trying to give her special attention and also assign her with tasks to help us out.
Thanks again to everyone for caring, loving, and providing friendship through this process. I’m so excited to turn the page and embark on a new journey. We love reading everyone’s comments too! We plan on printing them all out along with our journey so that Emmy and Graem have something to look at when they get older.
Everything has really gone by so fast and it’s been an scary, amazing, and incredible adventure.
We know we really need to savor the moment because it’s going to go so fast.
