Brooklyn Rose.
Born April 28, 2015 at 12:31 am.
5 lbs and 17 inches long.
Discharged from hospital May 1, 2015.
Weight was 4 lbs 10 oz.
Had to have a new car seat provided because peanut was too small for the one we had.
Had EKG done in hospital due to low resting heart rate.
First doctors appointment May 11, 2015.
5 lbs 2 oz and 18 inches long.
Epidural experience.
I truly feel like the epidural helped me relax enough that I was able to deliver my daughter within the hour after I had it. I had been induced 3 weeks early after I started seeing spots. My blood pressure was through the roof. So they put a Foley catheter in. Once that came out it was time for Pitocin. I was contracting for about 20 hours, each getting more painful than the last, I was on magnesium sulfate to keep my blood pressure from causing me to seize. I got to 4 cm and 50% effaced but not further than that in those 20 hours (I got to 4 relatively quickly, then stayed there) I finally decided I was going to get the epidural because I didn't know how much longer I could take the pain and let me tell you, I am glad I did. I was more scared of an epidural than the actual giving birth part but I just knew I had to do something. I was only able to have onE person in the room while they did it and it took about 10 minutes. It wasn't painful, there were a few, what's a good word, uncomfortable moments during it where you could feel what was being done but not like what I expected. My boyfriend was in the room with me for it and it was probably worse for him based on what he was telling me (he was able to see what she was doing, I didn't want him to tell me! lol) Once that was done (someone mentioned catheter, I already had one since they didn't want me getting up and down...blood pressure) I was able to relax. I could still feel the contractions but they were NOTHING compared to before. Within the hour I had progressed to 10cm and they could already see the babies head and I had no clue! They asked me about pressure and I was like hmmm maybe? Lol but I went into this not wanting to get an epidural but knowing that if I felt I needed to, I would do it. I tried to put it off as long as I could but in the end, I'm glad I did. Who knows how much the pain was affecting my blood pressure and once that was taken out of the equation things progressed very nicely.
I ended up pushing a total of 7 times, through 2 contractions and she was here! I remember she was placed on my belly while the cord was cut. Mike didn't want to do it, my mom didn't want to do it so Hillary did it. After that, she was taken away to be cleaned up. I remember more people rushing into the room, Mike being called over and he and my mom standing there together. I was trying to watch what was happening. It seemed a little abnormal. One woman kept rushing back as forth calling out the minutes. I heard them get up to 6. I was told it was taking a long time for her to breathe and that was concerning. Her apgar score was 1. So it was a little rough from the beginning but a week later, she is doing amazing! I ended up staying in the hospital from Sunday April 26 around 6 pm, until Friday May 1 until around noon. The 24 hours after I delivered, I had to stay on the magnesium sulfate and it was awful. Absolutely awful. I couldn't eat real food. I hadn't been able to eat real food for about 24 hours before that also so I was HUNGRY.
This is what I remember of that experience. I hope to write a much of it as I can remember. So that I'll always have it.
