Kahlan Rose Warner
January 25, 2015
1:25am
7LBS 11OZ
20.5 IN
On Saturday the 24th I woke up on the couch at 8am, since that’s where I’d been sleeping for the past month or more, and I thought I was starting to leak water. There was this crazy sweet yeast smell that was just different and I felt different right then and there deep down in my gut. I started checking every half hour to see if there was more. And then I decided to stop driving myself crazy and go back to bed. So I woke up again at about 11:30am and I believed I had leaked more water, so I called the doctor and they told me to go to labor and delivery. I woke Brian and off we went. (I want to add here that Brian was so very calm. In fact, he faked freaking out because he said “that that’s what parents are supposed to do”.)
I love that Brian took this picture of us in the car. He said it will either be our “we’re having a baby picture” or a “”first false alarm picture”.
So we arrived at labor and delivery and got situated in a room. They tested for waters and the test was inconclusive, so they said why don’t you wait a bit just in case, and we’ll see what happens. They offered to induce since we were there and and the due date was so close, but we decided to wait and see.
It turns out I had been having contractions, I just didn’t know they were contractions, I just thought I was feeling really uncomfortable. They were coming pretty irregular but pretty much the same strength. So at about 3:30pm we decided to take a walk around the unit, and when we got back to my room about a half hour later, the contractions really increased but they hadn’t gotten more regular. We decided at that time, after much debate back-and-forth, because I just was having such a hard time coming to terms with taking drugs, we took the Pitocin. I was going to be back soon anyways, because things were progressing.
They started the drip at about 6 PM, and after about 3 1/2 hours I had only dilated another centimeter and a half so it this point I was at 4 1/2-5 cm. The doctor had to go do a C-section and a delivery, and I knew I would want the epidural by the time he finished that. And boy was I right. It wasn’t the worst pain I’ve ever felt, but it was definitely uncomfortable. Right before the epidural I reached the point of not being able to talk through them. And Brian rubbed my leg and kept me calm. He was so amazing.
So at about 10:50pm the anesthesiologist came in and I got my epidural. This was the only time Brian really got upset. He did not want to leave the room. The nurse said, “I think he’s more nervous then you are.” I said, “I just think he really doesn’t want to leave.” Brian says he was worried someone would steal the baby, so he eyed everyone going in or out just in case. I still believe he just didn’t want to leave.
So then at about 11:30pm doctor broke my waters and it was a waiting game. At this point the doctor estimated that Kahlan would be born at 3:27 AM. The nurse decided to check me about 45 minutes later to see if there was any progress. Her words were “want to hear something crazy? You’re fully dilated, it’s time to push.”
So push we did. I was prepared for the first-time-mom’s-labor of three hours of pushing, but one hour later she was here. While pushing I noticed her heart rate went way down, but came back up when I took deep breaths between pushes. So I used that as a focus almost to get me through pushes and the time in-between. I was a little worried but they weren’t saying anything so I tried not to be concerned. It turns out the reason was her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. Kinda scary, but the staff has probably seen it a lot.
They placed her on my chest and I cried. It was so hard to imagine she was already here. She was looking a little blue so they took her over to the little incubator and were trying to get her to cry. But she just wouldn’t cry. And really for the first 24 hours the only time she cried was when the nurse gave her her bath. They weren’t concerned and said she was blue because of a slow capillary response. It didnt take much longer for them to get her to pink up they handed her back. It was nice because the whole time they kept saying reassuring me that she would be back on me soon because they knew how important kangaroo care was to us. I just kept telling them to make sure she’s ok first,
We spent the next hour bonding with skin to skin and breast-feeding. It was an amazing first hour together as a family.
After that it was a lot of doctors and nurses coming in and out and check on both of us. We didn’t get to sleep until six. And frankly we really didn’t get to sleep for a few days. By the last night I was ready to hurt the next nurse who came in because I was so exhausted. The first night at home I remember waking up shaking and Brian assured me over and over it was a lack of sleep thing.
So yeah, that’s that Kahlan’s birth story, aka my “it was a lot easier the I thought it was going to be” labor story. It went so easily and quickly, all the staff kept warning me about baby number 2 in the future coming even quicker. Eeek. So I feel I can say I was in active labor (including pushing) for 7 1/2 hours….though I think active starts at 5cm. So that would be 4 1/2 hours. Either way you look at it, it went REALLY quick.
So I hope I didn’t miss anything, I’m sure Brian remembers things more clearly too.
And as for recovery, all I needed was motrin for a few days and I’ve been feeling pretty good. And that’s with a second degree tear. All in all I’m happy with how thing went. And we have a beautiful healthy baby girl that I love so very much.
