What a whirlwind couple of days... My last post was about how discouraging that last appointment was and yet the membrane stripping really worked it seems (plus the spicy soup i had for dinner and the praying, of course). I went into labor 9 hours later and had Leni the next morning!
So to start, I started to have crampy contractions around 9 PM, but I wasn't sure if it was just from the membrane stripping or if i was actually in labor. They were not yet uncomfortable and were coming around 7-10 minutes apart, so I thought okay, maybe there is a possibility, but didn't get my hopes up. I went to bed at 10 PM and woke up at midnight to go to the bathroom and when I tried to sleep again, I found myself having to breathe through these contractions. I tried to sleep as best as I could in between, but that was rather difficult. Finally, I just sat in the kitchen and fiddled around on the computer a bit. My mom saw me and asked me why i wasn't sleeping and I told her i was having crampy contractions, but i thought they were more from the appointment earlier and not the real deal. She went to bed and I once again tried to get some shut-eye.
At 3 AM or so, I woke Jesse up to tell him I think I'm in labor and he couldn't believe it. I was sleeping in the downstairs living room for the last couple of weeks on the couch because i couldn't lay flat on the bed anymore and so he didn't know i was up and about for hours already. He stayed up with me for a little while, but I told him to go back to bed because he was annoying me more than anything (oh the joys of a woman in labor, LOL)...
Finally, around 6 AM, i am tired and these contractions are getting very, very frequent, about 2-3 minutes apart, but not lasting that long - maybe 45 seconds? and I was having good pain-free breaks in between. We packed up the rest of our bag and I had a quick shower and we headed to the hospital.
Once we got there, the nurse didn't hesitate one moment to check me because the contractions were so close together and the fact that this is my second baby. I told her I'm expecting her to give me bad news, that i'm 3 cm maybe. She checked me and said "well, i have no bad news... you're 7 cm and fully effaced. Let's get you admitted and into the Labor Room".
"What?" - Jesse and Me at the same time...
I was only praying that i was at least 4 cm so they could give me an epidural and never expected her to tell me i was so far along. I hopped into the shower and though i was close to being fully dilated, i asked for an epidural (good foresight on my part, as you will read below).
I was in the shower for maybe 30 minutes when they came back to check me and I was like a good 8 or more. Dr. Walsh, the anesthesiologist, came and did my epidural (which was a lot more discomforting than I remember). Right away as soon as the medication went in, i could tell that it wasn't done very well as my entire left leg went numb pretty quickly, but not my right leg. In fact, there was like an area of the size of my hand around my right lower belly that had complete feeling and so every contraction was a full-fledged painful one in that spot. I didn't mind so much though because it really helped me to feel every contraction and know when it was coming and happening (unlike with Gemma initially)...
It wasn't long after that I was checked and was like 9 cm. The delivery doctor was Dr. Lukwinski, the same doc who did my membrane stripping the day before. She beamed when she came into the room and said she was so happy to hear i had been admitted (and was so proud of her membrane-stripping skills, LOL). She said although i was so close to being fully dilated, the baby was still at high station. She broke my water and so much gushed out and helped to bring Leni's head down a bit. She said once I start to feel pressure to push, she would come back and we could start pushing.
Not long after, I began to feel some pressure and so the nurse, after checking me and finding that I was fully dilated, encouraged me to do some practice pushes. You hear of these second-time moms who pop their kids out in two pushes whatnot and because i didn't have too much trouble with Gemma, I was feeling pretty confident - but still very nervous.
I pushed and pushed and nothing was happening. Dr. Lukwinski came and said while I was pushing correctly, the baby's head wasn't budging at all. She thought maybe Leni was "sunny side up" (facing up instead of down) and that was why I was having troubles moving her down. They monitored things constantly and encouraged me to try different positions, including standing and squatting, to see if gravity could help things along. When nothing was helping, being an OB/GYN, Dr. Lukwinski started throwing all kinds of things at me, a scalp electrode, a vacuum, episiotomy, then C-section. I was not happy with the electrode (it's a little device they clip on to the baby's head to monitor its heart rate), but I felt like I had no choice in the matter really and so consented to it. At one point, Leni's heart rate dropped to 50 or so and I started to show fresh blood, which possibly meant that the placenta was detaching itself prematurely. She said we try the vacuum and I completely lost it. I began crying and, to not help matters at all, she said if the vacuum doesn't work, we have to do a C-section. I couldn't even push any further at this point because i was so busy bawling my eyes out. Her heart rate had dropped, but only ONCE, and that never happened again. I was so upset that she was suggesting something that seemed so drastic after one episode. Again, I felt like she gave me no choice in the matter, so the vacuum went on.
I guess Leni's head was kind of swollen from my useless pushes and she had a hard time getting that vacuum on. THANK GOODNESS i had opted for an epidural because to stop things now and get me an epidural so i could get this giant thing up my hoo-ha would have SUCKED. She said she was only allowed to do three pulls with the vacuum and if that didn't work, well... you know where she was going with that. Two pulls later, she shut the vacuum off and actually I got to push Leni out from her head. Apparently her head was just tilted a bit and so the vacuum just straightened it out. After that, I pushed her out on my own. I guess a lot of vacuum deliveries pull the entire baby out, but with me, i was lucky enough that it just guided the head down in the right direction and i was able to give birth to her myself.
They cut her cord (poor Jesse had no choice in the matter, apparently) and put her right on me. I was crying so hard that I couldn't even look at her. I was overwhelmed with the feeling of guilt of not being able to push her out on my own and having to put her through all this extra trauma when birth itself is so traumatic. I cried and I cried and Jesse was also bawling when I looked over at him. She didn't cry a whole lot right away and I was so scared to look at her. When I finally was able to look at her, I immediately thought "holy cow, she looks like Gemma" and then I almost started to laugh. I said that to Jesse and he agreed and also started to laugh. It was a very odd moment. LOL.
Well, there you go. That's how Leni Ari Konnert came into this world, weighing 7 lb 10 oz (just like her sister) and 21-1/4 inches long. I am feeling well and surprisingly only needed two stitches with a very minor, minor tear. Thank goodness I didn't need an episiotomy and didn't need to go further than the vacuum. I am just happy that she is here and seemingly healthy. She had some swelling of her head initially, but even by this morning, it was mostly gone. She is so beautiful and we couldn't be happier to be home with our precious little girl.
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