My third birth Story
It was a Friday when I hit my 39-week 5 days mark, and it felt like any other day. I wasn’t having an uncomfortable pregnancy, and I was showing absolutely no signs of labor up to this point.
That night the boys went to sleep quickly, and i remember telling Timothy how sleepy i was feeling and went to bed around 10pm.
I woke up around 4:50 am after a weird dream that i had a contraction, went to use the restroom and boom...contraction happened :) I walked to the room and pulled up my contraction counter app on my phone and waited.
After 7 minutes another one came in and i knew it was show time.
I woke Timothy up and told him let's start getting ready and drive up to his mothers house (since she was gonna take care of the kids while i was delivering the baby). I already had everyone's bags packed and ready to go.
We got the kids dressed, Tim was rushing making moves and i... i was taking my sweet time. Tim even asked is this really was happening cause i seemed pretty chill for be contracting lol.
Well, we started our 40 minute ride around 5:30 am, and the bumpy car ride theory let me tell you, it WORKS! cause my contractions got super super close every time.
We ended up calling my in law to come with me to get admitted in the ER while Tim dropped the kids off at his fathers house. He dropped us in the hospital around 6:43am, got admitted at 7:05am.
My Water Breaking
Imagine my surprise when i literally just got admitted in the hospital and sat for my exam and my water decided to just BOOM!!
By 7:00am, my contractions started to become REALLY uncomfortable. I still hesitate to use the word painful, because they weren’t the kind of pain I was expecting, but I was still able to talk or walk through them. Talking to my nurse, she still thought I sounded cheerful enough to be in “early labor,” but I told her that i knew what early labor felt like, and that I was going to need an epidural if that was the case!.
By the time I arrived at the hospital, I needed to moan and vocalize while breathing through the contractions (they were pretty intense!) They gave me a wheel chair when I arrived at the hospital, and during my next contraction, I answered all the questions they needed. They checked me in quickly, made me walk to the bathroom to pee in a cup, and then got me to triage to determine how far along I was. They put a monitor on my stomach to check on the baby’s heartbeat, and did a cervical exam to check my progress.
Cervical Exam
When the doctor checked how far dilated i was, i was already on 7CM and 100% effaced!! But my body wasn't processing how quickly things were happening so the gave me a shot to complete the dilation and prepare me for pushing.
A few minutes later, the baby's heartbeat drooped. She was under stress on how quickly the contractions were coming in and was not getting enough oxygen. So they get a HUGE group of doctors, surgeons and nurses to the Surgery room.
My in law was barely putting my clothes back in my bag while all this was happening and Tim was still drooping the kids off. They checked again around 7:13am and i was fully dilated and ready to push.
They took me to the SR and they told my in law she needed to wait outside.
I remember being SO overwhelmed with emotions, i am about to delivery my baby alone, maybe through c-section. I'm not gonna lie, i was so scared. 7:19am i heard the doctor say “I don’t feel anything,” I got nervous. Could I have really made no progress? She had another doctor check, for a second opinion, and he confirmed that he felt nothing.
As it turns out, “nothing” meant I was completely dilated and effaced; ready to start pushing! but i was gonna need assistance for delivering the baby (Vacuum delivery). The baby was positioned at “zero station” which meant the baby was in the middle of my pelvis– halfway there!
I remember hearing a nurse say that I should be able to meet my baby in about an hour, and I thought to myself, “I don’t want to push for a whole hour!” So, I felt an extra burst of motivation to meet our baby faster, and pushed with all my might.
After about 3-4 pushes, with some nice nurses and surgeons around me motivating me to push, our baby was out with just minutes of pushing.
She came out and my first words were "is she okay?", also sent one of the nurses to inform my in law everything was okay so she wont be worried.
January 19th, 2019.
7:22am - 7 pounds 13 ounces - 20 1/4 inches.
Leah Jasmine was born.
RECOVERY EXPERIENCE
Almost instantly, the entire labor experience felt like no big deal. My baby was here!
I got moved to a recovery room and thats when Timothy got back. The first thing he saw was our baby girl right by the door waiting to meet him.
He was SO excited and overwhelmed on how quick it happened, also sad he missed it.
I was in that room for about 2 hours and then they moved me to another room where i could have visitors.
My mom and others came quickly to meet the newest addition to our clan, oh but how things turned out after this was no fun.
I started bleeding more than what they call "normal" after birth and they had me in observation. The baby was taken back to the nursery while they kept an eye on me. Things didn't got better, i got so much worse. So much worse than it was transfusion talk on the table, however thanks to family and friends praying over us, God worked and i ended up not needing it. But i was so extremely weak.
Blood work showed Anemia and i was immediately started on iron pills. Around 4pm, the baby was able to join us back in the room and our family was able to meet her.
I am SO thankful i am here today, God never leaves those who believe in him alone. I truly felt i was not gonna make it out that hospital and watch my babies grow old. I am living testimony of his love.
I know motherhood can be oh so challenging, but never take any moment for granted. Some women don't get the chance to experience this and i pray for each one every day. <3
Thanks for reading.
Denisse Diaz