A Baby Story

March 12, 2006 on 12:39 pm | In Motherhood | Comments Off

Anna Caroline Averbuj was born Wednesday, March 1, 2006 after a sonogram 2 days prior estimated her weight at 8lbs. 14oz. and a head circumference nearing too big to pass through my pelvis. Our OB recommended induction and that afternoon we knew we’d be parents come sometime on Wednesday. We chose our induction date carefully because Pablo’s birthday is March 2nd. I didn’t want to wait until the 3rd to be induced, simply because I was all too eager to see my pregnancy come to an end.

We arrived at the hospital at 6 a.m. Wednesday morning and by 7 a.m. my OB had broke my water. (Side note to future moms: having your water broken is a very uncomfortable procedure) I was 2cm dialated and 80% effaced. All I had to do was sit back and wait for my contractions to get stronger. It didn’t take long because they had also started me on Pitocin. I did lamaze breating through my contractions until about 10:30 a.m. They really were still quite managable but they said I could have the epidural at my request…so why wait for them to get worse, right? Putting in the epidural needle was the most challenging thing to get over mentally. It is hard to relax as someone puts a needle in your back! Coincedentally this was also the hardest part for Pablo. He, unfortunately, could see everything the docotor was doing while I, fortunately, could not. He remained calm and collected until they finished and then he had to sit down. He was very pale and his voice was shaky, totally not in his character. So now, let me tell you, labor is a piece of cake. I can’t feel a thing. I am munching on some popsicles, taking naps, chatting with friends and family. Numbness is bliss! Then my epidural starts to wear off my left side. I am starting to slowly regain feeling. We let the doctor know and they megadose me with more medicine. Now I am so numb I can’t move my feet or legs anymore. It seemed like a small price to pay for comfort. I don’t mind too much and resume my cheerful disposition. To make a long story short, I was only dialating about 1cm every 3 hours. That makes for a long day! At 7p.m. I was 7cm dialated and the OB was coming back in 2 hours to check on me again. Minutes later my epidural started to wear off on my left side again. I politely requested more medicine and hung in there. What seemed like seconds later, my contractions shot through the roof and I was in more pain that I could have ever imagined even if it was only on my left side. I sobbed and begged the nurse to get the doctor to give me more medicine. It seemed like it took forever for him to arrive and then he wanted to “chat” about what he was doing and how much of a dose he would give me BEFORE he administered the medicine. I was in no mood for talking and couldn’t even focus on what he said. Finally, he redosed me and I settled down as the pain eased up. I began feeling lots of pressure and my OB came back to check on me after hearing of my agony. I had dialated from 7cm to 9 1/2cm in 10 minutes! That’s why my contractions had become so painful so quickly. The OB said he’d be back in 10 more minutes because it was almost time to push. Pablo and I started preparing for the final stage of labor. We asked my mom and our friend Stephanie who had been with me all day to wait in the waiting room. Our OB showed me how to push, how to conserve energy, and how to manage my energy to delivery the baby as quickly as possible. Our daughter was postioned “sunny side up” (that’s what the doc called it) meaning her head and chin were tilted back instead of chin to chest. He explained that most first time moms push for an average of 2 hours but I would likely have to push longer because her head was tilted the wrong way. I was not up for that at all. It had been a long enough day as it was. A very focused and determined me pushed for 1 1/2 hours. Anna Caroline arrived at 9:02 p.m. weighing 8lbs. 5oz. and measuring 20.5 inches in length. Pablo cut her umbilical cord. When she was all cleaned up, Pablo brought her to me. Babies are very alert at birth and if you look at the pictures in my photo gallery you can see how intently she is looking at me. On Friday we were discharged from the hospital and Anna came to live in her new home. Since then life with her has been a joy, she makes us laugh everyday.

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