Kiley's Birth Story
Posted
Thursday, March 08, 2012 5:20 PM
"I was able to sleep for a little while, but woke up to
chaos."
Before
it all started...
My birthday was on August 4, so two days later, my
husband and I went out for dinner in the city to celebrate. We hadn’t been in a
rush to go on my actual birthday since I wasn’t due for another six days. We
thought there was no way I’d go into labor before then. “You should order
whatever you want,” our waiter joked. “This might be your last meal for a
while!” After we finished dinner, I decided to skip dessert there since I was
craving a cookie-dough Blizzard from Dairy Queen. We went to get one and then
headed home.
At home (with my Blizzard in hand), we decided to take
our puppy for a walk. We’d only been walking for a short time when I felt
something that definitely could be my water breaking. No way, I thought. That’s
not possible. I ignored it and kept walking, but then it happened again.
“You’re
going to have this baby soon!”
I called my doctor, who immediately said I should come to
the hospital to get checked out. “You’re going to have this baby soon,” she
told me. Thankfully, my hospital bag was packed, and I was ready to go!
Although my husband and I were surprised, we’d been waiting and planning for so
long that we couldn’t wait for our little girl to finally arrive.
A
slow start
We got to the hospital at 8:30 p.m. The doctors examined
me and determined that my water had, in fact, broken. However, my cervix wasn’t
soft or dilated at all, so I was given three rounds of Cytotec every six hours
to speed things along. Eighteen hours later, I hadn’t made much progress. My
cervix had softened somewhat, but I was still dilated less than a centimeter.
Finally, I was given Pitocin to quicken my labor. That seemed to help, because
suddenly, my contractions started!
I wanted a natural birth and was determined—no matter how
many times I was asked—to decline the epidural. But after 30 hours of natural
labor and little progress, I decided I needed one. I wanted to be rested enough
to push when the time came.
Welcome,
baby Kiley!
I was able to sleep for a little while, but woke up to
chaos. My baby’s heart rate was all over the place. At that point, I’d been in
labor for a whopping 38 hours, so my doctors wanted to get her out as soon as
possible and decided on an emergency c-section. Before I knew what was
happening, five nurses rushed in, and I was moved to the operating room. I have
to admit, I was pretty scared.
I was completely numb during the c-section and only could
feel heavy pressure and some tugging. Finally, I heard the most amazing sound
in the world: Kiley crying for the first time. She was born on August 8 at
11:52 a.m. and weighed 5 pounds, 15 ounces. She was such a little peanut!
Holding my daughter in my arms was the best feeling I could ever imagine. I
couldn’t stop looking at her in awe; I was so happy to finally meet my baby
girl!
>> Want to share your birth story with The Bump? Email Bump Kathleen at kmulpeter@xogrp.com