Hannah's Birth Story

Hannah is 3 weeks old today and I decided it is finally time to post the birth story before I forget all those fun details. The picture above was taken this afternoon.

At my last OB checkup (3 days before my due date) we decided to schedule an induction. I was getting horribly uncomfortable and she was not making any progress. Dr. Hirsch said he would call the hospital and see what times they had available and they would let me know that afternoon. When I was talking to the front desk and checking out, the lady told me that because of my insurance I could only deliver at French Hospital. For many reasons I had been planning on delivering at Sierra Vista, the biggest reason being that they are the only hospital in the area with a NICU. We never toured French, knew nothing about it, so needless to say, I was stressed. And to top it off, they said that French was full and couldn't take anyone anyway. I was in tears. After talking to the insurance company and understanding why I had to go to French, I was ok with it.

I got the call that afternoon that they would induce me on Tuesday, September 11 (my due date) at 8pm. They said to get there at 6:30 to pre-register and then the induction will start at 8. So we got Zach all fed and got Grampa Buck organized to care for Zach for the next couple days and we headed to the hospital. When we got there they said that I was all registered (I guess by the doctor's office) and I could just head to the Birthing Center. The nurse was a bit surprised to see us so early but got us in a room. We were pretty happy that we got stuck at French, it was a really nice facility!

The nurse said that she was going to call my doctor and get his orders, but she wanted to check me first to let him know where I was at. She checked me and I was at 3cm. After calling him he said to wait until 4am to start pitocin to see how I progress on my own. We were a little irked about that. We could have been home with Zach instead of sleeping in the hospital. (my OB is very into scheduling things so that nothing gets in the way of his sleep schedule). At that point they started my IV. That was terrible. The first try she couldn't get in far enough, she said she hit a valve, so she pulled it out. The next try she couldn't get it in right either. She then tried the right side and was able to get one in the top of my hand. Chris and I went to sleep. About 4 they came in and checked me and there was no change. They started pitocin. We slept a little more. Woke up about 6 or so and my mom was there. They were gradually increasing pitocin every half hour.

About 9 or 10am I looked at my hand with the IV and it was huge. Grossly huge. It looked like a rubber glove that someone blew up. So when the nurse came in I pointed it out to her and she looked a little freaked. They pulled the IV out and it bled pretty good so of course she pressed on it for a bit. When she pulled the gauze off, my hand looked like a volcano from where she was pressing it, that is how huge it was. We think that the needle from the IV poked through the vein and the pitocin and antibiotic was going straight into my hand. Fun! So we start the process of finding a vein in the other hand that we can re-start the IV in. Once she got that going, we had to start the pitocin back and square 1. And they said not to move my right hand a whole lot and keep it elevated and to be careful with my left hand so I didn't have a problem with the new IV. That made it pretty hard to try and move around in bed, that is for sure.

At about 11 or so, the nurse came in and said that my doctor wanted me to get the epidural to see if that would speed things up and make her drop into place. I had started having contractions, but they weren't too terrible, so I told them I wanted to wait and let things go naturally a little longer. About 1pm I decided to finally give in and get the epidural. I wasn't in excruciating pain yet, but the stronger they were getting, the more I was remembering Zach's birth (no drugs). So I get the wonderful epidural and couldn't have been happier. About 2pm the doctor came in and broke my water and said "ok, we are going to have this baby at 5... we all thought he was full of it (later to find out, he was right). At about 4:30pm, I could feel contractions a little more, so I gave myself that extra boost of drugs that they set up for you. It didn't help right away and I could feel that she had dropped into place so the nurse checked me and sure enough I was 10cm and ready to go. While I could feel my legs, they felt like I had 100lb weights tied to them, so my mom and Chris got into position and both grabbed one. The doctor got there and asked the nurse for the olive oil which I thought was weird. He wiped it on my who-ha and I completely accredit that as to why I did not have any tearing at all! After about 4-5 pushes, she was out at 5:12pm. It was such a wonderful birth experience.

About an hour after she was born, grandpa and Zach got there and he wasn't too sure about the whole thing. Chris, Buck and Zach went and got food (I hadn't eaten since 6pm the night before) We stayed there for 2 nights and came home Friday. Her big brother was so happy to have her home. She is such an amazing little girl and I am so in love with her!