Cooper’s Birth Story

This post shall also be known as Andrea’s Guide to Labor & Delivery: What Childbirth Classes Don’t Prepare You For & Your Girlfriends Don’t Tell You Because They Want You To Have Kids, Too.

The last few weeks of my pregnancy flew by. If you remember, when I was 36 weeks pregnant I went in for a routine appointment and was diagnosed with preeclampsia. My doctor told me she was inducing me, but after being monitored for 24 hours at the hospital ultimately decided to put me on bed rest and see how long I could cook. I went back to the doctor one week later and was sent back to L&D… and back home. They finally decided Cooper needed to come sooner or later, and my induction date was set for January 14th.

I got to the hospital at 6:45 a.m. and checked in. I was 2 centimeters dilated and 80% effaced prior to induction, which ultimately speeded the process along. Because I was Group B Strep +, I had to have antibiotic (penicillin) ran through my IV. They started that and the pitocin at 8:30, and I was hooked to external monitors and a blood pressure cuff that took my BP every 10 minutes. All was good until 10:30, when the doctor stated it was time to break my water.

*I’ll be providing commentary for the moms-to-be and not yet moms throughout this post, so please feel free to leave your experiences in the comments for others to read.*

My water breaking was…. strange. It was a lot of water! While she was all up in my lady parts, the doctor attached an internal fetal monitor to Cooper’s head, which did a much better job of monitoring his heart rate.

I had heard numerous stories that pitocin contractions are much worse than contractions experienced when you go into labor own your own. I’m not sure if that is true since I have no other birth to compare it to. All I know is that once they broke my water, my contractions immediately came on full force. They were 2 minutes apart and were extremely painful. My doctor told me she didn’t want me to wait for my epidural since my BP was spiking up to 190/120 during contractions, so I got my epidural at 12:30 that afternoon.

Speaking on contraction, don’t do what I did. I took the classes and I know I was supposed to practice my breathing techniques. That went right out the window when I started feeling the pain. The minute a contraction hit, I would tense up my whole body and hold my breath. Epic fail, Andrea, epic fail. Fortunately the epidural made it all better.

The epidural was not painful, but it was the only point during the whole labor that I cried. It was just scary and intense to me. They had me sit up and bend over the side of the bed, resting my weight on my husband. I couldn’t see what was being done, and the anesthesiologist did not tell me what was being done as he did it. They do numb you up so you do not feel the very long needle being injected into your spine.

The initial epidural did not take. It did numb my legs but I could still feel my contractions. They called the anesthesiologist back in and he adjusted the dose, so by 2:00 I wasn’t feeling anything from the waist down. And by anything I mean ANYTHING – my legs felt like tree stumps. I would tell myself to lift my legs and nada. It’s a super strange feeling, let me tell you.

Around 2:00 my arm started to tingle, and within five minutes had escalated to intense pain – worse than any contraction I experienced. My mom thought I was having a heart attack and called for the nurse. Apparently that is a very common reaction to the antibiotic they give you for Group B Strep. When you get to the bottom of the bag, you get this pain. It lasted for about 10 minutes until the medicine had emptied through my IV.

At 3:00 my doctor came back to check on me, and my mom asked how we would know when things had progressed. The doctor said “oh, she’ll be able to tell us because she will start to feel pressure.” Negative – I didn’t feel anything at all. She agreed to check me to appease my mother and I was 10 centimeters dilated at that point.

I had a weird reaction to the epidural. I felt very distant and detached from everything that was happening. Jason said that when the doctor told me it was time to start pushing, I looked really unconcerned with it all. That’s how I felt… just really out of touch with the whole process.

Let me again emphasize that I felt nothing. Nada. It’s really hard to push when you can’t feel anything at all. Jason and my mom each took a leg and pushed my legs back to my chest (which, FYI, hasn’t happened since elementary school). The doctor told me to push down like I was having a bowel movement. She would watch the monitors, and when my contractions would start she would count to 10. I was supposed to take a huge breath, hold it, and push until she reached 10. Now… that works in theory, but 10 seconds is a long time for a girl who has asthma. I was ready to pass out by the 4th round of pushes.

7 pushes later and Cooper was out. Jason and my mom watched; I did not (even though they had a mirror I could have used). They immediately wrapped the baby up and gave him to me, and he laid on my chest for about 30 minutes while they cleaned the room and dealt with me. I don’t remember the placenta being delivered. Jason said the doctor just pulled it out and according to him it looks like bloody white plastic bags. Lovely.

Again, I felt very detached from it all. I didn’t cry and I remember thinking “Nice. I have a baby.” I think my main thought at that point was that I was hungry and when was the dinner tray coming? Again, very strange feeling, but no one else I have talked to has had that reaction to an epidural.

I did tear, in three places, one of which was a second degree tear. I didn’t feel a thing. I had planned to dial down the epidural before I started pushing so I would feel contractions. I had down some research that shows you are less likely to tear if you are able to feel your contractions, so that was the plan. However, things just happened too quickly, so I don’t know if it would have worked or not.

Because I had such severe preeclampsia, I had to have a 24 hour magnesium drip, so I was tied to the bed with an IV and a catheter until 4:00 p.m. the next day. The nurse warned me I would feel very nauseous and woozy from the magnesium. I didn’t have any sort of reaction to it at all.

I didn’t really start to hurt until the next day. By the time I was able to get up and take a shower, I was really able to feel the aches and pains of labor. I was extremely swollen – I realize now that of course I would be swollen, but I wasn’t prepared for how bad it would be. I was terrified of using the restroom but (#1) was not as bad as I thought it would be.

Here’s where I keep it real. Scroll down if you want to skip the possible TMI parts of my post.

However, using the restroom is a giant ordeal. You will be given a peri bottle, which looks like a giant squeeze bottle, to use after you urinate. When you use the restroom, you rinse your lady parts with water and gently pat dry with toilet paper. You should be given sanitary pads and my hospital had mesh underwear that looked a little bit like fishnet stockings. I was given Dermoplast spray, which numbs and cools the area, and hemorrhoid pads and foam (luckily, that was one thing I didn’t need). The best thing ever? The hospital had these combination ice packs/sanitary pads that I stockpiled.

I was dreading having a bowel movement. The doctor prescribed me stool softeners, which I took three times a day. Girls, I know it sounds gross, but TAKE THEM! You don’t want to have to exert extra effort in that area, if you know what I mean. I kept taking them once I got home, and I didn’t actually have a BM until three days later. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but it was not pleasant either. You can try some of the Dermoplast numbing spray prior to the BM and that might help a little.

I had a really unrealistic idea (prior to giving birth) of how I’d bounce back quickly after childbirth. I don’t really know how it feels down there if you don’t tear (I imagine it hurts just the same) but I was in major pain for about three weeks. I took my pain pills daily for two weeks. I couldn’t sit up for longer than 20 minutes at a time. It probably didn’t help matters that Cooper had so many issues post birth and we had to take him to doctor appointments daily for the first two weeks or so. I wasn’t able to take it easy like the doctor prescribed, and I paid for it later. Sitz baths help, but I did not do them as often as I should because sitting still that long wasn’t possible. (A sitz bath is a bath you place inside your toilet. You fill it with warm water and sit in it – it supposedly speeds healing. It just made me feel like I had to use the bathroom.)

I bled for about 3.5 weeks, heavily for the first two weeks and lightly for the remainder. I have not had my period yet, and I’m not breastfeeding, so I’m not sure when that will come. I haven’t experienced any major hormonal breakdowns – well, I’ve experienced breakdowns but I think those were justified given all the drama with Cooper.

I’m still having issues with the preeclampsia. I’m having migraines, and my blood pressure is still high, so I’m on medication for that. It is true that most of your pregnancy ailments disappear after you give birth, but my heartburn is still hanging around.

My body has bounced back pretty well, which I actually credit with being plus size. I mean, I’ve been blowing up and down for years now, weight wise, so my body is used to it. :) I gained about 8 pounds total during the pregnancy (I lost 20 during my many months of morning sickness). I lost 35 pounds by the end of week one… not sure how that works, but I’m sure not complaining! I’ve been living clothes with elastic weights so I am really curious to see what size I’ll wear once I try on my pre-pregnancy clothes. My skin and hair look terrible. My face is breaking out and my hair is falling out. Lovely.

Well, I think that’s about it. If you have specific questions, let me know. If you want to share your experiences, please do! I’ll feature them in a later post. I’d love to hear from some natural labor and c-section mommas so I can present that point of view.

If you are a mom-to-be and would like a copy of my hospital packing list, send me your email address. I went through the made notes of what I used and didn’t and what I wished I had packed.

Happy Monday!