Jane's Birth Story

I debated about whether to post this because I am a pretty private person in a lot of ways, but in the end, I decided to because I love reading other women's birth stories and wanted to share my experience.

My due date was September 26th.  About 2 am September 21, I started having contractions about 10 minutes apart.  We started timing them for about 40 minutes and they started getting pretty close together.  7 minutes, then six, then five minutes apart, so we called the Dr. and he told us to check into the hospital.  Then we called our friends the McMurtrey's and Brian came and slept on the guest bed so we didn't have to wake the kids up.  By the time we got to the hospital, the contractions of course started slowing.  They hooked me up to a monitor to keep track of the contractions and the baby's heart rate.  I had some contractions that were only 2 minutes part and then some that were 10 and 15 minutes apart.  It was strange. But they couldn't get the baby to wake up and get her heart rate up-even after having me lay on my side and giving me some juice, so the Dr. said because of that and since I was already so close to my due date, they'd keep me there.  I was dilated to a 3 when they checked me at around 3 in the morning.  They started pitocin to regulate the contractions.

The process was really slow after that.  I put up with contractions until 1 pm because I didn't want the epidural to slow things down even more.  The contractions, though not fun, were very manageable.  After I got the epidural, more time dragged by and I was still only dilated to a 4.  Even after the epidural was supposedly "working" I was feeling contractions, so they put more medicine into me , but it was obviously too much because I started feeling dizzy and light-headed and my chest was going numb.  The nurse came and sat me up to make it move down.  I was still really worried and was keeping myself from going to sleep for fear I wouldn't wake up (I felt like I was in another place).  I was so tired and was having a really hard time keeping myself up.  Eventually, the epidural moved back down, but my legs were still completely dead.  My right leg kept falling off the bed.  I was laughing so hard each time the nurse had to come and put it back.

The nurses were monitoring the baby's heart rate from their station.  Around 3:40, they noticed the baby's heart rate go up really high and then just drop off the monitor all of a sudden.  So my nurse came in and was moving the sensor around my belly trying to find her heart rate and couldn't.  She had a worried look on her face and I started to freak out and kept asking if everything was ok.  Then all of a sudden, probably every nurse on the floor was in the room gathered around my bed and I was really worried because she still couldn't find the heart rate.  Then finally, my nurse lifted the blanket from my legs and saw part of my bag of water coming out.  Rob said it looked like a balloon pushing its way out of me.  Then part of it popped and they told me to start pushing because she was down in position.  I gave it about two pushes and she was out, along with a gush from the rest of the water bag.  The Dr. almost dropped her cause she was so slippery and just shot right out.  The nurses and Dr. had never seen it happen that way before.  They were quite shocked.  Jane Elizabeth Bell was born at 3:54 pm.  6 lbs. 13.6 oz. 19 1/2 " of pure beauty!

When Jane came out, she was really traumatized and blue because she had swallowed a lot of fluid.  She was having a hard time breathing, so they quickly took her away to clear her lungs and give her oxygen.  Then they brought her back to me and laid her skin-to-skin on me under my belly band.

Then the Dr. waited 40 minutes for the placenta to deliver itself but it didn't.  So she reached up to try to pull it, and got a lot out, but thought there was still more up there.  They brought in an ultrasound machine to look.  She still saw a little placenta remaining, so she recommended a D&C so I wouldn't have a repeat of what happened two weeks after birthing Natalie (not fun).  Because the epidural was still working, they didn't need to put me under for the surgery.  It was really special because Jane got to sleep on my chest for the surgery.

The surgery felt really quick and went without complication.  Then they took me to another room where they weighed Jane and took her vitals again and I got to feed her for the first time.

I hadn't eaten since 6 pm the previous night and wasn't able to eat until 9 pm that night after she was born when I was on the recovery floor.  I was STARVING!  When I got to my room at 7 pm, I immediately asked for food, and they told me that the kitchen had just closed.  I seriously wanted to hurt someone.  All I could think about was food.  The nurse did some more checking of me and the baby and talking...and all the while I kept asking about food...and 2 hours later, she made a special request and scrounged up a sandwich (lucky for her), which I snarfed in about 2 seconds flat and was left wanting a lot more.

We are beyond happy to have little Jane in our home.  She is a sweet addition to our little family and I'm already enjoying watching her grow and change and progress.