What an exciting, busy, crazy and rewarding two weeks. I am finally able to catch up on all things Miss Lauren Elizabeth. Here is her birth story...I warn you...I am holding nothing back and there is no such thing as TMI because this is the play by play of what happened and I am documenting this for our records...not (necessarily) for your reading pleasure.
Wednesday morning, August 4th, 2010, my alarm clock went off at 4am. I felt surprisingly well-rested and excited to go to the hospital and finally meet my baby girl. I got in the shower and then did my hair and makeup. Yes, I was that lady that showed up at the hospital in full hair and makeup. I spent two hours primping and loving every last minute of a cry-free primp session. At 5am, I woke Justin up and he got in the shower. He finished up all the last minute items on our list and we finished our tasks right on time. We, well, Justin, loaded our suitcases up in the car and away we went. I drove us to the hospital, but made a pit-stop at Starbucks. I had a breakfast sandwich and a decaf coffee Frappacino. Justin had a carmel Frappacino and a Cheese Danish. I got a Cheese Danish too (for later).
On Our Way to the Hospital. The password is Lauren.
We arrived to the hospital and headed up to the second floor to check in at Labor and Delivery. They put me in a room right away and had me change in to my hospital gown. I had Justin take one last picture of my pregnant belly. Man, was I HUGE!
Soon after that my nurse came in. Her name was Jennifer and she was AWESOME!!! She started asking questions and another nurse came in and told us that our room needed to be air-balanced and I needed to move to a different room. I was excited about this for two reasons. The current room had a window with a view of a fence and second, it was right at the opening of L&D and across from the nurses station. The new room had a view of the front of the hospital and lots of sun light coming in the windows.
Jennifer started my IV and the Pitocin to start the contractions for my induction. This was at 8am. Soon after that Dr. Beaumont stopped by my room to say hello and to let me know that he was going to be at the hospital all day and would be stopping by to check in from time to time to see how things were progressing. I was also told that the only thing that I could "eat" was ice chips. Boo!
I tried to get comfortable in my bed, but the fetal heart monitor and contraction monitors were strapped to my belly and were very sensitive to me moving around, so I pretty much just sat there. At 9am, Jennifer told me I should get some rest...so I layed down and she helped get me comfortable.
9:15am L&D Update 1. The password is Lauren.
Resting did not go too well. My parents were on their way and I was just too excited. The contractions were coming, but they did not hurt at all. I called my mom and dad and asked them to pick up some Godiva Chocolates on the way for Nurse Jennifer. I was her only patient that day and she was just so good to me.
At noon, Jennifer checked to see if I had dilated at all...I made it to 2cm (out of a necessary ten) so Dr. Beaumont determined that it was time to break my water. Let me tell you what, not only was it the most painful experience of the entire birth process, it was also the most disgusting, horrifying thing ever. To break your water, the doctor uses a long crochet hook-like item. Well, on the first try, Dr. Beaumont missed and had to do it a second time. When my water broke, I was shaking from the pain and the extreme gush of warm water freaked me out soooo bad. Justin, Jennifer and Dr. Beaumont were all laughing at me because as Justin put it "Cristin had the look of horror on her face." After I "came back to reality" I said that it was the most disgusting thing I had ever experienced. Dr. Beaumont said that if that was the most disgusting thing ever, then I had a good life. Haha...love him.
My parents arrived soon after they broke my water and they also upped my Pitocin to get things moving faster. My dad was so funny. He walked in and immediately snapped a few pictures of me. We visited for a short while and then my mom and Justin headed down stairs to the cafeteria. I was STARVING at this point...and was begging for them to sneak me pieces of that Cheese Danish from that morning. I got a whopping three small bites. My dad stayed in the room with me while they went to eat. Fluid continued to leak out and I had a major gush while mom and Justin were down eating. My poor dad. I was freaking out because I hated the feeling and needed to change the towels that I was sitting on. It is really a two-person job to change the towels, but he hopped up and hid behind the curtain while I changed the towels. It was quite a scene.
They visited until around 3ish when Kendall and Oscar arrived. Kendall and Oscar switched places with mom and dad and visited for a short while. The contractions were getting a lot stronger. Oscar went out to the waiting "patio" outside and my mom came back in. Here is a picture sequence of what contractions without an epidural looked like. My mom said it was too funny to not document.
Justin is looking at the monitor and saying "another one is commmmming....NOW"
"I don't think I like this"
"Yeah, definitely don't like this..."
"If you say one more stupid thing while I am in pain...I just might kill you."
I gave everyone except Justin the boot and by about 4:45pm the pain was pretty intense. I was able to manage the back and stomach pain, but the pain in my hips was quite unbearable. At 5pm Dr. Beaumont came in and checked me again. I had progressed to a whopping "two, maybe three centimeters" and said that it was looking like a C-Section may be in my future. At that point I said okay...lets do an epidural. If I am going to get a needle in the spine one way or another, I might as well not be in any pain, right? By 5pm, Dr. Pettit came in and was prepping my epidural. He was not the actual L&D anesthesiologist. He was from another floor, but the L&D anesthesiologist was in another C-Section, and Dr. Pettit was available, so he came up. Jennifer was so excited because she said he was the best anesthesiologist at the hospital. That he was.
From start to finish it took maybe 5 minutes to get the epidural in and I barely felt it. He gave me five shots of lanicane or lidocaine in the back first to numb the area. It felt like I got stung by a bee each time, just a little sting...and they were all in a row like a caterpillar. He had me curled over and sitting on the side of the bed. Justin held my hand and I was able to hold super still. Dr. Pettit said that I was one of the best epidural patients he ever had because I was able to curl my back really well and I was able to hold super still, even through the contractions. He started the medicine...and life was so good.
6:15pm L&D Update 2. The password is Lauren.
I rested and enjoyed my life for the next hour while I waited for Dr. Beaumont to do another C-Section and then come back in and check me. Kendall, Oscar, my mom and dad waited out on the "patio".
Mom took pictures...
Oscar worked on plans...
My Dad smoked a lot...out in front of the hospital and met lots of nice people.
He also visited and waited on the patio with mom, Oscar and Kendall.
Kendall kept everyone up to date on the latest happenings via phone, email and Facebook.
...and posed for a self portrait too...
At 6:30pm Dr. Beaumont came in and checked me again...nothing had changed, so it was time for a C-Section. Since the nurses shift change was at 7pm, Dr. Beaumont waited to do the C-Section until after the shift change. Jennifer said that all of the nurses at the hospital love Dr. Beaumont because he is thoughtful like that. Nurse Jennifer requested her favorite Nurse Stephanie to be my new nurse and also the nurse that went in to surgery with me. That nurse also happened to be her Best Friend. I really liked her too, but did not really have the opportunity to get to know her because everything went so fast. She came on, Jennifer stuck around for a bit while we prepped for surgery and Stephanie got briefed on my info and then we were off to surgery, but not before Justin put on this lovely surgery suit.
Written on August 20 & 21, 2010
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