Miss Myla Bea

I know that all of you have been dying to hear the details of last Monday night/Tuesday morning so here goes, in all it's glory:

Monday night was like any other night, we skyped with Kathy and Roger, watched some TV, relaxed, etc. having no idea what that night would hold. I took a sleeping pill before falling asleep, as usual, but I woke up around 0245 with contractions. Unfortunately, I'd been having contractions for a while so I just ignored them. With every contraction, I'd make some noise, Andy would wake up, tell me to take deep breaths, and be snoring within a minute:) But, as I said, this has been our routine for a while now as I have had contractions for weeks. After about an hour of timing them, I woke Andy up for reals and updated him that they had been very strong for an hour and occurring every 8 minutes. So he woke up a little bit more and helped me breath through about another half hour of them. We then realized that these could be real so we slowly started packing our bags, toiletries, etc. I also started doing some laundry and making lists of things that Avery needed:) I signed onto my e-mail around 0415 to get the phone number for Kaiser and my sister started chatting with me! She was unable to sleep, as was I, so I told her I might be in labor at which point she started to get ready and head out this way (she lives about 45 minutes away). I then called my parents and told them to start getting ready and I called Kaiser to update them and let them know I was on my way. This is when pregnant/contracting Haley came out...the woman I spoke to on the phone at Kaiser instructed me to take Tylenol, hydrate, and take a warm bath. Then to call back when the contractions were closer. I was not a happy camper (as you can imagine) BUT I did what they said. I took Tylenol, drank a lot of water, and took a hot shower and boy was that the most horrific/painful shower of my life! I think it took me an hour just to get in, washed, out, and dressed because the contractions were so horrible. Thankfully my parents got there by then and my Mom helped me finish packing, and we went downstairs. At this point the contractions were every 4-5 minutes and we were getting a little anxious. My sister and Brian got to the house around 0600 (I was on the couch writhing in pain at this point) and we left for the hospital around 0615. My mom, sister, and Andy escorted me. I texted Chas and Kaitlin to let them know they should probably head on over to Walnut Creek.

After checking in they made us go to the triage area, this was the worst part. I was in a gown and an uncomfortable bed listening to the RN admit another patient who was laughing and clearly NOT IN LABOR! She was ignoring me...after about 30 minutes (it's now 0700, change of shift time for nurses, what was I thinking???) of being ignored in triage the nurse saw me have a contraction, panicked, decided she should check where I was at, checked and determined I was 9cm, panicked some more, called labor and delivery saying we were rushing over right then and there and pleaded with me to not push the baby out. She kept saying, "please tell me if you feel pushy". I laughed and told her I could walk but she made me ride on the gurney to L&D the whole way saying "don't push don't push don't push!".

Insert pause here...this is when it hit me. You see I've always been afraid of being "that girl" who goes into L&D thinking she's in labor only to find out she's 1cm dilated and days away from giving birth. But I had to pat myself on the back...I had labored to 9cm at home, how crazy! I was hoping she'd check me and say "yep you're 3cm" or something like that but wow, 9cm! I was pretty proud of myself AND happy they wouldn't be sending me home. However, while they were afraid I was going to push, I was afraid I wasn't going to get pain medicine, back to the story...

We got quickly wheeled into our delivery room where multiple nurses ware panicking getting the room set up; sterile packaging is being ripped open, things are being thrown, the poor nurse Christy who would be journeying with us through this process had just started her shift ten minutes prior to my arrival, I hate it when the beginning of my shift is crazy! One nurse started putting in my IV at which point they were desperately trying to read my chart (because they still hadn't admitted me:) and I informed them I was GBS positive (for those that don't know it's no big deal, just a little something about 20% of the population has and you have to receive IV antibiotics prior to giving birth to protect the baby from getting the infection). That sent them into another frenzy because they were panicked that I wouldn't get the antibiotics on time; I found this humorous. Call me crazy but their hecticness helped lighten the mood for me which in turn lessened the contractions. Throughout the craziness everyone kept telling me, "don't push, tell me if you need to push". To this I laughed, because of the dramatic birthing process I went through with Avery there was no way I was having a baby without an epidural...NO WAY! Everyone kept telling me there was no time and that the anesthesiologists were tied up in emergencies and wouldn't make it there on time. To this I responded, "Then I'm keeping my legs crossed, I will not have this baby without meds". For those in the medical field I was "that patient", the one we all hate to have. The one was was insistent upon something that at the time did not seem possible. But, I waited...I waited until I was able to be seen by an MD that could place the epidural. AND I was so determined to get it that I was able to sit still through multiple contractions and not move while they put it in. While I felt bad for being an annoying patient, it was all worth it when I went numb:) Also in this time my Dad and Bryan (Erica's husband) arrived with Avery, the whole family was there and for the time being, I was pain free!

About an hour and 30minutes after receiving the epidural my nurse thought we should check me again to see where I was at. I was 10cm and ready to go except that my water hadn't broken...

Insert pause #2 for those in the medical field again:) I was also wanting to wait because being GBS positive, if you only get one dose of antibiotics before the baby is born you have to stay in the hospital for 48 hours after the birth, if you get 2 doses in, you only have to stay 24 hours. I was determined to get 2 doses, my first dose was at 0715 which meant my next dose was due at 1115 BUT could be given 30 minutes early being at 1045 (and yes, once again I was that patient and reminded them they could give it to me 30 minutes early:) I'm such a bargainer, back to the story...

The midwife came in and decided it was probably time to break my water and have the baby (I didn't realize these two things went hand in hand!). Thankfully my parents and Avery had just returned from breakfast at the hickory pitt next door BUT my sister and bryan and just left...after a quick text to them to come back and them sprinting back, my midwife broke my water. Because I had shared my fears about child birth related to birthing Avery my midwife was awesome in that she really wanted to protect me from any tearing happening. After breaking my water, she told me to give a good practice push, then she quickly recanted and said, "okay, we're having this baby, stop pushing!" A NICU (neonatal intensive care) RN was called into the room because Myla had passed her first meconium in utero (can make the delivery higher risk if she aspirated the meconium while still in the womb) as well as my nurse, the midwife, an emergency prepared nurse, my mom, sister, brother, kaitlin, and Andy. Yes, it was a party, yes, that is how I like it. Less than 4 minutes of pushing later (with the midwife guiding me through, half a push here, a baby push there, etc.) and Miss Myla Bea was born. She came out with her hand squished to her face. Despite the fact that she looked so blue to me, she was perfect, agars 9 and 9! Everybody did their thing and the birthing process was over! She was born at 1049, weighed in at 7lbs. 10oz, 20 1/4 in. long.

While I didn't tear at all (WOW that is one amazing midwife) I did lose 2 liters of blood from 2 small lacerations that I had. Once again the midwife and nurse were a little panicked trying to get the bleeding to stop but they did and we thought I was in the clear. After about an hour or so they sat me up to feed Myla for the first time and oddly enough, I started feeling nauseated, got tunnel vision, ringing in my ears, etc. and tried to pass out. Once again, PANIC! Before I knew it I'm laying flat in the bed, oxygen is going, my midwife was rushing back into the room and my nurse was rubbing me saying, "are you still with us". I think I was, I was maybe out for a second or two but then came to. Scary, I don't like that feeling. They think it was just from losing all the blood so I just had to stay flat. AND I got a long lecture from my midwife on how I needed to rest for 2 weeks, staying in bed, etc. Anyone that knows me knows that that is not possible for me but it was a good lecture none-the-less:)

A few hours after the fainting moment we were able to bring Aves in to meet her sister, that was the most precious moment I have ever experienced. Avery held her, kissed her, rubbed noses with her, and constantly said, "I love you sister" and "I'm so happy" Wow, melt my heart! Everyone slowly left and around 3, after another fainting episode, I was wheeled to post pardem. The rest is a blur, we slept, we ate, we stayed awake to Myla crying, we changed a lot of diapers, we stayed awake to Myla crying, we had a lot of labs drawn, we stayed awake to Myla crying, and I took a lot of pain meds:) After one night in the hospital, I was ready to go home and thankfully, due to the fact that our Doctor was Meg's college roommate (Meg being Andy's sister) who andy knows well, we were able to go home Wednesday. My labs kept dropping, by the time I left my hemoglobin was 7.5, but they gave me some iron and sent us home (thank goodness!) Despite the fact that I was quite pale/dizzy/tired I was feeling just fine!:)

This past week at home has been a whirlwind, Andy is back at work, I'm exhausted but hanging in there, and Avery is crazy. Andy's Mom and Rog are visiting and taking Avery out every day which is such a blessing! Poor Myla already has 2nd child syndrome, we haven't even gotten out the real camera since we got home from the hospital! But we're using our phones to take pictures and so far they're turning out:) I'm attaching the link to all the pictures from the hospital...

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.671930045327.2132613.68602760&type=1&l=776f86da34

Sorry this turned into a novel, I know some of you care about the details and some don't, so hopefully those who like details are feeling satisfied:) More to come...