Natalia's story

Off and on the morning of June 13th I was up with some cramping, but nothing horrendous.  And definitely nothing to make me think I was in labor.  I had a "gush of liquid" at 7 am, and then had to decide if this was it, and if I needed to call the doc.  After showering and putting on a pad, I called the doctor at 8:30, and they told me to be there ASAP.  I arrived by 8:45 and was brought back and checked.  I was still dilated 1 cm.  They took a sample to see if I was indeed leaking my fluid.  The PH test showed it was my amniotic fluid.  The growth test said it was negative.  They then did an ultrasound to check the level.  It had been at an 8 on Tuesday, and was now at a 4.  I was sent to the hospital.  9:30 is when I left the office, and arrived home
15 minutes later.  We were on the road by 10. We arrived by 10:45 and got checked in.  11:15 I was hooked up to the IV since I was Group B positive.  They checked to see if I had made progress and I was still at a 1. Sometime between that first check and my next one I started getting a bad case of the shakes.  I was so nervous and anxious of the unknown.  Around 2, I was checked again and was dilated to 6 cm.  I was having some really bad contractions by then so I went ahead and got the Epi.  They also started me on Pitocin as that point. Shortly before 4:00 I was checked, and I was up to 9 cm already.  I was feeling pretty good, and not shaking as bad.  6:00 I got checked again and was up to 10 cm.  Unfortunately there was still a thin layer around her head, so they told me I needed to labor baby down.  I upped the dose of the epi, and they gave me some more pain meds to help with the labor.  As a result of the drugs that I was given, I got a bad case of having to scratch my chest.  7:45 was go time and the contractions were coming hard and fast.  After 35 minutes of intense pushing, Natalia Grace was born. She was 9 pounds 0 ounces, and 21 inches long.  I got skin to skin right away, and Matt cut the umbilical cord.  I delivered the placenta a few minutes later.  Natalia had been crowning the entire time I was pushing, but she could not get out.  I don't know if it was the size of my cervix, or her size.  But they kept dousing me with liquid and trying to pull her out.  Because of this I suffered a 4th degree tear.  The doctor was down there for a long time stitching me up.  I also lost a lot of blood and was really out of it for the rest of the night.  I am happy she is here, but the morning after I felt like I had missed so much.  Matt and the nurse were the ones checking on her and feeding/changing her.  All they had me do was sleep, and they changed my ice packs.  Especially because I kept drifting in and out. Completely random- I passed out on the toilet and they had to wake me up with ammonia.  I remember that one moment because I kept telling them all I wanted to do was sleep.  All in all, I'm glad I was able to have a vaginal birth.  The doctor said I would not be able to have one with our next one, because of this labor.