Aurora's Birth Story

Wednesday, June 25, 2014
*warning* If you are pregnant and about to give birth, I warn you that this story will not make you feel more confident or happy. This labour was terrible from start to finish, but the after part is pretty wonderful.

If I were to describe this Birth Story into one word, I would say horrific. It was nothing short of Hell for me. There were complications that made things scary and made labour and delivery way more painful than the first. So here we go:

On the Wed before she was born, my doctor said I was aloud to strip my membranes (at 37.5 weeks) if I wanted. I of course said YES!! Be done with pregnancy faster!?? Ummm...yes please. It didn't hurt at all. So the next 2 days past and I was bummed that nothing was happening. A lot of the women I know who have had their membranes stripped had their babies the next morning. So I just assumed it did nothing. But the Friday afternoon (5pm) I took Ben to the park. When we were done and I was putting him in the car seat I felt some liquid coming out. I thought I just pee'd myself since it was just a small amount. But since that moment I was having very small gushes every 20min or so. It didn't take me long to realized that my water was 'breaking' but very slowly. I called up Maikal at work, but told him not to worry since I wasn't feeling any pain or contractions. When he got home (around 9pm) I said I have been having small and unfrequent contractions, so I thought it was going to be a while until we had to leave. Now I don't know why I thought this since my doctor said this baby was likely to come faster than the last, which if you remember was FAST!

So I decided to take a bath. I remember with Ben that it felt so nice to sit in the warm water while dealing through contractions. They were still small at this point. Now, here is where the complications begin. While I was lying there, I just took a towel and closed my eyes to relax. About 10 min later I look up and see that I am soaking in a sea of blood with clots the size of my palms! I immediately stood up and screamed for Maikal. He came in and saw all the blood and said 'WE NEED TO LEAVE!' And seriously thank goodness for family that live so close. Teina came within 10-15 min and were off! The contractions started to really intensify. I called me mom on the way to the hospital and told her what happened. She told me that when i told her what happened in the tub, she said she tried to keep a cool and calm voice when really her and my dad were freaking out and praying for the whole time. I personally have never heard of bleeding to be a sign or cause of labour so we had no idea what was happening.

We got to the hospital around 10:45 pm June 20th. As we were walking down the hall I just started bawling. I knew the pain that was about to come and I was so scared. The pain was very close to what I was feeling with Ben at about 8-9 cm when we got to the hospital with him. SO I was expecting the pain to come fast and hard. But nothing could have prepared me for the pain I was REALLY about to feel. So we go into the examination room and checks me and see's that I've been bleeding a lot. She told me I was only 6-7 cm....WHAT!! THAT'S IT! I was so disappointed and shocked really. Since I was bleeding they immediately moved me into the delivery room and called my Doctor. Unfortunately she was in surgery so I had to wait about an hour for her. The it was time for the IV needle. In my opinion, it's one of the most painful things ever. I screamed in pain when she put it in. It felt like venom. I was also going back and forth about whether or not to get the epidural, but about 30 min of this ridiculous pain I said get me the drugs!! The guy took 30 freaking minutes to get to us, and in this time my contractions were intensifying by A LOT! I was in so. much. pain. But thank goodness when the guy finally came in. I was so happy to see him. I have hurt both ends of the story when it comes to an epidural. Some people say they don't feel a thing and others say it felt like a 2x4 going into your spine. I personally didn't know how an epidural worked. I thought they just stuck a needle into your back and that was it. But no. They sterilize the area with this EXTREMELY cold goop, they take the first needle and freeze your back. This was by far the worst part. IT HURT SO BAD!! More than my already unbearable contractions!! Then they put this tube into your spine, where is stays there until labour is over. It was the worst. But I made it through and was so happy that the pain was about to less-in. But, the doctor said it would take another 10 min for it to work. I just sat there and sat there screaming through these terrible contractions they just got worse with every turn and NOTHING was happening. I was down right angry at this point. So then the doctor finally comes in and checks me. She is also shocked to see so much blood. She also says I was then 8cm and it was almost time to push. She also felt some pressured liquid behind the babies head. At this point I am screaming blood murder through my contractions. Why were they getting worse and not better!!!!!!!! No one was giving me answers. I looked down to see my doctor putting this long rod thing into me, and then.....holy heck....I have never, in my life, experienced so much pain. I jumped from 8cm to 10cm probably within 60 seconds she said. The contractions were 30 sec apart. It literally felt like my insides were RIPPING open with every contraction. My eyes were at the back of my head, I couldn't keep my body still, I was screaming at the top of my lungs, I couldn't see, I couldn't hear, I couldn't feel anything but pain, and of course...some swears had to come out...don't judge me. The doctor came over to me and said "Brittany, I really need you to pull it together and focus". I was told this for both labours....I guess Im really outrageous lol. But I kept saying that the epidural isn't working and I can't do this anymore!! I threw up. Then it was time to push. Everything felt different. I couldn't focus on anything so I wasn't able to feel that pressure when it was time to push. I kept saying that I wasn't going to push until this epidural was going to kick in!! But this is 30 min after he told me it should start working soon. At that moment I hated that epidural man with all my heart. He gave me a faulty epidural!!! It wasn't working, morphine wasn't working, I was out of control. I didn't know the body could be in so much pain and not pass out! Seriously. But alas, it was time to push. I remembered how to do everything so I pushed with all my might! I tried to keep in mind that if I just focused hard on my pushing and get it right, that it will be all over. 1 contraction came and went and I was about to die, but the next contraction was it, I pushed so hard. I didn't take a breathe and just pushed and pushed and pushed and BAM, I feel the head pop out. she tells me to stop and I did this time, then  gave one more push and the rest of her came out! The pain of pushing her out was so small compared to my contractions so I was able to push through that. I must say that since i was focusing so hard on just getting her out, that I felt every single thing happen. Her head coming, then the rest. Even though it hurt, the feeling of birthing a baby was pretty cool. I gave birth at 12:15am. about 1.5 hours after we got there.

Then, it was just over. I leaned over to Maikal with a huge grin on my face and said, "Im done! It's all over!" I look over to see my girl in the little heater and saw brown curly hair! YESSS! Exactly what we wanted! So now it was time to pass the placenta, this is where a lot of answers came. She pulled it out and said, "ahhhh, this explains all the bleeding and probably your increase of pain". She showed the nurse and she was like, "woah". She told me to look and showed me that my placenta had ruptured during early labour. The placenta was ripped in half when it came out. It was so gross. But that explained all the blood. I had very shallow tarring so i didn't need any stitches. My doctor left for a few min then as soon as she came back, I just started apologizing over and over for my lack of control. She laughed and said, "honey, you were in labour, you're aloud to be crazy".

She wished us good luck and left for another delivery. It's crazy baby season I guess! The nurse game me my little girl and I was so happy! I always thought people were crazy when they told me that you forget all the hurt and pain of labour as soon as you see your baby, but for me, this time around, it was exactly that. I still remember how horrible it was, but I just didn't care anymore. She is so worth it! I put her straight onto my breast and to my surprise, she latched immediately and stayed there for a good 1.5 hours! It took them over an hour to move us from the delivery room to the regular room. Not sure why, but I was ok with not moving for a while. I just sat there and held my tiny girl and just starred at her. I couldn't believe how pretty she was. She has darker skin with brunette hair, dark eyes, skinny long fingers and toes. Uh I just love her.

So it was finally time to move. I get up, have a quick shower, then she wheeled me into my new room. The hospital was good this time. My roommate was quiet and the food was alright. The service was really good and the nurses and dr's were quick and efficient. We were out of the hospital in 15 hours. So nice.

This recovery has been the total opposite of Ben. I have very little pain. I can move around with no problems. I was out and about the next day going to the park and running errands. I feel amazing. She sleeps all the time. She's up every 3 hours in the night, which is also her 'awake' time. We are working on get her switched. But she sleeps so much during the day that I am able to rest. She is a pro nurser. She has no problem latching and I have more than enough milk. I've actually already had to freeze 3 full bags. Im like a cow this time round. I am so glad my mom was able to come out to see her. I loved having her and can't wait to show the rest of my family my adorable little girl.

I am so grateful that everything post labour has been a piece of cake. Ben loves her and is very gentle. Maikal loves her to death and always steals her away from me to cuddle her. He has been such a big help. Anything I need he will go do it.

We love our little girl and can't wait to see her grow! But in the mean time, we will just enjoy her sleepiness and cuddles for as long as possible :)



Post-Appointment

Sunday, June 8, 2014
So as I was saying in my 'whats in store' post, I had an appointment booked for this past thursday to see if my baby was growing properly and if everything was fine. The days leading up to this appt were taking forever! I just wanted to know if it was nothing or something.

It was one of those awesome appointments where you're exposed to the doctor. So comfy.
Anyways so she measured me and felt the baby and determined that the baby is right on schedule with the due date and she feels good! She must have just been positioned weird last time. This baby really likes to lay from side to side instead of straight up and down. But her head is down and low which is good. AND the Dr said I am 2cm dilated already (when i was at 35 weeks), so the Dr said this baby will most likely come earlier than later, but no promises of course lol. But it got my hopes up that it won't be that much longer!! I know I shouldn't expect another early baby because it will make the days and weeks just that much longer.

I am still feeling TONS of movement. She stretches so much during the day but especially at night. It can get pretty annoying when you're trying to sleep though. But I love it. Sometimes, it feels like she is literally trying to escape! She will stretch so long and hard that it feels like she is trying to push herself right on out!! Its pretty uncomfortable for me, but it doesn't last very long. My favourite is seeing her little foot bulge out the side of my stomach. And when I touch it she immediately springs it back like I was tickling her haha.

Here are my stats:
36 weeks
I never got this photo with Ben because I was a little busy giving birth to him that day
Stretch marks for dayssssss
Belly isnt really growing that much now
My weight is really steady
Very little swelling
A few Braxton Hicks every once and a while
It's pretty hard to get a good nights sleep
I bought her first little outfits yesterday. I love girls clothes!
I have quite the waddle going on
I can't sit for very long since everything goes numb. So church is difficult.



"It is not like the Purple Shirt"

Monday, June 2, 2014
This has been a very popular saying around this house for a few months now.
It is probably the funniest 'insider' we have ever had!
Well....I don't think it's much of an insider anymore
because we've told this story so many times.
And maybe this is a story better left for person to person
But Im going to tell it anyway.
And we keep telling it because it makes us laugh every. single. time.


And the laughter doesn't get less loud or less genuine,
it is still as funny as the moment it happened.


So, instead of us telling the story again and again
(and also for the sake of documenting),
I will happily tell everyone about this short and hilarious little story we have to tell. 
And let me give you a hint, it's about a purple shirt and my pregnancy ;)


So while living in Hawaii a few months ago,
there was a formal event we were invited to
(can't remember what),
but Maikal decided to wear his really nice button up purple dress shirt. 
Now when he got this shirt
...like 6 years ago....
it fit him perfectly.
Currently the fit of this shirt is a bit snug....
maybe more than snug...
Im talking buttons popping kind of snug.
But he can still move around and blah blah.


Anyways, so before leaving, he had to bend over to pick something up. 
I heard groaning and sighs as he bent over and came back up. 
I laughed and went on with what I was doing. 
A few minutes later I (being 7-ish months pregnant) 
bent over to pick something up. 
And of course I groaned and had to take a big breathe after picking that thing up. 
He looks over to me and says, 
"Hey! That's just like when I wear my Purple Shirt!" 
Now this part of the story comes from Maikal because I wasn't looking at myself, 
but,
he said when I turned to him, I looked like an enraged demon beast
I remember feeling so insulted by this comment. 
So I turned to him and said, 
"It is NOT like the Purple Shirt!!" 
He absolutely burst out laughing at my comment. 
And how dare he laugh. This was serious
He was comparing a stupid tight shirt to pregnancy! 
But I soon realized how ridiculous and funny the situation was
and we both just sat there and laughed and laughed.


And now, anytime that he thinks something is relatable to my pregnancy, he will be like, "Ya! Just like my purple shirt!" 
For example, being sick and throwing up, his back hurting, any type of swelling, cravings he has, etc etc. And maybe you had to be there for it to be funny, but I love having our own little saying instead of always quoting something from a movie or song.

Cuz it's not like the purple shirt!
 
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