Birth Story: The Hospital Stay

Alexis roomed in with us the entire stay at the hospital.  We didn't want this little one out of our sight :)

Monday Night: Eric and I were just on cloud nine the entire evening.  We had the olympics on because I wanted to watch the men's gymnastics team finals.  haha I didn't pay attention to the tv one bit.  All I cared about was our little family.  Eric's parents met their granddaughter.  They were in awe.
 
We did not get much sleep this night as she was just cluster feeding, and I think both Eric and I were too excited.  Every time she made a peep we were both wide awake.  The nurses also come in every 4 hours to take vitals during the first 24 hrs following delivery.  It seemed right about the time all 3 of us would fall asleep the nurse was coming in.  I didn't mind it all that much.

Tuesday: Today wasn't too eventful.  We were just loving on our little one as much as possible.

Amber & Annie both came up to the hospital to visit in the afternoon.  It was fun to introduce them to our baby girl, Alexis.

A lactation consultant came in to assist with breast feeding and gave me some really great tips.  After this I felt like she was really getting the hang of things.  She went to the nursery to get weighed, and we decided to go with.  We had our first little family outing.

 

She weighed 6lbs 5oz.  Because feeding was going so much better, sleep that night was a lot better as well.  She then had to go back to the nursery at 2:00am for her hearing test, blood tests, and oxygen test.  She was gone for about an hour.  It was so hard falling asleep without her being in the room.  I worried about her the entire time.  She passed all of her tests!

Wednesday:  Going home today!  Yay.  This will be it's own post.

 

Index

Birth Story: Recovery

5:30 pm: Alexis Jean Adcock had her first bath.  Eric was able to be right there with her and help assist with the first bath.  She got placed back in the warmer to get her body temperature back up after the bath.

 

6:30 pm: We got moved to our room, 3508.


Index

Birth Story: At the Hospital

8:30 am: We got to the hospital and went to triage.  I was contracting every 3 minutes.  I was at 3 cm 100% effaced, -2 station.  The doctor decided it was time to admit me.

9:30 am: We got moved to our room labor and delivery room, 3604.  I was contracting every 2-3 minutes at this point.  I did not like laying down during the contractions, so I just stood up and walked around the room.

10:30 am: They hooked up my first bag of antibiotics for being GBS+.  My doctor came in to check me.  I was so glad my doctor was going to be the one to deliver this little one.  Eric and I both really liked her and trusted her with our care.  5 cm YAY!!!

11:00 am: I decided it was time to get an epidural.  Man that thing was awesome.  I was actually able to move my legs pretty good after getting the epidural, but I could not feel a single contraction.  It really helped me to relax and just enjoy this entire process.  Eric says after this point the day got boring as he didn't have anything to do haha.  We had the Olympics on and I tried to close my eyes to take a nap.  I was just too excited to sleep.

Feeling pretty good now.

1:00 pm: I was now 6 cm, and my bag was nice and tight "ready to pop" according to my nurse

1:45 pm: My doctor came in to check me.  I was at 7cm, and baby was at +1 station.  She broke my water.   There was meconium present which just means the baby had her first bowel movement while still in my tummy.  It doesn't mean the baby is under stress or anything is wrong.  They do however take precautions and the NICU team had to be present during the delivery and Eric would not be able to cut the umbilical cord.  They don't want baby to cry and aspirate the fluid which would cause the meconium to go into the baby's lungs.  This can cause a lot of complications including pneumonia.  We were ok with this and didn't stress over the fact that the baby had already had a bowel movement.

Our last family photo of just the two of us.

2:30 pm: I started feeling lots of pressure but not pain.

2:45 pm:  9.5 cm and baby was at +2 station.

3:25 pm: The pressure was just getting so bad.  At this point I was complete and ready to push but we had to wait for the doctor.

3:45 pm: My doctor got there and said ok lets see how well you push.

4:04 pm: Baby Adcock is here!  I heard someone say, she.  I asked so is it a girl?  The doctor was like oh yes it's a girl.  With the umbilical cord and meconium they were just wanting to make sure baby was ok.  Eric and I just looked at each other with these huge grins and tears in our eyes.  Our daughter was now here.

 

Because of everything that happened, I did not get to do skin to skin right away.  They took her right over to the warmer and suctioned her out nice and good, so she wouldn't have any meconium go into her lungs.  Her APGAR scores were a 7 and 8 which is good.  They had to hold a little oxygen mask by her face for 3 1/2 minutes, but other than that she was doing great!

Daddy finally getting to touch our baby girl.

4:30 pm: Baby was now skin to skin and got to nurse for the first time.

 

Now a family of 3.

 Index

Birth Story: Today's the Day!

2:00 am: I woke up to a contraction that was uncomfortable but not painful.  I thought lets time this.  Well I went 30 minutes until I had another one.  I thought nope not labor and started to think well so all of those contractions yesterday were for nothing.  I was somewhat bummed, but thought ok lets go to sleep no big deal.  I've been having this false labor for a few weeks now.  What difference is today from last week.

3:30 am: Woke up to a contraction.  Again uncomfortable but no pain.

6:00 am: I was woken up by a strong contraction.  I got up from the couch which was a task in itself.  Man that was painful.  I decided to take a warm bath and see what happens.  Contracting every 5 minutes even while in the tub.  Still not convinced this was the real deal.

We decided to get ready for the day like we were going to work and see how I was doing at 7:30 when Eric would normally leave.  While getting ready the contractions were getting stronger and were now about 4 & 1/2 minutes apart.

8:00 am: I called the doctor's office and left a message for the on call nurse midwife.  While waiting for her to call us back we decided it's time to go to the hospital.  Contractions were 4 minutes apart.  Eric pulled the car up and loaded our things.  The nurse midwife called back and told me to head to the hospital.  This is when I finally accepted the fact that I was in labor and we would be holding our little one at some point today.


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Birth Story: Leading up to Labor

Because I've been having contractions 5 minutes apart for 5 hours at a time that never progress for 4 weeks, I'm not exactly sure when true labor began for me.  I will start with Friday July 27th.

Friday July 27th:  Around 6 pm I started having my "normal" contractions every 5-8 minutes.

Saturday July 28th: Still having my "normal" contractions every 5 mins but no progress as far as intensity.

Sunday July 29th: Yet again I was still having contractions all morning.
4:26 pm:  I had my first contraction that was difficult to walk through and uncomfortable.  I didn't get my hopes up with everything that had happened this far.  These were about 20 minutes apart but still not getting my hopes up.

10:20 pm: We walked Yeah-Yeah around the parking lot.  I had a few contractions that I had to walk a little slower during but I still wasn't convinced this was the real deal.  They were about 8 minutes apart but not really getting stronger.

11:00 pm: Contractions were about 6 minutes apart but it seemed that the intensity had died down.  I thought lets go to bed and see what happens.

I went to bed but I just could not get comfortable, so I decided to go out on the couch.  I had slept on the couch a few different times through out the pregnancy.  For some reason, I could get more comfortable on the couch.  I think it was because I could lie on my back yet lean against the back cushions of the couch.  I'm not going to lie my mind was somewhat racing wondering if this was it or not.


Index

Birth Story

I want to remember the birth of our daughter for years to come, so I have chosen to document the story.

Alexis Jean Adcock

July 30, 2012 4:04 pm

6 lbs 15 oz, 19 inches

Part I:  Leading up to Labor

Part II:  Today's the Day!

Part III:  At the Hospital

Part IV:  Recovery

Part V:  Hospital Stay