Yes, labor does indeed hurt!

I guess I should probably continue recapping my labor experience. I have been pretty busy with Adrianna lately and fixing up my house. It's funny how putting up a little bit of decorations and pictures makes a house feel like a home :) OK here goes:

So like I said, by 12pm on Thursday my support system was by my side awaiting the arrival of Adrianna. Joe's parents were with us, it was nice that they dropped everything to come help us out for a couple of weeks. So at 12pm I was checked and was told that I was already 2 CM dilated, this is before given any meds, so my body must have been aware that baby had to begin her entrance into the world....who knows why I was dilated....anyway I was about 30% effaced (the thinning out of the cervix) so they gave me this medication called Cytotec which helps thin out the cervix. The nurse Patricia, I will NEVER forget her name, explained that if I were to be given Pitocen without having a thinned out cervix I would be having contractions for no reason because the baby would not be able to come down. By 4pm I was checked again and I was now 40% effaced, they began the dreaded medicine that is Pitocin. Pitocin is a synthetic form of oxytocin which is the naturally occurs in a woman's body when labor begins. It also hurts more to have labor started for you with medicine other than your body doing it naturally, so I've heard, all I know it hurt like hell! An IV is attached with Pitocin dripping at the rate of 5mm.....it can go up to a maximum of 20mm before they start thinking about C-section if I do not progress. A couple of hours go by, we eat dinner...me a special diabetic diet =/ at least I don't have to take insulin any more, and I am checked again. Each time I am checked for dilation and progress it feels like someone is stabbing my vagina and all they are doing is using their fingers to press around in there, graphic I know but you need to know the truth. I am now 4CM dilated and 50% effaced. At this point it is 6pm and I'm thinking "wow this may happen tonight!" Ummm, no I was wrong.

It is about 9pm when Joe's parents leave so now we are both alone. I am not having any contractions and Pitocin is pumped up to 15mm. The labor and Delivery beds are hard as a rock! The most uncomfortable I have ever layed on. They have to be like that in case the doctors and nurses have to use force or I have to go into surgery. I have to sleep on this all night, god help me. My back has been killing me at this point because I have to sit in bed all day with monitors strapped on to me checking the movements and heartbeat of the baby and my contractions which are non-existent. I cant even roll onto my side because if I move they lose the baby's heartbeat and alarms go off so they have to reposition the monitors etc....such a hassle. So I get no sleep at all. Around 2AM the OB on call comes to check me and I am still 4CM but now 80% effaced.....FML this baby is never coming out is what I am thinking. Around 7am I get a new nurse and she pretty much tells me that at the rate I am going I am not giving birth for a couple of days....seriously was that necessary to say to me! ugh....At this point I was just tired and cranky with what felt like menstrual cramps and Adrianna seemed to not want to make her grand entrance.
12:30pm Joe's parents return with lunch, I can't eat because while I am on Pitocin I can have nothing but liquids, so I sip my diet ginger ale with thoughts of burgers in my head.....I really wanted a burger and I will never forget that intense craving. My original nurse came back and said, "wow the Pitocin is going to be pumped up to 20mm and you do not look like you re in labor." I was watching A Baby Story on TLC for some inspiration, and the nurse said, "that is what you should look like right now" the lady was in screaming pain on TV, I was laughing and talking in no pain....this is going to take forever. The nurse asked if I wanted an epidural since Anesthesia was on the L&D floor at the time for a C-section. I said no because I truly was not in any pain at all. The nurse said the next step would be to break my water and see what happens after. She said that would happen around 4:30pm. I thought "OK how bad can that be" omg I now know just how bad it can be.
5:30pm and my OB Dr. Cole comes in and says "OK time to break your water." She does what she needs to so and immediately after I have the most extremely painful contraction that I have ever felt! It feels like I am being stabbed! I can't breathe, they give me oxygen and tell me to take deep breaths....I can't even talk at that point. Every contraction lasted 2 minutes and they came every minute and a half, after 3 of those I scream for an epidural....the anesthesiologist thinks this is the perfect time to begin asking me questions about my medical history, I yell at him, he seems annoyed, I say "does it look like I can answer that right now!" He leaves haha. He comes back and tells me I have to sit on the edge of the bed, I can hardly move at that point and sitting is putting pressure right where all the extreme pain is coming from. I have nothing to brace myself on and the pain is coming quickly and frequently and it is burning like crazy! Right before my water was broken I was 5 Cm dilated....I got the epidural, the nurse said I can now relax and take a nap and I think "I cant wait for relief!" It is still hurting though so the nurse says it takes about 15 minutes for the epidural to work. It has been about 3 minutes and I tell the nurse that I feel pressure like I have to poop and her facial expression was priceless....she said "omg I need to page the Dr." I am checked and within 5 minutes I went from 5 to 10 CM and I am still not numb so I feel everything! No time to relax, I had to start pushing immediately after getting the epidural. 4 pushes, burning pain, and Adrianna was born. The pain is immediately gone and I am now hysterically crying because I can hear her crying! That right there made all the pain and grief of pregnancy and delivery worth it....it is so true! I hear when the nurses weigh her, 1925 grams  4 lbs 4oz 17 inches.....my heart drops, I can't believe she really weighs 4 lbs I am in shock. Joe and his mom say she is perfect and beautiful, I haven't seen her yet so I am still scared at her weight. When the nurses are done and they wrap her up I finally get to hold her for the first time. And at that moment I fell in love with the most beautiful, perfect, tiny little peanut I have ever seen....she looked just like her daddy <3

She went to the Special Care Nursery, never nursed but she did drink my breast milk through a bottle, smiled for the first time on July 13th, pooped for the first time on July 11th, was rushed to Boston's Children's Hospital for a possible digestive system injury which ended up being a milk allergy which they deemed Allergic Colitis paired with milk allergy and she was sent back to Winchester Hospital 4 days later. She was sent home with us on July 21st and has been thriving ever since. We bottle feed her a special formula called Neocate which is very hypoallergenic and she no longer has any issues. She is funny, smiles all the time, is growing, and is the joy of our lives!
That is my pregnancy recap and I am hoping not to have to recap another pregnancy for quite some time. Now I can start blogging about our everyday lives with Adrianna...I will leave you with some pictures:

At Boston Children's Hospital (One week old)

Apple picking (2 1/2 months old)

First family picture! (1 month old)

Back at Winchester Hospital (about 9 days old)

2 months old and wearing 0-3 month sized clothes!

Joe and his little princess at Honey Pot Hill Orchards (2 1/2 months old)

Most recent family picture! (2 1/2 months old)

Tummy Time! (2 1/2 months old)

Recap of my pregnancy

This is my first blog. Thanks to a friend that suggested I start a blog about motherhood, here I am. I am not writing this because I am so self centered I believe people really want to read every little detail about my life but I really think this is a great way to express myself and get my emotions out. Plus I think it would be nice to have a place where my family and friends can easily keep up with Adrianna and all the new things she will be doing and experiencing in the coming months. I guess I can start from the beginning, from when Adrianna was first born and the events that led up to that day, July 9th, a day that I will never forget.

Ok, so my entire pregnancy was pretty normal. I was tired, hungry, tired and hungry....in that order. My changing body was making it harder for me to move around, even getting up off the couch was difficult. I joked around with Joe, my husband, that we did more and had more vacations while I was pregnant than when I wasn't. Big belly and all we went skiing in Vermont, park hopping in Disney World, sight seeing in Washington DC, helped nurse my mom back to health after a frightening but necessary surgery, explored Maine, went to ball games in Baltimore and Boston (best seats we have ever had, practically front row!)  and enjoyed every minute of our time before the baby. Here are some pictures:

Tigger and I (5 months pegnant)

My mom recovering from surgery (4 weeks pregnant)

DC with the Dolce's (7 months pregnant)

6 months pregnant...go yankees!

Those are just some pictures of the many memories we made during my pregnancy. We were just both so excited to be adding a little baby to our family that we couldn't resist spending time with our family. I was tired and swollen but I had a blast.

While we were in DC, my pregnancy had actually started to become a little difficult. The week before our trip to DC I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I took the glucose tolerance test and failed :( I had to repeat the test at the hospital and had to fast for 12 hours. I went into the hospital that day not having eaten anything since 7pm the night before. I had to have blood drawn then drink a gross sugar liquid and wait an hour. The process had to be repeated every hour for three hours....I failed miserably. Turns out the reason why I was always so exhausted was because my blood sugar was all over the place. I had to see an edocrinologist, nutritionist, and diabetes specialist just to be told three different times that I now had to limit my carb intake and check my blood sugar three times a day....yes with a finger prick. No more icecream for me =/ I did survive, however, and lost about 7 lbs. Of course just when I thought this was getting easy and I was handling my diabetes my endocrinologist decides I need insulin. Now I have to prick my finger 6 times a day and take insulin 5 times a day. Once again, things get a little more complicated...

I go to my regular OB appointment on a thursday the week before Adrianna was born and she says I now have to be seen weekly. I think "wow I am nearing the end of this pregnancy." I was excited because I had to have something called a BPP (Biophysical profile) where I would be strapped onto a monitor and the heartbeat and movement of the baby would be checked. Paired with that is an ultrasound, which I love because I get a special glimpse of my little girl. Wednesday July 7th I go in for my BPP. During my ultrasound everything seems normal. My little girl is bouncing around like crazy in there. The technician says the baby looks great but she is measuring a little small. I think nothing of that, it just didn't seem like a big deal to me. My doctor comes in and does my regular exam where she measures my belly and naunchalantly says that she is concerned about my baby measuring small and needs a second opinion. She says "I have no issues delivering you early." I was 35 weeks pregnant at the time,I had issues because I wasn't ready....I still don't think this is a big deal. I was sent to the hospital on Thursday July 8th for a level II u/s which just means it is done by maternal fetal medicine (a perinatologist). After the u/s the perinatologist says she thinks it would be a good idea to be delievered early because the baby was measuring at 30 weeks when she is suppose to be 35 weeks gestational. The perinatologist explains that my fluid level is low, and the blood flow from my placenta to the baby was also irregular which suggests that my placenta is failing to provide nutrition to the baby. They didn't know how long this had been happening which brougt them to make the decision to induce me THAT DAY! I wasn't ready! My dogs were left out of their cages because I was suppose to be home in a couple of hours. I thought to myself, "I'll go to the appointment, get my pedicure, get some food then sleep on the couch until Joe gets home then we can get my hospital bag ready." Thats right, I hadn't even packed a bag yet! Good thing I had bought everything I needed the week before. The doctor says, "Take this to labor and delivery and your OB will settle you in." Thank god my OB was on call that day and the next! So I am freaking out at this point and with good reason because if you notice I haven't mentioned anything about Joe, he was away on business and wasn't due to return until later that afternoon. I texted him right before he got on the plane with the words, "being induced come to hospital" he was a wreck the whole 3 hour flight back to MA haha! Luckily Joe has a great boss who told his wife to meet me at the hospital in order to ease my mind and keep me company throughout this whole thing. 

So I am laying on the hospital bed shaking from fear of what is to come and upset because it wasn't suppose to be like this. My parents were out of the country on vacation so I knew they were going to miss the birth. I needed my mom. Thankfully Joe's mom is wonderful and she dropped everything to come be with me throughout labor and in the delivery room with me. I just kept thinking the doctors were wrong and Adrianna was going to be born big and healthy. She had to be, my belly was huge! One day I was hanging out at home and the next I was in labor and delivery....it just didnt seem real. How could my body fail me like this? How could I fail to give my baby proper nutrition? Did I not eat enough? The doctors estimated the baby weighed 4 lbs 3 oz which put her at the 5th percentile of weight compared to other 35 week gestational babies. I didn't want to believe my baby would be born at 4 lbs. This was all on Thursday July 8th, I was admited at 10am and by 12pm I was surrounded by my support, Joe, his parents and his boss's wife. The events that took place later that afternoon and the next day deserve a blog all their own.....

I'll end it here for now. Adrianna is awake and crying, sometimes I still can't believe I am responsible for taking care of this amazingly gorgeous beautiful gift from god <3