On Thursday, August 16th, 2012 at 1:22 a.m, I gave birth to our beautiful little girl,
Avalyn Marie Felda.
She weighs 3 lbs, 2 oz. and is 15 1/4 inches long.
She is 12 weeks premature and is currently in the NICU being attended to. The doctors have told us that she is doing wonderfully and is breathing on her own; she just needs the respirator's help so she remembers to breathe.
After our false alarm, labor and delivery was far from my mind! In fact, I was certain that I wouldn't be experiencing any of its symptoms again for at least four more weeks. Boy, was I wrong and boy were we all caught completely off guard!
Throughout the day I had been experiencing some mild cramping in my back that I had related to my bowel movements. Every time I would feel the cramping, I would go to the bathroom and the pain would go away. This happened to me twice and I figured nothing of it; even the nurses thought nothing of it. We all just figured I was flushing out my system from the two days prior. I even let Brian go home and take care of the animals and everything because that was how fantastic I was feeling.
He made it back to the hospital around 5 p.m and together we had some dinner; shortly after that I started to feel the familiar cramping in my back. So, thinking nothing of it, I went into the bathroom and tried having a bowel movement. When nothing happened, I figured it must be related to constipation.
I shook off the feelings and went about our evening of watching reruns on Syfy and waiting for the newest episodes of some of my favorite shows to come on. But then the cramping came back and I asked Brian to try to massage my back and maybe that would help work out the bowel movement I felt that I needed to have. But it wasn't helping at all and the pain began to increase! Brian asked the nurse for some Miralax in hopes of that helping me out and I had a hard enough time finishing that because of the pain that was beginning to escalate in my lower back. I was back and forth from the bathroom and my bed trying to go to the bathroom and nothing was happening. All that was happening was that while I was sitting on the toilet, relief would wash over me. The pain would cease dramatically and then the instant I were to stand up, if would come back.
The nurse gave me some pain medication so as to help me through the aches and pains; when that didn't do a thing for me, she gave me a heating pad to lay on and an Ambien to try to calm me down enough so I could relax and hopefully have my B.M. But the pain kept coming and the only sense of relief I could find was by sitting on the toilet. The pain had become so intense at times that I threw up twice into the trash can.
The nurse thought this was a little odd, but offered me a suppository to try and help me out. After she gave me the suppository I was crippled with the worst back pain I had ever felt in my entire life! So Brian and the nurse hooked me up to the monitors and layed me on the bed on the heating pad; the nurse was beginning to suspect that I was having contractions because of how frequently I was in pain.
She called in another nurse for a second opinion and together they watched the monitors for contractions. But as I was thrown into severe pain, the monitors remained stable! Nothing was showing up! So they had to resort to checking for contractions with their hands and even that wasn't giving them the answer they were looking for. The pain was coming and going and they were even beginning to time when the next ones would come along, but what they were confused about was that I was not feeling anything in my lower abdomen, it was all in my back! The nurses and Brian had to coach me through what they thought were contractions and when I was in between them, they had me get up and try to have a B.M.
Once in the bathroom, I was convinced that the suppository had solved my issues because I was able to go just a little bit. I felt relief, I thought we had solved the problem. Until the pain came rushing back! The nurse was growing concerned with my sitting position on the toilet and wanted me to come back out and lay onto bed. It took a lot of effort, but I managed to do so. That was when she asked me what my level of pain was on a scale of one to ten. When I replied with an 8 during the most painful aspects of it all, she left the room and said she was going to call the doctor.
I lost all my sense of cool at those words. I was so upset that I was going back down to labor and delivery that I began to cry in utter defeat. But all of that quickly slipped my mind when the nurses came in with a stretcher and my "contractions" began to hit me full force. I simply could not fathom what kind of pain this was, but all I knew was that it hurt so badly that I wanted relief and breathing through them was proving to be rather difficult. I cried out in pain the whole trip down to L & D and once I arrived, I was so caught up in what I was feeling that I hardly remember what happened next.
The nurses got me onto the bed in the birthing room, stripped me of my clothes, and put me into a gown. Then they checked my cervix...what the nurse said, shocked the hell out of all of us. When I heard, "All I can feel is the water bag, none of her cervix." I knew that I was going to be having this baby. I was fully dilated and I was in so much pain! I kept begging for pain relief and was starting to calm down when the doctor had said something about an epidural. She asked me if I wanted one and I am surprised that I didn't scream YES. She then measured me and was explaining to me that they could try and get me an epidural, but she was positive that once she broke my water, I would have a baby before the epidural would even begin to kick in. How she convinced me to agree to going naturally was beyond me! She assured me over and over that I had made it through the worst part of labor with hardly any medication at all, so she promised that once that water was broken, I would feel instant relief.
I took her word for it and the next thing I knew, Brian was gowned up and by my side and we were heading into the operating room. I was terrified as to what was going to happen...I had no idea what to expect...no idea what I was supposed to feel...not clue on how I was supposed to push a baby out of myself without ever having a birthing class. Within minutes they had my legs up in stirrups and were prepping me for my delivery.
The rest of the prepping was sort of a blur because I was trying to focus on getting through my contractions, but after the doctor broke my water, I was flooded with a sense of relief. It felt absolutely amazing! She was not lying to me at all! I was beginning to trust her word when all of a sudden the contractions started coming again. The team quickly told me what I needed to do and I did my best to comprehend what they were saying, but all I was focused on was squeezing Brian's hand and him telling me to just breathe.
As it turns out, I was not pushing correctly, so they had to constantly tell me what I needed to do and then as that baby began making her way through the birth canal, my body just took over and did everything it needed to do without my fully being aware. It hurt so much, but pushing felt so wonderful! After what felt like forever, I began to feel her head crowning...I couldn't believe it! I swear I was having an out of body experience as I continued to push that little girl further and further into this world. I could feel her moving partially inside of me and partially outside of me; it was a feeling I could never describe thoroughly to anyone. With a few good final pushes, that little baby literally flew into this world! The doctor had to catch her, that was how much force I put into that final push. I heard everyone scream and then start to laugh and I thought that I had done something wrong, but turns out babies don't generally fly into the doctor's arms like super baby.
When I saw my daughter in that doctor's arms, I didn't know what to think. I still couldn't believe I had just brought that little girl into this world.
In fact, during the after birth and my recovery time, it still hasn't fully sunk in that I am a mother.
The afterbirth process was both uncomfortable, painful, and a relief all at the same time. I had tore in a few spots and had to get stitched up. After the doctor was finished, I was wheeled back into our birthing room where I was greeted by some of the sleepiest, happiest faces in the world! I can't tell you how happy I was to see the Boatmans, waiting patiently for us.
I vaguely remember telling Brian to call Magan after he had called her parents because I wanted her to be there with me! But because I had to deliver in the operating room due to our little one being premature, I had to wait to see her after I delivered.
The two of them kept me company as Brian went over to the NICU to see our little Ava Bug and take photos of her for us to see.
Here she is, our little munchkin! The doctors informed us that she is doing really well for her age.
Me while in recovery.
Proud parents!
After Brian got back and we said our goodbyes to the Boatmans, I was wheeled back upstairs to my room and put to bed to get some sleep. Of course, my adrenaline was still pumping full throttle, so I didn't fall asleep until much later.
I still can't believe that our little Avalyn is here! She is absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to go and see
her!!!
Total weight gain: 15 pounds (since last appointment, haven't been weighed since admitted into the hospital).
Maternity clothes? Maternity tank tops and a few shirts since I am mostly in pj's now a days.
Stretch marks? Yes.
Sleep: I sleep the best between 9am and noon for some reason.
Best moment of this week? Giving birth to my little munchkin.
Miss anything? Being at home, miss being pregnant!!
Movement: N/A
Food cravings? Up until delivery, I was craving Lemon Meringue pie and lemonade.
Anything making you queasy or sick? The occasional cramping makes me a little queasy.
Gender: Girl!
Labor signs: Yes! Experienced back labor and then delivered.
Symptoms: Postpartum symptoms, recovering well.
Belly button in or out? In.
Wedding rings on or off? Everything is off while in the hospital in case anything makes me swell up.
Mood? Very happy, extremely tired, and completely amazed at the beautiful little girl Brian and I brought into this world.
Looking forward to: Seeing Avalyn, my sister flying into town this Saturday, and going home to begin getting things ready for Ava to come home.
I am surprised the RN didn't think it could be labor sooner. I've learn after two kids and watching my friends, prenancy and delivery rarely go how you think they will. Congrats to both of you! She is beautiful. I am glad that you and Avalyn are doing well :)
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