Home Sweet Bi-Level: Kyla's Birth Story and Homecoming

WARNING! LONG =) ONLY MILDLY GRAPHIC

I was finishing my last few days of work and heading to my OB appt on Nov 1, 1 day before my due date. I'd been a basket case the last few weeks trying to finish everything up. I had 15 meals in the freezer, both kids' rooms almost ready, and was in the middle of deep cleaning the house. I was finally feeling more in control, yet excited for a few days off from work for the final touches.

At my appointment, my blood pressure was the highest it has been yet. It spiked over the last two weeks, which is the same thing that happened with Ellie, only I was having higher readings earlier in the pregnancy with Ellie. They weren't able to get it to come down very much, so that combined with a few other issues and my OB had me in the books to come in to the hospital the NEXT DAY at 5 am for an induction. I was extremely disappointed. I was mostly disappointed because I did not want to be induced. I was technically induced for Ellie, but had been in labor about 8 hours prior to my induction time so it didn't take much extra effort from the induction. Plus I had taken much better care of myself during this pregnancy with diet and exercise and I thought it was helping to avoid the complications I had last time. So I got done with the appointment, tearfully called Scott to him the news, got my parents lined up to come at 4:30 AM the next day, picked up Ellie from daycare, and moved on with the day. Scott didn't get home from work until after 7 pm, so by the time we went through the nightly routine, finished a little cleaning, writing Ellie instructions, and getting ready, it was past 11. I was completely on edge and only slept 2 hours. I got up really early and painted my toe nails and flat ironed my hair just to pass the time.

We arrived at the hospital and went to our delivery room. We had an AWESOME nurse named Kirsten who took amazing care of me the whole time. I explained what I didn't like about my last birth and she really made me feel like she was going to do everything possible to make it a better experience. I nervously changed into my gown and answered a bunch of questions while they got everything ready. They hooked me up to the pitocin by 6:00 and I immediately started regular contractions. A little before 7, my OB came in and broke my water. I was really nervous everything would be super painful by this point, but I wasn't feeling much. The water was just a trickle and they said her head was probably acting like a cork and more would come later.

At this point, they kept upping the pitocin every so often. The contractions were coming between 2 and 3 minutes apart. I had to switch laying from side to side and occasionally on my back. It was pretty boring! I didn't keep detailed account of my progress, but I was admitted around 2cm, and went to 3 shortly after my water broke. I was managing the pain and was fine without the epidural at this point. It was somewhere around 11 they told me that if I didn't get the epidural within the hour they'd have to re-run my labs which could add a lot of waiting time if I was suddenly in pain. That was all the encouragement I needed so I said let's do it. I think I was approaching 4 cm.

I was amazed at how quickly after I asked for it, I got it. Last time was well over an hour and this time was 5 minutes. It was placed very quickly and felt a little funny going in but not bad at all.
Shortly after the epidural, my blood pressure dropped and I felt really warm in the chest. I thought I was going to pass out or die. Thankfully neither happened but it was a really weird sensation that lasted about an hour. I felt the best laying on my right side but I still had to rotate a bit. I did notice the epidural didn't make me quite as numb as before and i could still move my legs and hips a bit.

A few hours later, I was extremely bored and felt guilty for feeling this way. I wasn't progressing very much. I was also very worried I would end up with a c-section. My awesome nurse was getting ready to go home. She was hoping I would go during her time, but I was only a 6 and had been stuck there awhile. She was leaving at 3:30 and we only had a half hour left. I met the next nurse who was also very nice. We were joking that I would probably have the baby at 3:45. The first nurse left and just a few minutes later, out of nowhere, I felt pain and pressure. The nurse asked if I wanted to be checked and I said no because I had just been checked. The same sensation came back two more times and the rest of my water broke and I said "ok, check me!" When she did, she got a surprised look in her face and said she had to call the doctor immediately but to yell for her if I got pushy. The baby was on its way! Then I got all weird and started sobbing uncontrollably and shaking. I'm not sure why but I'm sure I scared everyone there. 5 minutes later and the doctor and a few extra nurses were ready. It took 3 pushes and Kyla was born. 3:42. I also want to shout out to my awesome husband who was a GREAT support person the entire time.

The first thing I said was "she looks just like like Ellie!" They put her right on me, but then had to take her away for a few minutes to go under the lamps. The doctor showed us her umbilical cord. It had a "true knot" in it which he said he had only seen a few times. It was loose, which was a very good thing. If it would have tightened up during the pregnancy or delivery, we could have had a completely different outcome. We are very thankful!

I was so happy with how things went. I thought the staff was amazing. I was very scared of the induction and heard many horror stories with how painful they are, but mine was fine and relatively pain free. Sign me up for that again!

The rest of the hospital stay was fine. We got up to the recovery room after 7 pm, so it was a little late to start calling visitors over. Kyla was already being fussy, so I had a rough first night as Scott went home to stay the night with Ellie. Thankfully the nursery took her around 1 am so I got a little bit of sleep. The next day was filled with more visitors, including Ellie who did not seem very impressed with her new sister. Feeding was going much better and she was pretty content by the end of night 2. I had yet another great nurse who made sure I got better sleep that night and Kyla spent quite a bit of time in the nursery, except for a few feeding breaks. Overall I was really annoyed with how often people check on you. For awhile it seemed like every half hour someone different would come in and ask the same questions (have you had gas???) the previous person just asked. Except for the fairly good room service and unlimited cranberry juice, I was ready to go home! Thankfully they let us go nice and early the next day so we really only had one full day to suffer =)

When we got home, Scott and I rushed to see Ellie and showered her with all sorts of love and kisses (and a few gifts from her sister too!) She seemed pretty unsure. Then we went upstairs and Scott picked up Kyla. She said "no, that's my daddy" all quietly. Her lower lip quivered and she started to cry. Not a whiny cry, but a truly sad cry. It was a little heartbreaking. Thankfully she is warming up to her little sister. There are still a few rough patches (especially when it is daddy that is giving Kyla attention) but things are getting better!