The Long Labor of Vivien

*I know there are only about 3 people who are interested in reading this, but I wanted to have the detailed story for a journal record. This has taken me so long to type up, there were a lot of hours spent in labor & it seemed a lot of events that took place in those hours, but thanks to the great notes my mom took it is pretty accurate.*

Thursday afternoon I got a call from the hospital telling me to call before coming in for my 5:30 am induction... I had been afraid of getting bumped. That afternoon we kept just as busy as we had been that morning... looking back I realize that the 2 nights of little sleep combined with a very busy day was not a great thing, being well rested is good advice before giving birth. Thursday night was another night of very little sleep, my alarm was set for 4:30 but I gave up on trying to sleep & got up at 4:00. I took a nice long shower before calling the hospital, & being told to wait until 7:00, because they didn't have enough nurses until then. Sleep was still not an option, so I finished packing my bag, hopped online for a bit & had some breakfast.

By 7:40 we were in our room & I was all hooked up to my pitocin drip & dilated to 3 cm. Jeff left around 8:00 to go back home, he called around 9:30 asking if I was ready for him to come up with my mom & sister. He dropped the kids off at the home a very kind & generous women from church (she was going to watch them so my mom & sister could be there for Vivien's grand entrance) before heading back to the hospital.

I was checked again at 11:00 and was a tight 4, this was going to be another typical slow labor for me. I knew things would go faster once my water was broken, so we would just have to wait for my Dr. to come by & break it. At this point I was hoping for a visit during the office lunch hour, but we weren't really sure when he would be by. I was feeling my contractions at this point & having a bit of back labor. Around 11:45 I did ask to be put on the list for an epidural. We waited for the nurse to return & give us an idea of when the anesthesiologist would be here...
The nurse didn't come back until 1:00 & informed us that he just went in for a c-section & would be in after that, & it would be about 45 minutes. Being that my contractions were getting even more intense combined with the slight anxiety I get before my epidural I opted to be given a narcotic so I could rest & relax a little. Everyone was hungry & had been debating on leaving to get lunch or sending someone to grab something. I told them to just leave, because I didn't want any yummy smells around when all I got was ice chips. They hesitated a bit & even though I was nervous to not have Jeff back for the placement of my epidural I told them to just go, & I would call my friend Mary to come hold my hand. The nurse came in & gave me a dose of Nubain, & things just didn't matter after that.

Before I could call Mary she sent me a text message saying she was on her way... I assumed that Jeff had called her, but come to find out he hadn't. Mary got there & I tried to really hard to focus on stringing a normal sentence together without looking too out of it (I'm sure I didn't succeed.) Jeff, my mom & Harmony got back from their lunch at Poblano Grill just in time for the anesthesiologist to arrive at 2:27 to place my epidural.

The Dr. only allows one person in the room for the placement (in case something goes wrong he doesn't want a bunch of people in the way.) He also requires that the one person sits down, so I really could have done it alone, since my FABULOUS nurse Leslie was the one to stand next to me & keep me distracted. My mom, Harmony & Mary all went into the hall to wait, that was until some cranky nurse informed them that they couldn't stand there (they were in the way... & it was a safety thing in case something went wrong... lots of precautions for things going wrong!) so they headed to the waiting room. Jeff & the anesthesiologist were chatting it up & once it was placed Jeff was able to go back behind me by the Dr. where he explained the process & then injected the actual medicine into my epidural. At which point my blood pressure took a bit of a crash, & even though I didn't actually pass out I was very confused & heard the Dr. tell the nurse to lie me down quickly. I then couldn't keep my eyes open, but could hear some of what was going on... and I could hear the Dr. & nurse go about busily getting different medicines in me. Jeff & the Dr. continued to chat it up during this time, mostly about iphones... how typical of men... hehe. It was about 3:15 before I was stabilized & Leslie checked me again & stripped my membranes, I was a 5. At about 3:30 everyone was allowed back in the room, & between the blood pressure issue & the epidural I was really shaky... it was kind of strange.
Sometime around 5:00 the nurse & I were thinking that Dr. G might be coming around soon since he had to be finished with clinic. I was a little freaked out, because I was so tired! The thought of him coming in & breaking my water & things finally progressing quickly... I wasn't sure I had the energy in me to do my part. I wasn't even sure that an adrenaline rush would help me. Oh the anxiety & panic! I had been trying to catch naps throughout the day with no luck.

Leslie came back at 6:15 to check me again, & I was still a 5. It seemed as though everyone else was more frustrated by this news than me. The thing that I kept thinking about was how Sister Cotten still had Hannah & Milo. I really had thought I would have delivered her by now, but without my water breaking or having been broke that isn't going to happen. She said that my Dr. would be here soon, & she would be back with the new nurse around 7:00 because it's shift change. I was very sad that she was leaving, we've had a great 12 hours together!
Dr. G came in at 7:10 & broke my water. He said that she would be here in 1-4 hours. We all were thinking closer to the 1 hour. I was hoping things would start moving along. My step-dad called, all my family in Utah is together celebrating Pioneer Day & they are very anxious, & they are going to be lighting fireworks probably around the time Vivi makes her appearance. Listening to everyone being frustrated & anxious makes me hate that everyone knows I am being induced. There is something about the way we did it with Hannah, induction with no one knowing. I was lucky enough to get to eat a couple of grape popcicles. I was thinking that they had given me some energy, but the nurse said that they had given me a bag of sugar water between bags of saline.

At 8:00 the nurse came in & changed the bed around to put me in what she called "the chicken wing" position in hopes to get her to turn into the anterior position, she is turned & facing my right side. So me on my side in this silly position will help encourage her to turn. I stayed in this position for about 30 minutes & the nurse came in & had me switch sides. I was still very shaky & my mom kept asking if I was cold. I had also been very itchy, so my mom & Harmony took turns rubbing & scratching my back.
At 8:55 the nurse came back to check me & see if this helped encourage the baby to move. I was a 6 and 80-90% effaced, & Viv had turned a little bit... she is a stubborn little thing! The nurse asked if my other kids had hair, she thinks this one might be bald... that seems so strange after all the hair Milo had. Once again everyone else seemed so much more frustrated than me. At some point Jeff had asked if they could just go in & yank her out... I wanted to slap him!! I'm the one stuck in this bed, hungry & tired! The nurse asked if I had napped today, & I told her I had tried, but no luck. She suggested I try to get some rest, because often times once the body relaxes it will get those last few centimeters. So everyone left shortly after 9:00 so I could rest.

While they were out waiting & allowing me to rest Jeff had called to check on the kids & let the Cotten's know it was still a long wait. They were going to take the kids back to our house to put them down, but decided they would just keep them at their house. I was feeling so bad for this long day for my kids & the Cotten's. But I was so glad they were where they are, because I knew they were in great hands.

Somewhere between all the rotating & being checked for progress the nurse decided that maybe the baby wasn't bald, but perhaps when my bag of waters was broken the baby's head got down & blocked off the bag. So the nurse realized this & managed to get the rest of the water released so perhaps she could get into position. I was able to rest & fell asleep for a little while, but was still being rotated side to side in the chicken wing. I was starting to feel a little too much pressure from the contractions & even though I had been pushing the epidural button every little bit for the last hour or two, the pressure was slowly turning into pain. I informed the nurse of this, but she didn't seem too concerned.

Around 10:00 the nurse came in & my epidural pump was beeping. She looked at the line & the site... tried to reset it, but it wouldn't reset, so she asked the nurses station what the deal with the pump was & to call the anesthesiologist. Now she was really wondering with me saying that I was in a bit of pain. I told her I was feeling a lot of pressure & so she checked me again & I was dilated to an 8 1/2-9 and I could tell that my upper abdomen felt empty, like she was down in position (finally!) Vivien had in fact turned into position, but as soon as the nurse announced that, Viv scooted to the top of my abdomen! What a little stink!!

We spent the next 30 minutes dealing with the epidural pump, but still no word from the anesthesiologist. She called the nurses station & within minutes her phone rang, it was the anesthesiologist & he was there shortly there after. They turned my bed into yet another strange position & had me sitting upright hoping that gravity would finish the job. During this time I sent a text Jeff informing him of my progress & that the epidural wasn't working. So he, my mom & sister came back up. The anesthesiologist was there trying to make sure that my line was working, which it was, but the pumps have issues & decide to stop working. So they have to be unplugged/turned off & then reset. But now that things were progressing things needed to get going quickly so he just injected my epidural line with a straight shot of something to get it working faster.

*Things went really fast here & no notes were kept because of the busyness of the room*

By about 10:45 the nurse had told Dr. G about my progress & he said he would be in shortly. The nurse had me do a few pushes & sure enough I was at a 10, things were going to happen & soon. Being told that the Dr. was 15 minutes away she had me push a few times & she told me that she had hair & I was ready. As we waited & waited for Dr. G to arrive, he called and said he was pulling off the turnpike & would be there in a couple of minutes (he really did get parked & up there quick!) As I waited I joked that he better come in running & out of breathe. The nurse said if I was feeling a huge desire to push that my Dr. didn't have a problem with the nurse delivering, but I knew I could wait. I was weepy & shaky... weepy partly because of the pain I had been feeling previously, but mostly because of the exhaustion. I wasn't sure any amount of adrenaline would help me.

Dr. G got there sometime between 11:05 - 11:10 & quickly got washed & gloved up. He sat down saw that this wasn't going to take long, & asked Jeff if he was up for delivering the baby. Jeff went over washed up & got gloved, there was not enough time for Jeff to even get gowned. Dr. G kept telling him to hurry. So he took his spot to deliver our sweet Vivien, & it didn't take more than 3 or 4 pushes to get her here. They placed her on my tummy & I was able to hold her there longer than they let me with my other kids. I appreciated this moment!
I didn't feel the same adrenaline pumping through my veins I had with my other 2 kids. I felt completely overwhelmed by exhaustion. By the time they got her all cleaned up, weighed, tested & brought her to me it was all I could do to hold her. My arms were so tired & weak. I was very nauseous & still so shaky. Dr G. had the nurse give me a shot in my thigh of phenergan to help with the nausea & to help me get some much needed rest. (I was not so thrilled about the shot, but luckily my legs were still numb enough. I will note that my thigh hurt for days!!) Before leaving Dr G made mention of the nursery at the hospital & perhaps I would/should take advantage of it... which I did! After a long 16 hours in the hospital my 8 lb 1 oz bundle was here & in my arms! I am always amazed at the immediate love I have for my kids... and it was no different with my little Viv. I look forward to the lifetime of being her mommy & watching her take her place in our little family!

These last few are out of order, but I wanted to add them.