Born Tuesday, October 26, 2012 at 4:46 p.m. Weighed 7.1 Pounds and is 19 1/2 inches long. She is beautiful and perfect in every single way! We couldn't be happier to have this sweet angle in our family!
Linaya Jean Peacock
Now for the birth story for those interested
(But mostly for my own journal purposes)
Since she was due on the 30, and I tend to go to my due date, I scheduled an induction for 1 week early so that I could be home and enjoy Halloween with my family (mostly for Tianna and Adelia's sake) Still, I had high hopes of going into labor on my own. After having my membranes stripped in the doc's office on the 17th I had mild contractions for days. I was doing everything I could think of to kick off real labor, including rigorous walks, but I only could muster contractions that would be regularish for a few hours and then stop. Unfortunately aside from the contractions, I was feeling REALLY really good.
Saturday night they were getting stronger and more frequent-- we went out to dinner in Provo at the Bombay House and seriously considered stopping at the hospital in Payson to get checked because they were getting stronger and were radiating from my back (which is a good indication of them becoming real contractions.) In the end we decided to just go straight home and get the kids in bed and see what happens. And nothing did. They stopped right around 9 pm.
Sunday came and I woke up feeling exhausted. My back was really achey and I did not feel well. Again, I thought maybe labor was beginning. That night we went on a bumpy car ride and contractions started up again. They were about every 7 minutes for an hour but then they were 10, then 15, then 20 minutes. I gave up and went to bed.
Monday morning I made an appointment to get my membranes stripped again, get checked to see if any progress happened during the weekend, and see if I could still get labor going before my induction on Tuesday.
Nope, I was still at 2 centimeters like I had been for 2 weeks. I was SO annoyed that all those contractions had done nothing. I consigned to the fact that labor wasn't going to come on it's own. It was good though-- it made it so I could spend the rest of Monday making final preparations and my mom was able to come up to stay Monday night and be there for when we needed to leave for the hospital early in the morning.
There is something calming about knowing exactly when it's going to happen instead of the "Is it time? Was that a contraction? How long did it last? How close are they now?" guessing game we had been playing or days.
Heading out at 7:30 am
I got checked in around 8:15 am and by 9:30 they started the pitocin. It started out on a low dose and they gradually increased it... before long the nurse came in to turn it back down because my contractions were coming too close. Pain was still pretty manageable by this time but they asked if I wanted my epidural before my water was broken.
I really wanted to see if I could do it without an epidural this time. I wasn't opposed to getting one, but I really wanted to try because both of the other times I just got one when it became painful at all.
My doctor came to break my water at 12:00. I was still only at a 3 but her head was down from a -1 station to a plus 2. (5 is when baby is out)
It didn't take long before the contractions got harder and harder. I tried to just concentrate and breath through each one--and squeeze my dear Hubby's hand.
Around 1:30 pm I was in a lot of pain but still tried to hold out. During each contraction I would decide it was time for the epidural but as soon as it would subside I would change my mind. I was told the girl in the room next door was about to get her epidural and I could have mine after if I wanted one. First, I wanted to see how much I had progressed. Figuring I was at least a 6 by now, I couldn't believe I was still only at a 4! Maybe I couldn't do it after all.....
Another hour went by and I could hardly stand the pain by now. The Pitocin was not very high anymore but my contractions were one on top of the other. I finally gave Luke the go-ahead to tell them I was ready for the epidural.
I was only at 5 centimeters now.
By the time the anesthesiologist came in at 3:00 pm, I WAS SO DONE. They laid my bed down flat and had me lay on my side. I just started bawling through each contraction-- actually it seemed more like just 1 big contraction by this point.
I've never been laying down for an epidural before. I always forget how much it hurts getting the epidural in. Soon he told me, "okay you will feel a little electrical jolt feeling." I felt the shock and immediately I felt a warm wave from my rib cage run down to my toes. In a matter of minutes he was done and I just felt all warm and tingly. He wanted me to roll over. I could not move a muscle.
I said, "Wow, I've never been this numb before." He said, "When I came in I could see you were just done. So I gave you a really strong dose." It will get lighter as time goes on.
It felt so good to have some relief from those agonizing contractions... but now I just felt weird. The numbness almost made it hard to breathe and I was feeling quite nauseated. The nurse said my blood pressure was getting really low and that is why I was feeling so sick. She gave me some Fentenyl which helped raise my blood pressure.
Also she said I was probably progressing very quickly now and that was a big reason for it. She checked me-- I was a 7.
A few more minutes with blood pressure dropping, more nausea, more Fentenyl, and then the baby's heart rate started to drop. I was put on oxygen to help her heart rate.
And then I started to vomit. Apparently I had a lot more ice chips water in me than expected because I used 2 of those blue vomit catcher bags.
Now I was between an 8 and a 9.
After throwing up I felt better and my blood pressure was stable but the baby's heart rate was not staying up so I just had to keep on the oxygen.
They let me relax for a little bit and had me just let them know when I felt pressure. I was regaining a lot more feeling by now and although the pain of the contractions was nearly undetectable I could feel a little pressure and could move my legs more. Perfect :)
By 4:00 I was at a 9 and they called the doctor and told him to come over (next door) once his current patient was finished.
Around 4:30 everyone was prepping to get this baby here. I was fully dilated but still had a little "lip" of cervix. Since this was my 3rd baby AND mostly because "this baby doesn't like labor" as her heart rate was still struggling to stay up, they decided to just get me pushing.
I pushed through 1 contraction by pushing for 3, ten second pushes. Then the doctor said the baby slipped right into the perfect position.
Next contraction I was told to push for 10 seconds and then stop. He asked if I could see her. I was trying to see over my belly but couldn't see whatever he was trying to show me.
He said, okay give a push and then you'll see.
About 5 seconds later our little angle slid out into his hands and he placed her up on top of me.
At first sight I just started to cry with joy. The doctor told us to wipe her off but I mostly just let Luke because I was crying too much.
It really is such a beautiful, beyond description, experience to see your child for the first time.
We only got to have her for a few moments though-- she was a blue cast from her oxygen being low for such a long time. They whisked her off to the cart nearby and quickly she pinked right up.
Meanwhile, I delivered the after birth and for the first time, the doctor showed me the placenta. I also had a student nurse assisting so I got a real good look at it as he showed her all the workings of it. It was quite interesting. But something even more interesting was right behind me getting measured for the first time.
Everyone was shouting out their guesses for her weight. Since she looked smaller to me than my other babies, I guessed 7 lbs 3 oz. I was pretty darn close-- she was 7 lbs and 0.8 oz (round up to 7.1) She was the same length as Adelia and 6 oz smaller. Tianna was 21 inches and 8 lbs 5.5 oz.
The older girls were just beyond the drawn curtain. I could hear them begging to come in. Once Linaya was wrapped up, Luke moved the curtain over enough to not show them inside the room, but showed them their new baby sister.
Then brought her over to me.
My mom told us that when Adelia said the prayer on their food Adelia asked that her new baby sister wouldn't have blood on her face anymore)
It was a good day all in all. I probably wouldn't have said so around 2:30-3:30, but before and after... not a bad way to spend a BIRTH DAY.
Welcome to the world you wonderful little person!
We love you so so much and are glad you are ours!
2 comments:
Congratulations! She is adorable and of course I LOVE her name.
Doesn't sound to fun LOL, but so happy that you and the baby are doing so well! It was good to see you all the other day! Little Linaya is a cutie! All your girls are :)
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