Hannah's Birth (February 2007) "Flashback Friday"

My water broke at 37 weeks of gestation on Friday morning around 9am, and it was green - not good. I just started leaking as got up in the morning & was walking through the apartment, I sorta flipped out. We got ready (I hadn't packed yet - it was on the to do list for that week. I hadn't expected baby Wiggles to come early - our nurse midwife had just left on vacation to Africa - and everyone had said 1st babies come late). My girlfriends Melissa, Kensie & Joy were great moral support! Melissa came to the house and helped us get ready.

So here's triage...we waited there for around 6 hours, waiting for a l&d room to open up. Isaac's parents came to stay & wait with us, so did Kensie (who was also my "doula") and Joy (who brought food & other support stuff). I was really grateful for the support. The nurse midwife on-call had to hand my case over to the OB on-call b/c my lab results came in from just the day before and I had severe pre-eclampsia. It was sorta scary for me b/c it was unexpected, but I also felt validated b/c I had been feeling super sick & people kept on saying "it's normal." It was an emotional time for me.

The birth plan was out the window in so many ways, but the doctor was really great about supporting many of my desires - the main one of not being get cut open. I mean I'd hoped for the best, and was prepared for the worst. So they started me on pitocin and we all hoped that things would progress - I think I was only at a 3. Two days before I was only at a 1 or 2. I wasn't even feeling that many contractions. Things weren't quite progressing as expected.


Here's the l&d room. They tried to make it seem "homey" - it wasn't bad. I got a hep lock and they were monitoring my blood pressure, which was sorta high, and of course the baby's heart beat. I did get to walk around just a tiny bit with the monitor, but then they confined me to the room.


Here's mom & dad G. They were so patient & supportive.



and Kensie... Michael & Noah came too. Kensie would go out periodically to nurse Noah... she herself had just done this 10 days earlier! Wow! What a trooper!

Joy was there too, but we didn't get a photo. She came for many hours but had to leave for little Curtis, since I was taking so long to progress.

Anyways...long labor story short...Ize was such a great support. He was with me the whole time, assisting. (I did hypnobirthing and it was great, but I was exhausted from a previous week of not much sleep, and many hours of labor and no sleep/rest. I was scared I wouldn't have energy to push the baby out and have to be cut open so I ended up getting an epidural at 4am. It helped to lower my blood pressure, too bad it didn't take well on the left side, and the thing came out of my back a few hours later...it all became timeless for me...I was pushing for a long time)

Saturday afternoon, two shift changes later, some 30+ hours later from when my water broke, baby Wiggles arrived! She was covered in meconium (good pooper since in the womb), and the team worked really effectively to suck all of the stuff out of her with these long tubes. Daddy watched and took care of her, while I was just absolutely exhausted. The magnesium they had me on made me feel super sick. The placenta was totally dark green, it'd been sitting in poop for awhile, and it got sent off for some tests. And there were more complications with me...BUT baby Wiggles was healthy (the name at this point was still under consideration - daddy had wanted Zena/Xena lol).





Daddy & Hannah...


My mom & Cristy were able to drive up that weekend. Cristy had to leave after a day, but mom was able to stay for two weeks and help take care of me.


Many more visitors came, and we were so glad to see them all - for their support and their love. It was great to have the support b/c postpartum recovery for me was oh so painful. Melissa came and took care of me. Ize was there the whole time, but he had to leave periodically also had school and such, so my mom & Ize took turns sleeping on a chair.



We were at the hospital for a few more days, and sometime in there baby Wiggles was named Hannah. I think it became official when I had to fill out and sign papers.


Hannah was discharged Valentine's day 2007. They'd been watching her and waiting for a bowel movement that never came. We packed her up in her bunny suit from Irma, and car seat from mom & dad G, and drove to Mustang on the icy roads. We were glad for the safe car that we bought for Hannah. Right before dinner at mom & dad G's, Hannah finally had her 1st out-of-womb bowel movement. She was officially healthy.