For those who are interested, here's how it all went down :) We started timing my contractions about about 4:45pm on Sunday evening. By 7:30pm, I had had regular contractions at 7 min. apart for an hour and decided to call the midwife. The basic guideline is to go in to the hospital with contractions that are every 5 min., lasting for one minute, and have been regular for an hour. Because we live 50 from the hospital, we already knew that we should probably not wait that long and this was confirmed by the midwife. After one more hour of regular contractions, we packed up the car and were on our way to the hospital a little before 9pm. Let me tell you, I had never noticed how many bumps there are along I-5. Kyle did a great job driving safely and by the time we arrived at the hospital, my contractions had progressed to every 4 min. As I got out of the car, my water broke and the contractions started coming much more quickly. The first nurse we met was named Analisa, which was a sign right away that we were at Swedish hospital in the Scandinavian neighborhood of Seattle :) After being checked by the midwife and finding out that I was already 6 cm dilated, we decided to utilize the jacuzzi and hopefully make some more progress. The nurse and midwife were excellent, giving us suggestions and encouraging me through the contractions. We were in the tub for about 2 hours (I'm not really sure of time at that point). The contractions were incredibly intense and as I found out, back labor is truly excruciating. The good news was that I was now at 8 cm. and anticipating that our baby would be arriving in a few hours. Kyle was doing an amazing job of putting pressure on my back to counter-balance the pressure somewhat. After another hour of contractions, I was barely managing the pain and was very discouraged to find out that I hadn't made any progress in dilating. Because of the baby's position, my cervix was slightly swollen on one side and because of the pain, I wasn't able to relax into the contractions at all. We decided at that point to get an epidural. I was able to get one more quickly than I had expected but it wasn't successful at first at taking away the pain in my back. I was given a stronger medication and finally had relief. The epidural process started about 2am and was right around when my mom arrived from Oregon. We all had a chance to sleep for an hour from 4am to 5am. When I was checked at 5am, I still hadn't made any more progress and labor had slowed. The midwife suggested that we start pitocin to increase the contractions. After two more hours, I was checked again and had finally dilated entirely. I had not expected to feel so helpless with totally numbness in my legs but thanks to the amazing help of Kyle and my mom (and 3 hours of pushing), Annika made her arrival into the world. She came out face up with a lusty wail.
For those who are interested, here's how it all went down :) We started timing my contractions about about 4:45pm on Sunday evening. By 7:30pm, I had had regular contractions at 7 min. apart for an hour and decided to call the midwife. The basic guideline is to go in to the hospital with contractions that are every 5 min., lasting for one minute, and have been regular for an hour. Because we live 50 from the hospital, we already knew that we should probably not wait that long and this was confirmed by the midwife. After one more hour of regular contractions, we packed up the car and were on our way to the hospital a little before 9pm. Let me tell you, I had never noticed how many bumps there are along I-5. Kyle did a great job driving safely and by the time we arrived at the hospital, my contractions had progressed to every 4 min. As I got out of the car, my water broke and the contractions started coming much more quickly. The first nurse we met was named Analisa, which was a sign right away that we were at Swedish hospital in the Scandinavian neighborhood of Seattle :) After being checked by the midwife and finding out that I was already 6 cm dilated, we decided to utilize the jacuzzi and hopefully make some more progress. The nurse and midwife were excellent, giving us suggestions and encouraging me through the contractions. We were in the tub for about 2 hours (I'm not really sure of time at that point). The contractions were incredibly intense and as I found out, back labor is truly excruciating. The good news was that I was now at 8 cm. and anticipating that our baby would be arriving in a few hours. Kyle was doing an amazing job of putting pressure on my back to counter-balance the pressure somewhat. After another hour of contractions, I was barely managing the pain and was very discouraged to find out that I hadn't made any progress in dilating. Because of the baby's position, my cervix was slightly swollen on one side and because of the pain, I wasn't able to relax into the contractions at all. We decided at that point to get an epidural. I was able to get one more quickly than I had expected but it wasn't successful at first at taking away the pain in my back. I was given a stronger medication and finally had relief. The epidural process started about 2am and was right around when my mom arrived from Oregon. We all had a chance to sleep for an hour from 4am to 5am. When I was checked at 5am, I still hadn't made any more progress and labor had slowed. The midwife suggested that we start pitocin to increase the contractions. After two more hours, I was checked again and had finally dilated entirely. I had not expected to feel so helpless with totally numbness in my legs but thanks to the amazing help of Kyle and my mom (and 3 hours of pushing), Annika made her arrival into the world. She came out face up with a lusty wail. 
wow, you are incredible! love hearing all the details of the story of Little Miss Annika! (And her amazing Mommy & helpful Daddy!) Congratulations again you guys, we can't wait to meet her!
ReplyDeletelove your birth story! i agree that back labor sucks- why God allows babies to position themselves face-up is a mystery to me:) and i LOVE the name. i always wanted to have a little girl and name her annika...
ReplyDelete