*These are the blog entries I made about Kyrie's birth 5 years ago. I arrived at the hospital on my 28th birthday with the expectations of delivering Kyrie that day. Of course, that girl had a mind of her own even in the womb!
KYRIE'S BIRTH
Nurse Tanja (whom I'd met in Triage a few days prior after a high blood pressure scare) took us back to meet the nurse she handpicked for us, Nurse Nan. She was great, and we settled with lots of talking and joking.
I was dilated to 3 cm and began Pitocin at 9:45. Dr. Gaiser arrived to break my water at 11:15. From there, my contractions began to intensify. It took a few before I was able to get into a relaxed rhythm using my Hypnobirthing training. At one point, I was so deep in concentration that Nurse Nan asked if I was asleep.
I used the birthing ball for much of the afternoon. When labor moved to my back, I soaked it under steaming hot water. By early afternoon I was 5 cm and by 3:30/4:00 I was dilated to 8 cm. Nan set up the room for delivery.
I continued to work through contractions, each time I lost my concentration the pain got bad and Darren talked me back into regaining my focus.
I made no more progress and Nurse Nan introduced us to Nurse Laura who would help us throughout the night. She was absolutely amazing!!
Around 8:00/8:30, I began to lose focus as my fatigue set in- I feared that I'd have no energy to push and my contractions kept coming less than a minute apart. I asked for an epidural which was administered around 9:30/9:45. Then Nurse Laura increased my Pitocin and had me move into new positions to encourage the baby to continue to move down and dilation.
By 10:15, I was dilated to 10 cm and feeling ready to push. Student-nurse Hannah came in to help with the birth. Around 11:00, Laura called Dr. Gaiser who arrived by 11:30. I pushed in several positions until nearly 3:00 a.m. Exhaustion began to set in deeply for both Darren and me until I could barely keep my eyes open between pushing. Dr. Gaiser checked the baby and found that she'd receded, our only solution at this point became Caesarean section. We were prepped, and I was wheeled to the OR.
The sensations of the c-section were beyond what I can describe. Darren was beside me the whole time and saw Kyrie emerge. She gave a short startled cry and was taken to be checked. I told Darren to stay with her- she did not cry again, but looked around intently at everyone and everything quietly.
In recovery, I was able to hold her and she breastfed immediately. We stayed in recovery for an hour, and Billie and Derrel (who had arrived late-late Saturday night from Kansas and stayed in the waiting room throughout) came in to see their newest granddaughter.
Kyrie was taken to the nursery to be checked after Darren and I were taken to our room. We slept just a little and talked about our experience after we awoke. When Kyrie was returned to us, Darren took over Daddy Duties right away as I started my recovery.
I was in the hospital until late Friday evening. The near-week I spent in the hospital is a blur of days. My first problems came with nausea when I tried to get up. We delayed my first trip out of bed until the next day when my catheter was removed. It was a difficult 3 feet to make.
The next problem I had came with pain management; I was quickly ordered to take the maximum dosages of Oxycodone and Motrin on 4 & 6 hour intervals. Fatigue and pain were worsened when I developed a fever. They found I had a UTI and were concerned about other possible infections.
Each day, I could move a bit more on my own and manage my pain with a few less drugs. Kyrie nursed like a pro, and with some help from the lactation consultants we did well together. They also spotted what looked like the start of mastitis. I was put on 2 different antibiotics to help control the infections. The nurses were wonderful!! Derrel and Billie came everyday to help Darren and me- we were so grateful!
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