Pagan Amber-Lynn McD
Time of Birth: 10:31pm
Date of Birth: June 3rd, 2009
Weight: 8lbs 6oz
Length: 22ins long
Length of PG: 37 weeks 5 days (we are guessing the dr's got it wrong based on her size)
At about 10:50am on Wednesday June 3rd, I got the call to go into L&D between noon and 1pm so they could insert prostaglandin(sp?) and get things underway. They monitored me for just a little over an hour...in which time her heart rate became a small issue and the pain for me was unbearable...but they sent me home regardless and told me to call at 7pm to see if they wanted me to come back in. I swear if this nurse would have been on duty when I went back I would have killed her. Before I left after lunch, I explained to them that the contractions were really painful and then they would weaken from about 100% to about 75% in strength and then jump right up to 150% and that this pattern continued for about 15 minutes before I would get a 30 second break before it started again...she didn't care and sent me home.
I took the city bus home and the drivers all knew that Thursday was the day and they were purposely avoiding all of the bad bump areas so my water didn't break on the bus...and Wednesday, the driver I had at the hospital was the same driver to take me home, and she took it further...she would drive on the yellow line if not over it to avoid ALL of the bumps. Which considering the pain I was in...it was greatly appreciated.
I got in the house and managed to tell DF what happened and he was shocked himself that they sent me home. He ended up listening to me screaming bloody murder for about a little over 4 hours and he couldn't do anything to help. If I moved my big toe, the pain got worse it was that bad. I did call up and beg for them to let me come back in but she told me that they won't see me before 7pm and that I could come up but they would just send me home. I tried the shower on my lower back and it helped until one of the other residents in my building flushed his toilet and the hot water burnt me. After that I just started flailing around the house like a fish out of water, crying my eyes out because I couldn't tolerate it...it hurt soooo much.
At 6:55pm I called L&D...no answer so I hung up and told DF, I am not gonna stop calling till I get someone...he agreed because he was pissed and worried. His ex wife had 2 kids all natural and she wasn't ever in this much pain so he was freaking out because he suspected this may just be a quick labor. After the 4th call to L&D, they finally picked up and it was a new nurse (THANK GOD!!!) and she told me to get up there ASAP... so we called the cab company we had put on notice and they were waiting outside by the time I managed to make it down the stairs and within 5 minutes we were making our way through Emerg and up to L&D.
They immediately took me back to the room where I was earlier (they didn't even clean up the milk carton or cookie wrapper that I left earlier). They hooked me up and the resident that was shadowing that night asked me every question imaginable... How far was I?, How far apart are the contractions? Am I sure I'm not making it more then it is? The about 10 minutes after they hooked me up, and all of the nurses and the resident are there holding my hands, telling me to breathe and relax, one of the nurses goes to check me and she must have had the smallest fingers ever because it was as if she was digging for treasure up there... it hurt so much I told her to get her hands out of me or I would kick her in the head... she promptly removed her fingers...lol A second nurse tries to do it...she is a little more gentle but once she hit my cervix..OMG!!!!!!! I didn't give her warning, I just went to kick her... but she grabbed my foot...lol She tells us that we are at 2cm and it could be a while yet...and she'd get the dr. DF was starving and asked if I was allowed to eat...nope... so he went to Walmart and McDonalds to grab something really quick (they are next door to the hospital). He was gone for about 30 minutes to 45 minutes( he bought a few things for her)...all the while the resident doesn't leave my side and she tries to distract me as much as possible...doesn't work. She goes and grabs my Dr to get him to look at the chart because Pagan's heart rate was going from 98 to 210 and then back down again...and the contractions were getting longer and more painful.
He came in and looked at my chart and and told the nurse to grab the anasthesiologist(sp?) before he left. Because of the pattern the contractions (as I mentioned above) they were the same but getting stronger every time...he told me I was having one just in case he needed to do a c/s. At that point, I didn't care about any of the worries or concerns I had towards them... I was begging for it!!! The drug man came in before the dr even left and got me prepped and ready. He screwed up the first time and hit a bone, but the freezing he gave me made me numb so I didn't feel the second attempt. He checked on me before he left and I told him my right side was numb but my left side wasn't as numb as the right. He said it was normal when it's first administered.
Shawn came back just after the epi guy left the first time and showed me the butterfly mobile he bought her and what he thought were boppy pillows... they were inserts for a stroller or carseat to prevent there heads from moving...but we needed them anyways...lol 15 minutes later(the dr was delivering another baby) the dr comes in and looks at the monitor and says that he wants to check me before he deicdes the next step...I was 4 cm. He decided to break my water and leave me for a little bit and then check again. Apparently I had lots of fluid... the resident told me it was a flood...lol. After my water was broken DF decided to run home quickly and walk our puppy and then quickly get back.
The resident asked me if I was ok because I was acting like I was before the epi and I told her that it was worse then before the epi and only on my left side...it really hurt. She went and grabbed the dr and he came in, checked the monitors, her heart rate was still an issue (he actually turned the monitor away from me so I couldn't see) and he checked me again...(not more then 6 minutes from the last check) and I was at 6cm. He looked at me and asked where DF was, I told him he just left to walk the dog and he gave me the phone and told me to call him. I did and DF told me he was at the lights just at the end of the hospital driveway... he turned and bolted it back because the dr told me that I was having a c/s and that he needs to be there for the delivery.
DF got there just as the epi guy was upping the dosage so I couldn't feel the c/s and they got him in scrubs...wheeled me into the OR and told DF wait in the hall till they were ready. I was crying, DF was crying...it was awful. They did the prick test to tell if the left side of me was freezing...NOPE.. he tripled the dosage and waited a few minutes, did the test again...nope didn't work I could feel EVERYTHING. The epi guy looked down at me (I was shaking uncontrollably and crying so bad...I couldn't breath because of the contractions..even with the oxygen mask on), he told me that he was gonna put a different mask on and when I wake up, I'll be a mom. I asked if Shawn was going to be able to record this... nope. The epi guy quickly put the other mask on and told me to think of my daughter and of DF.
The next thing I remember I was slowly waking up and as soon as I could move my lips I was asking to see her. They told me I couldn't see her and that DF was with her. The nurse told me she was perfect. She said there were a few obstacles that if they didn't do what they did when they did it...she wouldn't be here. I started to cry and demanding to know how she was and that someone has to bring her to me to see. I was told that over and over that DF was with her and that she was ok now. The nurse told me the cord was wrapped tightly around her neck 3 times and wrapped around her left arm as well. If I would have pushed her out, it could have killed her. I kinda went in and out of it for a little bit after this but everytime I was conscious I kept asking to know her weight, apgars, etc. Bless the soul of the nurse in recovery, she called down to the NICU everytime for me.
About an hour after she was born, the phone rang in NICU..I was doing pretty good at staying awake at this point, and DF was wanting to see me and let me know she was good. He handed me the digital camera and told me to push play on the playback setting. That is how I was introduce to my little girl...I got to watch a video of her being checked after she came out. He answered all of my questions about how much hair she had, to if she had all of her little toes and fingers. Then he went down to the room they were laboring me in (not the room I got to stay in though) and he got my things and brought them to recovery so that I could have them when I got into my room. I was told by the nurse that when she wheeled me down to my room that she would swing by the nursery so the nurse could bring her out and let me hold her for a few minutes... this never happened.. I went straight to my room... the recovery nurse had a better surprise for me.
DF left before I went to my room and told me he would be back in the morning (it was about 1-2am and we were told that she wouldn't be coming into my room until the morning, so he went home to take care of puppy and get some sleep..poor guy needed it too).
I got placed in my room and the nurse gave me my bag...and told me to look on the camera... so I did. DF told her that he took 5-6 videos totalling over an hour from the time they brought him in to see her to the time he came to see me...and she surprised me. I sat and watched every video just bawling my eyes out (like I am right now as I'm typing). About 10 minutes after I finished watching the videos I decided to lay back and try to get some sleep... but the recovery nurse came back and told me I forgot something...she went in the hall and wheel in my baby girl. She told me that I can keep her with me until I am going to go to sleep, then she needs to go back to the nursery... Needless to say...I stayed up all night that night. I think I rang for a nurse to take her to the nursery at about 6:30am...and I slept for maybe 15-20 minutes and then my nurse came in and woke me up to check my blood pressure, my temp, my wound and how bad I was bleeding...I figured since SHE woke me up..SHE can go get me my baby...and she did. I was away from her for a max of 20 minutes. :D
When she brought her back to me, the nurse said the girls in the nursery are gonna miss her (they all fell in love with her...they even came to see her after she was with me). But I was allowed to keep her with me as long as nothing weird came up. :D:D:D:D:D:D:D
I was told to feed her the bottle for the first feeding and the next one we would try to bf and see how it goes...it didn't. I think to her it was like "mom get that gushy thing out of my face and give me my ba-ba". She is a bottle baby at this point. I do try everytime to get her to latch (the lacation consultant was suppose to meet with me but every feeding time she tried, the nurses told her nope, Pagan's sugar levels were too low and that I wasn't going to be bfing at that moment), so I never had an official lacation consult but the nurses there all told me the same thing. Massage, pump for 5 minutes to stimulate the nipple, then bring her close and wiggle my nipple around her lips...if she opened wide enough, to move her mouth over my nipple and let he do her own thing, not to force it but wait to see what she does... she just sucks 2 or 3 times and is like "yeah I'm sleepin now, shsssh". She mainly just plays with it rather then use it to eat. I am hoping it'll change once my milk comes in but if not, I am okay with pumping it for her exclusively.
We were discharged this morning but because when we left we were soo excited to be going home, we grabbed all of the bags and forgot the paper work they gave me, so we had to go back. We brought the stroller with us and made our own travel system and went to Walmart after getting my papers. We put in my script and went to the baby section to look at formulas, toys, etc. Everyone was in awe of her and when they would ask how old she was and we said a little under 2 days old, they looked at me and then had this odd look of amazement in their eyes. (We even got a discount at walmart because the lady at the checkout always did our checkout when we were there and she kept up to date with us.)
But now we are home, and because I think I may have overdone it today, mainly cause my belly is a bit more tender, I have no plans of going anywhere until her appointment on Monday with her nurse practioner. Sneakers is no longer a black and white dog... she is a pale shade of green. If I am holding or feeding Pagan, she HAS to have my attention...daddy tries to get her to pay attention to him but she won't have it... and vice versa. Although Sneakers is very interested in the diaper changes... We do them in the crib on a change pad for the moment, and we put the side of the crib down and as we're changing Pagan, Sneakers will get on her back paws and put her front ones on the side of the crib and just watches. She has already "bathed" Pagan a few times...I think our baby has a super clean face at the moment...lol When we feed her and she starts to fall asleep, we get Sneakers to lick her arm or leg and it wakes her right up...doesn't piss her off.. just wakes her up. She's all motherly, but when she wants the attention, she acts like Pagan should leave now...iykwim....lol
Overall I am in absolute love. As I said in a previous post... she is perfect, she is sooo quiet. She only crys when she is cold...she doesn't cry when she is hungry or when she wants to be changed. The nurses at the hospital told me to feed her every 2 - 2 1/2 hours until Monday and hopefully she'll start to let us know these things. DF is out changing her right now and all I just heard was "CRAP!" so I thought he forgot to grab something before he started or something like that and when I asked him what he needed his reply was this "nothing... it's everywhere!!! We're down a blanket cause there is crap EVERYWHERE!!!" :ROFL: I'm betting he didn't miss this part of parenthood... :ROFL:
Any now here are some pics... I would have posted the videos but after I watched them I put them on the table next to my iv drip machine... when I woke up and went to watch them while I cuddled her...they were gone... the whole memory card was wiped. we had pics and videos on it from back around my b-day and now they are gone :cry:
a few hours after she was born when I finally got to see her (I was a bit loopy and I don't remember this pic being taken)
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Her sleeping in her crib
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And lastly, daddy teaching Pagan all about his favorite hobby....lol
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