I can't imagine it having gone any worse. Or any better. Sometime on Friday I started having sporadic contractions. We went on tons of mini walks around the block throughout the weekend to try to get labor going. I think our whole neighborhood was on watch. Mom and I went on a walk over by her house and we made it all the way up to 2nd Ave and back! We had dinner at the Parfitts' one night and it felt really odd to have to get up from the table in the middle of dinner to walk through a mild contraction and everyone getting excited at her impending arrival, but at the same time acting like this was totally normal behavior. Starting Friday night I didn't sleep for more than 20 minutes at a time between contractions. I wasn't up for doing much of anything so Andy and I watched hours and hours of Burn Notice while I sat on the exercise ball.
On Monday morning Sarah came up and did an induction acupuncture treatment to see if we couldn't get things moving. She spent a couple hours here and told me I'd probably be in labor within 8-12 hours. More waiting. We found an app that tracked contractions. After every one we were supposed to rate the severity of the contraction. Later in the evening when they started getting much more intense, I found I maybe needed to revise my rating system from earlier in the day. Around 9 p.m. that night, after 60 hours of early labor (which no one ever counts and I don't understand why not) and almost exactly 12 hours after the acupuncture treatment, I finally went into active labor. I foolishly kept trying to sleep between contractions because I was so tired, but finally figured out that wasn't going to happen. I went through about 2 hours on my own trying to let Andy get as much sleep as possible and then woke him up when I couldn't take it by myself anymore.
Sarah drove up around 2 in the morning when contractions were 5 minutes apart. If it hadn't been for her, we would have gone to the hospital and it would have been miserable. Since we live only a few minutes away from the hospital, she encouraged us to stay at home as long as possible, which was great because I could eat and rest if we were at home. She helped me relax my shoulders down into every contraction (completely counter intuitive) and suggested lots of different laboring positions to ease the pain. We also worked on getting The Kumquat turned in the right direction since she was twisted sideways. I should have put the Fitbit on--I probably walked 10 miles pacing our house that night.
Around 6 in the morning things seemed to slow down. We were discouraged, but Sarah assured us that was pretty normal. Andy ran and picked up breakfast from R&B. I took the opportunity of longer breaks between contractions to lie on the couch and get a nap. This has emerged as one of the best memories of my life. There was something so powerful and peaceful about the moment: dosing on the couch after coming through a long hard night with the sun rising, smells of cinnamon French toast and coffee, Andy and Sarah quietly chatting in the background. Even though I knew it was far from over, it was still an amazing and very unexpected moment. I will carry that close to my heart forever.
Things started to move more quickly after that and when contractions were about 2 minutes apart around 8:30, we decided to head to the hospital. Laboring at the hospital was fine, but definitely not as nice as being at home. I was so glad that we had waited as long as possible. About 3 hours after we got there I had a couple shots of fentanyl to take the edge off the pain a little bit. It was the first time I was able to catch my breath and relax a little. Up until that point I hadn't really been scared about delivering, but sitting there thinking about what I'd already been through and what I was still facing, I freaked out. And I was just so exhausted. So I asked for an epidural. It was amazing once I made the switch in my mind--I was SO DONE with labor. They hooked me up to all the machines and got me in bed. The anesthesiologist was a jerk, but whatever, it was just such a relief. They ended up having to break my water and I was so glad I couldn't feel what was happening anymore. I dosed for around 7 hours while Andy and Sarah watched my contractions get more and more intense on the monitor. At 8:30 p.m. they came in and checked and much to everyone's surprise I was at 10 cm and ready to go. The doc said, "Let's push on the next contraction," and just like that we began. After all that waiting it was a surprise that something was actually finally happening.
Unfortunately, after the first contraction her heart rate dropped to half of what it was supposed to be and the scariest 5 minutes of our lives began. Our doc, Kristy VanKirk (former Miss Rodeo USA AND I went to school with her!) was extremely calm through the whole thing as she very gently asked us if she could use a vacuum to help get her out as there was a chance of cerebral palsy if we didn't get her oxygen levels and heart rate back up. They put an oxygen mask on me and told me to take slow, deep breaths (mmm hmmm, sure). Suddenly there were tons of people in the room and I heard them calling to prep an OR. We went through three pushes with the next contraction with Kristy pulling on the vacuum with all her might. The Kumquat still wasn't out. She said she'd give us one more try and then we'd have to go to the OR. On the next contraction we went through three pushes and then they had me just keep going. Two more pushes and she was out. I've never been so scared of anything in my life. They put her on my stomach long enough for Andy to cut the cord and then whisked her over to work on getting her heart rate back up to normal. I turned to Andy and said I didn't feel that great and immediately started yarfing. It was probably only a few minutes, but it felt like forever before they told us everything was good and then there she was, in my arms. Alice Safa Svilar Finley Newlin was finally here. April 21, 2015 8:56 p.m. 8 lbs 7.5 oz 21"
Because the birth was so fast, and she was so unexpectedly big, I suffered some damage; a 3rd degree tear, which needed about 4" of stitches, and a dislocated and severely bruised tailbone. I found out later that one of the reasons they'd put the oxygen mask on me was in case we'd had to go to the OR--they would just flip a switch and I'd have been out within seconds, necessary since they would have had to push her back up and in before they could get her out with a C-section. I am so grateful we didn't end up having to do that, and so grateful that we were in a hospital to begin with. I can't imagine having gone through the whole thing without Sarah there either keeping both Andy and me calm and focused on getting Alice out. What a relief that everything turned out well in the end. We spent about 3 days in the hospital before they let me go, and then I spent the next two weeks in bed. Andy had to take care of both a new infant and an invalid wife, and he did so with such grace--he may never recover...
On Monday morning Sarah came up and did an induction acupuncture treatment to see if we couldn't get things moving. She spent a couple hours here and told me I'd probably be in labor within 8-12 hours. More waiting. We found an app that tracked contractions. After every one we were supposed to rate the severity of the contraction. Later in the evening when they started getting much more intense, I found I maybe needed to revise my rating system from earlier in the day. Around 9 p.m. that night, after 60 hours of early labor (which no one ever counts and I don't understand why not) and almost exactly 12 hours after the acupuncture treatment, I finally went into active labor. I foolishly kept trying to sleep between contractions because I was so tired, but finally figured out that wasn't going to happen. I went through about 2 hours on my own trying to let Andy get as much sleep as possible and then woke him up when I couldn't take it by myself anymore.
Sarah drove up around 2 in the morning when contractions were 5 minutes apart. If it hadn't been for her, we would have gone to the hospital and it would have been miserable. Since we live only a few minutes away from the hospital, she encouraged us to stay at home as long as possible, which was great because I could eat and rest if we were at home. She helped me relax my shoulders down into every contraction (completely counter intuitive) and suggested lots of different laboring positions to ease the pain. We also worked on getting The Kumquat turned in the right direction since she was twisted sideways. I should have put the Fitbit on--I probably walked 10 miles pacing our house that night.
Around 6 in the morning things seemed to slow down. We were discouraged, but Sarah assured us that was pretty normal. Andy ran and picked up breakfast from R&B. I took the opportunity of longer breaks between contractions to lie on the couch and get a nap. This has emerged as one of the best memories of my life. There was something so powerful and peaceful about the moment: dosing on the couch after coming through a long hard night with the sun rising, smells of cinnamon French toast and coffee, Andy and Sarah quietly chatting in the background. Even though I knew it was far from over, it was still an amazing and very unexpected moment. I will carry that close to my heart forever.
Things started to move more quickly after that and when contractions were about 2 minutes apart around 8:30, we decided to head to the hospital. Laboring at the hospital was fine, but definitely not as nice as being at home. I was so glad that we had waited as long as possible. About 3 hours after we got there I had a couple shots of fentanyl to take the edge off the pain a little bit. It was the first time I was able to catch my breath and relax a little. Up until that point I hadn't really been scared about delivering, but sitting there thinking about what I'd already been through and what I was still facing, I freaked out. And I was just so exhausted. So I asked for an epidural. It was amazing once I made the switch in my mind--I was SO DONE with labor. They hooked me up to all the machines and got me in bed. The anesthesiologist was a jerk, but whatever, it was just such a relief. They ended up having to break my water and I was so glad I couldn't feel what was happening anymore. I dosed for around 7 hours while Andy and Sarah watched my contractions get more and more intense on the monitor. At 8:30 p.m. they came in and checked and much to everyone's surprise I was at 10 cm and ready to go. The doc said, "Let's push on the next contraction," and just like that we began. After all that waiting it was a surprise that something was actually finally happening.
Unfortunately, after the first contraction her heart rate dropped to half of what it was supposed to be and the scariest 5 minutes of our lives began. Our doc, Kristy VanKirk (former Miss Rodeo USA AND I went to school with her!) was extremely calm through the whole thing as she very gently asked us if she could use a vacuum to help get her out as there was a chance of cerebral palsy if we didn't get her oxygen levels and heart rate back up. They put an oxygen mask on me and told me to take slow, deep breaths (mmm hmmm, sure). Suddenly there were tons of people in the room and I heard them calling to prep an OR. We went through three pushes with the next contraction with Kristy pulling on the vacuum with all her might. The Kumquat still wasn't out. She said she'd give us one more try and then we'd have to go to the OR. On the next contraction we went through three pushes and then they had me just keep going. Two more pushes and she was out. I've never been so scared of anything in my life. They put her on my stomach long enough for Andy to cut the cord and then whisked her over to work on getting her heart rate back up to normal. I turned to Andy and said I didn't feel that great and immediately started yarfing. It was probably only a few minutes, but it felt like forever before they told us everything was good and then there she was, in my arms. Alice Safa Svilar Finley Newlin was finally here. April 21, 2015 8:56 p.m. 8 lbs 7.5 oz 21"
Because the birth was so fast, and she was so unexpectedly big, I suffered some damage; a 3rd degree tear, which needed about 4" of stitches, and a dislocated and severely bruised tailbone. I found out later that one of the reasons they'd put the oxygen mask on me was in case we'd had to go to the OR--they would just flip a switch and I'd have been out within seconds, necessary since they would have had to push her back up and in before they could get her out with a C-section. I am so grateful we didn't end up having to do that, and so grateful that we were in a hospital to begin with. I can't imagine having gone through the whole thing without Sarah there either keeping both Andy and me calm and focused on getting Alice out. What a relief that everything turned out well in the end. We spent about 3 days in the hospital before they let me go, and then I spent the next two weeks in bed. Andy had to take care of both a new infant and an invalid wife, and he did so with such grace--he may never recover...
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