The Stubborn Mama

     Hello, and welcome to my blog, New Mama Talk! My name is Jill and I am a brand new Mama!!! My little girl came into my life in a somewhat traumatic manner, and I want to share it with other Mamas and soon-to-be Mamas. I was a Mommy with a plan, a birth plan that is! When I told my O.B.  that I was writing a birth plan, she encouraged the idea and requested to go over it with me to see if I had any questions. She already knew that for various reasons, I personally did not want to induce, I did not want pitocin administered at any point, and I wanted to birth as naturally as possible, with pain medication as an option only if and when I brought it up.
     Little did I know, my daughter was already in charge, and her plan was very different from my own. Not only was I induced a week early due to hypertension concerns, but I wound up utilizing pitocin, and TWO pain medications.
     I was admitted to Labor and Delivery Thursday, July 9th at 11:05. I live in Maine, and our families are from New York, so we had to contact our Parents and loved ones while getting settled. I was given Cervidil at 2:00pm on Thursday to "ripen the cervix and induce labor". I was told this drug could take up to 12 hours, and I would be examined at that time. At this point I was naturally 2cm dilated with mild, infrequent contractions. Over the course of the next 12 hours, I waited around feeling some intensified, but still fairly mild cramping. During these hours, my Mother, Father and Niece arrived as did my Boyfriend's Mother and her Boyfriend (also New Yorkers). We got them filled in and began a long game of hurry-up-and-wait.
     At 2:00am on Friday morning I was given a cervical exam and told that I had progressed not at all! I was still 2cm dilated and not softened in the least! A more concentrated inducing agent was administered, and I was told to wait for four hours this time. My Mother was crammed into a rocking chair in our room, refusing to leave until this point (when I could guarantee her it would be several more hours until "go time" at which point, she took Dad and my Niece to my house for a sleep!) and my Boyfriend's Mom had just left for her hotel bed. This was about 3:00am. At 7:00am I was examined again, and had progressed barely an additional centimeter. At this time, it was decided my water would be broken manually, and hopefully I would progress naturally from there. At 8:00am my water was broken.
      I progressed slightly after that, but too gradually for my Doctor's liking. I wound up having a Pitocin I.V. administered at 11:00am. I refused medical pain relief until 5:00pm at which time I requested Nubain. This drug lasts for 2 hours and I found it terribly ineffective. After the first two hours I requested an additional dose, but around 8:00pm I caved in and received an epidural. I slept for the first time since being admitted, and woke up around 2:00am Saturday morning. I told my nurse that she should get a Doctor to examine me, as I felt a LOT of pressure, and was told that I was "Due to be examined in an hour and a half". I had to insist that I felt like pushing. Upon being examined, the Doctor found that I was correct, and the it was in fact time to start pushing!
      I started pushing around 2:48am and my daughter Ava was born Saturday, July 11th at 3:41am. When she arrived, the umbilical cord was wrapped tight around her throat, and she gulped amniotic fluid on her way out. I was unable to hold my daughter for the first 6 hours of her life. She was rushed off the NICU where she was monitored for 10 hours.

Even after she was released into my room for recovery, she was poked and examined every few hours, and given an I.V. of antibiotics to ensure the fluid in her lung wasn't an infection.
     Though her entry may have scared me half to death, she's here now, and she is thriving and beautiful. So for all you Mamas-to-be out there, it is great to have a plan for your birth, but just know that had I been looser about how closely to my plan I stuck, I could have avoided a lot of waiting. She was worth every minute, and your bundle will be, too.