Victoria's birth story!!

Setting the scene.....me and my husband moved to Michigan when I had six weeks to go in my pregnancy. We moved there to start fresh and in high hopes it would save our marriage. This birth story was written by me several years ago. I am glad I wrote it because I have very little memory of it now.

Here goes:

REFLECTIONS
I remember when Victoria was born. I thought I would add her birth story...or what I can remember of it. I don’t remember when I was due. I was always very bad at writing down dates. I was at home with Chelsea. We lived in Michigan in a very small apartment. We had moved to Michigan to get away from family and to hopefully salvage our marriage and gain a new start. A (my husband now X husband) was lying on the water bed with Chelsea (two years old at the time). I was sitting at the computer playing canasta (my favorite card game). I had gone to the bathroom earlier that day and had noticed when I wiped that there were streaks of blood. I was excited because that meant something was happening. I started to have contractions sometime late in the afternoon. I remember sitting at the computer and timing them. They were almost exactly five minutes apart. I looked over at A and told him that I might be in labor and to just be on alert. [I wish I remembered the times now]. Anyway I remember a saying "make sure it’s not a false alarm." Well time came and I told him that we might as well drop Chelsea off and head off to the hospital. I wasnt in too much pain then. The contractions were still regular and gaining in strength. We dropped Chelsea off at a friend’s house and started down the road. The hospital was quite a drive. I can still see the beautiful trees as we drove down. I always loved Michigan. I was so lush and pretty. I loved the way the trees created a canopy over the streets. We got to the hospital. I had never been there. I had just moved to Michigan six weeks earlier. So most everything in the town was new to me. My mother-in-law had sent me the cutest nursing PJ's. I had (days ago) made sure it was washed and in my to go bag for when the time had come. The nurses took me into the temporary rooms and put a monitor on me. I couldn't believe how much more uncomfortable the contractions were while lying down. I hated it. Again my husband A said to me "do you think this is a false alarm?" I told him if it was not labor I would be very much surprised. The contractions were quite strong. I think when I got to the hospital I was dilated to three and by the time an hour passed I had moved to four centimeters. So since I was progressing they went ahead and admitted me. I’ve lost some of my memories of that time. I was in a new city and having a baby with a Doctor I had only known for six weeks. I really did love him though. He was patient and kind and very gentile. That night that I was in labor he was there just for me. He slept for a while until I was ready to push. I think around five or six dilation I had asked for my epidural. My epidural with Chelsea went so smoothly that I didn’t anticipate anything different with this one. So they called the epidural doctor and he came in and administered my epi. It took him awhile. He kept poking and poking. He said I had a very large epidural space and it was hard to get the right spot. I didn’t protest too much. I was in hard labor and just wanted it done...I'm not one to pick a fight...very quiet..Very submissive. The epidural was finally administered and I sat back in relief. A was not much help. He didn’t know what to do and had never attended my labor classes with me so he had no idea what to do. I fell asleep until it was time. The nurse came in and checked me a couple hours later and announced me to be at ten. The doctor came in and the nurses and of course A STUDENT. I always get the students in my room. Not that I mind much but it seems to be a trend. So the staff is prepping me to deliver baby Victoria and this nurse comes over and starts moving my bed down to a flat position. I was not comfortable with this. I told her I didn’t want to push lying flat on my back. She said it was hospital policy to lay flat while pushing. I was mad but again didn’t fight for what I wanted. I start pushing Victoria out and she was out in about ten minutes. She was a healthy baby girl weighing in at 8 pounds eleven ounces. She was very dark skinned. She had hair on her ears and forehead. I really thought I had birthed a monkey.

I tried to get Art to take pictures. There was no family there or friends. He took a few pictures but not nearly enough. He was such a bum. I would say the birth went well overall until a few hours later. My neck started to hurt very badly. I kept telling the nurses that it hurt to even move it from side to side but they just kept giving me Tylenol 3’s and giving me heating pads. This did nothing for me. It got so bad I couldn’t turn my head at all. When A picked me up from the hospital I was barfing all the way home. Something was wrong with me but I couldn’t figure it out. When I got home I couldn’t walk. I had to crawl to the bathroom and pretty much stay in a laying down position or else the pain was just so bad. I finally had to call my mom to fly out and help me. A was getting upset because he had to cook and clean. I mean that was just TOO much for him to handle. I had no family or friends so I had to call my mom. I was crying my eyes out talking to her “MOM can you please come and help me, something’s wrong with me.” She flew right out. She was amazing. She did the laundry and cooking and cleaning. I didn’t have to do anything. Nor could I do anything. We called the doctor several times but all he would say is that he didn’t know what was wrong and I would have to come in. Well I couldn’t move so I couldn’t see going in. My mom and I did some research and figured that I probably had a spinal headache from the epidural. We didn’t discover this until I had been in pain and flat on my back for two weeks. I have a very high tolerance for pain but when I’m in that much pain for two weeks and only have Tylenol 3’s to ease the pain…I got cranky. My mom started shoving water down my thought. She said that the only way I’m going to replace the spinal fluid that is leaking because of the epidural is to drink lots of water. It took about a month but I finally started getting better. Of course Victoria did well and was nursing like a champ.

There is so much more to tell about her but this is so long. I better end now. Overall I don’t feel like it was a horrible birth. It was just very lonely and didn’t seem all that special since I didn’t have anyone that I felt loved me there.