Mama Gia holding Lilia
Our happy little Family! (We should probably be sleeping right now but sometimes I can't take my eyes off of her!)So where to start? Early labor can start WEEKS and weeks in advance, right? So how do you really know when it's the real deal? Last week I got schooled.
I'll start with my 39 week doctor appointment that I had on Thursday May 14th. It's so funny, because I had initially prayed and hoped that I would make it to this appointment because Cliff was supposed to be out on the ship and was going to be coming back home on the 15th. When Cliff came home early all bets were off! I wanted this baby OUT of me. My Doctor had told me the previous week that I was dilated to almost 3 cm and I was 25% effaced. He said he might not see me at 39 weeks, but there I was.
During the appointment he measured me again and to my disappointment I was still only at a 3 but I was at least 50 % effaced. He asked me if I wanted my membranes stripped, but warned me that there were certainly no guarantees with this process. I said "what the heck? why not?" I mean, Cliff was home now, so lets get this show on the road! This was the beginning of the end......
Cliff and I went to the commissary after the appt. and we ran into everyone and there mother. I was becoming increasingly more and more uncomfortable but I didn't want to get my hopes up. I felt really crampy and quite a bit of pressure in my lower abdomen and pelvic area. We talked to some of the friends that we ran into and then went home to go for a walk. Walking was definitely making my cramps worse, but again, I didn't want to get my hopes up. Flash forward a few hours (about 7:00pm) and my mom and Cliff and I are watching American Idol ( live television is delayed about 12 hrs for us here) and eating our dinner. I was so uncomfortable at this point that I was alternating between sitting and pacing the room. We decided during the America's Next Top Model finale (8:00pm) to start casually timing my contractions. I wasn't very consistent in timing them but they seemed to be any where from 3-6 minutes apart. Cliff called Labor and Delivery in Yokosuka around 9pm and they asked us to consistently time the contractions for another hour. I tried to sit tight and my mom started a load of laundry while we checked to make sure our bags were all packed - just in case. Well the contractions were still a little erratic but Cliff and my mom thought we should go ahead and leave for the hospital. We were going to be checking into the Storks Nest (hotel for expectant mothers that live far away from Yokosuka) the following day anyway. My mom and I kept getting ready and Cliff announced that we had forgotten to gas up the van and that he would be right back.... yeah that turned into 45 minutes when he had to go off base and realized he couldn't speak Japanese nor understand the credit card machine at the pump. He had to drive back on base, get some yen out of the ATM, drive back off base, stop at a convenience store to break a 5,000 yen bill, and then get gas. We usually get gas on base as it's much less expensive and convenient, but do we plan for these things? Certainly not.
About 10 minutes before we left some panic and denial tried to get the better of me. I didn't want to drive down to the hospital just to be laughed at and sent home with a false alarm. I actually had Cliff pull over on the way out the gate because I thought my contractions had stopped and I refused to go any further until I had another one. Yeah... that took about 2 min. - two minutes of very awkward silence in our car... so off we went!
We arrived at Labor and Delivery around 10:30? Maybe a little before 11:00pm? We almost got held up at the gate at Yokosuka because my mom didn't have a pass for that base. Cliff was patiently waiting for the guard to get through his spiel about visitors while I was growing increasingly antsy. I finally shouted across the seat that we needed to get to the hospital first as I was in labor! The guard apologized profusely and asked "why didn't you say so??" That's Cliff for you :) I think he was kind of in shock at this point. We got in and they took me to a room to strap some monitors to me and watch my contractions. One of the nurses came in to ask me some some questions about pain management, my contractions, when I last ate, etc. After about 30 minutes they came back in to check the monitors and one of the midwives checked my cervix. My contractions were a steady 4-5 minutes apart and I was now 75% effaced but still only at a 3!! UGH! The midwife asked if I wanted her to strip my membranes again to see if we could speed things up. It wasn't uncomfortable earlier when Dr. Groetch did it, so I said "sure." Boy oh boy was it different this time around. It really hurt and and I bled a lot. She said this was a good thing. They did not admit me at this point but allowed me to check into the Stork's Nest early. The midwife and nurse recommended that I either walk for a few hours or go home and get some sleep as first time mother's have labors that last 14-17 hrs on average. They said if I got stronger contractions in the next few hours that I could certainly come back in, but they didn't think anything would come of it that night.....
Here's where things get a little more interesting. We walked/waddled to the Storks Nest and tried to get settled in. I was actually in pain now where before things were just uncomfortable and annoying. I was also bleeding a lot more. Cliff and my mom had to run back to the front gate to get her an official pass. They were only gone about 20 minutes but it was perhaps the longest 20 minutes in my life up to that point. When they got back it was about 12:30am and I was into full blown panicky pain lady. I tried everything to get some relief. I tried walking, dancing, curling up in a ball on the bed, breathing, meditating, squatting, etc. I even tried to take a hot shower and Cliff tried to rub my back. I wanted to go straight back to the hospital but my mom was convinced I should try to sleep or go for a walk. I didn't WANT to go for a walk!! That made things worse!! I was finally having real contractions and... I didn't like them one bit. I was like a crazy lemming or something literally running around our hotel room in circles. My mom even claims that I threw a hair brush at her.... I think I just threw it on the floor. Well.... we did this for about 2 more hrs until I had finally had it and wanted to get to get to the hospital and beg for an epidural. I didn't need to prove anything to anyone and felt at this point that enduring any more of this crap would be masochistic. My mom was skeptical of our admittance but I was going to try anyway. So we got there around 2:30am and had to do all the monitor crap for another 30 minutes before they would check me. I just tried to keep breathing deeply. The nurse commented that I definitely looked more uncomfortable this time around. After 30 minutes they established that my contractions were a pretty consistent three minutes apart and the midwife came in to examine me again. Hallelujah! I was dilated 5cm and 80% effaced! Who said stripping membranes doesn't work? Well that was my ticket in. They started some paper work on me and then moved me to the room I would spend the next 9 hrs in. A couple of corpsman came in to start and I.V. on me and the nurse ( I think her last name was Saito?) asked me again about pain management. Epidural? Yes, please...soon?
They had a lot of trouble with my I.V. They couldn't find a vein on either arm. They tried one arm for about 10 minutes and finally gave up after lots of sticks and blood. They didn't have much luck with my other arm and apparently there was a lot of blood because Cliff had to sit down for a minute. I never watch them stick me ( and having had a brain tumor I have had ample opportunity to watch,) and I was waaaay too preoccupied with the contractions to care, but I vaguely understood that there was going to be a lot of bruising. They next few hours are a little blurry now... I know nurse Saito said that they had called the anesthesiologist but he wasn't at the hospital yet. I think the time was passed with Cliff applying counter pressure to my feet and me... quietly wimpering and casting sour looks. My mom was still back at the hotel sleeping. Cliff was such a champ. He just kept on massaging my feet. The anasthesiologist didn't get there until 4am and by then I was at 6cm and 90 %. His name was Captain Turk and for some reason he kind of reminded me of a salty sea captain or a pirate. I was kind of loopy with pain at that point, though. It took them just a little while to get the catheter in because of all of the contractions but once it was in it was almost instantaneous bliss. To this day that man is my hero. It was fantabulous. The contractions weren't causing me pain any more but I could still tell when I was having them, I could still feel my legs and wiggle my toes and I still felt very aware of my surroundings - just happier. I even kissed Cliff! My mom of course chose now to show up - once all of the crankiness and pain were gone. She's a clever lady. I was initially worried about having an epidural because I had heard that they can slow labor down and I didn't really want to be induced but mine did the opposite! It helped me relax and I dilated at a very steady rate. Capatain Turk was done around 5 am and by 8am I was dilated to 8cm and by 10am I was fully dilated to 10cm and 100% effaced EXCEPT for this little lip around my cervix. Commander Hiles (my midwife) told me that had this been a second time delivery they would have had me start pushing right then and there (which at this point I was really anxious to do) but being a first time delivery that lip can catch and bleed too much and they didn't want to risk it. I was back in a lot of pain now and had been since around 9am. I was really really wanting to push feeling TONS of pressure in my pelvic area. Commander Hiles said she would come back and check in 30min-and hour and for me to just hold tight. AHHH!!! I didn't think I could do it. This is about when Captain Turk showed up again with a little trick up his sleeve. He gave me a low dose of fentinol sp? to tide me over until delivery. It basically knocked me out for about 45 minutes until Commander Hiles came back and announced we were good to go! Now here is where I about had a panic attack. Commander Hiles said "let's talk a little about pushing... this is going to take a lot of energy and you are really going to have to give it your all." I was panicking because my friends had all told me their stories about pushing for HOURS. I didn't think I could last another 5 minutes! They had me do a couple of practice pushes to make sure I had the hang of it and then decided we were good to go. I had a little moment with myself right then where I decided that I would NOT push for hours. I was positively absolutely DONE with being pregnant and I was going to push like there was no tomorrow. I started pushing at 11:30. They asked me if I wanted to see a mirror. "Heck no." At 11:40am Lilia graced us with her presence! 10 MINUTES! The best part of my pregnancy. She had the cord around her neck when she came out but that was quickly remedied and Commander Hiles put her straight on my chest. Everyone in the room was cheering or crying. Even Cliff was misty as he later admitted. My mom was crying, I was crying, Lilia was crying. It was a cry fest. Cliff cut her cord and I delivered the placenta quite easily. Commander Hiles made me look at it :) It was actually kind of interesting... in a kind of gross and bizarre way. That 2lbs of tissue caused me a lot of grief these past few months. But I did it! I was able to deliver vaginally and everyone was healthy and safe. Lilia was quite the chunker so I am glad that she came 6 days before her due date. I got to nurse her right away too and she has been taking to it splendidly. I tore a little bit during the pushing, but Commander Hiles got me stitched up pretty quickly and I was even able to walk to the bathroom rather than take the wheelchair when the time came.
We stayed at the hospital for two days (standard for new moms) and came home on Sunday. We are still getting into a routine and figuring out how to sleep, but otherwise all is well and we LOVE our little girl!!!
