Wednesday, July 30, 2014. one of the best days of my life thus far. {tied with my wedding day/marriage to the man that brought me the next best day of my life of course 😉 }
prepare for too many details. I want to remember as much as possible.
at my 37/38 week doctors appointment a nurse approached me about a research study group that was going on for first time mothers. they are conducting a research study on whether it is healthier for babies and mom to be induced at 39 weeks instead of having to wait to be induced at 41 weeks {reasons: placenta’s functionality decreases, weight of child vs. c-sections etc}. after talking it over and getting more information from the nurse, Ty and I felt I had nothing to lose. I would either be randomly selected to be induced at 39 weeks, go into natural labor or I would be induced at 41 weeks – like all first time moms who go past their due date. plus I could chose not to do it at anytime if I felt uneasy about it. the one incentive to want to be induced at 39 weeks was not only to have my sweet little girl here but Ty’s brother, Johnny was in town until the 4th of August, so if I went over my due date he wouldn’t meet her until her blessing. so I opted to be apart of the study. once I had my next appointment I was 38 weeks, I was 50% effaced and dilated at a 2. { my thoughts: GREAT not much progression}….after a few days they called to put us into the study in a randomized program to let us know what group we would be apart of. we were put into the group to be induced at — 39 weeks — I got a little bit anxious and had a few butterflies now knowing EXACTLY when I would meet my little girl. so since I was technically 39 weeks on a saturday, they wouldn’t do the induction until the following week. so my induction was scheduled to begin the night of the 29th of July. I felt like that week and weekend were the longest ones of my life. I kept hoping for spontaneous labor but knew she was real comfy in there kicking my guts around so that was probably not gonna happen.
July 29th came and I was told to come into the hospital at 7pm. my mom came up to be there for the birth and to keep me sane after labor. since they inform you that you wouldn’t be able to eat again until after the birth, I had my “last supper”, which was a tasty sandwich from Which Wich {yum}. then it was off to the hospital – got checked in and sat in the room and waited for the nurse.
Sharon, my nurse who I LOVED, came in to meet us and check my situation out. she let us know that I was 90% effaced and dilated to a 3.5/4. she then proceeded to let us know that since I was already 90% effaced they wouldn’t need to give me prostaglandin to soften my cervix and they could start the pitocin. she informed us that I would probably give birth somewhere around 3-4am. we told her Dr. Jacob, my doctor, was on call the next day. she called him and he said he would come in to deliver our girl whatever time it was – because he is that awesome — I hope he delivers all my babes, no joke. so we let that pitocin start drippin around 8:15pm. and my husband paced for the next 3-4 hours and gave Sharon the third degree {he asks questions and paces around when he gets nervous/anxious — its kinda cute}. although she said she really liked being asked questions — she was too nice so who knows if that is true or not.
so I had made no decision prior on whether I would get an epidural. I told myself I would just see how it went as I progressed. we let the pitocin work its magic and Sharon would check me every hour. time was irrelevant to me at this point – just working through the contractions. at first I felt the contractions were like period cramps. I was sure if that was all it was I could endure that! well i was naive. when the nurse came to check on me and told me I was a 5. I asked her when she thought I should get the epidural if I decided I wanted it. she suggested once I start having to breath through the contractions, then at that point I should consider the epidural. so I kept enduring. braving it. I started to feel the contractions in my lower back wrapping into my front but mostly the lower back. kinda like when you do yard work and are hunched over forever, the sore back feeling but then it began to get crazy intense. I could feel myself getting uncomfortable with each contraction. I kept enduring. my silly husband would point out to me when a “big one” was happening on the monitor…YEAH I know. I can feel it. He once made me laugh in the middle of a contraction and I thought I would lose it- smack a fool- because laughing at the same time that muscle is so tense was like hitting your funny bone but x20. it hurts SO bad but I was laughing because of what he had said. I told him no more of that… eventually I came to reason with myself, I could continue to tough this out and get myself dilated further, maybe to a 7/8 but I knew I didn’t really want to feel anything close to what a 9/10 felt like and I definitely didn’t really want to feel the pain afterward {squishing my belly and whatnot}. AND I was slowly getting that irritability for no reason other than: pain of contractions + people I love that are not in pain = irritated pregnant lady wanting everyone out of that room. so since I knew I really wanted my mom, marissa, susan, ty and melissa to stay in the room for the delivery, I knew it was going to be better for everyone overall once I got the epidural. I believe I was at about a 5.5/6 when they gave me the epidural…then from that point on, it was bliss. I slept a little. enjoyed what was going on around me. such a good idea. eventually they came in and broke my water as well. when that happened they informed us that there was meconium in the water {baby poop} so once she was born they would have to have the NICU team there just in case she swallows any of the fluid. one thing NO ONE mentioned to me that would happen that I feel like a lot of women forget about was the shakes. I literally COULD NOT stop shaking. they gave me a warm blanket in attempt to help calm it down. both my mom and Sue said how they forgot about the shakes. Ty even told me to stop shaking — unfortunately I can’t control this adrenaline rush silly husband.
once the time came to push it was about 4:45am ish. Sharon called Dr. Jacob to come and she prepped Ty & I for what I needed to do to push. we started the process. contractions started, I pushed. Sharon was great and to my wonderful surprise, so was Tyler. I totally expected him to be grossed out, pacing around or not sure what he should do, maybe even passed out but he was really great. kept coaching me through each contraction to push harder to get our little girl out. everyone kept saying how much hair she had. it felt surreal. like was I really bringing a little human into this world right now?
Dr. Jacob said “one last push Nicole and I want you to lean forward to watch this one…” as I did what he said, I saw my sweet Avyn come into this world. seriously, no words can describe that feeling. and then another bizarre feeling of having all that space freed up inside me. my mind was blown. it’s extraordinary how for the last 3-4 months my body hasn’t felt like my own because I have been sharing it with that little one then –BAM- in an instant I feel that space we shared unoccupied and that occupant is staring at me, screaming and I have no words to describe the love I have for that little one. its beyond this world, that’s all I know.
I think I started to tear up and then they took her immediately over to the NICU in the other side of the room to make sure she didn’t have fluid in her lungs etc. she wasn’t making enough noise and I was getting worried. she had made one scream when she came out but nothing since….then the NICU team talked amongst themselves and finally took her off to the NICU. Tyler followed them. panic must have been apparent on my face because Dr. Jacob kept reassuring me that everything was fine. she just wasn’t expanding her lungs completely so she needed to be put on a nasal CPAP. he said she got a good apgar score and nothing to worry about….so we waitied. Ty sent pictures to us from the NICU. I was in love. all i wanted to do was to hold and kiss that squishy little face. and that is all I have done since that day.
Avyn Mae Richards was born at 5:39am on July 30. 7 lbs 12 oz. 19.5 inches. I believe in total I pushed for 50 minutes and the whole labor and delivery was around 9.5 hours.
I got to finally go see her after an hour. again tears of joy streamed down my face. I really did underestimate how much love I would have for her and my husband. she was perfect to me. and still is.
I have found a new immense appreciation to mothers. especially my own and ty’s. they have been amazing during this new adjustment period. I could NEVER have done this without them.
also BIG thanks to Melissa at Moxie Shots Photography for capturing these amazing memories for us. she has caught some of the most important moments in my life and can’t thank her enough!