Ordinarily I don't like to post out of order, but I figured if I casually posted about how cute Jane is before telling you all about the birth of Penny then our readers wouldn't be thrilled. So with that caveat: Penny's birth.
My first due date (July 25) had long since past. My second due date (July 30) had past. I had a doctors appointment on the 31st with a doctor I don't normally see. My cervix was measuring 3cm, 50% effaced, and -1 station. More improvement, which was great since I had been having TONS of contractions still. Since I was so far along/overdue he offered to strip my membranes during my appointment. I looked at his giant fingers and decided that if anything would get labor going it was going to be this man and his giant fingers. He instructed me to go home and drink raspberry tea and wait.
That night I had bloody show and lost a bunch of my mucous plug (google if you dare). This is typically a sign of early labor so we were feeling optimistic. We ran out and bought some raspberry tea and I started drinking that.
I was having contractions off and on on the 1st but I insisted that we go to the fair anyway. The Wisconsin State Fair is far too awesome to miss, luckily it opened on the 1st so we were able to squeeze it in.
 |
| Ironically enough this was my view from my recovery room window. |
Apparently all that walking did the trick because by about 6pm (still at the fair) I was having contractions pretty regularly about 5-10min apart. (--more blog on the fair coming later--)
We decided we should probably head home just in case things continued progressing. They did, so here is me at somewhere between 1 week overdue and 39 weeks, 5 days. Deep fried cookie dough is fabulous, by the way.
Dad and Imy were going to be watching Jane while we were at the hospital and since they were already in town for the fair they decided to hang out at the house for an hour or so to see if labor was coming as soon as it seemed. Of course once we got home my contractions spaced out to 10-15min apart so we told them to go on home but to keep their phones close by.
Literally the minute they left I started having contractions 5 minutes apart again (8:40pm).
We waited a few hours still because I felt like they needed to be stronger before I went to the hospital. We called Dad and Imy around midnight and told them that they should probably head back up to Milwaukee.
We checked into the hospital about 1:30am and my contractions stayed strong. They admitted us and told us I was 4cm, 90% effaced, and that we weren't leaving without a baby :)
We told them I was hoping to allow labor to progress naturally and avoid an epidural. They were extremely supportive and let me walk around, use the whirlpool tub, bounce on an exercise ball, and even waited to put an IV in so that I would be free to do what I felt was best for labor. It was awesome. Compared to the experience with Jane's labor, I was blown away by how supportive and awesome the staff was.
Unfortunately by about 6am my contractions were still 5 minutes apart (not closer) and I had only progressed to 4.5-5cm, 90% effaced. Dr Lund (the on call doc) was really helpful in explaining our options. He said they were nervous to send me home since my water could break anytime and he thought once labor got going it would go by very quickly. He was a little afraid I wouldn't make it back to the hospital if we went home. He offered us pitocin (which I really wanted to avoid), going home and risking a home birth, or breaking my water. We decided to have him break my water and see how things went from there. Around 7am, Dr. Lund broke my water. Almost immediately contractions picked up and intensified.
About an hour later I requested some IV pain meds. They gave me nubain, which basically does nothing for contractions but helps your body relax in between contractions. The nurses kept messing up my IV and it took a couple of tries, but eventually I did get some relief between contractions.
***POST-EDIT: Scott later told me they continued to mess up my IV and I never did get any meds. The relief was just me falling asleep from complete exhaustion.***
Most of labor is a complete blur beyond this point. The pain was so intense that I couldn't open my eyes or communicate basically anything. I was half-dreaming because of the exhaustion and the few things I did say didn't make any sense (at one point I told Scott that I was so glad we parked the car where we did). Strange things. Anyhow, I finally figured out a rhythm and Scott was incredibly supportive and awesome throughout the whole thing. He rubbed my back and applied counter pressure (I had almost entirely back labor). He and Janet held a cold cloth to my forehead and were basically rock stars for the next few hours.
About 8:30am Dr. Lasser (who had stripped my membranes two days earlier) came in to check on me. I was 6cm dialated and almost completely effaced. I had been pretty non-responsive for the last hour and when I heard him say I was only 6cm I sat up and yelled, "I'm only a freaking SIX?!?"
It was precious. Then everyone in the room laughed at me and I almost passed out.
Anyhow, apparently my body felt bad about that because about 9:30am I told the nurse I needed to push. She ran out of the room to grab a doctor (Dr. Klatt this time) and sure enough, in only an hour I went from 6cm to 10cm! I was ready to push.
After about 10 minutes of pushing, this little beauty came out.
Penny Jennifer Brunson
Born August 2, 2013 at 9:45am
Weighing 7lbs, 4oz
19.25 inches long
At that moment I was so glad that I had chosen to go natural because while the labor was terrible and I got to feel the famous "ring of fire" (when the baby's head crowns), it was truly amazing to feel her body come out of mine. She was pretty blue at first and they were about to resussitate her when I saw her and asked if she was okay. Almost immediately she took a deep breath, it was like she was just waiting for her mama. Because she pinked up real quick after that she got an 8/9 and 9/9 on her apgars.
This nurse was so sweet. While they stitched me up she cooed and snuggled our little girl as if it were her own granddaughter. It was so neat to watch. I am so amazed at how much love people can show for complete strangers.
The doctor on the right is Dr. Klatt. He delivered and was AWESOME.
I was so excited to be able to hold her as soon as she was born (which I hadn't been able to do with Jane)
Our sweet little girl.
We couldn't have been happier to have her in our arms. Scott even let me hog her for the first hour. I'm pretty sure after seeing me go through labor like that he would have let me do anything I wanted.
My body had a little bit of a hard time stopping bleeding, but it wasn't enough to be considered a hemorrhage. Just enough that I was pretty light headed the first day or so. They ended up giving me a shot in my leg to help and it worked great.
Because I went natural I was actually able to climb out of bed after and get myself into the wheelchair and into my other bed in recovery. It was pretty awesome. A few hours later Penny's first visitors came.
The grandparents approved.
I felt really great right away. I guess that's the perk of not having a bunch of drugs involved in labor. My recovery with Jane was so rough that I was expecting the worst, but so far I have felt AMAZING. It was nice to feel good and be able to enjoy the time we had in the hospital just Penny and I.
Penny and her Daddy have matching hair.
Penny, 1 day old
Jane came by the next day to meet her baby sister. She was so excited to see her Mommy and when we asked her where baby sister was she immediately looked around the room until she found the baby. We were impressed, we thought for sure she would just point to my belly like she had been for the last 9 months. But she seemed to recognize that the baby came out.
Penny thoroughly enjoyed having her mama all to herself while we were in the hospital. Much snuggling was had.
Getting in their daily Penny snuggles.
We sure love our lucky Penny.
After waiting HOURS to get discharged they finally let us go home on Sunday morning.
Jane was excited to have her sister home.
I loved that both girls were sucking on their fingers in grandma's arms.
I'm so sad this picture won't flip.
