Holleboom Family Blog: Bristol's Birth

I just realized that I never posted a birth story for Carson. Maybe I'll go back and do one for him soon, too. Just to have record of it. But for now, here is the story of Bristol's birth. If you are grossed out by details of births, you might want to skip this post... :) I should also forewarn you that this post is rather long..

As I've previously mentioned, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes after my glucose tolerance test at 29 weeks and was officially classified as a high risk pregnancy. Luckily, I had a pretty mild case of it and was able to manage my blood sugars during the day by watching my diet closely. I did have to take a drug called glyburide at bedtime every night to control my fasting blood sugar, though. I had pre-eclampsia and HELLP syndrome with Carson, which worried my doctors at first b/c generally gestational diabetes can increase your risk of pre-eclampsia... and I already had a higher risk of developing pre-eclampsia again anyway. My blood pressure had actually been rising throughout my 2nd trimester and was getting quite high, especially for me. It was up in the 140s/80s. But then I got diagnosed with gestational diabetes and my blood pressure actually started dropping back into what is my normal range when I'm not pregnant (100s/50s). It stayed quite low for awhile and then started creeping up towards the end, but it never got higher than 124/72 at that point. It totally stumped my OBs... my body is just strange.

So at 29 weeks, I started going to the doctor once a week instead of the typical once every 2 weeks. Then I started glyburide at 31 weeks and started going to the OB twice a week - on Tuesdays and Fridays. Plus some random weeks where I would have an appointment with the Hurley Maternal Fetal Medicine, making 3 doctor appts. during those weeks. It made for some crazy work schedules, but I was very thankful all of my doctors and nurses were monitoring things so closely. And I was very thankful to have such understanding and flexible bosses at work. Gestational diabetes babies are generally larger than the average newborn and can develop problems with the placenta and excess amniotic fluid, so I was having ultrasounds once every two weeks to monitor Bristol's biophysical profile. I was also having non-stress tests every Tuesday and every other Friday to monitor Bristol's movements and heart rate reactions.

My OBs discussed the need to birth Bristol a little early due to the gestational diabetes. I wanted to have the option to be induced so that I could try to push her out, rather than have a scheduled c-section. This meant I needed to be induced during the 38th week - they'd have waited till 39 weeks for a c-section. Following my last ultrasound on Friday, June 15th, Bristol was estimated to weigh around 7lbs, 9oz. My body was also dilating, effacing, and my cervix was softened. So Dr. Moreno recommended we schedule induction for Monday, June 18th.

So on Monday morning, we dropped Carson off at his Grandma and Grandpa's house and then headed to the hospital. We had to be there by 9:00am to get things started. After taking care of all the admitting bureaucracy stuff, getting settled, and getting my IVs going, we were finally ready to start the pitocin around 10:00am. They start pitocin at 1 drop per minute into your IV and increase it every half hour by 2 drops per minute. The max they will build up to is 20 drops per minute. Literally right after we started the pitocin drip, all patients on the floor were put into a holding pattern due to 6 emergency c-sections that came up all at once. They only have 2 operating rooms for the emergency c-sections, so they cannot take the risk of getting labor going on other patients that may potentially also need an emergency c-section. So we stayed at 1 drip/minute with the pitocin until about 3:00 pm when they started increasing it every half hour. I was able to eat lunch, even, which is generally a big no-no during a hospital labor and delivery. Not only because they had no idea when they'd be able to start increasing the pitocin, but also because my blood sugar was dropping really low - it was down to 62 right before I ate lunch.

Once the pitocin was increased around 3:00pm, I started progressing quite well. I dilated to a good 4cm by around 5:30/6:00pm and started the transition phase. At this point, the contractions were getting very strong and were running 30-60 seconds apart. I progressed through the transition phase very quickly. I started shaking uncontrollably and asked for the epidural much too late again. The same thing happened with Carson, too. I was totally ok, handling things very well, breathing through contractions, and then BAM! I hit a wall of pain and progressed extremely fast. It was much worse, pain-wise, this time around than it was with Carson. I was actually asking them to take me for a c-section while we were waiting for the anesthesiologist to arrive with the epidural. Of course, they wouldn't take me for one, though. :) Once the anesthesiologist arrived, I had been shaking uncontrollably for more than an hour and was having a really hard time breathing through the contractions. The nurse checked my progress and at first thought I had fully ripened - I was totally freaking out inside my head at that point, thinking there was no way I could make it through these contractions and delivery without an epidural. But she checked again and realized I was not fully done, but was at a good 7 cm, pushing 8 cm... JUST in time for the epidural. Having to sit up on the side of the bed to get it almost put me over the edge. I was very thankful to have a very supportive and caring nurse with me since my mom and Kevin had to leave the room during the epidural.

I did not feel the same relief I did when I got my epidural with Carson. I had been having a lot of back labor and tons of pressure with Bristol - I kept thinking I was for sure going to poop during every contraction (I never did, though). I expected this all to go away, along with the pain from the contractions, once I got the epidural. But the epidural only covered the pain from the contractions in my abdoment, not the pressure. So it was still quite an uncomfortable labor, though my pain levels were very much decreased (thankfully!). I also never stopped shaking uncontrollably. By the time every thing was all said and done, I had shook for a good 4 to 4 1/2 hours straight because it continued for a bit after Bristol was born. I had some pretty intense muscle fatigue from it for a few days afterwards.

Around 9:00pm, Dr. Moreno came in to check my progress again. I was just about fully there, with just a little bit of cervix left. But he thought I could probably push through it. The nurse asked if she should call the residents and other nurses, but he said no, we could do it on our own. He told Kevin to get on one side and my mom on the other side and to each grab a foot. On the contraction, he told them to push my feet up towards my chest as far as they'd go and I was to lift my head and shoulders up and curl downwards as far as possible and push as hard as I could. The only other people in the room were Dr. Moreno, my nurse Ashauntae, and another L&D nurse, Chris, who would get the baby. I should also mention here, that Kevin wasn't too happy to be in the same position he was in when Carson was born - LOL! He claims its nothing he has ever, nor ever wants to see again. Haha!

As we were waiting for the next contraction, Dr. Moreno was stretching and pulling all around down there to help minimize any tearing. The epidural had been turned off, so I was able to feel quite a bit more again... and all that stretching and pulling was quite uncomfortable. I kept saying I felt like I was going to poop - Dr. Moreno kept reassuring me it was ok and totally normal if I did. He was so supportive and kind.

Then the contraction hit and I had to push. With Carson, I was so quiet and did not make a sound during the pushing - I just bore down and pushed. With Bristol, I was screaming... LOUD! The residents and other nurses were down the hall and heard me and came running - LOL. Kevin said he thinks people on other floors probably heard me - haha! The entire time I'm pushing and screaming that "it hurts so bad," Dr. Moreno and my mom are yelling and exclaiming that "her head is right there" and "look at all that hair" and "keep pushing, Sara!" That ring of fire as they call it truly feels like a ring of fire. And the whole time Dr. Moreno is still stretching and pulling. And it still hurts terribly. And I still feel like I'm going to poop. LOL.

That was one push. Then we paused to wait for the next contraction. I was begging for a c-section at that point. Dr. Moreno always responded with - "so you want this kind of pain for 2 weeks?!" Always with a smile on his face and encouraging words to go along with it. And always with a little dig about being such a screamer - he says he never expected that from me. ;) The next contraction hit and another push. It hurt even more than the first and involved more screaming and yelling. This time I got her head to crown. The next contraction and third push and she was out, along with tons of fluid that was built up behind her. 3 pushes and about 10 minutes and she was out at 9:18 PM! She wasn't crying immediately, which freaked me out. I kept asking why she wasn't crying. It felt like an eternity to me, but was probably less than a minute. They were suctioning out her mouth - she had swallowed a lot of fluid during the birth. But then I heard her sweet little cry! Relief, joy, and love flooded through me.

Kevin actually cut her cord (he couldn't do Carson's, so my mom cut Carson's). The nurses ran through all their tests and whatnot that they do. She weighed 6 pounds, 14 ounces, was 19 1/4 inches long, and had a 13 1/2 cm head... remember you only dilate to 10cm, lol! Her apgar score was 9/10. I think they knocked one point off for something to do with all the fluid she swallowed or something. They told me, but I don't really remember. I delivered the placenta and whatever else comes out and got stitched up. I did have a very small tear that required 2 stitches... MUCH better than my 4th degree tear with Carson. Oh and... I never pooped!! Woohoo! HAHA!

Then it was time for her to nurse for the first time. They had me roll onto my side for the side-lying position. She latched right on and started nursing like a champ right away. (Although she did give me a bruise during that first time). She was so alert for quite awhile after birth. Such bright eyes. She looked so much like Carson. She was just beautiful and perfect. :)

This first pic is Bristol - sorry for the quality, it was taken with Kevin's old-school cell phone. She was only about a half-hour old. The second pic is Carson at about 14 hours old. Bristol's face is still a little swollen from birth, where Carson's has had time to settle down a little. But you can definitely see the resemblance.