Jayne Manning
Born on July 30, 2013
12:03 AM
7 lbs. 5 oz.
20 in.
Let's start with Sunday night... July 28th.
It was pretty much exactly 11 pm when I started feeling contractions. They weren't consistantly a certain time apart from each other, it varied from like 10 minutes or less apart, but they were consistantly coming. I tried to go to sleep, but I knew there was no way I would be getting sleep that night. I tried not to wake up Thomas and tell him, but I was too excited haha. They weren't very painful, but I knew they would start getting painful pretty soon. I stayed up on facebook and read my book. I did try to sleep, but yeah by then they were starting to be too painful to try and sleep though. They were definitely still bareable though. Around 5 or 6 Monday morning, Thomas and I were talking about whether he should go to work that day. I wasn't sure how long of a day it would be... The contractions weren't super painful (yet), but were getting closer together. We decided it would be better if he stayed home. I wanted him with me through these contractions! I definitely needed him. We went on a walk at like 6 around the neighborhood to maybe help things progress more. We came home and watched The Office, then I was going crazy laying in bed while these contractions kept coming. I wanted to do something about it! Time needed to go faster! So I told Thomas that I wanted to walk around Target. We got there a little after 9. We walked around for a while until we got bored... then I was hungry so we went to Wendy's and I got chicken nuggets. Haha good stuff. By now the contractions were like 5-10 minutes apart, but I was able to walk and talk through them. I knew it was still early to go to the hospital. I didn't want to go home though, so we went to Walmart. We walked around there for a while, then came home. We started watching The Avenger's while I layed there and tried to rest/get through the contractions. They started getting pretty painful. I had to squeeze Thomas' hand to get through them. (He was amazing through all this by the way... I definitely needed him) They were getting to be around 3 to 5 minutes apart, and I was sick of being home, so we decided it was time to head to the hospital. I kept in mind that I might be turned away... I had no clue... We got to the hospital probably around noon or 1. They took me up to triage, where you wait and they check you to see how the contractions are going, how far dilated you are, etc. The nurse checked me and I was at a 4, so she told me to lay there for a little bit, and then walk around the hospital for an hour. The contractions were definitely getting worse by this point. I was still able to walk through them though. We ate in the cafeteria because we were both so hungry again and I knew if I got admitted this would be the last time I could eat for a while. After walking around for an hour, we headed back up to triage. The contractions were consistantly getting more frequent and intense. I was in quite a bit of pain at this point. The nurse checked me, and told me I was still at a 4!! I was like are you kidding me?? These contractions are doing nothing apparently?? I was devastated. I almost cried. She told me that I was in very early labor and this could go on for days even. She said either I could go home and she could send me with pain pills, or I could wait there a little longer. I said YES I want to wait here longer! I was convinced by now that I needed to stay. These contractions were super painful at this point. I cried through them and felt so helpless pretty much. After laying there for maybe 30 minutes to an hour, the nurse checked me again.... and I was at a 5!! YAY!!! She said I would be admitted and asked if I wanted an epidural right away. I said YES PLEASE! They did blood work and gave me an IV. I was waiting there for forever until finally they took me into the hospital room and gave me the epidural. I was so nervous. I heard it was a huge needle. (I never saw it actually...) The doctor that put it in was awesome. He reassured me that nothing would go wrong. He told me I would feel some pressure. I was like umm... what pressure?? It didn't even hurt! When they put the IV in it hurt way worse! The hard thing though was getting through a contraction while having to sit there so still. Thomas was holding my legs and trying to help me through it. It was so hard. After a couple minutes once the epidural was in, the nurse told me I was having a contraction and asked if I could feel it. I was like seriously?? No way! I couldn't feel it at all. Epidurals are great. They really are.
Once I got the epidural, Thomas and I just hung out there in the room waiting until I was at a 10 pretty much. Once they put the epidural in I was about at a 6. Thomas and I watched Spiderman. I tried to rest, because I knew it might be a very long night... Who knew how fast I would get to a 10? By around 7 or 8 PM (I wish I knew the time better... I was clueless) they checked me and I was at a 7.5. It took me like an hour or 2 to get to an 8, so they decided to give me a low dose of pitocin to help speed up things up. Oh, and I remember telling the nurse that I felt pressure, and kind of felt like I needed to push, but I guess Jayne was just moving more down because I was only at an 8. After a couple hours, I started feeling pressure again. It felt like my body was trying to push. I waited a while, but then called the nurse to have her check me again. She was like oh wow yep you're at a 10! (Who knew how long I was at a 10?? But it's ok because I wasn't in pain at least) Thomas was asleep by the way, and had been for the last like hour. He woke when he heard the nurse say I was at a 10 and ready to push. Haha it was awesome. He was so excited! We both were. I was scared though, too of course. I didn't know what it would be like! They got me a mirror so I could see Jayne coming out. I am SO glad I asked. It was seriously amazing. For a while it was just me, Thomas, and the nurse in there. Thomas held one leg and the nurse held the other. Thomas counted to 10 while I pushed. We did 3 sets of 10 during each contraction. Sometimes I had to wait though because Jayne's heartrate was a little low. I had an oxygen mask on. I started pushing a little after 11:30. I was starting to get frustrated, because I felt so exhausted and that I was pushing my hardest, but I could see because of the mirror, and I could only see the very top of Jayne's head. I felt like she wasn't even moving at all. After more pushing, I was able to get her head out a little more, and the nurse went to get the doctor. Before I started pushing, the nurse told me that once she got the doctor, it would be about 10 minutes before the baby was out. I was excited, because I knew I was almost done! The doctor came in, and I pushed more, and she told me that I would tear pretty bad if she didn't cut me. Jayne's head was just not gunna fit through there... So she cut me, and then pretty easily after that, Jayne finally entered the world :) Watching her come out was AMAZING. I loved it. They pretty quickly layed her right on my chest. It was love at first sight. Cheesy, but true. I cried just looking at this perfect baby girl. She was so precious! Even covered in yucky stuff, I thought she was beautiful. They let me hold her for a couple minutes and then took her to weigh her and clean her off. The doctor had to sew me up...
We had an awesome birth photographer, Hillarie Laver, come in right after Jayne was born to take pictures. My parents and Courtney also came pretty quickly after.
We love our little girl so much. She is perfect in every way. Thomas and I are obsessed with the cute little faces she does and the noises she makes. Pictures soon to come!!
~sniff sniff~
ReplyDeleteCongrats Tanny, she's a beauty like her Mommy.