Presley's Birthday Story!

So, the more time that passes between now and the day we met Presley, the more I forget about the details!  It makes me so sad as well as angry with myself for not making time to type out all the happenings from those few days!  But I plan to try my best to remember all the important (and less important) details from that weekend... so here we go...


It all started on a Saturday morning.  It was February 18th around 4 AM and Tony was getting up and leaving for work that morning (he had to be there at 5AM).  I got up to use the restroom and tried going back to bed but around 4:30 AM I started to feel very uncomfortable, almost like Presley was moving around really oddly inside of me.  I started to realize that the uncomfortable feeling would come and go pretty regularly so that's when I enlisted the help of a trusty iPod app to help me time what I was assuming were contractions.  Sure enough, the pain was coming in about every five minutes and lasting for a minute.  At this point I was WAY too excited to go back to sleep so I stayed up and timed the contractions.  Considering that this was my first time going through this, I had no idea if I was supposed to go in and get checked out or what, so I called my doctor's office and the on-call doctor suggested I go in just to get checked out.  So I did and I hadn't progressed any since my last doctors appointment -- 1 CM & about 70% effaced.  They hooked me up to machines, monitored me for an hour or so, checked me again, and same thing.  I told the nurse on duty that my doctor was out of town and that they were supposed to contact my doctor's midwife because that's who I preferred if my doctor was absent.  The nurse kinda dismissed that and told me I was stuck with the on-call doctor.  Nothing was progressing, so I went home to labor there because although my contractions were uncomfortable, they weren't unbearable.

This is when things were still "fun" and "exciting"

Tony was home from work when I got there and since we planned on spending the weekend cleaning and getting ready for the baby, that's what we did.  And at this point in the story, Tony and I really don't remember a whole heck of a lot.  We don't really remember what we did all day and don't remember the timing of things very well.  But the general consensus between the two of us is that we ended up going back to the birthing center late Saturday night (about 10 pm?) when contractions were still consistent and getting more painful.  We got checked in and again I got hooked up and monitored.  I think at this point I was only 1-2 CM dilated and had effaced more than 70% but I don't remember the specifics.  This was so frustrating.  So we walked around the hospital to get things going but not much was happening.  We stayed overnight and they gave me a pretty heavy sleeping pill so I could relax and get some rest.  Unfortunately, I didn't get much sleep at all.

Of course, my doctor was out of town, and OF COURSE, the on-call doctor was a huge ass hole and scared the crap out of me talking about pitocin and needing to get things going -- it all sounded so scary and painful!  It was at this point that I pulled the nurse aside and asked her to contact the midwife that worked closely with my doctor.  Finally, they contacted the midwife and she was upset they hadn't called her sooner.  She came to check me out and it was at this point that I heard for the first time that Presley was flipped the wrong way.  Although she was head down, she was turned to face the wrong way in a "posterior" position, and that this was not a good thing.  This explained why I was more uncomfortable than I should've been and also explains why a week earlier I was certain I felt Presley move into an uncomfortable position (I thought she had moved into a breech position, though).  The midwife and her apprentice had me get onto my knees and chest in hopes to get Presley to flip.  I remember being extremely uncomfortable at this point, felt exhausted, and just felt kinda hopeless as my body wasn't doing what it needed to do.  I don't remember specifics, but I know we stayed in the hospital until about 2 PM (on February 19th) and then got discharged because things really weren't happening, despite consistent contractions and being in a great deal of pain at this point.  I was distraught and cried all the way home, I think, because I really felt so scared.  Thankfully, before we left, our sweet nurse told us to come right back in if things got to be too much or if I couldn't sleep again, etc.

So, we were at home, COMPLETELY exhausted and my pain was getting so much worse.  I tried to be on my chest and knees as much as possible and Tony was helping me as much as he could.  He was just as tired as me with the only difference being his body was telling him to sleep because he wasn't in any pain!  But since I was in so much pain I needed him to stay awake with me to help keep me calm.  I got into the shower to hopefully help relieve some pain and just couldn't find any relief.  It was around 5 PM (on Sunday, February 19th) when I started freaking out saying this was too much and we needed to go in.  We went in and I had progressed a little more (about 3-4 CM and nearly 100% effaced) but not a whole heck of a lot.

I look awful! I needed oxygen but I don't remember why!

 This is when they THANKFULLY decided to let me have an epidural so my body could relax, sleep, and hopefully progress.  I was so scared to get an epidural but at this point I just wanted the pain to go away.  The procedure was fast and pretty much painless and in minutes I was smiling and laughing again and in no time I was getting some sleep!  A few hours later they checked me and decided to put me on pitocin because things still weren't happening.  As soon as they did that, my body started to respond and by Monday very early AM, my water finally broke!!!!  They told me that there was some meconium in the water and this wasn't favorable for the baby but they also weren't too worried about it.  At this point I was somewhere between 7-9 CM dilated and fully effaced and the midwife's apprentice came in and asked if I'd be willing to have my meds turned way down so I could get some feeling back in order to push.  She told me this would be better and things would go faster this way so of course I was alright with it.  Over the next 1-2 hours I started to feel that awful pain again and the contractions were absolutely unbearable!  Along the way I asked her what pain medication options I had and she said, "None.  You are having a baby, it's gonna hurt."  And I've never wanted to kill someone more than in that moment!!!!!

Finally, around 6 AM we were ready to push... and the fun REALLY starts!  Thank God for Tony and our fabulous nurses... I could not have done any of it without their support.  And thankfully, I didn't want to kill Tony throughout all of this... mostly because I was terrified and knew that I wanted him right next to me.  I remember telling the midwife's apprentice (she was the one delivering Presley) that I couldn't do it anymore and I was way too exhausted.  She told me I had to and I could keep going so I did and finally we were making some progress.  I remember the point that the baby started to crown (OUCH) and they asked if I wanted to see her head in the mirror to give me some motivation and I quickly shot that down, I just wanted her out of there and to be done!!!  So I kept pushing and it seemed like it all started happening so fast and at 6:49 AM they pulled her out, I felt SO much relief, we heard her cry, and they plopped this squirmy baby on my chest!

Such a wonderful moment for me!

 I will never forget how warm and soft she felt and how unprepared I felt!!!!  She was crying and I felt like I could hardly move, let alone take care of her.  Thankfully, she calmed down and just laid on me while they took forever to stitch me up.  (I ended up with two 2nd degree tears... ouch!)  She also pooped on me in that time period!!!  But thankfully it was just on the blankets and not so much on me-- woohoo!  After a while I was able to get up and go to the bathroom and I even got to soak in the bathtub for some time which felt absolutely amazing.  They weighed her and she was 7 lbs. & 12.7 oz!

Presley and her daddy getting some time together!

Shortly after that we had some breakfast and our family was there to visit (our parents & my Gramma) and just after that we moved to the mother/baby wing and into the room where we spent the next two days.

Moving us to our new room!

Holding this strange baby I have yet to get to know... so surreal!

I remember breastfeeding those first days hurt so bad and Presley was really having a tough time latching on.  I was having trouble sleeping in the hospital and felt like I could never relax again in addition to feeling like I didn't know how to take care of my own child.  This is when the baby blues started because everything just seemed to be so much harder than I ever imagined it being.  I was having trouble seeing that things were going to get better because I didn't know that they would!  But since then, things have really settled down and we are doing so great with breastfeeding.  I still feel like I don't know a whole lot about being a mom, but I feel more confident in taking care of my baby girl.  I'm getting to know her everyday and each day I'm finding more to be positive about.

So, that is pretty much the story of her birthday!  From beginning to end, labor lasted 50 hours and while I had no idea that our story would go anything like this, I am so glad it's all behind us and just a memory at this point!