On
Thursday, May 22nd, I went for my 38 week appointment (I was actually
38w4d). Dr. Middleton checked me for the first time and I was 2cm
dilated and about 20% effaced. He said if he had to guess, I would
probably deliver not that weekend, but the next – which, go figure,
was my due date. :p I wasn’t too disappointed, though, because I
didn’t make it to 2cm with Taylor until I had already been in labor
for HOURS, so I was excited to already have a little bit of a head
start.
That
week was spent doing lots of walking, drinking lots of red raspberry
leaf tea, bouncing on the birthing ball, and complaining a lot.
;) I had a lot of very strong BH contractions and a few real
contractions that had me hoping things were getting started, but
nothing lasted more than 15min or so.
The
next Friday, May 30th, Dr. Middleton checked me again and I was 3cm –
more progress but not as much as I had hoped. He told me again that
if he had to guess, it would probably be sometime that weekend. We
made another appointment for the following Thursday but he reassured
me he felt like he’d be seeing me in L&D before then.
Sunday
was my due date. I begged Justin to let me stay home from church. I
just wasn’t in the mood to see everyone again while still pregnant.
We’d been ending every LifeGroup for weeks with “See you next
time unless we’re having a baby!” and I was just so defeated
feeling. Thankfully he took Taylor to church and let me stay home so
I was able to sleep in a little, get a long shower, and pick up
around the house some.
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| (40 weeks pregnant, before LifeGroup) |
Approximately
2:30am on Monday morning I felt a POP that woke me up. At first I
wondered if my water broke, but there wasn’t any water, so I stayed
lying down. But a few minutes later I felt a definite moisture so I
headed to the bathroom to find that my water had not broken but that
I was bleeding quite a bit. I began to panic, remembering a friend of
a friend who lost her daughter suddenly at 40w due to a placental
abruption. I called Dr. Middleton (who was on call over the weekend)
and he said that it sounded like bloody show and if contractions
weren’t strong we could hang out at home, but if we were worried to
come in. I was having cramping but nothing unbearable, but I was
really anxious about the amount of blood. I grabbed the Doppler and
tried to find her heartbeat, but because I was so nervous, my heart
was racing and I couldn’t distinguish whether the heartbeat I was
hearing was hers or mine. And of course I couldn’t get her to move.
So I went and woke up Justin and told him what was going on and that
I was scared and we needed to head to the hospital. He called his
parents and told them to head over and he got in the shower while I
texted Jessica and let her know what was going on. I had planned on
laboring at home as long as possible, and looking back I wish I had
taken the time to tell Taylor goodbye and give her some last minute
love, but I was just so worried I couldn’t concentrate on anything
but getting to the hospital.
Around
3:30am his parents were finally there and we had loaded up the car
and headed to the hospital. There was no traffic on the road at that
hour, so we made great time. Thankfully on the drive there Emery
began to move around some so I was able to calm down and know that
she was ok. Contractions also started to pick up and become painful.
By this point they were about 3min apart and lasting about 30
seconds.
We
got to the hospital and got checked in. They put us in a room in eval
and hooked me up to the monitors. The nurse checked me and said that
all of the blood was indeed just bloody show (although she did say it
was quite a lot) and that I was still at 3cm. We hung out in eval for
a while waiting for Dr. Middleton to come by. At 5:30am I texted
Jessica that contractions were getting more painful. Justin would
watch the monitors while I closed my eyes and breathed through them,
and he’d tell me afterwards “Yeah, that was a big one!”
 |
| (Watching contractions) |
At
7am the nurses changed shifts and my friend Beth came on. She checked
me again and I was still 3cm and about 80% effaced. She got us
settled into a room and we got my hep lock started. Same as with
Taylor, my poor veins put up a good fight. The nurses blew 2 veins on
my right hand and one on my left and finally had to call a cancer
nurse to come place it. She was able to get it on her first try with
little pain. Once that was placed, our new L&D nurse, Andrea,
came on and helped hook me up to the wireless monitor so I could get
out of bed and move around some. I got up around 8am and headed over
to the rocking chair, and after approximately 3min sitting there Dr.
Phillips came in and told us that E was having a lot of heart decels
and she wasn’t liking what she was seeing. She stayed and watched
through a couple more contractions and then had me get back into bed
and lay on my left side.
 |
| (I was in 4404 with Taylor!) |
She
thought perhaps the cord was wrapped or getting pinched, so they went
ahead and started IV fluids to give her some more cushion in there. I
labored in bed until 11am and was checked again. I had just barely
gone from 3cm to 4cm since 5:30am, and because I wasn’t able to
move or walk or do anything to counteract the pain of the
contractions, I went ahead and asked for the epidural. It wasn’t
what I planned on, but I knew it was for the best.
A
few minutes after they placed the epidural, my blood pressure
bottomed out. Apparently that’s normal, so they gave me some
medicine to counteract that, but that made my heart rate skyrocket,
and that is NOT normal. All of a sudden I had Dr. Phillips, my nurse
Andrea, and the anesthesiologist crowded around my bed and monitors.
The anesthesiologist asked me “Have you ever had any heart problems
before?” and I remember thinking to myself at that point – Great.
I’m going to have a heart attack and die now. It was an awful
feeling. My body was just dead weight and all I could feel was my
heart beating wildly in every inch of me. They hooked me up to
oxygen, a heart monitor, an EKG, and bags and bags of fluids. (I
remember Justin telling me afterwards that my heart rate was in the
180s (normal is around 80) and it stayed about 160-170 for my entire
labor.)
 |
| (Hooked to the EKG) |
They finally determined that although they weren’t sure what was happening, my heart looked ok and Emery was fine, so they just kept an eye on things. By 3pm things had calmed down and I was able to labor with the epidural pretty pain free. Kim stopped by and brought Justin some lunch since he hadn’t eaten since dinner the night before (neither had I, and although I brought snacks to eat during labor, my body just wasn’t up for food).
Around
5:30pm Jessica got there. I continued to labor and make slow
progress. I was at about 6cm but still a -1 station and was able to
sit up in the bed in hopes that she’d move down. Dr. Phillips kept
coming to check me and hope my water would break, but Emery was so
“floaty” that every time she’d check, her head would float back
up and she was worried about a cord prolapse (especially after what
happened to Chloe and Jessica).
 |
| (Jessica, aka, my crazy birth photographer) |
By 8:30pm we were getting closer but my water just wouldn’t break. Jessica ran home to nurse Chloe and put the kids to bed. My mom and sister had come and everyone was just waiting. My stomach was upset from not eating all day, so I got some Zofran and was able to drink a little bit of apple juice. We started a little bit of Pitocin hoping that would strengthen the contractions and hopefully cause my water to break on its own.
At
10pm the Pitocin was in full force. I was at 8cm and due to sitting
up all day and the epidural wearing off, I was in a lot of pain.
Jessica was back and Dr. Phillips finally decided to take the chance
to break my water. She broke it and was promptly SOAKED up to her
collarbone! :P She told me
afterwards that she had held her breath the whole time, making sure
the cord didn’t prolapse. Thankfully all was well. I asked if there
was meconium (there was with Taylor) and there wasn’t. A few
minutes later, things began to really pick up. I took a minute to do
my makeup and my sister re-braided my hair for me.
 |
| (Gotta look cute!) |
Jessica broke out
the birth affirmations and scriptures to read through the
contractions. I started off trying to HUMMMM and OOOHHHH through
them, but that quickly turned to a lot of moaning and yelling. Justin
did a great job and sat and held my hand and told me how great I was
doing.
I entered transition and it took about 45min to move from 8cm to 10cm. Dr. Phillips stood watching in the corner of the room and came back to check me. She said she didn’t think I could be ready quite yet, but that all of my yelling told her differently. It was 11:45pm and it was time to push! (At that point, Justin took his place back on the corner of the couch, haha). I REALLY wanted her to be born on June 2 because my birthday is February 2 and Taylor’s is November 2 and we were hoping to continue the trend. So at that point, she had 15min to make her debut! I remember looking up and seeing Jessica and my sister standing on chairs on either side of the foot of the bed video recording and taking pictures!
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| (Praying through a big contraction) |
I entered transition and it took about 45min to move from 8cm to 10cm. Dr. Phillips stood watching in the corner of the room and came back to check me. She said she didn’t think I could be ready quite yet, but that all of my yelling told her differently. It was 11:45pm and it was time to push! (At that point, Justin took his place back on the corner of the couch, haha). I REALLY wanted her to be born on June 2 because my birthday is February 2 and Taylor’s is November 2 and we were hoping to continue the trend. So at that point, she had 15min to make her debut! I remember looking up and seeing Jessica and my sister standing on chairs on either side of the foot of the bed video recording and taking pictures!
 |
| (Daddy praying from the sidelines, hah!) |
Pushing
was such a relief, finally, to be able to do something active to
counter the pain. It was crazy to feel her descending with every push
and contraction. Everyone kept encouraging me to relax between
contractions but I was so afraid to relax because I didn’t want her
to move back up. I pushed with every ounce of strength I had, and
then more.
I felt the infamous “ring of fire” and just kept
praying and pushing. Dr. Phillips said that the scar tissue from my
first episiotomy with Taylor was just too tight and that was keeping
her head from being able to crown. So she asked if she could cut me
again and I consented. I heard the “snap” from the cut, and a
couple pushes later her head was out. She had the cord wrapped around
her neck once. I think it was probably 2 more pushes and her
shoulders were out. At 12:46am (46min late!), after 22hrs of labor, I
gave one more huge push and my entire body released as she slid out
and they pulled her up to my chest.
I remember her looking gray and
HUGE. I had no idea how big she was, but I knew she was big! It was
such a surge of love and release all at once. I was able to breathe!
And oh my goodness – she had HAIR! BLACK HAIR! She screamed, they
suctioned her, and I wrapped her up on me and comforted her. We
waited for the cord to stop pulsing and then Justin came and cut the
cord, and hung out at the head of the bed as they stitched me up (at
that point is when Dr. Phillips had the nerve to ask me, looking up
from my poor mutilated lady bits, when we would be having our next
child! I almost kicked her! lol) We looked her over and laughed about
how big she was and how much she DIDN’T look like Taylor! She
scored an 8 and a 10 on her apgars. They let us rub in all of the
vernix (although there wasn’t much) and did all of her evaluations
while she laid on my chest.
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| (DIMPLES!) |
 |
| (Hi, Mom.) |
Once
the nurses were finished, I let her nurse and she latched perfectly.
Jessica, my mom, and my sister left around 1:30am, and I was able to
get a shower and get cleaned up while Justin took a few minutes to
bond with his new daughter.
Emery
Kate Poss
June 3, 2014 – 12:46am
8lbs 15oz, 20in
June 3, 2014 – 12:46am
8lbs 15oz, 20in
"Yet
You brought me safely from my mother’s womb and led me to trust you
when I was a nursing infant. I was thrust upon you at my birth. You
have been my God from the moment I was born." Psalm 22:9-10
