Maya Moo (now with pictures)

She'll probably hate the nickname Maya Moo before long, but right now she has no control.  Anyway, she arrived on Tuesday and has been a joy ever since.

The short version:

Born at 10:17 am, weighing 9 lb. 1 oz. and measuring 20.5 inches long.  

The long version: (this part really is long and very informative.  You have been warned.)

We went to bed at 11 pm on Monday, after a full day of discomfort after having my membranes stripped and being past my due date.  Eric had told me that if I had contractions I was to wake him up with the first one rather than let him sleep until I thought it was something more.  That's what I had always done in the past.  I woke up at 1:28 am on Tuesday morning with a strong urge to relieve my bladder and my bowels, as well as feeling a contraction.  That's pretty normal for my nightly bathroom trips.  This felt a little bit different; it was like a band of pain around my lower back.  I did my best to relieve myself and was very disappointed with the results and the lack of relief.  I went back to bed still in pain.  I did wake Eric up just to let him know.

At 1:35 I got up again to use the bathroom because the feeling was still there.  Still no results in the bathroom.  Eric asked about it and I told him.  I started to wonder if perhaps there was something more to these bathroom trips than just a need to go.  I stopped looking at the time after that.

When I got up again a few minutes later I decided it was time to utilize some comfort techniques.  I tried changing to different positions we learned about in the HypnoBirthing class and that offered exactly no relief of any kind.  I knew I was having contractions because the already nasty pain in my back got worse every few minutes.  Until that night I had heard about back labor and had even thought I experienced some with Ellie.  I was mistaken.  This was constant pain and pressure without a break.  Then you add contractions on top of that you've got a recipe for a miserable mommy-to-be.  I also filled up the bathtub to see if that brought any measure of relief.  It did not.  I don't think a standard home bathtub is made to be helpful like that.  There simply isn't enough water and trying to lie down in a tub while having back labor is a poor idea.  The only thing that helped at all was pouring some of the warm water over my belly with a pitcher.  It helped for about two minutes and I continued another few minutes before I gave up.  At that point I realized that if I were to attempt an unmedicated birth while having back labor and working on two and a half hours of sleep there would be no energy left when it was time to push the baby out.  I opted for sleep and comfort, instead.  It turned out to be a wise decision.

After I came back in from the bath I told Eric it was probably time to call my parents.  The pain was only getting worse and it wouldn't go away.  He got himself ready while I laid down on the bed and focused on my breathing and relaxation.  We called my parents around 2:15 and said it was go time.  They drove down to our house to pick up Ellie.  I continued to lay down and try to focus on breathing and relaxation with Eric.  It helped a bit, but it was not a pretty picture.  I'd been in enough constant pain that I'd given up trying to pull on my pants.  I had to ask my mom to do it for me when she got there and Eric was switching out the car seat.

We handed Ellie over to my parents and headed to the hospital.  After checking in at the desk they evaluated me and told me I was was at 5 cm and very much effaced.  The nurse said that at that far along they could just take me and didn't need to do the hour-long evaluation.  That was when the heavens opened and the angels began to sing.  I knew I wouldn't have another hour of breathing through contractions before they shot me up.  The nurse asked if I had been planning on an epidural.  I said, "I am now!"  Fifteen minuted later Dr. Gardner came in and stuck me with the horse needle that makes everything all better.  It was glorious, I tell you.  GLORIOUS!!!!  That was at 3:45.  At 4:10 my doctor came in and mentioned that it looked like I had received the epidural, after all.  I told him I'd decided I wasn't a masochist.  He did his own check to see where the baby was.  He confirmed what I had expected and told me she was in posterior (sunny side up) position and still sitting up really high.  That was why I had back labor.  He saw that my contractions had slowed down after the epidural and asked if I wanted him to break my water to speed labor.  I had planned on asking him to do it now that I was pain-free.  It's awesome to be on the same page as the doctor.  He broke my water and then we all tried to go to sleep while we waited for me to fully dilate.

Here's the part where the HypnoBirthing came in and the only part where it really helped.  After the epidural you must have a urinary catheter.  That, sadly, is just how it is.  I hate the catheter.  The nurse told me I shouldn't be able to feel it because of the epidural.  She was wrong.  It hurt and irritated and made it so I could feel the contractions again, as well as extra pressure.  The only thing to do about it was to go back to the breathing and relaxation techniques to help me deal with it.  Eric and I had discussed a couple of scenarios I wanted to visualize.  He chose to use the beach and started to talk me through a beautiful beach with turquoise water and soft white sand.  That was really nice and pretty, but it didn't do much for me until he said he was there with me.  Just like that I started to be able to relax and loosen up.  I pictured Ellie and Maya there with is.  Eric was holding Maya, I was sitting next to him, and we were all laughing as we watched Ellie play in the water.  She continued to splash around and beckoning for us to come join her ("cwon, cwon!).  It was lovely.  Before long I didn't feel pain and I drifted off to sleep.  By the time I woke up the epidural had kicked in enough to cancel out the catheter.

At 7 am I got new nurses who delivered the news that I was complete and we could start pushing.  Dr. Carn came up and we got started.  They gave me instructions on how to push, which I ignored.  I wanted to try the way I'd learned in class.  I pushed while the doctor tried to gently turn the baby into a more favorable position.  Half an hour later and I'd made almost no progress.  Maya didn't want to turn and that was stopping me up.  The doctor suggested half an hour of rest and descend to see if the contractions would turn Maya on their own.

At 8 am the doctor, nurse, and nursing student came back in.  Maya had not turned and there wasn't a lot of progress.  We worked on it again and Maya finally decided to get herself into a better position.  Things moved along better after that...for a while.  No one knew why it was taking so long and being so difficult.  My epidural started to wear off and that was a bad thing.  I was already sore up high in my abdominals from pushing, as well as from Maya pushing her feet up from the inside.  The nursing student thought it was cute and fascinating how Maya's feet were right there and easy to feel.  I didn't think it was cute; I thought it hurt and made it difficult to push.  By that time I'd been pushing for over two hours after the break to rest and descend.  I was out of gas and knew that the slow progress of the delivery was going to outlast the epidural. The doctor saw that, too and asked about using forceps.  I was nodding my head before he finished offering.  I know my body well enough to know what it can and can't handle.  I really had nothing left.  He told me the risks involved (which I already knew) and I agreed to it. The nurses grabbed to anesthesiologist to get me a redose of epidural so I could be comfortable through the forceps.  He was surprised I needed it, but juiced me up, anyway.  Fifteen minutes later I was feeling dandy and Dr. Carn came back in with Dr. Dayton.  He'd asked Dr. Dayton to use the forceps, as Dr. Dayton is an OB and Dr. Carn is family practice.  When they came in Dr. Carn pointed out to the nurses that I had "swollen a little."  More on that later.  

Dr. Dayton pushed around on my tummy and predicted an 8-8.5 pound baby and an easy forceps delivery.  He gave me an episiotomy (which still works better for me than a tear) and slid in the baby tongs. I pushed while he pulled and the head was out in seconds.  I guess Maya came with her tongue sticking out.  Dr. Dayton moved out of the way and Dr. Carn helped deliver the rest of Maya.  She had a very short umbilical cord (that might explain why she was reluctant to get herself out) and it wasn't long enough for him to show her to me, let alone put her on my tummy.  I watched her little foot.  Maya was having some trouble getting to breathing, so Dr. Carn worked on her while she was still down below my line of sight.  When that didn't work well he cut the cord and they took fluid out of her lungs.  They thought they should call the respiratory therapists to evaluate her and they did that.  They brought Maya over for skin to skin time while they waited for the therapists to come.  Maya calmed right down when Eric and I spoke to her.  I let them do a quick weigh and measure.  The 8-8.5 pound baby turned out to be 9 lb 1 oz.  No wonder I had problems getting her out.  We were all pretty surprised at her size, especially considering that her sister was 7 lb 8 oz.

The respiratory therapists got there and thought she was borderline, so they took her to the NICU to put her on the machine, just in case.  Thankfully I wasn't really worried.  I wasn't excited that she had to be gone for an hour, but I wanted her to breathe properly.  While she was up there the nurses had me try to use the bathroom.  That was pretty funny.  I could hardly walk and, once I got to the bathroom, I found out what "a little swollen" means.  I thought the doctor had been talking about my feet and ankles.  Nope.  I went to blot dry and nearly dropped the paper.  I thought, "Those aren't mine!  Is there a 700 lb woman down the hall who traded parts with me?  Holy crap!"  You know that part on the newest Star Trek movie where Kirk looks down at his crazy swollen hands and yelps?  That's an adequate representation.

Anyway, it was a difficult delivery because of Maya's size, so I'm very happy I decided to get the epidural.  There was almost 3 hours worth of pushing out a nine-pounder and I wouldn't have been successful without relief.  Maybe it would have been different if it wasn't back labor, but we'll never know.  What didn't occur to me before when I was curious about if the epidural was making my body do weird things was that I could try another epidural and see if something strange happened.  Now that I know it isn't the epidural I'm sure I'll get drugged up every time.  It makes me happier.

Maya is doing beautifully and we all love her to pieces.  Ellie is sick, so she doesn't get to come too close, but she's totally entranced with Maya.  Our newest girl is very mellow and that's a new experience for us.  The video below shows Ellie meeting Maya for the first time.  I haven't gotten around to editing it, so the whole thing is there for your viewing pleasure.