Caroline's Delivery & Recovery

The way I look is exactly how I felt!
I looked much better after running a marathon!

I have been going back and forth on whether or not I should post about this, but (as you can tell) I thought I'd give it a shot.  The VBAC happened.  It wasn't as "blissful" as I thought it would be and the recovery was the opposite of "blissful" for sure!  I stated at the end of the delivery that I would NEVER do that again.  They all told me to mark my words.  I'm pretty sure it will be a C-section next time if there is a next time.

Right before pushing began.

I think all pregnancies and children come with their challenges.  With Tillman, he never slept and was up all the time.  Looking back, I am glad I had a C-section with him.  I felt much better after the C-section than the VBAC.

 

Now with Caroline, she has been a great sleeper, but my personal recovery has been a challenge.  Most of the "symptoms" have resolved themselves within two weeks, but those two weeks were very hard!  Something I rarely do-called the doctor on call, called the office and talked to the nurse and emailed Dr. Villers about my symptoms.  Just my luck, they were all normal things, and it just had to run its course.

How it all went down...
My water broke, and I was having contractions (9:35pm 8.19.12).  Nothing significant, but at least it was something. After getting checked in, the nurse and the doctor on call told me to settle in for the night and that it was going to be a while.  (at this point, I was hating all of those people who have babies in 5 minutes or even 10 hours...in fact, I still hate hearing the stories).  I was given Benadryl to help me sleep (little did I know at that point I would be in L&D for 24 hours).  Dr. Villers came around 8:30AM the next morning to "check me."  Honestly I can't remember the progress at that point, but it wasn't much.  She said that Caroline would be born on 8.20.12, but unsure when.  She came back around 1PM and then approximately 6PM.  Around 6:30PM, it was time to push. 
At this point, I was really unsure what to expect on what the pushing was all about.  I do understand why women get angry with their husband and everyone in the room.  This stuff is HARD!  I began pushing with a nurse that I had all day, and liked, but shift change was at 7PM, and this new nurse came.  She was fine, but I really don't want to hear that she had all of hers naturally and bla bla bla!  She was trying to convince me that it would hurt a lot worse if I didn't have the epidural.  I really didn't want to hear that either.  I was hurting pretty bad, hating life, and thinking "what have I done," "when will this be over", etc!  Another nurse came in and tried to introduce herself to me during this ordeal...not the time for a friendly introduction.

 

So, back to the pushing.  Everyone is looking while I'm pushing.  Yes, I'm doing all the work, and the others are watching...ugh!  I know, it is supposed to be like that, but again, it is very frustrating situation. 

 

With each contraction, I did 3 pushes.  3 pushes pretty much equaled a millimeter of movement in Caroline coming out.  I was pushing my heart out, yet only a millimeter of progress.  The entire room was speaking of the progress and they kept saying "wow she has a full head of hair."  Well indeed she does; however, the updates were very discouraging.

At the end, I was tired, ready for it to be over, and was in extreme pain (*epidural*-in 30% of women, it will not reach the delivery area (most only feel pressure...I felt a ton more), so I found out the next day after quizzing the anesthesiologist...I really wanted him to go tell that nurse that I pretty much had the child naturally for the last two hours of the delivery!).  This discouragement had me throw in the towel.  I asked for help.  Dr. Villers asked for 6 more pushes.  On the 6th push, she attached a vacuum to Caroline, and she came right out.  The vacuum didn't even leave a mark (very thankful of that); it just got her over that last hump.

Nick got to cut the cord, and they gave me Caroline to hold (skin to skin).  I was so tired at that point and really don't remember much about the happenings in the room.  I was very much in pain, yet glad to meet Caroline.

 

I'm sure that Nick could give more commentary in the room, but this is my account.