My niece, Elaine Elizabeth, was born on May 12th and I was there to watch every gruesome moment. It really was beautiful.
It all started one week ago on Friday May 11th. I was on the phone with a friend making plans to go out that night. I wasn't planning on drinking, as I knew that any minute I would get a call from my sister telling me that she was in labor. My friend asked me if I was sure the baby wasn't coming and I said no, not yet. However while I was on the phone, I heard a beep indicating that someone was on the other line. I finished up my call with my friend quickly and checked to see who it was on the other line. It was my sister and her contractions were 30 minutes apart. I called back my friend to cancel plans, ate my dinner, packed my bags and headed up north to Sheboygan.
I met my sister and the family at her house around 9pm. We all went to sleep that night and waited for her contractions to get 5 minutes apart before heading to the hospital. That didn't happen until around 3am on Saturday. Rianna didn't get any sleep because she was busy keeping track (and being distracted by) the contractions. I got about 3 hours of sleep, as did my brother-in-law.
When we got to the hospital, the doctor broke her water right away so that her contractions would come faster and harder. Not to long after that she was put on pitocin to augment the labor (her contractions were not that painful). That is when she really started to feel the labor pains.
At first she stayed with IV medications but soon those were not working out at all, and only took the pain away for about 15 minutes. Around 4pm (being in the hospital for over 12 hours and not getting any sleep for well over 24 hours)Rianna made the decision to get an epidural. At this point she was 4cm dilated and around 80-90% effaced. That decision was hard for her but after the epidural was administered she felt she made the right one, as she was able to nap until she started to push at 6pm.
While she was pushing, the doctor noticed that the baby was coming out face up. So while Rianna was pushing the doctor was also turning the baby around so that she would face downward. It was also around this point that the doctor performed and episiotomy, which was THE GROSSEST part of it all. (All of my hippie, natural birth friends would be shaking their heads right now).
Then the head came out, my brother-in-law was already crying from joy at this point, the rest of us were holding our breath in anticipation on the first cries and finding out the sex. It was a little scary because the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's head twice, but I could see her mouth moving. Rianna let out one more good push and the whole baby came out. Daddy was the first one to say, "It's a girl!" Everyone was crying, even me with my cold black heart. Then my little niece started to cry and people ran out to tell everyone waiting in hall the good news.
The nurses cleaned her up, as everyone remarked that she had a good head of hair, and took her measurements (7lbs 9oz and 21 inches long). When her temperature was taken, it was kind of high, but the doctors didn't make a big deal out of it. The rest of the day went as usual, pictures, phone calls and first time to hold the baby.
The next day my family came to the hospital to find that the baby was hooked up to an iv and that they were for sure staying the three days so that Elaine could get a daily dose of antibiotics for her fever (which at that point had reduced to a normal temperature) and high white blood cells. The doctors told everyone that they were just being careful.
The following day, when we came to visit, we found that they had been to moved to a smaller room (called the "almost home" room) compared to the huge-ass birthing room they had before. Also the baby was jaundice, so she had to be put on this blue lighted bed (or pad when she was being breastfed). I know that there is a name for the light but I forget what it was called. The light made her look like a glo-worm. While breastfeeding, Rianna noticed that Elaine felt warm again, so the nurse came in to take the temperature and lo-and-behold another hike in temperature.
That same day, after my mom and I grabbed dinner in the cafeteria, we returned to the hospital room to find my sister in tears and informing us that they were told Elaine had to stay for 7 days. The doctors were concerned that she may (or may not) have a bacterial infection and felt more secure with a 7 day daily dose of antibiotics. The only good thing in the situation, was that because my sister was breastfeeding, she and my brother-in-law were able to stay in the hospital room even though she was no longer officially a patient.
Soon after being told that Elaine would remain in the hospital, my sister was having difficulties getting the baby to latch on to her to feed. This my sister started a mild panic attack. She was having a difficult time breathing and got nauseous. My mom also looked overwhelmed, that is when I told her that I would ask for the rest of the week off of work, so that I could stay with her (to drive her to and from the hospital and help out my sister and brother-in-law as much as I could).
Since then, my sister has been more confident about breastfeeding and kicking visitors out (because with my family, we have oh-so-many) and just the general well-being of Elaine. She got taken off her glo-worm bed, no signs of fevers, white blood cell count are normal and she is a VERY good eater. Best of all, she is being released a day earlier than expected, so she should be home tomorrow, one week after she was born.
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