Macy Elizabeth Leff
October 17, 2008 9:57 a.m.
6 lbs. 15 oz. 19 in.
After 41 exciting weeks and another 28 long hours of labor, Macy Elizabeth decided to make her debut to her anxiously waiting family.
With the Doctor's advice, we checked into the hospital Thursday morning (16th) at 7:30 a.m. in order to give Macy a little "boost". I had been having mild contractions since Wednesday evening which continued in the hospital the next day. They were not painful or even uncomfortable at that point. In fact, until she was hooked up to the monitors, I didn't even realize that's what they were! Eventually the contractions became stronger and by about 3pm, they were getting painful. As the night wore on, the pain increased considerably. I finally asked for an epidural at midnight. I have to say, I have no idea how women give birth without pain medication! I certainly have a new found respect for anyone who goes through the process naturally.
The epidural kicked in within a few minutes and although I was still uncomfortable overall, it definitely eased the pain. My body didn't particularly like the medicine I guess, because my blood pressure began dropping soon after the epidural. At one point it dropped as low as 60/35. Aaron, having the medical knowledge that he does, was extremely concerned as he knew what was going on by the conversations between the nurses. I, on the other hand, was clueless other than I knew I felt nauseous. After a while of closely being monitored, and some medication and oxygen, my blood pressure leveled back out. I was on oxygen the rest of the night to ensure that Macy's heart rate stayed within normal ranges.
Soon after the epidural, I was dilated to 4 and from that point forward, I started to progress much quicker. My water broke around 3 or 4 a.m. It was a long night for both Aaron and myself with nurses coming in and out and getting only about a half hour of sleep total. By around 7:00 am, I was fully dilated. The nurse (named Kelley!) called my Dr. to start making her way in and started getting things prepared for delivery. She had me do some "practice pushes" starting at 8:10 a.m. while waiting for the Dr. My Dr. arrived after a few practice pushes and without a pause, we started real pushing. Early in pushing, Macy's heart rate was dropping between contractions. My Dr. warned me that if that persisted, then they would have to vacuum her out. To try to level out her heart rate and avoid that, I put on the oxygen mask between each contraction. Fortunately, that was never necessary and after almost two hours of pushing, Macy was born, sunny side up at 9:57 a. m. They were not aware that she was in the face up position. In fact, had they realized that she was face up instead of the normal face down position; they would have went straight to a c-section.
Aaron was an awesome coach! Toward the end of pushing, right when I was getting to the point of over-exhaustion, he was right there to encourage me to keep going. Seeing her for the first time was the most amazing experience. It was a mixture of exhaustion, overwhelming love, disbelief and joy. Everything was so surreal after that. I felt like I was in a daze. Perhaps it was the sheer exhaustion or more likely it was the stunned disbelief that I actually just gave birth!
October 17, 2008 9:57 a.m.
6 lbs. 15 oz. 19 in.
After 41 exciting weeks and another 28 long hours of labor, Macy Elizabeth decided to make her debut to her anxiously waiting family.
With the Doctor's advice, we checked into the hospital Thursday morning (16th) at 7:30 a.m. in order to give Macy a little "boost". I had been having mild contractions since Wednesday evening which continued in the hospital the next day. They were not painful or even uncomfortable at that point. In fact, until she was hooked up to the monitors, I didn't even realize that's what they were! Eventually the contractions became stronger and by about 3pm, they were getting painful. As the night wore on, the pain increased considerably. I finally asked for an epidural at midnight. I have to say, I have no idea how women give birth without pain medication! I certainly have a new found respect for anyone who goes through the process naturally.
The epidural kicked in within a few minutes and although I was still uncomfortable overall, it definitely eased the pain. My body didn't particularly like the medicine I guess, because my blood pressure began dropping soon after the epidural. At one point it dropped as low as 60/35. Aaron, having the medical knowledge that he does, was extremely concerned as he knew what was going on by the conversations between the nurses. I, on the other hand, was clueless other than I knew I felt nauseous. After a while of closely being monitored, and some medication and oxygen, my blood pressure leveled back out. I was on oxygen the rest of the night to ensure that Macy's heart rate stayed within normal ranges.
Soon after the epidural, I was dilated to 4 and from that point forward, I started to progress much quicker. My water broke around 3 or 4 a.m. It was a long night for both Aaron and myself with nurses coming in and out and getting only about a half hour of sleep total. By around 7:00 am, I was fully dilated. The nurse (named Kelley!) called my Dr. to start making her way in and started getting things prepared for delivery. She had me do some "practice pushes" starting at 8:10 a.m. while waiting for the Dr. My Dr. arrived after a few practice pushes and without a pause, we started real pushing. Early in pushing, Macy's heart rate was dropping between contractions. My Dr. warned me that if that persisted, then they would have to vacuum her out. To try to level out her heart rate and avoid that, I put on the oxygen mask between each contraction. Fortunately, that was never necessary and after almost two hours of pushing, Macy was born, sunny side up at 9:57 a. m. They were not aware that she was in the face up position. In fact, had they realized that she was face up instead of the normal face down position; they would have went straight to a c-section.
Aaron was an awesome coach! Toward the end of pushing, right when I was getting to the point of over-exhaustion, he was right there to encourage me to keep going. Seeing her for the first time was the most amazing experience. It was a mixture of exhaustion, overwhelming love, disbelief and joy. Everything was so surreal after that. I felt like I was in a daze. Perhaps it was the sheer exhaustion or more likely it was the stunned disbelief that I actually just gave birth!
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