Monday, August 16, 2010

Molly

In honor of Molly turning one month old today, I thought I would briefly share my birth story. I was due on July 11th, however that date came and went with no action. When I went in for an appointment on July 12th, I was dilated to a 2 and effaced 80 percent. My doctor scheduled an inducement for the 15th, but she also said she thought I would go into labor before then. Nope.
On the 15th at 6pm I checked into the hospital for my inducement. I hadn't dilated any more so they gave me a pill to help me efface completely. The plan was to start petocin 4 hours later. That was at 7 and by 8 I started having very strong regular contractions about 3 minutes apart. After another hour they checked me again and I was at a 4 and ready to blow my brains out. At this point they ordered my epidural, and by the time it was administered (45 minutes later) I had dilated to a 7. Oh how I love epidurals! I have no desire to ever give birth naturally, and at some point I even told Adam I was going to bare my testimony about epidurals at church. My doctor broke my water at this point and I read magazines until a few hours later when I was dilated to a 10 and ready to push. I pushed for an hour and a half until all of a sudden little Molly came out. It was the best feeling in the world when she came out and they put her on my chest! She was so sweet with all her dark hair, I thought I was going to explode with love and relief!
Unfortunately she was soon showing signs of respiratory distress so they quickly whisked her off to the NICU. It turns out she had inhaled amniotic fluid on her way out and had a large amount of fluid in her right lung. They were able to dry out her lung with a C-pap machine and she was able to leave the hospital the next day. The birth experience was absolutely amazing, but her breathing issues were completely terrifying. I think I cried for 2 days straight, I was so emotional.
Molly's lungs are perfect now and she is a sweet and peaceful baby. Being a mother is so much harder than I ever thought, but I love having my beautiful girl. She is such a joy and we love her so much!