Avriana Anne's Birth Story

It all started on Monday, November 14th, 2011. We had a doctor's appointment scheduled and I had intended on discussing the idea of inducing if she didn't come by her due date. I wanted to avoid being in the hospital on Thanksgiving. At the appointment she checked me and I was completely effaced but not at all dilated. I had scar tissue on my cervix that wasn't allowing it to dilate. My doctor went ahead and manually dilated me. That my friends, was not fun. She decided that she would put me on the induction list for the next day and I was to go home and await a call from the hospital.

The relief of knowing I was going to have our baby the next day in combination with the manual dilation put me into labor. And it was not later that evening, no it was on the way home from our appointment. I started to have strong contractions with some regularity. We started to time them and went home to get ready and finish packing. The contractions were getting stronger and closer together. I knew it was happening but I didn't want to get sent home from the hospital so we waited. My mom came over to help us and be there when we went to the hospital. We knew I was going that evening. My contractions were getting very painful and they were a few minutes apart. We called the on call doctor and explained the situation, he told us to head to the hospital. It was an unreal feeling, something we had waited for for so long, and it was actually happening. I will never forget the feeling I had as we drove to the hospital, it was excitement and fear all wrapped into one. It was around 6pm.

We checked in at the hospital and they checked me, only one centimeter dilated. The nurse said something about "false labor" and I wanted to scream. She told me to walk the halls for an hour and we'd check again after that. That was the longest hour of my life. My contractions were extremely painful, bringing me to tears every time. I couldn't imagine being sent home, there was no way I was going to be able to get through the night. When we got back she checked me and I wasn't much further along. But it was obvious I was in pain and since I was on the induction list they decided to let me stay. They didn't want to send me to labor and delivery yet so they gave me some morphine. In retrospect, I wish I wouldn't have had it. It just made me loopy and it didn't even touch the pain. Eventually, they sent me upstairs and I was in line for an epidural!

We got settled into our room and the anesthesiologist came in to give me the epidural. I was terrified of it and I shook constantly. Once it kicked in, I was perfectly content. I remember saying how I didn't understand why anyone would try to go through labor without one. The bad thing was that I was strapped to the bed. I had an IV, my epidural, a catheter, a blood pressure monitor, fetal monitor, contraction monitor and an oxygen mask. I couldn't move without a lot of assistance. I had to lay on my side and Avriana preferred when I laid on my right side. I had to switch every once in a while because my side would go numb. But when I did her heart rate would decrease a little so the nurse would make me go back to my right side. Ugh, it was so hard and I was very uncomfortable.

I labored like that until 7am the next morning when my doctor decided it was time to push some pitocin to get things moving along faster. I was dilated to about 3 cm at this point. Once they pushed the pitocin my contractions got a lot stronger,  some of them lasting 3 minutes. I couldn't feel them thankfully! Danny and my mom stayed by my side the entire time. Danny would feed me ice chips and my mom would put chap stick on my lips. I didn't sleep at all, I would just lay there resting. Anytime I would start to doze off, the nurse would come in to check me or the blood pressure monitor would take my measurement and then beep annoyingly loud. All along I had to have an oxygen mask on which annoyed me to no end. The nurse kept telling me that the baby liked the oxygen so I had to keep it on.

Around 5pm they checked me and I was 9 1/2 cm. I had a 1/2 cm left to go before I could start pushing. I was so happy to hear this. I was ready, so ready to get this over with. Surprisingly, it took about an hour for me to dilate that last 1/2 cm. I had to have a peanut fitness ball between my legs and I had to switch from side to side until I finally hit 10 cm. It was time to push!

All of a sudden it got very busy in my room. I had my mom on my left and Danny on my right and the nurse went over how I was supposed to push. At this time I started to feel pain in my tail bone area. It was getting worse and worse with every contraction. It assisted me in knowing when to push, but the pain was becoming unbearable. They increased my epidural several times but it wasn't touching the pain. I tried several positions to push but nothing was happening. My doctor still hadn't showed up yet. I was on my hands and knees when the pain in my tail bone was so bad that I began to scream out loud. I nearly ripped all the cords out of me. I was begging for someone to help me, for something to take the pain away. My amazing nurse got the anesthesiologist back in the room and he topped me off with something that made me numb from the waist down. I could have kissed him I was so relieved. I had never felt pain that badly in my life.

The problem now, was that I couldn't push. I had no feeling down there and I had no idea when I was having a contraction. When I pushed, I couldn't tell if I was pushing correctly. Nothing was happening, Avriana was still stuck up there and I couldn't get her down. I had been pushing for two hours and I was exhausted. I would collapse in between pushes and practically pass out. Right about now, my doctor arrived. She was not happy that I had no feeling and that I was unable to push. She tried to manually move her down and she even tried the vacuum. My mom held one leg and Danny held the other. They were so supportive and tried so hard to help me push. I was so depleted that I couldn't say it, but I knew what needed to be done. I knew a c-section was the only option. My mom was the one who finally said it and I agreed. My birth plan had changed but at that point I didn't care. I needed her out, I needed to be done. It had been 24 hours since we checked in to the hospital.

Because of the epidural I had the shakes really badly. I wasn't cold, but involuntarily could not stop shaking. Once we made the decision to do a c-section the room exploded with hospital staff and nurses. It's crazy how they all just kick into gear. I was about to go right in to surgery when my doctors other patient was wheeled in for an emergency c-section. I had to wait until they were finished until I could go in. The pain in my tail bone was sneaking back and I started to panic. The anesthesiologist was in surgery so he couldn't come top me off again. The pain was building and I started to beg the nurse to please get the anesthesiologist in there as soon as possible. Once he was done in surgery he came right in to me and administered the meds to relieve the pain. She was sitting right there on my tail bone and pushing with every contraction. All along, her heart rate never dropped, she was never in distress. My strong little girl.

They wheeled me in to surgery and Danny was right there beside me. I was terrified, mostly scared I would feel pain. I didn't feel a thing, even the pressure they talk about wasn't that bad at all. I trembled the whole time because of the meds but held Danny's hand. I was very dehydrated and was asking for water, which they couldn't give me. Finally, the doctor told Danny to get his camera ready, she was about to come out. He took pictures as they pulled her out and I remember hearing her soft, beautiful cry. I have never been more relieved in all of my life, then I was at that moment. Danny went with her as they examined her and I watched them. I cried, looking at my baby girl, arms and legs moving around and her sweet cries. I couldn't believe she was here, we finally got to meet our Sweet Baby Chen. Avriana was born at 7:41 PM on Tuesday, November 15th, 2011. Weighing 8 lbs .4 oz and measuring 20 inches.

The rest of the story is a bit of a blur. I was so exhausted it was very difficult for me to stay awake. I couldn't even hold my girl without someones help. We were wheeled into recovery and our family was able to join us and meet Avriana.

Avriana's birth was the hardest thing I had ever had to do in my life. There is no way I could have done it without my amazing husband. He never left my side, making sure I was taken care of at all times. I also could not have done it without my mom. She provided the support we both needed and she was the one to finally speak up when none of us could. My dad was also there to support us and his prayers helped us through. I am so blessed to have you all in my life. It is because of you that we have this beautiful angel and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love you, we love you.