Anyone who knows me is aware of how much I enjoy working as a nurse in Labor & Delivery. Nearly 6 years have passed since I started as a new grad & I still can't imagine working anywhere else, I love it. There is something incredible about having the privilege of assisting a family as they welcome a child into the world. I remember very clearly the overwhelming emotion I felt when I saw my first delivery in nursing school. I can honestly say that I frequently get teary eyed to this day in nearly every delivery : ) Knowing God's perfect design for a woman's body to carry & deliver a child just amazes me. I really love caring for women & their loved ones during the labor & delivery process. I believe that the Lord made me with certain giftings & desires to enjoy the workload along with the intensity of emotions I experience in that role. I hope to be doing that for a long time.
On the other hand, I am now two times more fully aware of how different it is to be a labor & delivery nurse versus being the one having the baby. My two experiences from the other side are vastly different from each other but with the same outcome. The outcome being the welcoming of precious daughters into our family & a heart filled with more love than I could have ever imagined prior to having children.
Let's go back to Monday, July 13, 2009 & reminisce about the labor leading up to the birth of Charlotte Grace....
I was 39 weeks & 2 days pregnant. I had gained 50 pounds & my ankles, feet & fingers were SO swollen! Even with the typical discomfort at the end of pregnancy, I was delighted to be pregnant & even more delighted to be meeting my little girl. My belly had been measuring a bit ahead in weeks & it was confirmed via ultrasound that she might be a big girl. I had worked the Friday & Saturday before which caused tons of contractions & my cervix changed from 1 (in the office) to 3-4 cm by Saturday afternoon. Due to her estimated size & a favorable cervix, we decided on an induction. On Monday morning, Robby & I headed into Winnie Palmer around 7 & got checked in downstairs. Within the hour, Charlotte & I were being monitored, my IV was started & the pitocin was flowing!
One lovely perk of working in Labor & Delivery is that I get to choose who takes care of me! For this labor, my wonderful friend Rose was the chosen RN. She had a beautiful little bouquet of flowers & sweet card waiting for us & was absolutely so cheerful throughout the day. Anyone that has had a baby knows the importance of having a nurse with great attitude & a smile on her face : ) We LOVED Rose! We chose to have both of our moms with us for the entire process & it was so very special. Charlotte was the first grandchild on both sides of the family & I couldn't imagine it any other way. We felt that her Grandmothers' should hear that first cry & experience the sheer joy of watching their children become parents. It was a great decision for us as we were thankful for their support throughout the day & night.
The contractions throughout the morning were bearable. I was up walking around the unit or sitting on a birthing ball. Around noon, my midwife Nora came by to check me & I was 4 cm. She ruptured my bag of water & boy did the intensity of those contractions change! When caring for patients prior to & after rupturing a bag of water, I had always thought "Come on! Seriously, it cannot be that much of a difference! Get yourself together lady!" Haha! I have never thought that again! I hated being in the bed from this point on. I was on the ball or standing, leaning on the side of the bed for the next two hours just breathing through & smiling in between all the contractions. I was definitely experiencing a lot of back labor at this point. At about the two hour mark I was ready for my epidural. Another friend, Claudette, one of our fabulous CRNA's was at my bedside before I knew it! So, around 3pm , I was feeling good & had changed to 6 cm. It was at this exam that Rose said she was pretty positive that Charlotte was in occiput posterior position meaning she was coming out looking at the ceiling instead of the floor (like most babies are born.) This position usually means a longer & more difficult labor & delivery. We immediately started doing position changes every 20 minutes from side to side & then to hands & knees in hopes her little head would rotate. I was pain free but experiencing some pressure. I ate lots of Popsicles & took a little snooze. With each exam I was progressing & was 10 cm at 7 pm. Dr. Peppy came straight over from the office at 5 when Nora left so he could make sure he would be the one delivering me. He was in & out of my room a lot checking on my progress & offering some encouragement. At 7 pm, I started pushing. I cannot even count how many women I have coached through pushing a baby out but it still took a bit to get the hang of good pushing. Rose treated me like a first time mom without labor & delivery experience as an RN & I was SO grateful! She was the perfect coach as the hours of pushing continued. Within an hour, Charlotte had barely moved & was still in occiput posterior position. I was starting to feel quite a bit of discomfort but did not want to get an extra dose of medication in my epidural because I wanted to feel everything I needed to in order to push. I pushed in all sorts of positions trying to get her to rotate.....she was stubborn! Around 9:30 pm, after 2 1/2 hours, the possibility of a vacuum or cesarean was mentioned & that was all I needed to get down to business & push Charlotte out as fast as possible. She actually rotated shortly after that making her descent much faster. I was in a lot of pain with every contraction & was completely exhausted.
In these moments, my focus was on the Lord's grace & mercy in my life. He worked mightily to form Charlotte Grace & give her to us a blessing at the perfect time. I was overjoyed to begin the long road of sacrificing for another & welcomed the pain & exhaustion. We made a playlist of songs that I knew drew out my affection for God & would provide me with comfort in a difficult time. In between contractions I remember praying the words of those songs back to the Lord & in turn received the strength & energy needed to finish what was started. I was more calm then I thought I could be & I owe that to my gracious father in heaven.
Charlotte Grace was finally born at 9:49 pm.
She delivered with a shoulder dysotcia, a tight cord around her neck & a hand over her head. Wow....it was INTENSE! Us nurses always notice that the drama seems to happen when we are having babies....proven true again : ) Between all of the incredible staff to manage difficult deliveries, Charlotte was out quickly & on my chest crying that beautiful cry that every mother longs to hear. It was unbelievable to look up at Robby with both of our hands on OUR daughter. This moment was unlike anything we had experienced before.
After a little time with me, she was quickly assessed then back in my arms to nurse & snuggle. She weighed 8 lbs 4 oz & was 21 in long....might explain why she took so long to come out! She was precious....she still is precious & I would do it a million times over to have her with me today.
Onto May 30, 2011, the day that we were given Eloise Hope.
The story actually begins on May 29th, the eve of Memorial Day. I was 38 weeks & 1 day pregnant. I had gained 40 pounds & was no where near as swollen as I was with Charlotte. Again, I was delighted to be nearing the end of my pregnancy & ready for the beginning of a family of four. I was measuring ahead & Eloise was expected to weigh close to what Charlotte did. We had a tentative date for an induction after 39 weeks but apparently we didn't need that! I had been 1 cm in the office the Thursday before & after working all day Saturday with contractions, I had changed to 2-3cm...seeing a trend here? ; ) I had contractions until about 3am early Sunday morning & we stayed home from church so I could rest. We had a great day as a family & headed over to Steve & Jenny's for a Memorial Day dinner since I was scheduled to work on Memorial Day.
We sat down to eat & I immediately started having contractions. I flipped on my contraction timer on my iPhone & quickly noticed that they were 2.5 minutes apart. Even with the contractions, I ate a feast....I am a hungry pregnant woman! After dinner I sat on an exercise ball while we all talked. Jenny touched up my toenail polish a "Do you think I'm Tex-y" Texas themed color : ) After an hour, I was feeling a little nervous like I might be in labor. We decided to head home. Jenny followed us & gave Charlotte a bath while I sat in my shower. The contractions definitely did not go away so we gave Dr. Peppy a call. He was on the Palm Coast & said "you can't have this baby tonight! I can't get home until tomorrow afternoon!" Ha! He said to head up to Labor & Delivery to have someone check me. If I was changing, I would be admitted, if not I was to head home & chill out until he could get back to Orlando. We were all packed so our exit from the house was smooth.
We loaded up our sweet Charlotte into Aunt Jenny's car. I gave her a big smooch or two & told her I loved her. I looked at her for an extra second thinking two things; where did the time go? & get ready girl, if this is it, you are about to be a big sister! Our drive to the hospital was beautiful. We took a different route where we drove between some fields & saw the sun setting. We were laughing as my contractions were getting a little more uncomfortable. It was a special 30 minutes together.
Once I got up to Labor & Delivery, a friend checked me & said I was 4 cm with a bulging bag of water. I gave Dr. Peppy a call & said I didn't think I was going to make it until tomorrow afternoon! He said he would call & check on my frequently...which he did...he is the absolute best of the best & I was genuinely sad that he was going to miss delivering Eloise. Thankfully that group is full of high caliber midwives & doctors that I was happy to have caring for me. We went back to the car to get our bags & then I was admitted directly to Labor & Delivery. We called our parents & said that baby Eloise would be making her debut soon! They were of course very excited. My parents were scheduled to arrive a few days later...they were so excited they re booked their flights for less than 12 hours from our phone call. One special moment was that Robby asked me if I would like to have Jenny with us. I was beaming as I answered yes & quickly called her. She was just as excited as I was!
It was different to be delivering on night shift since I work days. A few of the night nurses used to work days with me & we chose a friend of mine, Anna to take care of us. She was wonderful as well...she always makes me laugh which is great for labor!
By the time Dr. Lopez made it into my room an hour later, I was 5 cm. He ruptured my bag of water & that really kicked things into gear. Once again, the contractions became much more intense & I decided to labor not in the bed. Jenny was fabulous helping me breathe & doing counter pressure on my lower back. Robby was snapping pictures & making me laugh...loved that! After an hour, I decided to get my epidural. I took nearly an hour to be a fully working epidural. Anna checked me & I was 6 cm. The next hour was a little crazy. Eloise began having decelerations in her heart rate with every contraction, some of them went really low. First baby, I don't ever remember paying attention to the monitor, this time I could hear it dropping & would start changing positions. Anna pretty much stayed at my bedside for the last hour with all the decelerations. I was in hands & knees position for just about the whole time with oxygen on. I was praying that my cervix would change quickly & she would be born before the decelerations worsened. Within an hour at 1:49 am, I was 10 cm dilated & feeling tons of pressure. They called Dr. Lopez & he was in the room within a couple minutes which was great because I felt like Eloise was going to come out any second! I started pushing at 1:50.
Elosie was born at 1:57 am.
She delivered with barely any effort. She was immediately up on my chest crying while Robby & I once again looked at each other with that sweet smile. The smile that you have when you can't quite explain how you feel. Eloise stayed skin to skin on me for at least 30 minutes.
I loved every second of it. She weighed 7lbs 4oz & was 20 inches long. When everyone had left the room I said "I feel like I could run a marathon!" This is actually hilarious because I don't think I could run a mile on my best day! I was just comparing the way I felt after delivering Eloise versus delivering Charlotte. This would be feeling energetic enough to run a marathon versus feeling like I had been hit by a bus & then being backed over by it & run over again. Like I said right off the bat, vastly different experiences with the same beautiful outcome.
Dear Charlotte & Eloise,
You my little darlings are beyond precious. I will forever be thankful for the Lord knowing what was best for your Daddy & me. He has blessed us with daughters that bring us great joy each & every day. Carrying each of you in my womb, feeling you grow & kick brought many smiles to my face & tears to my eyes after desiring to be pregnant for so long. Laboring in the discomfort & pain to bring you into this world was a complete honor. The moment we laid eyes on each of you, our hearts increased in the capacity to love. You are beautiful girls & we pray that you will continue to grow in to beautiful young women that love God. Thank you for changing my life, for helping me to become more selfless in the way I care for another person & for making our home a place of even more joy & laughter. Experiencing life with you so far has forever changed the way I feel about my job as a Labor & Delivery Nurse. I now say to every patient, "You get to meet YOUR baby today!" I feel more emotion in the moment of hearing that first cry, in seeing the mother & father smile at one another, in seeing the big brothers & sisters being introduced, & in watching a new baby open their eyes to look at their mommy for the first time. Lord willing, you will get to be mothers someday & experience things I have written about. You might get to know what it feels like to love a daughter or a son. I will tell you now, you can't even imagine how amazing it is.
Love,
Mommy
Our typical day includes nursing about every 3 to 3.5 hours with a feed after just 2 hours from the last at bedtime. She has been consistent with nursing around 8pm, sleeping until 4am then waking at 7:30 to start the day. Last night, she made it until nearly 5:30am! Her early morning feeding is super fast & she is back to sleep without a peep which means mommy is back to sleep fairly quickly as well. Like I said, that is our typical day which doesn't include those random growth spurts requiring more frequent feedings. She naps between each feeding, most naps are 1.5-2.5 hours except for the last mini snooze of the day lasting about 30 minutes when we are getting Charlotte in bed. That is the one in the swing : ) She still loves to be swaddled...it keeps her arms from flailing about. She is getting better & better at falling asleep on her own thanks to the busy bee of a big sister she has. Many times I lay her down then am tending to Charlotte or taking a dog out while she fusses & within 5 minutes, she is usually sound asleep. She is not interested in a pacifier but every now & then will have a finger or fist in her mouth.
Eloise got to take her first trip to the swimming pool last week. We joined Aunt Jenny & Karis for a morning dip in the neighborhood pool. It felt wonderful in the Florida heat. Eloise didn't seem to mind the cool water at all then took a snooze in the stroller while we played with the big girls.
Still mellow, Elo has become more content to spend time in the bouncer while we eat a meal & even falls asleep in the swing on occasion. Charlotte was addicted to the swing at this age but Eloise much prefers her bed. I think this is a good thing but it is nice for her to relax enough to snooze in the swing when I need an extra 10 minutes to gather things to get out of the house. She also likes the Bumbo chair. It cracks us up every time we see her in it. She looks so small to be sitting up!
I have really been enjoying the bedtime feeding & snuggle time with her. She is super alert & smiley right after so I tell her how precious she is & she coos back at me.....melts my heart! Every now & then she does an almost giggle. Can't wait to hear the real ones! Here she is right before bed tonight....
Happy 2 months Baby Elo! We love you & your adorable little grin!
