Christina's Attic: September 2010 Archives

Madelyn's Birth Story

Due to me being GBS positive, we had elected for an induction to make sure we had enough time to administer antibiotics before Madelyn was born. We were originally scheduled for Wednesday the 8th. Then we were rescheduled for Tuesday the 7th. I started having contractions Sunday night which became worse during the morning. Also Monday morning, I developed a low grade fever. We were supposed to be dropping Michael's sister off at the airport and picking his mom up, but the contractions were starting to hurt enough that I wasn't ready to be in the car for two hours and wasn't comfortable being left home. So at about noon we went to the hospital while Aunt Heather took the kids to the airport to swap with Grandma. At the hospital, I was checked, told I was at 4 cm, and started on antibiotics. Probably due to my fever, the baby's heartrate was high, hitting 200 bpm at one point, so the doctor was ready to speed things up with pitocin as soon as I got my epidural. Just after the doctor left, my water broke. (I have never had it break on it's own before.) Soon after, I got my epidural which only worked on my right side. I got a new epidural which worked much better, and then before long it was time to push. She was already turning her head to fit through the birth canal by the time the doctor got there. At 6:58 pm, after one and a half pushes she was out with no tearing or anything- another first for me. Madelyn Rose was 20 inches long and weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces. She scored 9s on her APGARs, but due to my fever, she had to stay in the NICU to get antibiotics and be observed for 48 hours. I did get to hold her and try nursing her before she was taken down. Unfortunately, I started getting chills and the shivering was making her upset. After she left, the chills got worse, and we called the nurse. My fever had gone up to 103 deg F and my pulse was around 120 bpm. I was put on oxygen while they worked to get my fever down. Because I got so sick, we had to spend some extra time recovering in Labor and Delivery, and once we did get moved, I spent the majority of my stay on antibiotics. So the hospital stay was rough, but we were both able to come home after two days, and we've been working on nursing ever since.
She had a weight check today and is at 8 lbs even. She's still 7 oz under birth weight, but she has stopped losing weight.

Here's our Labor Day girl on her due date.