Birth Story #2- Ariana Rayne

Ariana is my spunky, stubborn, and yet uber affectionate little princess. She's 6 now and has been full of personality since day 1! This is the story of how she joined our growing family.

After enduring some really hard things with her older sister's birth (you can read about that here) I decided to allow my OB to induce my labor with Ariana at 39 weeks. Looking back that was probably a mistake. So I went in on the evening of March 22nd, 2007 and they started to give me medicine to ripen my cervix- which wasn't ripe at all. I went to sleep but I always find it impossible to sleep in a hospital. The next morning I was told I needed to go home because I didn't make enough progress :( I was really upset, but I went back home and was told to return in the next night for round 2.

So I came back again on the evening of the 24th and was given the same meds for my cervix and in the early morning they started pitocin. So, I was sure this was it! NOPE! Half way through the day after I had been receiving copious amounts of pitocin, it was decided that I should go home again and wait AGAIN! I was in tears because I was so upset to leave the hospital a second time without a baby. I almost didn't want to come back. But alas, I went in the morning of the 26th and they started me right on the pitocin because my cervix was ripe from everything else they had done. At this point I basically told my doctor that there was no way I was leaving that room until I had a baby. She just looked at me awkwardly and smiled. Before long they broke my water and off things went. I was offered and accepted an epidural right away. What no one tells you when you're being offered an epidural is the possible side effects. I spent the next 24 hours vomiting. Yes, I felt no labor pain but I was miserable nevertheless.

About an hour before Ariana made her first appearance she started to have decels (her heart rate keep slowing and not coming up quickly enough) The buzz in my room became all about a cesarean. This was the last thing I wanted! My OB knew this and made the call to wait it out just a little longer but had them prep an operating room just in case. I am so glad she decided to support me and wait just a bit because within the hour I was fully dilated and Ariana's heart rate was stable.

The funny thing about delivering with an epidural is that you really have no idea what's going on down there because your body's natural cues are masked with drugs. This is probably part of the reason why epidurals seem to lead to such high cesarean rates. In my case it makes for a funny story. So here I am ready to deliver so they quickly prep the room. They got my legs all set up, nurse ran out to go get some things and the doctor sat down and looked like she was getting her stuff together. Un-be-knownst to me Ariana just started crowning! I could feel pressure but I didn't realize that my body had just decided it was ready to go and went on without me. She came out so fast the doctor had to turn without gloves to make the catch. Visibly startled she yelled out the door for a nurse and they came rushing in. I got to see Ariana for a moment and then they whisked her away to go do whatever it is they do. Eventually she made her way back to my arms and of course, she was simply perfect. The recovery from the birth and epidural was still a bit rough with her but nothing compared to my first child.

If you want to read about the stories for my other two children they are here:
Elise (baby #1)
Harper (baby #3- natural waterbirth)