Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Lucia Kathleen is here! (XP on Feb 2012)
I'm going to post the whole story, but it's long, so I have the short version at the beginning 
Lucia was born last Wednesday, February 22nd, at 2:59 am. I was 40w5d by the time she came out. She was born after 29 hours of labor, including 3 hours of pushing. She weighed 7 lbs 8 oz, and was 20 in long.
Here's the long story :
After having contractions that lasted all night and then stopped in the morning several times, I was feeling frustrated. Then on Monday, Feb 20th, as my H and sister and I were walking to a pizza place for dinner(around 7 pm), I started to feel more discharge than normal. It was just slightly more, so I mentioned it to them, but couldn't figure out if it was my water or not. We ate and took a long walk home, just to see if that would shake anything loose, but I just seemed slightly more wet than normal.
By 9 pm I had cramps, but that was normal. At 10 I called L and D to see what they thought about the wetness, and they said just keep an eye on it, and call in a couple of hours. Around then I realized that though they didn't feel anything like the contractions I had felt the other days, the cramps were coming at regular intervals. It didn't feel like the tightening, but it was hurting more and more, so I started timing. We all went to bed, but I couldn't sleep, so just paced and timed the cramps. They started coming 3 - 4 minutes apart.
They continued to get more and more painful. My sister got up to hang out with me, and they eventually started coming every 2 minutes. I took a shower, and then just tried to breathe through them. Around 2 am I woke H, told him to get ready and called L and D. The nurse there told me they were full, and I should just choose another hospital! I cried and panicked. My sister took over, talked to several more people, and in the end found another hospital that accepts Kaiser(which ended up being a lot nicer than mine, though they didn't have midwives, only OBs). We drove 30 min to the hospital, and by the time we got there the contractions were coming one on top of the other and were super painful.
We were checked in by 4 am, at which point they checked me and I was only 1 cm ;( They then checked and found out that I did break my water, so they admitted me. By 5 am my contractions started to slow down, like they had so many other days, and I fell asleep for about 2 hours. We tried to get them strong again by walking, changing positions, and anything else we could think of, but with no luck.
So by about 9 they put me on pitosin, which brought them right back. I only needed a little (they turned it up slowly to a 4, then ended up having to turn it back down to a 1 because my body picked it up). Contractions started to become more and more painful, and after 2 hours I got an epidural. They eventually turned off the pitosin, but every time they would do that my contractions would last an hour or 2 and then start to peter out again.
I progressed throughout the day, only slowing down when I was completely off the pitosin for too long. Some family friends came to spend time with us and keep us busy. It was a long day. I don't remember the time, but eventually we hit the point where I felt I needed to push. It was so strong! But when they checked me I still had a lip left on my cervix. So they wouldn't let me. I was in tears, freaking out because I couldn't stop myself. My nurse was amazing (as was my sister who is a doctor) and he worked with me on turning myself every which way trying to get it to go away, all the while dealing with my tears and stress.
By just before midnight it had finally gone away, and I was exhausted but ready to push. I pushed for 2 hours with my nurse, and was exhausted and feeling like we weren't getting anywhere, though clearly she was moving down. At this point I was off the pitosin, so my contractions were not coming that close together. Eventually the doctor came, and she was low enough that the doctor could see that she had turned sideways. She painfully turned her while I was pushing and got her set up. I started to get a fever, and was clearly exhausted, and had my water had been broken for over 24 hours, so I started thinking they were going to move to c-section soon. When the doctor asked I'd perk up and tell her I was fine, but otherwise I though I was going to die and never get her out. I pushed as hard as I could and when we hit 3 hours we were really getting close. The doctor suggested using the vacuum as a last attempt, and I jumped at the chance for help. I started pushing like 5 times in a row instead of 3, she used the vacuum for a second, and out came Lucia Kathleen!
It was the longest, most exhausting, most painful thing I've ever done. But as the days pass and I get more separation from it, and more time and more time with my beautiful daughter, I'm starting to feel better about it.
So that is my story, and here is my daughter
Re: Lucia Kathleen is here! (XP on Feb 2012)
Molly
I am so happy for you!!!!! She is just beautiful! I love all the pictures you have been posting too.
She weighed the same as Lawson at birth! Has she stayed at birth weight?
Are you formula or breast feeding?
Isnt it amazing the love you feel instantly?
Congrats again!!!!
Blog
Molly, wow.
What a story. You poor dear!
But your daughter is beautiful. She really is, I mean, just gorgeous, they don't all come out looking so pretty at first! She's lovely. :-)
You did really well with all you endured it seems, and honestly, for someone like me who is not TTC, and still BNOTB, I really appreciate the honesty in your delivery story, and the way you explained every little detail in a completely non-obnoxious way. I feel a little more educated and informed.
Enjoy your new baby girl!
She truly is amazing. Thank you for sharing the story. As I am getting ready to start TTC this summer, I am having a problem looking at my body and thinking that once we are pregnant, my body will change so much, and there is so much pain at the end of the road. Your story makes it sound true, and rewarding... technically I know that, but still, good to hear it
My friend told me that right after your baby is out some sort of a hormone is released that slowly makes you forget the pain. She is teaching biology and she said that this is how women are built because otherwise we would never want to have another child if we remembered the pain... interesting, no?
My Blog