Ariana's Birth Story

Lets begin by saying that my original due date was August 16, 2014.

Ariana was born August 8, 2014
I was at risk of pre-eclampsia throughout this whole process

Ok now that we know that...

Two weeks prior to giving birth I was doing a routine of going in to get Non Stress Testing to check on both baby and I.  During those two weeks, I would literally get sent to Labor & Delivery EVERY SINGLE TIME I had an appointment. It was a mix of having contractions, extremely high blood pressure and the baby's heart rate unexpectedly dropping. This mix was a big no-no but they still kept me as an "observation" case. Finally on Tuesday August 5th, I was held for 24hrs to make sure that we we're both ok and that I didn't need special attention. After being released on Wednesday August 6th, I was ordered to go home and get some rest with my feet up (aren't all pregnant women ordered the same?) I still had an appointment the following day.

I went in to my regular appointment on August 7th, 2014 and as usual I got sent to L&D. (Luckily) My OB was the on call doctor that day in L&D and as soon as she saw me she said "I am so over you being in here and getting released over and over again. I'm just going to go ahead and induce you today."

Yup, as easy as that! Let me just say that my OB is pretty awesome, which is why she just makes decisions as easy as that lol.

Then the (long but short) process began at 11am. I was advised that this could take 2-3 days so there was no need to get all my family in a craze. I called my husband to let him know that I was going to be induced but it would take a while. I encouraged him to still make his way to school and that he would still be able to come back with plenty of time.

I was dilated to 1cm at this point so they wanted to get the process going. In comes "the balloon" or balloons I should say. This is a little tube that has 2 deflated balloons attached to them. One balloon gets placed under baby and the other in the middle of your cervix. Once placed inside, they fill the balloons with liquid. This in theory makes your cervix forcibly dilate. This process can take anywhere from 8-12 hours, so it was going to be a while.

During the time I had the balloon in, I began feeling much stronger contractions and I was encouraged to do much walking in order to help the baby really push herself down. During the hours I had the balloon in, I walked and showered with hot water and walked and walked. The pain was obviously like nothing I had felt before but also I didn't feel a need to scream or hurt anyone. I guess I must not be THAT dramatic.

After a while the midwife advised that it would still be a while and suggested my parents head home and get some rest, which they did. Shortly after my parents left, the midwife came back in to check on the balloon and, well it was ready to slip out. The balloons have the capability of making you dilate to 5cm and once you've reached that goal, they slip out. After taking it out, she checked me and advised that they would wait a tiny bit to see if I would continue contracting on my own.

After less than an hour, the midwife came and let me know that it didn't look like much was happening and that they would be breaking my water shortly. My nurse came in and let me know to go ahead and call my parents (whom were just getting into bed) and let them know to head back. My nurse also suggested that I get the epidural now before they break my water. I had nothing to prove, I'm not the woman warrior so....bring on the epidural.

The tech put the catheter in for the epidural and it felt like heaven, I couldn't feel a thing aaaand I even managed to play a joke on him before he left the room. Shortly after, the midwife came in, broke my water and placed pitocin in my I.V. My parents made their way back but still no baby. After a while of tons of contractions and no more dilating doctors were panicked because Ariana's heart was STILL dropping. They connected me to the oxygen and let me know that they did not like how things were looking and that it was very likely that I would have to deliver via C-section. They set a countdown of one hour, within this hour my blood pressure would need to drop enough to be considered normal and Ariana's heart would need to remain stabilized with every contraction.

This hour was the worst by far! In this final hour I began feeling strong contractions. They were so strong that I could feel them at equal intensity as the first 5cm. Keep in mind that I already had the epidural and this pain was surpassing all the anesthesia. I noticed that the baby's heart would continue to drop dramatically so I would breathe frantically in order to find a way for her heart to stay up during every contraction. The hour felt like 5 minutes! Finally my OB (I was surprised she was still on call) rushed in with the midwife and about 6 or 7 nurses. They quickly turned the lights on and began unplugging everything. My OB looked genuinely worried and she stated that I was being rushed for an emergency C-section. She decided to check me before moving me over to the operating room and noticed there was a large amount of bleeding and stated that I was already dilated to 10cm! She also mentioned that the baby had turned away from the proper position for birth so...she began turning the baby! Yup, I didn't feel anything because of the epidural but I imagine it would have felt as crazy as it looked. One hand inside manipulating the baby and the other pushing my stomach!

Once she determined the baby was fine, they rushed me to the operating room. At this point only my husband could accompany me. My parents stayed behind supporting me in prayer. They took me to the O.R. and explained the risks of a C-section surgery and had me sign my life away (pretty much thats what I understood). I tried as much as possible to remain calm but the nurse had given me medicine to stop my contractions--the side effects were shakiness so it was hard to stay calm while your body is shaking uncontrollably. They left only my I.V. fluids, oxygen and baby monitor for a total of 2 minutes. During this time my OB determined that the baby was stable enough and gave me the option to try for natural delivery.

The option was given this way-

• I will give you one chance to push
• People are scared of pooping, I guarantee you won't poop and if you do, we don't care
• If you push and the baby gets stuck halfway, we will use the vacuum to get her out
• If you can't get the baby out we will do surgery here

That was enough of an incentive for me to push with all my might. OB told me to let her know when I felt a contraction and when I was ready to push. I completed a total of 3 pushes and Ariana Raquel was born. 

Unfortunately I wasn't able to put her on my chest at that time because they needed to check her in under the NICU to make sure she was fine and daddy got to spend that time with her. I had to...well get put back together and that took about 40 minutes. Once the baby was labeled as "in great health" the whole staff in the operating room sang "Happy Birthday" to her! That was such an awesome and unexpected gesture. 

All in all the pregnancy,labor,delivery and recovery was tough but I thank God for keeping the baby and I safe. The staff at the hospital was nothing short of amazing with me throughout the whole process! I was afraid that the horror stories of nurses being rude or inattentive would happen to me but thankfully we had none of that. I was able to pass out cookies to all the staff and a special gift to my OB who is also pregnant and having a baby girl!

I love my little miracle more than anything and hubby is such a great daddy to her, you can tell she's gonna have him wrapped around her fingers!

After my 6 week check-up, I am more thankful than before. My OB explained the fear all the staff was going through during my labor and how serious things really were. She congratulated me on how strong and calm I remained and said that patients like me are the reason why she keeps doing what she does.

I thank God for any strength I gathered and I thank him again for the little princess he gifted us.

 with grandpa

wearing daddy's glasses

-Susana