Aria’s Birth Story

Days Leading up to Delivery

So… I’ll start with the backstory of the days before Aria was born.

10/31/2017

It was Halloween and over the weekend I had gone on a 5K walk to support research and awareness for Arthritis, (a condition not exclusive to the elderly) I did this to support a close beautiful friend of mine and I was already 37 weeks pregnant so I knew, even if I did go into labor… I was considered full term, and truth be told by 37 weeks you won’t be opposed to baby’s arrival! My Doctor had told me to make sure my hospital bag was ready because baby was low (this I knew) and I was 1cm dilated… but we all know babies do what they want, when they way when it comes to Labor & Delivery.

Back to Halloween, I had lunch with an amazing friend, who happens to be Aria’s godmother.. she went to get stone crab for me because I was craving it, while I got my mani pedi, I went with RED because I was going to be a gumball machine for Halloween… afterall, what are the chances I will ever be 9 months pregnant for Halloween again?! I never imagined I’d end up delivering with BRIGHT RED NAILS! lol.

After lunch, I walked to my wax appointment, because we had already planned induction for 11/15 and we all know that as ridiculous as it is, we want to be well groomed the last weeks of pregnancy JUST IN CASE… Seriously, just in case WHAT?! what that looks like down there during labor I’m sureeee makes no difference if it’s looking like King Kong or a baby’s butt… but we still think about these things LOL! As I walked back to my car from my appt (with Alessandro in the stroller) I saw a baby store and walked in… that was the beginning of the end… I fell in love with an outfit to make Aria’s going home outfit…and they didnt have it in NB size, I knew they had another location (45 minutes away!) and called to see if they had it in NB and if they would hold it for me. They did, and I finished my walk to my car and drove all the way there in pretty bad traffic, knowing I’d get stuck in peak traffic heading back home… I HAD to have this outfit. To top it off, I still had to MAKE my Halloween costume! I had to glue all the pom poms onto a shirt one by one before we went trick or treating. (If you haven’t caught on, I may have overdone myself) making a long preamble short, my hips were killing me we did all the Halloween stuff and got back home at 9:30…. I started to have contractions.. DUH! so I drank more water, knowing I’d done too much and went to sleep.

11/01/2017

I woke up feeling okay, but a little “off”. Alessandro was supposed to have his final swim lesson before baby came, but I decided it wasn’t worth it and that I was going to stay home and rest. I sat on the couch most of the day, only getting up to wash and dry Aria’s going home outfit and feed my son… her room wasn’t done, her bassinet not built, our new mattress and bed arriving “before” she was to arrive but had not yet either, I was painting and moving furniture from our room into Alessandro’s, there were clothes and drawers everywhere.. this reminds me, when I felt okay that day, I moved the dresser into Ale’s room from the garage right before I started contracting again, noooo.. I dont think that put me into labor lol, but so much for resting… I did my best… If you know me, you know I can’t sit still.

That night, Alessandro was sleeping, and hubby was working late.. I texted him to let him know I was contracting again like the night before and I started to time my contractions, they were about 7 minutes apart… I drank a liter of water and rested on my left side but after about an hour of them not subsiding, I called my Dr… I wanted to ask what I could do as a more “last minute decision” because I needed to coordinate for my mom to come stay with Alessandro and I didn’t want to bother anyone, and go to the hospital just to be sent back home. She told me instead of waiting an hour, to have some more water and wait a bit more but after 2 hours of consistent 7 minute contractions or if they increased in pain or frequency, to go in. At 11 pm hubby got home and went for a jog… yes a jog, I gave him the go ahead as long as it was short and he took his phone… he obliged. I closed my eyes and slept until he got back, I wanted to keep sleeping but I was in a daze, I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming the pain or if I was in pain… it was weird, nothing like my first labor since that was induced and I never felt regular contractions, just pitocin contractions, which I can now confirm are FAR WORSE!

11/02/2017

When we arrived at the hospital it was like 12:45, my husband cracked some joke about having seen so many Hollywood films, and none of them being like this, asking if I was sure I was in labor… I wasn’t sure, i actually kept thinking, why am I here the pain isn’t so bad, they’re going to send me home! I checked in at the front and told the nurse i was 27 week s pregnant and she asked twins?! and I gave her an odd look and she gave me one back, it wasn’t until after i filled forms and peed in a cup, that i realized i said 27 instead of 37! haha my brain was mush! They got me on the monitors and for the first time my contractions didn’t seem to be registering, anytime id been on the monitor with BH or preterm labor contractions, they always registered all to easily.. i kept thinking I don’t look like I’m in pain, I don’t feel that awful, and now they cant even see these contractions… WTH am I doing here?! My mom is going to kill me, shes going to have to go to work exhausted after all this.. etc at 2:45 am the Dr comes in to check my cervix, and says you are 4 cm dilated, congratulations you’re having a baby today! The nurse, my husband and I all looked at each other in disbelief! The Dr. asked us why we seems shocked lol.. the nurse said, honestly I am just as shocked, shes perfectly

I was admitted, but due to an emergency c-section, my DR didn’t find out about me for a couple hours because the entire L&D staff was running around with a breech 28 weeker who’s baby’s feet were already in the birth canal! (That’s a whole other story!) I was terrified my epidural wouldn’t take like the first time, but my doctors recommendation since I was only at 5 cm hours later, was to get an epidural start a low dose of Pitocin and get this over with.. it sounded nice.

I got my epidural at about 5 am, spoke to the CRNA and she told me epidurals are kind of hit or miss but that i should be able to move my feet with her epidural but not feel the contractions, well that was true for about an hour… my body seems to hate epidurals and feeling Pitocin contractions is something so BRUTAL.. do not recommend. Dr broke my water at 5:50 and started Pitocin at 6:15 am, at about 9 am the new Dr. on call from my practice came in and I was at a 6-7… seems like slow progress so he said I’m assuming this will be a lunch baby, call me if you need me I will be around. I told the nurse to go ahead and call the CRNA to get me a bolus for the pain, because the epidural did the SAME thing as last time, it took only on my legs and I could feel every brutally painful contraction induced my the Pitocin in my IV. my legs felt like dead weight so I asked for a peanut ball to keep my legs a little separate (I think this was what accelerated everything). I suddenly felt like I was laying an egg… I turned to my husband and told him, and asked him to go get the nurse… I heard him yell for the nurse and tell her “Someone is knocking at the door!” LOL the poor nurse was like whattt?! so as she ran in and I said no one is knocking anywhere, I feel like I’m laying an egg! She laughed, said I get it, and started to remove the peanut ball from my legs. She checked my cervix and said, you’re at 10 cm and baby is very low, I’m going to call your doctor to head over. They cancelled the epidural bolus, and once again I’d be pushing a baby out sans effective pain meds… nurses started to swarm in, and my nurse said, honey keep your legs closed and stay on your side, we cant get a hold of your doctor still… WHAT?!? he was just here! who knows, maybe the poor guys was pooping.. bahaha! My dad walked in to the hospital lobby at 10:30 am, it would be the second time he was there to assist in my labor and I forewarned all the nurses if some bald guy was coming, to just let him in, he’d already seen it all the first time around LOL!

The final few minutes are all time stamped by pictures!

10:38 – My dad walked in and takes a picture of the whiteboard in my room, and of me giving him side eye as well as one of Nico and I as the final family of 3 picture.

10:40 – my Dr. begins to scrub in and the nurses start to break the bed to prep for delivery

10:44 – my Dr. sat on a stool in front of me and says let me know when you’re ready… wait what?! ready for what?!… to push he says, when you have your next contraction.. OMG I figured this would be more like with Alessandro, start pushing baby down, but she was down!

10:47 – I pushed 3 times, and my Dr. said “hold on”.. whattt? why?! he said her head is out, I’m aspirating her nose! I couldn’t believe it, he had me push a 4th time and the rest of her body came out, I heard her cry and immediately started crying.. Since I was only 37 weeks and 4 days, I requested (if possible and medically acceptable) to delay cord clamping, so the Dr. held Aria for 30 seconds before handing her to me, and they suddenly felt like an eternity.. This was the second I knew, that if its up to me this will not be my final visit to L&D… It was odd, but it was almost like a vision to put the feeling into something more easily understood