Fiona’s Birth Story

Its hard to believe she’s been an outside baby for almost 6 months, here we are in the last days of winter and she was born on one of the last lingering days of summer.

A little background about my pregnancy and me.
Jon and I were married in 2010 and we decided we would start trying for a baby in the fall of 2012 after my best friends wedding. As our third cycle was ending, I got a positive pregnancy test on January 27, 2013 putting my due date at 10/9/13. My first trimester was manageable I wasn’t too sick and I still had energy. At 20 weeks we found out we were having a girl, the following Tuesday, I woke up in an immense amount of pain. We were sent to our hospitals L&D and discovered I had a fairly large kidney stone. I spent 3 days in the hospital on IV pain meds waiting to pass the stone that we named Mick Jagger. I healed from that ordeal only to get in a car accident 3 weeks later on my way to work that landed me in different hospital’s L&D to be monitored. Luckily Baby Girl was fine and I just had some bruising and black and blues. My car on the other hand, not so much, and it took almost 7 weeks to be repaired. It was at this point that everyone started telling me how fierce she was. The summer was a whirlwind of trying to get our basement finished and the nursery done all the while I was getting bigger and bigger. We had our shower on September 8th, just in the nick of time. At my 37 week appointment, my doctor checked me and I was 3 cm. The following Wednesday night, I had my 38 week appointment and my doctor checked me and said I was 4 cm and 50% effaced. She thought it would be highly unlikely that I would make it to my next appointment the following week. After that appointment we ran some errands and I called my mom to tell her about my appointment, she half joking responded “just tell her to wait until after Friday, I’m so busy at work.”

Delivery day – Thursday 9/26/13
5am - At this point in my pregnancy I was not really sleeping well. I woke up to pee and when I stood I felt liquid running down my leg. I suspected that it was my water breaking and I called out to Jon, “Honey, I don’t think you’re going to work today” I wasn’t having contractions so I called our OB, who told us to get our stuff together and head to L&D to do a test to see if my water had ruptured. I showered, ate a bowl of cereal, threw some last minute things in our bags, we called our parents and our jobs, and we headed down the street to the hospital.

7am - Once in L&D Triage they did the ferning test, I had indeed ruptured. They were keeping me and I was having this baby! They also took a look at her position and estimated that she would weigh about 7lbs. I was still 4 cm, same as the night before’s doctor appointment. At this point, we could walk the halls of the hospital and I got monitored about every hour. I still wasn’t having contractions and the staff was hoping that by walking I would get them started.

11am -They moved us to a delivery suite and had me hooked to monitors and an IV of fluids and Pitocin. Little to no contractions. I was pretty comfortable standing and squatting over the end of the bed. The nurse came in every 20-30 minutes to dial up the Pitocin.

3pm - My mom arrived at the hospital and hung out in the room keeping us company. My OB checked on me occasionally, she laughed saying if I was still smiling and being polite, I wasn’t nearly ready and she wouldn’t check my dilation for fear of introducing bacteria since I was ruptured.

5pm - I had a slow leak going on all day, when all of a sudden we heard a “pop” on the monitor and I felt a gush. My water had really broken and I was starting to feel each contraction intensely. Within a half hour I was in a lot of pain, the contractions were coming so hard and so fast that I couldn’t catch my breath between them and I was having trouble breathing through them. I was hyperventilating and my hands and fingers were going numb, it was at that point I was yelling for drugs in between breaths.

6pm – They checked me before being prepped for the epidural and I had progressed to 6cm. The anesthesiologist arrived to start my epidural. My mom left the room, Jon sat in front of me holding my shoulders and I tried to stay as still as I could during contractions until the catheter was in my back and I started to feel some relief. Once it had fully taken effect I could relax, breathe and I just felt the pressure of each contraction.

7:30pm – I’m starving, it’s been 12 hours since I’ve eaten and I’m craving a turkey and cheese hoagie. We ordered food to be delivered so I can eat as soon as I get this baby out.

8:30pm – I’m checked and I’m complete I’ve reached 10cm, however the baby hasn’t moved very far down and my doctor wants to wait another hour before I start pushing. They have me sit up in the hospital bed hoping gravity would help move her down.

9pm – The doctors and nurses start prepping the room for delivery

9:30pm – They’re ready for me to start pushing. My mom goes to the waiting room to meet my dad and brother. Jon’s plan to stay behind my shoulder and cheer me on is foiled when they make him hold my left leg and a nurse had my right leg.

11:00pm – I’ve been pushing for almost 2 hours and it’s hard and it hurts. My main motivation at this point was not meeting my baby but the hoagie I had waiting in the nurse’s fridge. JOn and I start to wonder if she'll be born that night or the next morning

11:23pm – Fiona Marie enters the world. I had been pushing for so long and so hard, that my eyes were clenched shut. So when they placed her on my chest the Doctor had to tell me to open my eyes and she was beautiful! We did some skin to skin, we tried nursing and they bundled her up. She was so alert! Scored 9s on her Apgar tests. I needed a couple of stitches and once I was cleaned up, they let my parents and brother come back to see us. They got to watch her get her first bath and I got to eat my hoagie. My little brother took a ton of pictures of Fiona’s first moments.

1:30 am- My family headed home and they moved us to a recovery room and I was unhooked from my IV. We settled in and got some sleep, even though I was so excited to get to know my little Fi.

Fiona Marie
September 26, 2013 – 11:23pm
7lbs 12oz – 19 in
She came into this world 2 weeks ahead of schedule and was immediately nicknamed Fiona the Fierce