Hafens: Mitch, Val & Camryn: 9/1/11

Camryn Merlene Hafen

Born August 16, 2011 at 10:46pm

7 lbs 6 oz, 18.5 in long

Now that Camryn is a month old, I figured I should probably blog about her birth. I'm going to warn you right now that this blog will be long! So if you want the short version of the story, here it is.............. I went into labor at 1:30am and then BAM, 21 hours later, Camryn was born!

And here is the detailed version :) I had a doctor's appointment on Monday, August 15th and the doctor said that I was finally making a little progress... I was dilated to a one and had a very soft cervix. He wanted to help things along, so he swept my membranes. After my appointment, I went back to work and the rest of the day went like normal. No contractions or anything. Mitch and I walk about 2 miles before we went to bed at 11:00pm. The next morning, August 16th, at 1:30am I woke up in pain. I quickly realized I was having a contraction. I tried to go back to sleep, but they kept coming every few minutes. So I decided to go watch TV and try counting the time in between them. After about an hour, I realized that they were coming between 2 and 5 minutes apart..... which is when my book said to go to the hospital! But I knew it couldn't be time because it had only been an hour. Mitch woke up for work around 2:45am and called into work since we were pretty sure I was in labor. We decided to go for another 2 mile walk around 3:30am. We came back home and Mitch went back to sleep while I sat in the chair and tried to relax (which is impossible when you're having contractions every few minutes!) I felt like I didn't know what to do! I called my mom and even called the hospital, and everyone said that I could go in if I wanted since they were so close, but it's better to stick it out at home for a while. Around 6:30 I decided to shower and get ready.

The contractions were getting stronger, so we went to the hospital at 8:30am. They hooked me up to the monitors and checked me. I was dilated to a 3 and 95% effaced, having contractions that were right on top of each other. They told me that they would monitor me for an hour and if I didn't make progress, they would have to send me home. By some miracle, my doctor was making his rounds and just happened to walk by about 10 minutes later. He told the nurses that he wanted to keep me no matter what! So they came in and told me I was having a baby today! I was immediately moved into a labor/delivery room where they hooked me up to my IV's. I tested positive for Group B Strep while pregnant, so I had to get an IV of antibiotics for at least 4 hours before the baby came. I actually ended up getting it for about 13 hours before she came, and btw it makes a lovely burning, cold, pain feeling in your arm :) Anyways, they said that they thought she was posterior so I got to spend some time in some lovely positions trying to get her to flip haha And they didn't like the way that my contractions were timed (I'd have about 4 right in a row, and then there would be a 6 minute gap) so they started me on a low dose of pitosin to even them out. My mom and sister came to keep us company around 9:30am, so we turned on Swamp People and settled in.

Around 12:15pm, my contractions were really starting to bother me, but I was planning on waiting until I was a 5 or 6 to get an epidural. They checked me and I was still at a 3!! The nurses and my family convinced me to just get my epidural so I could relax and it wouldn't slow my labor down since I had pictosin. So I made the best decision of my life and got my epidural :) After that, things were great! I was the most comfortable I had felt in months! I got to lay there and watch TV and eat my ice and relax. I had about a half hour where I was shaking/shivering, but they brought me a warm blanket and it went away. Around 3:00pm I was dilated to a 5. At 6:30pm my doctor came and I was dilated to a 7. He broke my water and said that they would check me in a few hours to see how much progress I was making. At 7:30pm I had made it to an 8! It was sometime around then that I must have been going through transition because I got sick, and I started shaking/shivering again. Only this time, it wouldn't go away! I was shaking pretty hard and it got pretty annoying. It was also sometime around then that they checked my vitals and found that I had a fever. The nurse immediately told us that there was a chance I had Chorio (Chorioamnionitis) which is an infection of the amniotic fluid, and that if the doctor decided to label it is Chorio, the NICU would have to be there when the baby was born. She would for sure be in the NICU for 2 days while they tested her, and if it came back positive for Chorio, she would be in the NICU for 7 days. Wow. Talk about jumping right to the worst case scenario! She called my doctor and he said that he wasn't going to label it as Chorio. Thank goodness! Instead they monitored the fever (which kept getting higher) and covered me in ice packs. If I wasn't shivering enough before, now I really was. And I wasn't allowed to have a warm blanket. So those last few hours were miserable. Around 9:15pm I was dilated to a 9++.

At 10:00pm she asked me to do a few practice pushes. Now I have to tell you, I was really scared of the actual delivery process. I wasn't sure if I would be able to push the right way since I couldn't feel from my waste down. Plus, my mom had to push for hours with her first baby, so I was scared of being the same way. Anyways, I did about 3 or 4 practice pushes and thought that she was going to tell me it would be a while longer (since the baby dropping so slowly all day). But instead, she looked at Mitch and asked, "Do you want to see the head?" We were both shocked haha So they prepped the room for delivery and after a few more pushes the nurse said to call the doctor. Thank goodness, he was already in the hall, ready to go! She was still posterior, but he said that she would probably just turn with one of my contractions. For some reason, the monitor that was supposed to keep track of my contractions wasn't able to pick them up half of the day, so they decided to just have me tell them when I was having one. I couldn't feel any pain, but my epidural was perfect enough that I could feel the pressure with every contraction. I also want to mention that I did not enjoy pushing. It's so hard to push for so long and hold your breath! I felt like I was going to pass out the whole time. Anyways, I started pushing at 10:33 pm. We took a few breaks to let me catch my breath when I felt faint, but they told me that I was pushing really well for it being my first baby. It went much better and faster than I thought, and Camryn was born at 10:46pm.

It felt like an out of body experience when they put her on my stomach and were cleaning her up. It is all a blur to me and I couldn't believe she was here! The doctor explained that since I'd had the fever, we would have to stay in the hospital for 48 hours while they did several tests on Camryn's bloodwork to make sure everything was okay. Meanwhile, my dad, Mitch's parents, and his sister Micci were all in the hall, so they came in to meet her after everything was cleaned up. It was fun to have everyone there to visit for a little while. Over the next two days she had LOTS of family and friends come to visit her. She is one very lucky and loved little girl!

PS- All of her tests and bloodwork came back healthy :)