ole schnikees: 2018 :: Tova's birth story

So after having dinner at hangar 54 down the road for wing Wednesday and having an awful time pooping (sorry, tmi but it's part of the story) after having a hemorrhoid surgically removed the day before, my usual night time contractions started (although they were closer together). I decided to get ready for bed as that usually stopped them. by the time I got in bed they had started to get a little painful which they'd never done before. so I text mom to warn her, got into bed about 9ish, and by 940 they were painful enough (and 4-5 minutes apart) that I was uncomfortable in bed. so I got up, warned Al, and called the midwife on call (which happened to be my least favorite midwife). she said to wait a bit longer and see how the contractions went as "an hour wasn't very long to be having contractions." so I walked around a bit because that's the only thing that was decently comfy for me. about 10 minutes after I had called the midwife, I went to go to the bathroom and peed my pants a little bit before I made it. I then realized that it was my water breaking, so I told Al and had him call mom to come down while I tried the midwife back. they couldn't get a hold of her for a while so I just asked them to tell her that we were heading in to the hospital. I then called Jodi and asked her if she could come sit here since trevor was sleeping, until mom could get here. then we finished packing our hospital bags and once Jodi was here, took off. the car ride was awful with contractions! as soon as I sat down in the car the contractions starting being in my back too and never stopped being both in front and in back.

we arrived at the hospital at 1050p, went to the ER entrance where they checked me in and said someone would be right down for me. I paced in the entry way for what felt like a half hour, having strong contractions (although I was happy to be out of the car and to be standing), before the nurse came down. I didn't know it at the time but that first nurse had another nurse called in right away since she was almost done with her shift and because I was more uncomfortable than they expected me to be (and thank goodness she did, I loved sarah and having her be the main nurse with me). it took us a while to get to the elevator and to get to my room due to having to stop with the contractions.

we got to my room about 11 and I was told I had to lay in the bed for 20 minutes for monitoring and IV and such, and I immediately disliked that as I wanted to stand and walk around. so I asked for an epidural since it could take a good hour before I would get it and I could not do those back contractions for much longer. so they put in for it. I also asked for a birthing ball to sit on which I didn't get until much later than I needed it and actually never used it. they hooked up the baby monitors, did some other things while I tapped my foot/leg aggressively through each contraction, wanting to get up. then at 1125p kayla came back to put in my IV, which hurt for days afterwards, so I could get my antibiotics for group B strep and fluids for the epidural. once I could get up, I tried to stand but couldn't with the pain in my back so I did a bunch of contractions rocking back and forth on the side of the bed. I also couldn't stand because my body and especially my knees were shaking so much (like when you're really cold even though I wasn't cold) which I was later told was adrenalin and hormones. my body and knees shook for a good hour after birth too. meanwhile, this whole time the nurses were trying to get a hold of the midwife on call and still couldn't get a hold of her....

about midnight, the midwife (Janice) finally showed up. they were just about to check me, so the midwife checked me and said I was very thinned out, a 0, and about 5 centimeters dilated. so she helped me breathe through a couple contractions, told me I had plenty of time for the epidural, and went to change in to her hospital clothes. little did she (we) know the turn of events that were about to happen. :)

at 1221p Sarah asked me if I wanted to go pee before the epidural came since lots of people have to pee right when the epidural person comes in. I originally said no but then said yeah that was probably a good idea. so I stood up after a contraction, sarah helped me, Al grabbed the IV pole, and we slowly made our way to the bathroom. once in the bathroom everything changed! I immediately grabbed the side of the tub and my body was already pushing the baby out, so I told sarah "I'm pushing!" and then I screamed some sort of animal planet scream (thanks for that accurate description Maren!) all of the sudden, there were nurses/people everywhere in that tiny bathroom, I don't even know where Al was, and the 2 big things I remember were someone trying to throw the birthing ball out of the bathroom and the midwife throwing her shoe out since she hadn't had time to get her shoes on. Al and I thought they all came running from my scream but Sarah had actually pulled the emergency cord. I was convinced the baby was crowning already and coming out in the bathroom. the midwife said baby wasn't quite there so we should move to the bed, I tried to stand up and said no, I can't. after the next contraction, either sarah or the midwife said "we are going to the bed, grab on to someone, and take one step at a time." so I miraculously made it to the bed and didn't find out until later but I wasn't even all the way on the bed (which made my lower back even sorer in the days to come.)

at 1226p I was 10 cm/fully dilated (less than 25 minutes after being a 5...), crowning, and still pushing with every contraction. I could feel the midwife trying to stretch me around the baby's head and she told me she saw hair. my first question was "what color is it?" i'd been really curious to know if baby was gonna be a blonde like trevor or not. the midwife said brown.

at 1234am baby girl was born after 8 minutes of pushing and less than 2 hours in the hospital (thank goodness I didn't wait for the midwife to say it was ok to come in...); her head came out and then I had to push again to get her shoulders out (unlike with Trevor, once his head was out he was totally out). they put her immediately on my chest and we all said/thought "that's a big baby/she's huge." :) she was so chubby with brown hair and she cried on my chest so I knew she was good. she stayed on my chest until after 3 am. I delivered the placenta at 1241p and got stitches (the midwife thinks the 2 big tears is where I tore with trevor too.) after just a couple attempts, she nursed like a champ for maybe a half hour (at about 137a).

at 315am baby girl got weighed and measured in the warming box with Al over there watching. she was 9 pounds 11 oz!!! (Trevor was 7 lbs 4 oz) she was 21 3/4 inches long. I think after that they asked her name, so I looked at Al and we both knew with her stubbornness to not come out and then the aggressive way she came out, that she was a Tova and not a Violet. :) So we named her Tova Joan Oleson!! Joan after my middle name, my mom's name, and my grama (dad's mom's) name!

at 330 I showered while Al held her and I showered for a long time since it was finally a hot shower (our water heater has not been working very well). then we moved to our post partum family room with a queen bed, couch and recliner chair in it! this room was so nice to us since we didn't get to leave the delivery room with Trevor due to influenza and being quarantined.

at 430am Tova and I got our vitals checked (Al was asleep by then already) and then I slept from about 5-6a then got up to pee. at 630 I called mom and at 715 I got dressed, ordered breakfast (I was starving for the first 2 days), I tried to nurse Tova but she wouldn't wake up.

at 915 Trevor, nana, and grandpa peter came to visit and see baby sister! trevor didn't want to hold her but kept asking where she was and started saying/knowing her name. Tova got a bath during this time and trevor watched intently. :) about 11 they left so they could play outside before lunch and nap and so we could try to get some sleep.

just after noon our pediatrician dr sarumi came to do tova's first checkup which went great and then all 3 of us napped until about 230. Trevor, nana, and grandpa peter came back after nap for supper (we ordered pizza). they also came back Friday morning and after nap and then we got to go home just before 10pm on Friday!

I had hardly any pain during recovery just a lot of soreness in my lower back for the first 2 days and the usual cramping of the uterus mostly just when I nursed.