I know some of you want to know how Audra arrived here in this world...mainly the few hours leading up to her arrival. Because I wrote Grady's birth story, I thought it would be good to write Audra's birth story too.
If you don't want to know this information, please stop reading now.
I woke up the middle of the night between Thursday, June 3rd and Friday, June 4th with some decent contractions. I stayed in bed wondering, "Could this be it?" and "Maybe I won't have to go to school today!" By morning, the contractions had subsided to one or two per hour. I decided I better go into work. If anything happened, I would already be in Watertown, and I could get to the Watertown Hospital in a few minutes from Watertown High School. I also thought that if I was going to be in early labor it would be better to have the distraction of my colleagues than to sit at home wondering "Is this ever going to happen?"
I made it through the day with only one to two contractions per hour. They hurt, but I was able to work through them. I protected hallways from loud students during final exams and proctored one of my final exams that day. At 2:30 pm, I had a doctor's appointment in Watertown. Dr. Schoenecker checked my progress and determined that I was between 2.5-3 cm in dilation. (Things were moving along!) She also informed me that she thought it would happen Friday evening or on Saturday. She also stripped my membranes to move labor along. Dave Kostka (part of our carpool) drove home that afternoon; it was a good thing because I'm not sure I could have driven with the intense contractions (only a few) that I was having. I picked Grady up from day care and drove home (just a few blocks).
Thank goodness we had already planned for Grady to spend the evening at Aunt Michelle and Uncle Rick's house with Cousin Luke. Michelle was waiting at our house when Grady and I arrived home. She whisked Grady away to a great, fun weekend with Cousin Luke. Brooks was soon taken over to Emily and Phil's house. Thank you to Rick and Michelle and Grandma and Grandpa Lobenstein for watching Grady! Thank you to Emily and Phil for watching over Brooks while we were in the hospital!
From 4:00 to 5:00 pm, my contractions intensified quickly. They moved from every five minutes apart to every three minutes apart. I called the OB department at the hospital to let them know that we would be coming in soon. Ryan and I hit the road for Watertown, and we arrived at the Watertown Hospital at 6:00 pm. We were checked in and taken to room 304.
At this point, I was hooked up to the monitors (fetal heart rate and contraction monitors). Nurse Ebonie started monitoring my vitals. I breathed through the contractions--they were so painful! I had progressed to being dilated to 5 cm. And I requested an epidural! Blessed, blessed epidural! By 8:00 pm, I had my epidural put into place by the anesthesiologist. My epidural caused my blood pressure to drop a little, so the nurse continued to administer small amounts of epinephrine to boost my blood pressure. I usually have low blood pressure, so this came as no surprise.
After some time, my blood pressure came up to a better level. From 8:00 pm to 2:00 am, we waited for the contractions to continue and for dilation to complete to 10 cm. For two hours, I was stalled at 7 cm; epidurals can stop your progress sometimes. At some point, Dr. Schoenecker broke my bag of waters. I also had some shakiness occur from hormones; I had this during Grady's labor and delivery as well (but not nearly as much this time). Nurse Becky told us to rest and try to sleep. I was so darn excited to meet our daughter and nervous to push that I only rested during this time. At 2:00 am, I was fully dilated and ready to go. Nurse Becky and Dr. Schoenecker came into the room to prep everything for the arrival of the baby. We did a short refresher course on how to push. The pushing portion of Grady's birth took over two hours, so all I could think about was "I don't want it to take two hours!"
Once everything was ready to go, we simply waited for the contractions to occur. And I pushed so hard I almost made myself throw up. Ryan's job was to hold the vomit container (what a lucky husband!). Becky and Dr. Schoenecker each held a leg, and all three encouraged me to keep pushing hard. FIFTEEN MINUTES AND THREE PUSHES LATER.....AUDRA EVE ARRIVED! I was so thankful that the pushing was much faster this time around. It still hurt like crazy. There was a point between the second and third push that she was crowning, and the third contraction seemed to take forever to arrive. All I could do was wait and feel that intense pressure. And what I'm amazed by is how painful this part was, and I had an epidural! I pushed her head out and then her body followed within seconds. Miss Audra was placed on my chest, and we were able to welcome our little girl into the world. We were so happy to finally meet her!
During the delivery, Audra had ingested some amniotic fluid. After the delivery, she had a few minutes of coughing. A respiratory specialist was called in to monitor her. The doctor and nurse told us she was okay. I was still incredibly nervous. They continued to monitor her, and the issue resolved itself. During this time, Dr. Schoenecker stitched me up. I just had a few stitches this time; it only took five minutes. It took 30 minutes to be stitched up after Grady's birth. Dr. Schoenecker also had to manually extract my placenta; it did not want to come out on its own. Because of this, I had three doses of IV antibiotics on Saturday.
There must have been a "full moon" out that night (really, it had occurred the previous week on May 27th). There were five women in labor and delivery that night. This is a large number at Watertown Hospital. After everything was over, we were moved to a smaller recovery room. They needed room 304 for the next birth.
On Saturday morning, we rested and attempted to get a few hours of sleep. In the afternoon, we had many visitors. Our families came first around 1 pm. More family and friends came later in the afternoon. It was wonderful for everyone to meet Audra. We were able to check out around noon on Sunday. We were very happy to be heading home. We are incredibly thankful to have such wonderful care through the Watertown Center for Women's Health and the Watertown Hospital. A special thank you to Dr. Schoenecker, Nurse Becky, Nurse Ebonie, and the many other wonderful nurses and techs at Watertown Hospital! We feel blessed to have had such a great experience there with both Grady and Audra's births.
Moreover, we feel incredibly blessed with two beautiful children. Pregnancy, labor, and delivery are incredibly difficult, but the end result is worth it! Grady and Audra--we love you both so much!
If you don't want to know this information, please stop reading now.
I woke up the middle of the night between Thursday, June 3rd and Friday, June 4th with some decent contractions. I stayed in bed wondering, "Could this be it?" and "Maybe I won't have to go to school today!" By morning, the contractions had subsided to one or two per hour. I decided I better go into work. If anything happened, I would already be in Watertown, and I could get to the Watertown Hospital in a few minutes from Watertown High School. I also thought that if I was going to be in early labor it would be better to have the distraction of my colleagues than to sit at home wondering "Is this ever going to happen?"
I made it through the day with only one to two contractions per hour. They hurt, but I was able to work through them. I protected hallways from loud students during final exams and proctored one of my final exams that day. At 2:30 pm, I had a doctor's appointment in Watertown. Dr. Schoenecker checked my progress and determined that I was between 2.5-3 cm in dilation. (Things were moving along!) She also informed me that she thought it would happen Friday evening or on Saturday. She also stripped my membranes to move labor along. Dave Kostka (part of our carpool) drove home that afternoon; it was a good thing because I'm not sure I could have driven with the intense contractions (only a few) that I was having. I picked Grady up from day care and drove home (just a few blocks).
Thank goodness we had already planned for Grady to spend the evening at Aunt Michelle and Uncle Rick's house with Cousin Luke. Michelle was waiting at our house when Grady and I arrived home. She whisked Grady away to a great, fun weekend with Cousin Luke. Brooks was soon taken over to Emily and Phil's house. Thank you to Rick and Michelle and Grandma and Grandpa Lobenstein for watching Grady! Thank you to Emily and Phil for watching over Brooks while we were in the hospital!
From 4:00 to 5:00 pm, my contractions intensified quickly. They moved from every five minutes apart to every three minutes apart. I called the OB department at the hospital to let them know that we would be coming in soon. Ryan and I hit the road for Watertown, and we arrived at the Watertown Hospital at 6:00 pm. We were checked in and taken to room 304.
At this point, I was hooked up to the monitors (fetal heart rate and contraction monitors). Nurse Ebonie started monitoring my vitals. I breathed through the contractions--they were so painful! I had progressed to being dilated to 5 cm. And I requested an epidural! Blessed, blessed epidural! By 8:00 pm, I had my epidural put into place by the anesthesiologist. My epidural caused my blood pressure to drop a little, so the nurse continued to administer small amounts of epinephrine to boost my blood pressure. I usually have low blood pressure, so this came as no surprise.
After some time, my blood pressure came up to a better level. From 8:00 pm to 2:00 am, we waited for the contractions to continue and for dilation to complete to 10 cm. For two hours, I was stalled at 7 cm; epidurals can stop your progress sometimes. At some point, Dr. Schoenecker broke my bag of waters. I also had some shakiness occur from hormones; I had this during Grady's labor and delivery as well (but not nearly as much this time). Nurse Becky told us to rest and try to sleep. I was so darn excited to meet our daughter and nervous to push that I only rested during this time. At 2:00 am, I was fully dilated and ready to go. Nurse Becky and Dr. Schoenecker came into the room to prep everything for the arrival of the baby. We did a short refresher course on how to push. The pushing portion of Grady's birth took over two hours, so all I could think about was "I don't want it to take two hours!"
Once everything was ready to go, we simply waited for the contractions to occur. And I pushed so hard I almost made myself throw up. Ryan's job was to hold the vomit container (what a lucky husband!). Becky and Dr. Schoenecker each held a leg, and all three encouraged me to keep pushing hard. FIFTEEN MINUTES AND THREE PUSHES LATER.....AUDRA EVE ARRIVED! I was so thankful that the pushing was much faster this time around. It still hurt like crazy. There was a point between the second and third push that she was crowning, and the third contraction seemed to take forever to arrive. All I could do was wait and feel that intense pressure. And what I'm amazed by is how painful this part was, and I had an epidural! I pushed her head out and then her body followed within seconds. Miss Audra was placed on my chest, and we were able to welcome our little girl into the world. We were so happy to finally meet her!
During the delivery, Audra had ingested some amniotic fluid. After the delivery, she had a few minutes of coughing. A respiratory specialist was called in to monitor her. The doctor and nurse told us she was okay. I was still incredibly nervous. They continued to monitor her, and the issue resolved itself. During this time, Dr. Schoenecker stitched me up. I just had a few stitches this time; it only took five minutes. It took 30 minutes to be stitched up after Grady's birth. Dr. Schoenecker also had to manually extract my placenta; it did not want to come out on its own. Because of this, I had three doses of IV antibiotics on Saturday.
There must have been a "full moon" out that night (really, it had occurred the previous week on May 27th). There were five women in labor and delivery that night. This is a large number at Watertown Hospital. After everything was over, we were moved to a smaller recovery room. They needed room 304 for the next birth.
On Saturday morning, we rested and attempted to get a few hours of sleep. In the afternoon, we had many visitors. Our families came first around 1 pm. More family and friends came later in the afternoon. It was wonderful for everyone to meet Audra. We were able to check out around noon on Sunday. We were very happy to be heading home. We are incredibly thankful to have such wonderful care through the Watertown Center for Women's Health and the Watertown Hospital. A special thank you to Dr. Schoenecker, Nurse Becky, Nurse Ebonie, and the many other wonderful nurses and techs at Watertown Hospital! We feel blessed to have had such a great experience there with both Grady and Audra's births.
Moreover, we feel incredibly blessed with two beautiful children. Pregnancy, labor, and delivery are incredibly difficult, but the end result is worth it! Grady and Audra--we love you both so much!
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