Introducing-Cora Mae Bothwell: The Birth Story

Little Miss Cora Mae Bothwell is here!!! Cora was born November 26th at 8:09 pm weighing 6 lbs 7 ounces and was 21 inches long.

Holy Moly. Isn't she the cutest thing ever? The story of my labor and delivery started on Monday the 25th. I went in for another blood pressure check at my doctors and it was still really high and still continuing to get higher despite being on bed rest for the week. At my practice there is a team of doctors and midwives and so throughout this whole process I have seen many different people but my primary, Dr. Lima, was who I was able to see that day. He basically told me that he was frustrated about my blood pressure and thinks that sending me to the hospital for monitoring every other day is just getting old so he thought it would be in my best interest to get induced that day. The only problem was is that he wasn't the doctor working the hospital so he couldn't make that call but could only give his recommendation. So he sent me over to the hospital after talking to the doctor there for more monitoring and to make a decision about getting induced. Usually while I was getting monitored my blood pressure would regulate somewhat but this time it was really high and getting higher the longer they watched me. So the midwife and doctor decided that it was time to have our baby girl! 

From there I was given an iv and sent to the Maternal Special Care Unit to get things started. I was hooked up to the monitor where it showed that I was actually having contractions every 4-5 minutes  so the option for having a pill start me wasn't an option. It was decided to insert a balloon foley. Which is essentially this tube that they place above the cervix and then fill up with water like a water balloon to sit there and put pressure on my cervix so that it would dilate. This procedure wasn't super fun but I was actually expecting it to be a lot more painful. I thought after they placed it that my contractions would start and that I would labor all night but NOTHING happened. Not even like a period cramp. So we were able to somewhat sleep that night but mostly we were too excited and nervous to ever relax. Plus I was getting monitored with my vitals every couple of hours so the nurses just kept waking me up. Around 5 am the nurse came in to check the foley and when she pulled on it it slid down quite a bit which basically meant that it was placed too high and was actually behind Cora's head so there wasn't every any pressure on my cervix. Which explained why I wasn't having any contractions. As soon as she pulled it into place my contractions kicked up and I was definitely starting to feel some pain. I quickly learned that laboring in bed is seriously the worst. I had to be standing, or swaying, or in the shower, or on the birthing ball or the pain was way more intense. Around 2 hours later a resident doctor on rounds came in to check me and quickly decided I was still only a 1. Which was really frustrating because I was contracting every 3-4 minutes and they were really painful. Thankfully a midwife (Kristin) from my practice came shortly after and after hearing about the misplaced foley decided she wanted to check for herself. She pulled on the foley and it immediately came out (which wouldn't happen if I was really just a 1). Kristin then was able to better check and see how dilated I was with it gone. I was actually dilated to a 6!!! I was so happy. That meant that I was able to go to the labor and delivery floor. 

It took a while for them to prepare a room for me downstairs but around 11 or 12 I was able to go down where they started me with some pitocin to really get my contractions going even harder. At this point the contractions were getting pretty intense but I was still able to breathe through them pretty well. I showered some more and walked around the floor about a million times. Walking through the contractions was seriously the best. I think it helped me keep my mind off of them a bit to be walking around and also to have my hips moving. I was in the shower when Kristin came in to check me. She told me she would come back in 15 minutes to check me and to break my water so that we could get it moving even quicker. I hoped out of the shower and got in bed to wait for her to come. Well an hour later she still wasn't there and by that time my contractions were KILLING. They were coming really, really quick and were really intense. She finally came and I told her I was ready for the epidural. She decided to wait and break my water after I got the epidural since that would only make me more uncomfortable. Of course the epidural team was backed up so it was going to be about 45 minutes to an hour before they could come. I was mentally prepared for that since my birthing class told me that was the norm here at Yale Hospital. So they gave me a little pain med shot to keep my tied over until they could come. That thing was amazing. I was tripping though. I kept talking about my contractions were like little cartoons that I had to squish before got away. It was weird. I could totally still feel the peak of the contractions but the lead up and let down of the contractions weren't as bad. During this point I was in the middle of breathing through a very intense contraction when you could hear a literal POP sound and my water broke everywhere. I had a lot of amniotic fluid when they measured it so it was a HUGE mess and I was really glad it broke on the hospital bed and not mine. :) Right after my water broke the contractions were so much more intense. It was like all that pitocin they had been pumping into me hit all at once. The contractions were coming two or three at a time with no break so I was starting to get really antsy for that epidural. The epidural team comes in a few minutes after my water breaks but because it had broken on its own the nurses were nervous that I was fully dilated and so I had to wait to be checked. So to my dismay they left and I had to wait for my midwife to come check me again. Kristin came in and told me I was at an 8 and so I got the go ahead to get the epidural. A little while later they finally came in and read me all this mumble jumble and I finally got the epidural. It was a little over 2 hours since I had asked for it, but I had it. Of course it didn't take on my right side at first so the team had to come back in and readjust it and thankfully after that I was able to just relax. I had heard that once you get the epidural things really start to slow down so I was expecting to sleep for a few hours and then hopefully have her later that evening or early the next day. About 45 minutes after getting the epidural my nurse went to empty my bladder and freaked out because she could see the head. So she went and got my midwife and sure enough Cora was ready to come out. I was able to reach down and touch her little head before I started pushing. It was a crazy moment. As soon as my midwife got in and checked me she told me that I was pushing on the next contraction so it went really, really quick after the epidural. My contractions started to slow down during the pushing so I was given a little more pitocin to help keep it moving. I was still able to feel the contractions and the pressure it just wasn't too painful. I requested a mirror to watch and I am so glad I did because it was amazing and really helpful actually. About 45-hour later I saw her head come out and looked up at Brian who was bawling and before I knew it she was on my chest crying. It was amazing. Just a really surreal moment of thinking that this little person was inside of me for the past 9 months. It's weird because even though you are in a room full of nurses and doctors it really was just a sweet moment just between Brian, Cora, and I. She had these big cheeks, just like her Dad as baby, and just the tinniest bit of dark hair. We were so smitten and Brian and I both couldn't stop crying and giving her little kisses. I kept expecting them to take her away and clean her up or something but I was able to hold her the entire time I was finishing up. After they finished up on me they took her and cleaned her up a bit and measured and weighed her and then we were all transferred to the 10th floor for recovery. 

The rest of the hospital stay was a flurry of nurses and lactation consultants and midwives and a bunch of other people bugging you. Cora was pretty sleepy for the first little bit and her blood sugar was a little low so they had to supplement her with formula to get her to try and wake up and eat. Her bilirubin was also a little high but not enough for her to have to stay an extra night under the lamps. Cora had lots of visitors that next day.  A lot of Brian's fellow residents came in to meet her and our friends Tiffany and Hunter and their baby boy Kellan who was born 4 days before Cora came to visit as well. Everybody loved her of course. On Thanksgiving day we were finally able to go home. We had such a great experience at the hospital and felt really taken care of the entire time. It was kind of amazing in the labor and delivery room because we had 2 nurses assigned specifically to us. They don't have any other patients so you really get waited hand and foot on. The labor process was much different than I was expecting. I just figured I would go into labor on my own, labor at home as much as possible, get the epidural at like a 4 or 5 and then be good. I wasn't expecting to be induced or labor up to an 8 before getting the epidural but I wouldn't change it. I feel really lucky that everything went smooth despite having to be induced and that Cora was able to handle labor really well. I also feel lucky that my blood pressure was able to be regulated by medicine so that I didn't have to get the magnesium. But most of all I feel really lucky that I get to be Cora's Mom. She is the sweetest little spirit and I don't think our home has ever been filled with more love. Love for her and love between Brian and I. It really is amazing to see your husband, whom you can't imagine loving more, become a Dad and all the sudden your love for him grows astronomically. We are a very lucky family.