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When Crazy Meets Exhaustion

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Birth Stories: Emma & Lily

By Stephanie Jankowski Leave a Comment

Big sis Emma turns 3 today, so it’s the perfect day to share how she came into the world! Her birth story is followed by her little sister, Lily’s. Lily really threw her mom (and a few police officers!) for a loop, but it’s one of my favorite birth stories EVER! And how cool is her birthday: 9/10/11! Thanks to Mama Melissa for sending her experiences!

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I’ll feel a bit bad if I don’t write Emma’s birth story even though Lily’s story (below) is the crazy one.  My labor with Emma to be honest…was pretty much a textbook labor.   I started to not feel so good around 11:00 Sunday night so I went to bed.  I woke up at 1:30 in the morning with my first contraction.  It was all in my back…I had what I dreaded most from hearing about in those wondering birthing classes….back labor.  I had sworn up and down my whole pregnancy I was not getting an epidural.  Well when we arrived at the hospital around 5:30 that was the first thing I asked the woman secretary for when she was admitting me into triage.  She probably thought I was crazy. I was only about 3 cm when I was admitted.  AUGH.  They did give me the epidural when I got to the room since I was in so much pain.  After the epidural the rest was easy peasy.  I was relaxed and even slept as the labor progressed…didn’t feel a thing.  Around 2:15 or so the dr. said it was time to push.  I’ll be honest…..I didn’t feel that either.  I think the epidural was a little too high…oops.  I honestly only pushed a few times and little Emma Grace was born right on her due date – June 1, 2009 at 2:43 pm.  We did not know that we were going to have a girl and I was beyond excited.  She was perfect….7lbs 5 oz and 20 inches.  I have to say other than the back labor at the beginning everything was great.  Boy….did I pay for it the when I had Lily….

The anticipation of the birth of Lily was already high because the day I was due was also the day of my cousin’s wedding. Emma, who was 2 ½ yrs old at the time, was going to be the flower girl.  I honestly thought I was going to have the baby before the wedding but sure enough Friday night we brought Emma to the wedding rehearsal and I was still pregnant.  I felt huge and a lot of pressure but I had been feeling that way for the last month.  I was just at the Dr. the morning before and I was 2 cm.   I remember asking God at the rehearsal to please just give me one more day so I could go to the wedding and then I could have the baby.  Well that didn’t happen.  I started getting contractions around 4:45 Saturday morning.  I decided to get in the shower to try to relax.  At that point the contractions were coming about every ½ hr.  I got myself ready and called my Dr. around 7:00.  I remember the Dr. on call telling me to drink a cold glass of water and then lay down for 15 minutes on my left side.  She said that would help me determine if I was in true active labor.  She said contractions every ½ hr was still far apart but she did understand that we had an hour drive to the hospital so she was leaving the decision up to me.  Thanks Doc.  Right after I hung up the phone I just started feeling really weird and the contractions seemed to be constant.   I called my parents and told them they needed to come over immediately to watch Emma.  I greeted my parents on the street, got in the car, and off we went to the hospital.

I knew something crazy was going on and that I needed to get to the hospital ASAP.   We left for the hospital at 7:40.  I have to say despite all the pain I did pretty well….I hung my head out the window and tried to breathe and be as quiet as possible.  My husband (Rick) was doing great driving and I figured on a Saturday morning at 7:40 it would be smooth sailing to the hospital.  Wrong.  We hit the Freeport Bridge and there we were stopped as a big bulldozer blocked our lane.  We sat there for what seemed to be forever when I told Rick he needed to do something.  There was a motorcycle in front of us so I asked Rick to ask the motorcycle guy to drive up and tell the bulldozer guy we needed to move or he was going to be delivering my baby.  The nice man on the motorcycle did just that and the construction workers blocked the other lane of traffic on the bridge so we could pass.  Phew…  We continued our trek and Rick had on his blinkers and was going about 80.  We were almost at Harmarville when I saw a cop in the middle of the road.  Rick slowed a little and passed him.  Sure enough he pulled out behind us and drove up to the passenger window which was open so I could get some air.  He asked me what was going on and I told him I was in labor.  He immediately told us to get going and pulled behind us to help us get to the hospital a little faster.

The contractions at this point were really getting stronger and the pressure “down there” was crazy.  We finally got to the Shadyside/Oakland area and I knew we were close to Magee but we still had to dodge all the stoplights.  At one of the stoplights we came upon a Pittsburgh police officer.  The cop who was following us pulled up next to the Pittsburgh cop and must have told him the story.  The Pittsburgh cop immediately threw on his lights, asked me what hospital and motioned for us to follow him.  Thankfully he led us through the streets of Shadyside and Oakland and right to Magee Hospital.  Light and sirens were blaring as we pulled into the hospital at 8:30 and a few nurses from the hospital ran outside to see what was going on.  One nurse had a wheelchair and I immediately sat down.  I was wheeled in and this is where it gets a little blurry because I was honestly feeling like I was going to pass out.

We skipped the whole admitting process and they brought me right into the triage room where I was examined.  I was in so much pain that I couldn’t even get fully undressed. I heard the words “9.5” and “take her to the OR” and I immediately was awake.  I asked why we were going to the OR and they said all the birthing rooms were full.  I asked when I was going to get my epidural and they said “sorry…no time…you are 9.5 cm and ready to have the baby”.  Literally panic flew threw my body.  I remember starting to cry and holding Rick’s hand.  Just a month earlier my friend across the street made it to the hospital with an hour to spare and had the baby…no meds.  She said it hurt…a lot.  We get to the OR and my Dr. is there.  She was trying to set up the OR to be a birthing station but the stirrups would not work.  She told Rick that we didn’t have time to fool around so he was going to have to grab a leg and we would do it the old fashioned way.  Again I asked for medicine and again I was turned down.  My Dr. told me it would be like ripping off a Band-Aid and to push and it would be over.

Well I pushed….three times….and it was over.  Lily was born at 8:54…just 24 minutes after pulling into the hospital parking lot.  I really had come close to delivering that baby on the road.  Right now, as I sit writing this story (teary eyed), I don’t remember the pain…..and I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat because the result was one of the most beautiful things ever to happen to me.  I hear that it’s typical to forget.  But I know it hurt a lot (and I know I screamed a lot).  Lily came out in full force!  I guess she figured she had been inside long enough.  Again we didn’t know what we were having and I can remember hearing the doctor say “it’s another” and I burst into tears because I knew it was another girl….just like I had hoped for.  Lily Anne was also born on her due date – September 10, 2011….7 lbs 10 oz and 20 inches long.

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Hiya! I'm Steph, English teacher by trade, smack-talker by nature, and mother of three who lives by the mantra: life is too short, LAUGH! I hope you'll stick around and check out my musings!

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