This is for all the people that have asked me about Bella's birth. If you are just content to know that she was born healthy then feel free to skip this post!
On Saturday June 18th, Anthony and I headed to the hospital around 8:00 pm. The contractions that I had for days started to get 3-5 minutes apart and were lasting over a minute and starting to get pretty painful. We had time to drop off the dog at her sitter's house and stop at Chick Fil A so Anthony could get some dinner.
When we got to the hospital and into a room, I was disappointed to find out that I was still 1 cm. and 80% effaced, about the same that I was at my last appointment. However, they decided to keep me for a few hours to monitor the contractions & progression. As each hour went on, the contractions got stronger and closer together and quickly became concentrated in my back. I went in with an open mind as far as pain medication and was hoping to avoid it if I could, but even at 2-3 cm., the back labor was excruciating and I was already asking for an epidural before the hospital had even decided if they were going to let me stay! There was no way I was going to go through several more hours of that.... Luckily, the next few checks showed I was progressing at a nice pace so they admitted me and I was able to get my epidural. I professed my undying love for the anesthesiologist around midnight or 1:00 am and felt much better!
I was able to get some sleep, aside from being woken up for occasional checks. Things progressed as expected with no problem. Around 8 cm it kinda stalled out for a few hours so a little pitocin helped things along. Around 2 pm (finally!) the doctor said it was time to push. I was still feeling really good and the nurses and doctors said that I should meet her in less than a half hour because she was so far down. After a couple pushes, the doctor reassured me he could see her head and it wouldn't be long now. But after several more pushes, and no more commentary from the doctor, I knew something wasn't going as expected. Apparently Bella was presenting with the wrong part of her head and she was not able to descend through the pelvis in her position. The doctor tried multiple things to get encourage her to turn and navigate through, but nothing seemed to work. They pulled back on the epidural so I could push more efficiently and I was in an increasing amount of pain. Eventually he tried a vacuum that he attached to her head, but it only left a big bruise.... it did nothing to further her position. Since he was beginning to see meconium, a sign that she was in distress, he made the decision to proceed with a c-section.
This was the worst part because the baby was so low, the epidural was not active, and the c-section team had to be assembled before we could begin. I was not a happy camper (note: this is understatement of the century). We went to the operating room and luckily it wasn't long before I saw my hero, the anesthesiologist, who proceeded to tell me about what he was going to do. I immediately cut him off and basically told him that I didn't care and to please get to work (in not so many nice words...). It only took a minute for me to feel numb and I was able to wait, pain-free, for all the other team members to arrive and for Anthony to get his scrubs on. Once they started the surgery, I think it was only 10 minutes later that we heard crying and the doctor said "she's a tiny one!". They held her up for us to see and I think she already pooped 3 times by the time they got her to the table to clean her off. Anthony kept reporting back on her weight & length and with many pictures. He kept telling me, "She is so beautiful! She is perfect!" And from then on.... it was smooth sailing.
Bella Grace Rocchio
June 19, 2011 4:32 p.m.
7 lbs. 21.25'' long
