Birth Story: Amy (Rosalynn’s Birth)

It’s Friday! I hope that this week has been going well for everyone. We have had a rough go of it, but we are hoping that Kiah is on the upswing and that things are really working themselves out!

Today’s birth story is from Amy at Ros & Co! Make sure you give her a follow on social media, too!

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December 28, 2014

I woke up around 9am that day with a mild cramp. It felt like a menstrual cramp and faded away quickly so I didn’t think much of it. I got up and ate breakfast, probably cinnamon rolls or donuts or something super sugary. I went right back to bed (oh, how I miss that life.) I woke up a couple of hours later still having cramps, now they were starting to come and go. I tried to fall back asleep but every 15 minutes I was woke up by a sharp cramp. I remember texting my mom from the other room telling her I was having these cramps and that I thought they might be contractions. It didn’t take long for them to start coming more frequently. I remember thinking I was probably in labor so I got up and got in the shower because if I was about to have a baby I wanted to be clean-ish. I had another contraction in the shower that brought me to my knees. At that point I knew I needed to call the nurse on call so she could tell me whether this was labor or not. The nurse told me to start timing them and that when they got to 4-5 minutes apart it was time to come in. So I did just that, I downloaded a contraction timer app on my phone and began tracking them.

At around 2 O’clock they were coming 4 minutes apart. I wanted to eat before we left the house but my mother advised me not to so I said, “alright fine then let’s go” in my I’m-nervous-and-stressed-out tone of voice. So we got our stuff in the vehicle and headed the whole one block down the street to the hospital.

Upon check-in they brought me back to change into a hospital gown, get a urine sample, and lay down to be checked for dilation. When the nurse shoved what felt like her entire fist into my cervix I remember how painful I thought that was. Little did I know the pain I was about to endure. I was 3-4 centimeters dilated at that time.

They hooked me up to the non-stress test and walked me across the hall to the room I would labor and deliver in. I remember being so hungry, and wondering how I would make it through this labor with no food in my belly. I ate a granola bar from my purse.

They asked me right away if I was ready for the epidural. I thought they made you wait until you were in complete agony before they would give it to you but I guess that’s just how they do it in the TV shows. But of course, even though I had told them I was ready for the epidural, it still took the anesthesiologist a good hour to show up. My contractions were getting more painful with each one, to the point where I could no longer lay still through them and would have to sit up. (Oh, poor me. Just kidding. But they were starting to really hurt)

The anesthesiologist showed up and it was time for the epidural. They had me sit up and the nurse held me by my shoulders to ensure I’d stay still. I remember he sprayed something on my back and put a piece of plastic over my back. Everyone tries to scare you and hype up the “giant needle” they use to insert the catheter, but it was nothing. They numb you before inserting the big needle, so all you feel is the needle for the local anesthesia. So it’s nothing but a couple “bee stings.” This process took a couple of minutes and do you know how hard it is to breathe while sitting AND hunched over while 9 months pregnant? (Hint: it’s almost impossible.) Oh and they tell you you can’t move. I lifted my head because I thought I could at least get a breath if I did that and that it wouldn’t affect my back. The doctor said something like, “don’t move, the needle is still in your back.” Well Dr. I haven’t breathed an ounce of oxygen in probably over 3 minutes, so.

The epidural was then done and I was able to lay back down feeling little to no pain other than a small hot spot on one side. It didn’t take long for my legs to go completely numb. I couldn’t roll over in bed without the nurse’s help.

At this point, labor got really boring. I laid and watched TV for hours; my boyfriend Alex and my mom sat there the entire time. I had a headache, felt slightly nauseous, all because I was hungry. I wanted food so bad, but all they would let me have was Pepsi and a Popsicle. I thought the Popsicle would make me feel worse since its pure sugar and not filling, so I turned it down. But soon after that the nurse told me she was going to make me eat a Popsicle to wake my baby up as she was becoming less active.

I lost track of the time at this point but the sun had gone down and now it was nighttime. I remember the nurse telling me my doctor would be in soon to break my water. However, I was lying there talking to my mom and Alex when all of a sudden it broke on its own. It felt like my baby had kicked my cervix really hard and busted her little water balloon she was living in. But I don’t think that’s really what happened, just what it felt like. My doctor came in not too long after that and said we were going to break my water, I told her I was pretty sure it had already broke so she checked to make sure. Sure enough, it had broken. She joked about how I had made her job so easy, because I was supposed to be induced the following day, but here I was already in labor on my own.

I laid around for a few more hours until a male doctor came in to check my dilation. He was an OB-GYN and was going to walk my doctor, who was a resident (which I had no idea about at the time) through the delivery. I remember him taking about 3 seconds to determine my dilation before shouting, “yep you’re at 10cm, let’s have a baby!”

The room immediately turned to chaos, several nurses and my doctor came in smiling and scrambling around getting all the equipment, as if they were all waiting right outside the room for his cue. I panicked. Maybe it was just me that thought the room was chaos but I was nervous.

I remember one of the nurses, my favorite nurse from the delivery, whispered to me, “When he tells you to push, you push like you’re trying to POOP.” I was so glad she said that, because I was wondering. She knew I was wondering. God bless her. God bless nurses.

I had Alex right by my side. I could tell he was nervous as ever. Another nurse asked if he was all right, she could tell he was nervous too, and he said, “I think I’ll be okay.” And he was very okay. That’s the only time I’ve ever seen Alex get anxious.

It was time to push. I took a deep breath, pushed for a short moment before breaking down and bawling. I had just spent 9 months nurturing this baby in my belly, going to doctor appointment after doctor appointment, test after test, wondering what day she would finally arrive on, what she would look like, if she would be healthy, and here I was, about to deliver her. She was moments away from being in my arms.

I knew as soon as I started pushing she would be out within minutes and I was right. I pushed for about 10 minutes. No pain, just pressure. And there she was, my beautiful, teeny tiny, perfect little girl crying and squirming on my chest.

Rosalynn Faye Corkery was born at 11:25pm on that December night. She weighed 7 pounds and 15 oz. She was so beautiful and precious.

Alex was kissing my forehead and laying his head next to mine as we admired our brand new tiny blessing.

And then things got rough for me. I was bleeding profusely and hemorrhaging. They took Ros from me to be wiped off, get her shot, weighed, measured, etc. The doctor told me he needed to “massage” my uterus to deliver the placenta and stop the bleeding. Well that put a whole new meaning to the word ‘massage’ in my world. He shoved his arm into my pelvis and squeezed my guts. The entire hospital had to have heard me scream. Pure agony. He started counting down while I wailed “ow ow ow” at the top of my lungs. 10..9..8..7..6..5..4 and at that exact moment I couldn’t take it another second, I interrupted shouting “321 GET IT OUT!”

And then it was a blur.

I remember seeing Alex take his shirt off because a nurse had asked him if he wanted to do skin-to-skin contact with Ros.

I remember the first couple times of nursing her, and the awful pain of the contractions each time she nursed. It is crazy how a woman’s body and the reproductive system work.

The next morning the nurses came in to take me to the bathroom. I couldn’t pee, I couldn’t walk, and I was about to pass out. While sitting on the toilet I asked if I could go back to the bed as I knew I was moments away from passing out if I didn’t lay back down.

They told me I looked green and pale and they knew something was seriously wrong.

They came back in a while later and told me I needed to try to pee again and if I couldn’t they would need to cath me. Thank God I was able to this time. I swear I pee’d for five straight minutes. It was the weirdest thing. I no longer had an almost 8 pound baby compressing and restricting my bladder.

They got me back to the bed and told me I would need to have my blood tested to determine my hemoglobin levels as I had lost too much blood during the delivery. They tested my blood and told me I would need to have a blood transfusion and that they would get me to feeling better ASAP.

Two blood transfusions and probably 10+ blood tests later and I was finally feeling better. I was still so sore and in so much pain but I got to get out of the hospital bed and hobble around the room, watch Rosalynn’s first bath, sit with Alex while I nursed her.

I slept with Alex that night on the guest bed in the room. It was so uncomfortable but I didn’t want to be in the hospital bed any longer. I remember watching Alex rock Ros in the rocking chair across the room, patting her back to calm her. How I miss those precious moments.

The next morning we were ready to be discharged. After tons of paperwork and talking with nurses, we were finally on our way home as a new little family