Acupunture and birth

So, in my attempt to get this baby out, I enlisted the help of a doctor in the area that specializes in acupuncture. He came over Monday, the 4th. If it's going to work, it will typically work within 24-48 hours. At the 24 hour mark, nothing had started.

Brandon was scheduled to start his new job on the 12th and would be unable to request any time off once he started.

Here is was the fifth and no signs of baby coming. I was starting to get panic-y and called the doctor to talk about induction. He told me to come in and if I was dilated enough, then he would be able to justify an induction to the hospital. I guess you have to be 39 weeks to schedule an elective induction. I was two days shy of 39 weeks.

When I got off the phone with him I called Brandon, who had just been on the phone with his new boss, and was informed that not only would he indeed start on the 12th, but he would be going out of town for two weeks. On the 12th. INDUCTION IT IS!!! How could we leave it up to chance knowing he'd be out of town??? Not happening.

So I go in at 2pm. He checks me and tells me I'm a five with a bulging bag.

Hello! That means I'm in labor!! The acupuncture worked. And this explains why I was feeling panic-y.

At this point, I should have just gone home. But no. I was determined this was it.

I headed over to the hospital and Brandon took the kids to the sitter and came to the hospital. The doc got there about 4:30 and checked me again. I was now a seven. Still no contractions mind you. He then broke my water.

And we sat there. And sat there. I had tiny little contractions for a bit and then a hard one. And then two more hard ones and it was time to push. We almost made it without the help of the lovely hospital staff, but low and behold, they just HAD to come in and see how I was doing.

When the nurse realized I was pushing, she came over to the bed and started getting it ready. She dropped the end of the bed right out from under my legs. I was now sitting on the end of the bed as if it were a chair. Can I tell you that it is NOT conducive to comfort and does NOT aid in the pushing out of a baby AT ALL?? OH. MY. GOSH. It hurt so bad having my legs down. I could have slapped her. All I could do was say, THIS HURTS. Brandon came over and grabbed my leg so I was able to have something to push against. Thank you dear!

I'm once again pushing(third push) and the doctor isn't ready. This is the same doctor who missed Sadie's birth my minutes. He was sleeping in the room next to my room and didn't hear the nurse call him I guess. So, he turns around and grabs a chux pad and delivers Skylar with no gloves on and his face mask sideways. Guess he's never going to judge just how fast I deliver these babies. She was born at 5:35pm.

The doctor agreed to not clamp her cord, but when I tried to pick her up, he refused to to let me. He said she would bleed back into me. What a joke. So I sat there arguing with him and trying to pick her up so he grabbed her cord and pinched it shut. I just looked at him and said, "If you're going to pinch it, you might as well clamp it." She did get a good five minutes or so of it pulsating without interruption, so that's good. I guess. Better than nothing I suppose.

The nurses in the mother baby ward were awful and made the experience a nightmare. I SHOULD HAVE JUST GONE HOME. But it's over and she's here and she is amazing.

She has an extra toe. It will have to be surgically removed some time during her first year. It's interesting that she would end up with an extra toe. For some reason, I was worried about her feet during the pregnancy. I was more worried about a clubbed foot or something else, but an extra toe....never thought of that.