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Anistynn Grace Hermesman: A Birth Story
Waking up the morning of September 16, 2011, I was a mix of emotions. I was so excited to finally meet my child, the being that had been growing inside of me for the last 9 months. Having children was always my main goal in life, my dream. In order to fulfill that dream, I needed to meet my Mr. Perfect. He couldnt be just anybody - he had to be perfect for me. Once that happened, having children with the man that I loved would just be the obvious next step. Needless to say, I found him, became best friends with him, dated him, married him, lived with him....and then we found out the amazing news: I was pregnant! This whole journey has been a roller coaster of emotions, feelings, and experiences. It started out rough for me, with almost 14 weeks of straight sickness. We're talking staying-in-bed-except-to-hunch-over-the-toilet-heaving-all-day-long type of sickness. I could hardly move, eat, or sleep. I couldnt even focus on watching tv or reading for too long. I just had to basically lay there and try to focus on not throwing up. Becoming pregnant also marked the first time I would start going to the doctor on a monthly (and in the final trimester, weekly) basis. I have never been a person who has spent much time at the doctor's office or the hospital. Not to mention, I have anxiety over it, so it took a bit of strength from me to overcome those feelings and go to my appointments. My body changing was another big thing. Granted, I didnt officially gain any weight until my 18th week (probably in part because I was so sick for so long), but once I started to change shape and things really started happening, it was a crazy thing to get used to. I havent ever really fluctuated in weight (maybe go between gaining and losing about 5 pounds here and there through my adult life but nothing crazy). I had to get used to so many things, but after hearing my baby's heartbeat and seeing her on the ultrasounds, it made it more real, and therefore what was happening to me came far after what was going on with her. I went to my appointments despite my fears to make sure everything was going as was supposed to with her. I accepted my changing body (although, I am still human and would occasionally make comments) because I was carrying something precious. My looks were not nearly as important as the human life I was creating. And the sickness, well I kind of just had to deal with that and I dealt with it as best as I could. I had a pretty healthy pregnancy all around so I am one of the lucky ones and I am thankful for that. The only real complication was baby girl being in the breech position. So when I woke up last Friday morning, I was anxious, nervous, scared, and excited.
* Anxious = cant wait to meet her.
* Nervous = hoping everything would be fine with baby girl and with me through the whole process.
* Scared = first surgery and recovery process ever in my life.
* Excited = finally becoming a mother!
I woke up around 9 AM. I had been up throughout the night though, tossing and turning. But I wanted to try to take it easy and just remain as calm as I could the morning of her birth. Tony called in to the hospital to make sure everything was still good to go for noon. It was. I logged on to my computer and wrote Anistynn a letter on my blog (you can read that
here). It calmed me down and reminded me of why I was about to have surgery. I took a shower and made sure my hospital bag had everything I needed (and then some). The house was clean and organized. I had the diaper bag with baby stuff ready to go. The car seat was installed in the car. We were ready to leave to go to the hospital where our lives would be changed forever in just a few short hours. We arrived at the hospital at 11:30 AM. My cousin, Rosey, was waiting for us and soon my mom, dad, and sisters, Karissa and Lia, met up with us. I signed a few papers and they led me to a "waiting room." I changed into a hospital gown, gave the typical urine sample, and got into bed. The nurse came in and strapped the monitors to my tummy to listen to baby's heartbeat. It was still going strong. We then discussed donating my cord blood, which I ended up doing. It required taking 6 extra tubes of blood from me along with another sample that I had to give before surgery anyway. Then they would take the blood from the placenta after they delivered it.
(Quick note: when we got home there was a message on our machine saying that my donation was really strong and they had already banked it! So I feel good that I did it). So the nurse took my blood samples and inserted my IV. During this time, we turned on the tv because we were just waiting around.
Friends happened to be on (back to back episodes, no less) and I knew it was a sign. I had always said that I wanted to watch
Friends while in labor but since plans changed and I couldnt watch it while having the surgery, it was pretty ironic that it happened to be on right before going in :) The labor and delivery unit happened to have a lot going on that day and they were pretty busy so I didnt go in to surgery until about 3 PM. Up until then, the doctor who would be performing it, the nurses who would be in there, my doctor who had done all my prenatal care, and the anesthesiologist all came in and told me exactly what was going to happen. They were all really nice and made me feel pretty comfortable. They all had great senses of humor too. After all that, I was finally led down the hall to get the process going. Everything went fairly fast after that. They dropped Tony off in a room to get scrubbed up and they led me to the operating room. I put on the little hat and sat on the table. I had to drink this nasty stuff (which, by the way, was the only thing I'd had all day - no food or drink, even water, since midnight) to coat my insides for the medicine. Then the anesthesiologist prepared my back and gave me a spinal block (not an epidural). I felt a little pinch and a quick burning sensation for about 15 seconds and it was over. It took all of 30 seconds before I started to feel a tingling in my legs. The nurse helped me put up my legs on the table and I laid down. Before I knew it, everything from chest down went numb. It was completely surreal - it was such an intense weird feeling to not be able to move anything! They put the oxygen tube in my nose and then did some tests to see if I could feel anything. He sprayed a cold spray up and down my sides and asked when I could feel it. I couldnt feel it until my armpits. They raised the curtain so it was just me laying out there on the able for the world to see (about 7 - 8 people were in the room) with only my head and arms above the curtain (and they were the only things that I could move and feel). Sadly, I started to feel really nauseous and I threw up. I kind of always thought I would; no matter what kind of labor or delivery I went through, I assumed I would just be one of those people who did. It was the suckiest feeling ever because I was numb and couldnt feel crap. I couldnt control anything so I had to basically lay there and hope I didnt choke. But they had me turn my head to the side and they were all really good about putting medicine in my IV and it subsided within a minute or two. Right after that, Tony was escorted in and I heard, "Here's your hand to hold," before they just went to town. I couldnt feel anything but I could feel them moving me around, like my body shaking. It took about 5 minutes and then there was some pressure and we heard a cry. It was the most beautiful sound! The first thing out of my doctor's mouth was, "What a cute baby - oh my goodness!" and then somebody else said, "Happy birthday!" The very next thing was my doctor telling the nurses to take him over to the table.
Him?! I asked if it was a girl or a boy and she said, "Oh my gosh! I dont know why I said that - it's a girl! I'm sorry!" Hahahaha. I thought it was a pretty ironic slip up considering all I had been wondering about. But alas, she was indeed a girl and a beauty at that! Tony went over to see her and they swaddled her up in no time flat and he brought her over to me to see. I was blown away. I couldnt believe that she had just come out of me. It was love at first sight. Boom, just like that. I had never experienced something so strong before in all my life. The medicine wouldnt let me cry though so I was this weird teary eyed oddball just putting my face close to my daughter. My
daughter! Crazy. Tony just looked absolutely smitten. We were both so entranced that I wasnt really paying attention to them sewing me back up and everything. Sooner than I thought, they were done and said I had done a great job. They told me everything looked absolutely great.
They got me all ready to go and transferred me to a bed. They placed baby in my arms and we went down to a recovery room. I was completely out of it. All of a sudden, I got super drowsy and my eyes were opening and closing, but I couldnt stop staring at my precious baby girl. It was just me, Tony, and the 2 nurses in the private room and we just spent about an hour being together. Tony was calling everyone in his family and some in mine while I just held Anistynn. I was on such a high and yet so tired at the same time. We tried nursing but she was too tired so we just spent time skin to skin.
At 6 PM I was wheeled to my room in the Mother Baby Unit, where my family was waiting. They all came out in the hall before I could even be wheeled in and my mom started crying. It was crazy that I had a baby in my arms! Tony picked Anistynn up and they stayed out in the hall while they got me all set up in my room. They transferred me to another bed and got me all situated. My dad had his camera out (of course) and was snapping all kinds of pics. I basically just took it easy the rest of the night (although I had another throwing up episode and man, did that kill. It hurt my incision so bad!) and the family just fawned all over her. I was on a liquid only diet for the rest of the day so ice chips was my only source of intake the whole day. The night was good and I was out for most of it, except when nursing - which she was still so tired so there wasnt much of it. But that's completely normal.
The next day I was able to take my IV out and become unhooked from everything. I had pain meds which really helped control my discomfort. And I could eat regular food! I ordered a bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar and pears for my first meal. Over the course of 3 days, I basically just recovered - I got up and walked around, i took a shower, I ate regular food, etc. It hurt to get in and out of bed with my incision and I could feel my uterus contracting back down, but other than that, it wasnt horrible. Besides recovering, I just spent time with Tony and our new baby. Anistynn is so amazing. She is such a good baby, you wouldnt believe. I could sit and stare at her all day. I really could. I was told I could go home on Monday because I was healing so nicely and both I and Anistynn were looking great, but Tony had to run some errands on Monday so we decided to stay one more night just so I wouldnt be home alone. Anistynn was the talk of the floor. The nurses couldnt believe how calm and chill she was. She hardly fussed except when getting her diaper or clothes changed. She likes to be covered, swaddled, or held and doesnt really like to be exposed. Just like in her ultrasound with her closed little legs - she is so modest :) She didnt fuss or cry when she got her shots, when she had her footprints done, or when she had her bath. Nurses actually brought in other nurses to show them our baby. They were commenting on how beautiful she was and how they hadnt seen a baby so laid back in such a long time, if ever. I was one proud mama. How could I not be?? Nursing was slow to pick up but eventually she caught on and it's going just fine now. The nurses were all great and took care of us very well. Everyone that came by was really informative and efficient. I was very pleased - OHSU was a great place to have a baby. Even though nurses were in and out, Tony and I were really just taking care of Anistynn ourselves and it was great. She seems to be awake slightly more at night, which resembles her during pregnancy when she would be doing acrobatics all through the night ;) But she's really good and hardly fusses. Anistynn also passed everything - she has perfect hearing and got all 9's on her APGAR test. She doesnt have any diseases, has great weight, no jaundice, and is just pretty dang healthy in general. We are so blessed.
We had lots of visitors and my whole family actually came up at one time so there was quite a full room. The nurse said she'd never seen so many visitors for one baby before! Thank you to everyone who stopped by to see her, Tony, and I and for anyone that brought us beautiful flowers and gifts. It was much appreciated!
We went home on Tuesday. Anistynn did great in her car seat on the way home. She's doing fine at home as well and last night (our first night all together alone) was great.
I also need to give a shout out to Tony who has been absolutely amazing. He was with me the whole time during surgery and he has immediately fallen into dad mode. I'm so proud to see him with her and she has yet to know how lucky she is to have him as a dad. He has been great. He's basically taking care of me and her. He helps me in and out of bed (because man, that really sucks), he brings her to me so I can feed her, he checks on her whenever she makes a sound through the night (she is in a bassinet at the end of our bed), he changes her diapers, he burps her, he just holds her and loves on her all the time. He's really proud and excited. We cant stop talking about how sweet she is and how it almost feels like this was our purpose in life: to have her. She is amazing and she really brings us together. I'm sure there will be hard times in the future, like everyone encounters, but so far, I feel this has brought us so much closer together and has proven us a good team, instead of something that is stressing us out and making us tense, like I've seen with some couples. I'm so glad for that. It has always been my dream to be a mom and Tony made that possible for me so I'm eternally grateful for that. Anistynn is a blessing for sure.
So I think I've rambled on long enough, but there is one simple point from all of this:
We are so in love and could not be more thankful for our precious baby girl. We are very proud parents!
