Baby Hollister - November 1st
"My birth experience in the hospital was great, I had a lot of time to really check out our great facilities. I also couldn't have done it without the help of Tracy and all the information I gathered in her wonderful class."
Hollister Quinn Carlos Puentes.
Nov. 1, 2009 at 11:11 p.m.
6 lbs 15 ounces and 20 1/2 inches
Our Birth Story
October 31, 2009 - Yeah, it's Halloween!!! Tiffani for the last few weeks has been convinced that I was going to have Hollister on Halloween. I on the other hand thought she was crazy because it was too early, well she was close. This day was such a beautiful day, Tiff spent the night and we woke up early to have a fun filled day. I really wanted to go for a hike with the dogs so that was our plan. We started off at 8:00am and walked from my house to her sisters house (2 blocks away) and had breakfast. Then, we proceeded to the Montecito Fire Department to get the car seat base installed, so it was all secure. Afterwards, we headed up to Cold Springs trail and went for a hike with all the dogs. Now, I've stayed pretty active throughout this pregnancy, but today I felt like I could do anything. The hike up was so easy, I could have done it twice, that's how good I felt. We reached the fire road and took some pictures, then headed back down the other side. Going down was harder than hiking up, damn gravity, at the end I felt like my legs were going to buckle, yikes!
Anyway, we made it down safe, ran a few more errands then headed back towards home. We went to a pizza party; I had a few slices with lots of pepper flakes. Finally back home, I was feeling a bit tired, but still had things to do. I washed all my bedding and took Henri my Westi in the shower and gave him a bath. Then we were off again, back over to Tiff's sisters for a Halloween party, we walked over again. By this time I was feeling tired, still good, but tired. I plopped myself into a comfy chair by the fire, watched kids come and go, ate some yummy pork tamales, and had a glass of wine. It was a great day. Tiff and I headed back to my house around 8:45, we planned on watching a funny movie. Well after a visit to the bathroom, I was getting into my pj's and noticed a trickle down my legs - no biggie. Just in case, I put on a pad and climbed into bed about 9:00pm.
Well, my leak didn't stop, it kept getting worse, so back to the toilet I went and now there was a pink tinge to my leak. I started to freak out and cry, I was not ready. Tiff started to pack my bag and I rested because these stupid cramps started, duh contractions...
Tiff called my doctor, and texted Tracy. So here is the deal if you start leaking amniotic fluid and it continues they will want to give you antibiotics for infection. I kept leaking, but stayed home in bed dealing with ouchy contractions. It was 2:30 am when everyone started to worry, I wanted to make sure Hollister was ok, and if this leak was amniotic fluid, so we packed up and got in the car. Just out of the driveway, I changed my mind and went back home, that lasted minutes and I was back in the car, contractions about 7 minutes apart. It was too early, but I was worried.
We made it to the hospital, check in was crazy it was after Halloween - people were drunk and bloody, great. Finally, we made it to the labor and delivery room and they had this strip to test the fluid I was leaking, it would turn blue if it was amnoiotic fluid, well it turned blue. This is not how I imagined it, I was suppose to be at home hanging out laboring in peace, but this is how it turned out, I had to stay.
They put those monitors on me to check his heart rate, Hollister was doing great. So, here I was in labor and exhausted already. My contractions started getting stronger and they wanted to check me. Here is where it sucked, I hadn't been checked at all, and let me tell you it was unpleasant and the results even worse. I was 90% effaced at 1 1/2 centimeters dilated. This is where the fun began, 1 1/2? Now, what? Let's go walk some stairs. We did just that, walked the stairs and almost got trapped in an elevator, but kept moving. My contractions were about 5 minutes to eight minutes apart, very sporadic. I did finally lay down to try to rest up. It was going to be a long night. I did rest in between contractions, ate and drank just to keep going!
So, this was a long ongoing process, hours of walking around, and the hospital had the yoga ball chair available and I loved it. I hated laying down, so ball, walks, shower, food for hours. I did have a great nurse, Jennifer she knew Tracy and had nothing, but praises to say about her, knowing this I felt like I was in great hands. I had already had my birth wishes signed off by my doctor and the nurses were great in accepting of what I wanted. So, I just labored and labored... Jennifer told me she wanted me to deliver before the shift change, I told her for sure considering that shift change was at 7:30pm; I was not so lucky. I was doing everything to get this boy coming, black cohosh, nipple stimulation, I even ate Litos Taquitos, so spicy. I walked and walked, visited my friend on the 5th floor, got booted out of the lobby, but the whole time I had a positive attitude, cracking jokes, what else was I suppose to do?
Ok. I hit hour 18 of labor and started to hit the wall, and I did start to feel desperate, Jennifer said lets check we had waited a long time, so I gave in, she even let me get checked while standing, which was way more comfortable, so I was at a... 4, yeah we all cheered, also Jennifer said I should start progressing faster, so another shower, more walks, a popsicle and a few hours later contractions 3 minutes apart. Jennifer was getting ready for a shift change and she checked me one more time and this time I was at an 8. I've never been so excited, but so sad to lose Jennifer.
I hit hour 21 and got a new nurse, she was not my type at all and we butted heads immediately. She made me lie down to be checked, even though I just had it done she wanted to check herself - ahhhh, oh and she had these really long fingernails and I went through the roof. Tiffani took one look and me and marched right out to the nurses station and had that nurse booted off my job, she was replaced by Lisa who was great. Lisa gave me a thumbs up for speaking up about what I needed in my birth experience, she even told me she delivered her son in this room. I felt better already. So, on I labored and I finally reached 10 centimeters and I was ready to push, but wait! Since, I had been laboring on my feet for over 20 hours my cervix had become swollen on one side, so I had to lay down contracting and fight the urge to not push until the swelling went down, it was hell, but again it passed and I was ready to push. Was I ready for this, not really, but here we go. I started pushing standing and using the birth bar, then I moved to the toilet, then hands and knees, then on my back, Lisa let me move all over the place which was great. At this point, even though I knew the answer to my next question, I asked for an epidural, just to get a laugh out of my group, I thought it was pretty funny, but I had to ask!
The pushing part was a lot harder than I thought, but I just kept on trying. My pushing lasted a lot longer than I had hoped, when Hollister was making his way down the birth canal, my cervix got in the way, so Lisa had to kind of hold my cervix out of the way to progress. Gosh I was so close, but so tired. In came my doctor and I pushed and pushed. Finally I gave in to some help, I chose to have him use the suction thing to bring Hollister out, I just couldn't do it, but I was ok with the help, I also ended up with an episiotomy, which I didn't realize had happened until the stitching later, but in the end I brought Hollister into this world healthy and happy! It was a great experience and I'm so happy it went how it did, I was fortunate to have a great partner with Tiffani, and my mom, also some amazing nurses that I really needed to get me along. My birth experience in the hospital was great, I had a lot of time to really check out our great facilities. I also couldn't have done it without the help of Tracy and all the information I gathered in her wonderful class. My only words of advice to anyone who hasn't already done this, is just remember the pain will pass, take one contraction at a time, only think about that 1 contraction, it too shall pass.
Nikki and Hollister
Nov. 1, 2009 at 11:11 p.m.
6 lbs 15 ounces and 20 1/2 inches
Our Birth Story
October 31, 2009 - Yeah, it's Halloween!!! Tiffani for the last few weeks has been convinced that I was going to have Hollister on Halloween. I on the other hand thought she was crazy because it was too early, well she was close. This day was such a beautiful day, Tiff spent the night and we woke up early to have a fun filled day. I really wanted to go for a hike with the dogs so that was our plan. We started off at 8:00am and walked from my house to her sisters house (2 blocks away) and had breakfast. Then, we proceeded to the Montecito Fire Department to get the car seat base installed, so it was all secure. Afterwards, we headed up to Cold Springs trail and went for a hike with all the dogs. Now, I've stayed pretty active throughout this pregnancy, but today I felt like I could do anything. The hike up was so easy, I could have done it twice, that's how good I felt. We reached the fire road and took some pictures, then headed back down the other side. Going down was harder than hiking up, damn gravity, at the end I felt like my legs were going to buckle, yikes!
Anyway, we made it down safe, ran a few more errands then headed back towards home. We went to a pizza party; I had a few slices with lots of pepper flakes. Finally back home, I was feeling a bit tired, but still had things to do. I washed all my bedding and took Henri my Westi in the shower and gave him a bath. Then we were off again, back over to Tiff's sisters for a Halloween party, we walked over again. By this time I was feeling tired, still good, but tired. I plopped myself into a comfy chair by the fire, watched kids come and go, ate some yummy pork tamales, and had a glass of wine. It was a great day. Tiff and I headed back to my house around 8:45, we planned on watching a funny movie. Well after a visit to the bathroom, I was getting into my pj's and noticed a trickle down my legs - no biggie. Just in case, I put on a pad and climbed into bed about 9:00pm.
Well, my leak didn't stop, it kept getting worse, so back to the toilet I went and now there was a pink tinge to my leak. I started to freak out and cry, I was not ready. Tiff started to pack my bag and I rested because these stupid cramps started, duh contractions...
Tiff called my doctor, and texted Tracy. So here is the deal if you start leaking amniotic fluid and it continues they will want to give you antibiotics for infection. I kept leaking, but stayed home in bed dealing with ouchy contractions. It was 2:30 am when everyone started to worry, I wanted to make sure Hollister was ok, and if this leak was amniotic fluid, so we packed up and got in the car. Just out of the driveway, I changed my mind and went back home, that lasted minutes and I was back in the car, contractions about 7 minutes apart. It was too early, but I was worried.
We made it to the hospital, check in was crazy it was after Halloween - people were drunk and bloody, great. Finally, we made it to the labor and delivery room and they had this strip to test the fluid I was leaking, it would turn blue if it was amnoiotic fluid, well it turned blue. This is not how I imagined it, I was suppose to be at home hanging out laboring in peace, but this is how it turned out, I had to stay.
They put those monitors on me to check his heart rate, Hollister was doing great. So, here I was in labor and exhausted already. My contractions started getting stronger and they wanted to check me. Here is where it sucked, I hadn't been checked at all, and let me tell you it was unpleasant and the results even worse. I was 90% effaced at 1 1/2 centimeters dilated. This is where the fun began, 1 1/2? Now, what? Let's go walk some stairs. We did just that, walked the stairs and almost got trapped in an elevator, but kept moving. My contractions were about 5 minutes to eight minutes apart, very sporadic. I did finally lay down to try to rest up. It was going to be a long night. I did rest in between contractions, ate and drank just to keep going!
So, this was a long ongoing process, hours of walking around, and the hospital had the yoga ball chair available and I loved it. I hated laying down, so ball, walks, shower, food for hours. I did have a great nurse, Jennifer she knew Tracy and had nothing, but praises to say about her, knowing this I felt like I was in great hands. I had already had my birth wishes signed off by my doctor and the nurses were great in accepting of what I wanted. So, I just labored and labored... Jennifer told me she wanted me to deliver before the shift change, I told her for sure considering that shift change was at 7:30pm; I was not so lucky. I was doing everything to get this boy coming, black cohosh, nipple stimulation, I even ate Litos Taquitos, so spicy. I walked and walked, visited my friend on the 5th floor, got booted out of the lobby, but the whole time I had a positive attitude, cracking jokes, what else was I suppose to do?
Ok. I hit hour 18 of labor and started to hit the wall, and I did start to feel desperate, Jennifer said lets check we had waited a long time, so I gave in, she even let me get checked while standing, which was way more comfortable, so I was at a... 4, yeah we all cheered, also Jennifer said I should start progressing faster, so another shower, more walks, a popsicle and a few hours later contractions 3 minutes apart. Jennifer was getting ready for a shift change and she checked me one more time and this time I was at an 8. I've never been so excited, but so sad to lose Jennifer.
I hit hour 21 and got a new nurse, she was not my type at all and we butted heads immediately. She made me lie down to be checked, even though I just had it done she wanted to check herself - ahhhh, oh and she had these really long fingernails and I went through the roof. Tiffani took one look and me and marched right out to the nurses station and had that nurse booted off my job, she was replaced by Lisa who was great. Lisa gave me a thumbs up for speaking up about what I needed in my birth experience, she even told me she delivered her son in this room. I felt better already. So, on I labored and I finally reached 10 centimeters and I was ready to push, but wait! Since, I had been laboring on my feet for over 20 hours my cervix had become swollen on one side, so I had to lay down contracting and fight the urge to not push until the swelling went down, it was hell, but again it passed and I was ready to push. Was I ready for this, not really, but here we go. I started pushing standing and using the birth bar, then I moved to the toilet, then hands and knees, then on my back, Lisa let me move all over the place which was great. At this point, even though I knew the answer to my next question, I asked for an epidural, just to get a laugh out of my group, I thought it was pretty funny, but I had to ask!
The pushing part was a lot harder than I thought, but I just kept on trying. My pushing lasted a lot longer than I had hoped, when Hollister was making his way down the birth canal, my cervix got in the way, so Lisa had to kind of hold my cervix out of the way to progress. Gosh I was so close, but so tired. In came my doctor and I pushed and pushed. Finally I gave in to some help, I chose to have him use the suction thing to bring Hollister out, I just couldn't do it, but I was ok with the help, I also ended up with an episiotomy, which I didn't realize had happened until the stitching later, but in the end I brought Hollister into this world healthy and happy! It was a great experience and I'm so happy it went how it did, I was fortunate to have a great partner with Tiffani, and my mom, also some amazing nurses that I really needed to get me along. My birth experience in the hospital was great, I had a lot of time to really check out our great facilities. I also couldn't have done it without the help of Tracy and all the information I gathered in her wonderful class. My only words of advice to anyone who hasn't already done this, is just remember the pain will pass, take one contraction at a time, only think about that 1 contraction, it too shall pass.
Nikki and Hollister