Hannah Mei Havlir's Birth Story and My Hospital Birthing Experience (Lots of detail)

On 8/8, we found out that Hannah was in a frank breech position. On 8/11, the doctor tried to externally turn Hannah around. It did not work. On 8/12 and 8/13, I went in to see a chiropractor to see if the Webster method would help turn Hannah. I actually think it worked because she started moving around a lot more, I noticed kicks and hiccups in different spots, and her head had moved elsewhere. On 8/15, I went back to the doctor's office and the nurse practitioner confirmed that she had turned into a vertex position. Hallelujah! 

On 8/18, at 3:11 in the morning, I felt like something had popped. It turned out that my water broke. So I laid down some towels and tried to go to sleep, knowing that the baby would be here soon. In the back of my mind, I feared that Hannah had turned back to breech, because I could feel a hard bump again high in my belly. There was so many things that I needed to do, so thinking about everything kept me up for a long time. I finally fell asleep for about 2 hours before getting up at 8. 

We debated whether or not to call the doctor's office immediately, or to just show up when contractions started. I decided to call the doctor's office and they had me come in for a progression check. Again, I saw the nurse practitioner who checked me and confirmed once again that the baby was in a vertex position. I asked to have an ultrasound done, but was denied. She then told us that we should head to the hospital. 

Since I knew we were going to play the waiting game, we took our time. We took Nathan to the park, I took a shower, and after dropping Nathan off with our neighbor, we ate a quick lunch at home before we headed to the hospital. 

We checked in around 1:30, and the nurses were a bit annoyed at how late we were. We got settled into a room and I got hooked up to a fetal and contraction monitor. I asked if I could have intermittent monitoring, and was denied it. (Even though the OB told me at one of my appointments that we could have intermittent monitoring). At time of check in, I was about 6 cm. dilated, and my contractions were about 7-15 minutes apart. My nurse was pretty awesome and tried to delay hooking up the saline lock for as long as possible. So, we waited around and my contractions continued to stay the same. If things went the way Nathan's birth went, we would've started active labor around midnight, so I tried to rest and planned on trying some nipple stimulation with the breast pump to help with contractions. 

Since I had gestational diabetes, I had to prick my finger every hour to check my blood glucose levels. 

I was given an antibiotic at 18 hours afters my membranes have ruptured and was told that I would be given more every 6 hours. 

Around 10 pm, we tried the breast pump, and contractions got closer together, but they were not painful and as soon as we stopped pumping, contractions went back to 10-15 minutes apart. 

Well, midnight came and went. Still no progression. We slept and every 3 hours or so the nurse would come in and check my vitals. 

The morning came and still things have not progressed. I was getting frustrated and restless. The nurse suggested that we try some pitocin and I decided that we would try the breast pump one more time before receiving some pitocin. Still no progression. Around 10, we started a pitocin drip and my contractions started to become more intense, but nothing was happening. The nurse then remembered me mentioning that I thought the baby was breech again, so she asked to doctor on call to do an ultrasound. This was the first time I had seen a doctor since I arrived at the hospital. Anyways, quickly it was confirmed that Hannah was indeed breech. I started to cry, not because I had a C-section in my future, but out of frustration. I was frustrated that no one would listen to my request to have an ultrasound confirm Hannah's position. I was frustrated on how no doctor came in to talk to me until almost 24 hours after I had been admitted. And those frustrations just piled on top of the saline lock and uncomfortable monitors I had strapped around me. 

A C-section was then scheduled and 45 minutes later, I was sitting on the operating table about to receive a spinal block. It was freezing. I felt a weird sensation as they put the first numbing shot into my spine and then a few moments later, I felt some pressure as they put the spinal block medication in. My toes started to feel warm and the warm sensation just started to rise. 

I laid down on the table and they positioned me into place, with my arms stretched out like I was being crucified laying down. They put up a screen above my neck and started to wipe the area that they were going to cut. I felt several urges to cough, but I couldn't cough because parts of my diaphram were numb and I had no control, so a cough just turned into a heave. My sinuses became congested and I found it difficult to breathe. It was a super weird sensation. At some point, Steve came in and sat down next to me. A medical assistant was by my side, telling me what was going on, answering my questions. I felt some tugging and pushing on my trunk area and soon I heard a soft wimpering cry, that quickly escalated into a stronger cry. Steve received the baby and after a few excruciating minutes of waiting, I was able to see little Hannah. 

 While I was getting stitched back up, Steve and Hannah went back to the room and her measurements were taken there. Towards the end, I had gotten super light headed and nauseous. I wasn't able to throw up due to a loss of diaphram control, but I felt like I needed to.

When I got back to the room I found out that she was 6 pounds 6 oz, 20 inches long, and due to her breech position, had lose hip sockets. Everything else was normal.

At this point, our neighbor, Andrea dropped Nathan off at the hospital and he got to meet Hannah for the first time. It was also then when he received his special gift from Hannah: an Elmo doll and a new book on being an older brother.

Nathan was very shy and hesitant to get too close.

We tried to nurse and she latched on immediately like a champ.

 Within an hour, all the feeling in my legs came back, but I was stuck in bed for 12 hours. Sitting up made me nauseous and I could not keep anything down. After 12 hours, (3 am) I was told to get up and to try to use the bathroom. My catheter was taken out and things were successful. I then threw up a lot of liquid.

In the morning, things became better. I could sit up without feeling nauseous and I could get up slowly on my own. Nathan and Steve visited and today Nathan seemed to be a bit more interested in Hannah. When he arrived, he just ran up to her and said "hi" as if he expected her to say "hi" back.

I want to specially thank my neighbor Andrea, and friends Hope, Amy and Jenna for helping us out during the birth. They were able to help us watch Nathan while we were in the hospital. Now, Steve is hanging out with Nathan while I hang out with Hannah at the hospital. We may be able to go home tomorrow. 

This experience has been completely different from the birthing center experience. While given the circumstances, we probably would've ended up at the hospital anyways, but if we had another child, I would most definitely pick the birthing center over the hospital. Birthing is a natural and beautiful experience. While the nurses are all awesome, hospital policies totally take away from the birthing experience. 

Her name: Hannah Mei Havlir
We wanted to keep the tradition that we started with Nathan. Biblical first name, with a middle name that is common in English, but has meaning in Mandarin Chinese. We loved the name Hannah, and pretty much had our hearts set on the name from the beginning, whereas we didn't officially decide for Nathan until after he was born. I love that it is also a palindrome. Hannah is Hebrew for grace. "Mei" is pronounced like "May" or "Mae" and can mean beauty, little sister, or plum.