Charlotte Alexandra was born on March 6th, 2009 at 3:27pm. At about 10pm on March 4th, my water broke. Chris had been giving me a back massage when I got up to brush my teeth and get ready for bed. All of a sudden there was liquid gushing down my leg! I called the birth center and got the midwife on call. She instructed me to get some sleep since I wasn’t having any contractions, and for Chris and I to meet her at the birth center in the morning. I got in bed but couldn’t sleep. I was too excited!
Thursday morning, we stopped at Whole Foods and bought some Castor Oil, as the midwife had instructed us to do, since I still wasn’t having contractions. We went to the birth center and I got checked out. The baby was doing fine, but I wasn’t dilated at all. We were instructed to go back home and try to get labor started naturally. Once we got home, I drank 2 ounces of Castor Oil mixed with grapefruit juice. I don’t think I will ever drink grapefruit juice again. This didn’t start contractions, just made me have to sit in the bathroom for a very long time! 
Then Chris and I walked around the neighborhood for a while. We even tried using the breast pump to start contractions. Nothing was working. I called the midwife and let her know what was going on. She instructed me to drink yet some more castor oil and to meet her back at the birth center at 6pm to check me out. We then called our Chiropractor, and got the name of the acupuncturist his wife used during pregnancy, and went and got acupuncture done to try to get labor started! It didn’t work.
We then went back to the birth center and checked on the baby, who was doing fine. I was about a centimeter dilated, so the midwife stripped my membranes to try to get labor progressing. We were instructed to get some more rest and call back at 10pm to check in. The birth center has a policy stating that if your water has been broken for more than 24 hours you can no longer deliver at the birth center. Chris and I didn’t want that to happen so instead of resting we walked to get some dinner, walked back, then walked around our neighborhood until about 9pm. We came inside and hooked up the breast pump and I noticed some slight contractions. I called the birth center back at 10pm and they said they would give me another 2 hours to see if anything started progressing. After falling asleep on the couch and waking up in a comatose state, we drove back to the birth center at midnight, where we were told it was going to be necessary for us to transfer to the hospital.
We called my doula and let her know that we were going to have to go to the hospital to have the baby. When we got to the hospital, I checked into Triage, which was horrible. The nurses were awful! Once we got to the labor and delivery floor, it was much better. The doctor on call, Dr. Wong, wanted to start me on Pitocin right away, which I kindly turned down. We waited until our doula arrived, and then at about 2am, decided that it would be best to start the Pitocin, since it had been 28 hours with no contractions. I was started out on the lowest dose, and they increased the drip every half hour. I finally got up to 20 units, the normal maximum dose. The nurse then had to call the doctor to request to go up to 30 units, which was the maximum dosage allowed. I was having only minor contractions at this point.
At about 2pm, the nurse came in and checked me out, to reveal that I was only dilated a centimeter and a half. I had been on Pitocin for 12 hours and had been confined to my bed with monitors strapped to my belly and an IV in my arm. I was ready for this baby to come meet us! The doctor came in and said he wanted to do a Cesarean delivery since labor clearly wasn’t progressing, and my water had been broken for over a day and a half. 
We agreed and I was brought into the operating room where they prepped me for surgery. Chris came in once everything was ready to go and it wasn’t long before he stood up and said “IT’S A GIRL!”. Even though Charlotte was doing fine while she was still inside me, the baby nurse wanted to have a newborn team on hand just in case, since my water had been broken for so long.
Everyone in the operating room was shocked that we had waited to find out the gender and were just as excited to find out as we were! I was very loopy from the drugs and waited while they put my insides back together. Chris took Charlotte to the recovery ward and I followed about a half hour later. I wasn’t pleased that they wouldn’t let Chris take his shirt off and put Charlotte on his chest immediately after she was born for skin to skin contact, but I don’t think she is deprived of any love! She weighed 6 pounds, 9 ounces and measured 19 inches long.
When I got to recovery, they informed me that Charlotte’s blood sugar was low, and that they usually give the babies a bottle to bring it up, but Chris had told them that I had been using my pump during labor and had been successful at getting the colostrum out, so they agreed to let me try to feed her. She latched on right away and started eating! When they checked her again her blood sugar had gone way up! They then said they were concerned because her respiratory rate was high and told us they wanted to observe her some more, and if it didn’t slow they would have to bring her to the NICU. Chris stayed with her, and I went up to my room on the postpartum floor where I would be for the next 3 nights. Chris and Charlotte went to the nursery across from my room and then joined us about a half hour later. Charlotte was doing well and was ready to stay in the room with us!
We brought her home Monday, March 9th, and have been enjoying her every since!
We went up to Mt. Laguna for the afternoon with Lisa, Joe and Joli, so they could let their wild animal, I mean dog, run around for a bit. After Joe directed us the round about way there, we finally found a campground and had lunch. The only problem was that it was about 50 degrees and windy! I ate quickly, huddled between Lisa and Chris, then Charlotte and I hung out in the car where it was nice and warm for the afternoon. Even though it was cold, it was nice to get out of the house!
She didn't even mind all the screaming and yelling the guys were making! She had sand on her face and loved the wind! Maybe she will take after her father and love the beach and the sand! And yes, that is the "I've been playing beer pong all afternoon" smile on his face...
