Labor and Delivery: Gianna Is Here (11/5/2012)

On Sunday, 11/4 my contractions started coming consistently around 8pm. After an hour or so I realized they were more painful than the ones from Friday night. I decided to take a shower and get myself togeether before we headed to the hospital. My plan was to labor at home as long as I could anyway so I figured this would be a good distraction.

We arrived at hosp about 1am on 11/5. Marco had insisted that we leave the house and I am so glad we left when we did. By the time we were on the 95 getting onto Summerlin Parkway I was telling him to drive faster.  We headed up to Labor and Delivery and I got hooked up for one hour of monitoring. I was 3cm dilated when we got there and an hour later I progressed to 4cm so we were admitted around 2:30am. We called the family and they headed down!

It took a little while to get me moved to a labor room so I didn't get my epidural until about 4:15am. My goodness that is the best invention ever! I had enough at that point and was happy for some relief. By this point everyone had arrived and they were in the waiting room while I got my epidural. They also started Pitocin at this time. My mon and brother, Marco's parents and sister were all so excited it was finally happening!

Everyone was tired and hungry so we insisted they go to breakfast around 6:30am. Nothing was imminent at that moment. By 7am I was 5cm dilated and 90% effaced. My water had not broken on its own and the baby was still too high for then to break my water. The fear of cord prolapse was still high because of my fluid issues so we were waiting for her to drop more first. At 8am I was put on oxygen to wake her up a bit. Everyone came back from breakfast and started the long wait for baby G.

At 8:50am I had progressed to 6-7cm, 100% effaced and the nurse checked Gianna's position to see if she could break my water. I started having an issue with the epidural. I started to regain feeling on the left side near my pelvis. It wasn't bad a first but within a half hour it was more substantial.

At 9:10am they finally broke my water. The good news was there were no cord issues, but there was meconium in the fluid. :( It also brought me back to 5-6cm and 90%effaced. Ok- let me tell you about the amount of fluid that I had in my belly. That towel in my car and those pads I was sitting on at Billy's house would not have made a dent in absorbing this fluid. It was insane- like a geyser. It just kept coming and coming- I think we went through all the towels in L&D! At one point the nurse grabbed all the towels off the baby warmer because we went through all the others. This didn't just happen once when the nurse broke my water. Over the next few hours it happened three more times and every time there was more fluid than the last. I would just lay there and be like, "I'm gushing!" It was insane. All I could think of was that I was so glad this didn't happen on campus!!!

The other crazy part- aside from the sheer amount of fluid, was how my belly shrank afterwards! I could't believe how small it looked. We had been so worried that G was going to be a big baby but my belly looked so small now that I was convinced she was going to actually be a little peanut. I looked like I did when I was 6-7 months pregnant.

The nurse gave me a manual epidural button but that thing didn't do a thing. At this point I can feel the contractions on left side. WTF?! At 9:15am the anesthesiologist came back and fixed it. He pushed lots of epidural lovliness but withing 40 minutes it made me feel sick. For the next three hours it was all about me trying to not pass out.  At 9:50 am I was so light headed, it was like epidural overload. I was put back on the oxygen, I was super pale, and my BP wa low at 95/54. I couldn't really move anything from my chest down. I couldn't move my own legs or feet- it was so weird- kind of scary. From 10:15am-12:45pm I tried to rest. There was fluid everywhere. They kept changing out the towels multiple times but it keepts on coming. I also started having a lot of pressure in my pelvis. My BP was still low- the same and I was still on oxygen.

By 1:00pm I had been up for 29 hours straight, was in labor for 17 hrs and was 8cm dilated. Everyone went to get some lunch.

Then at 1:30pm all hell broke loose when the epidural wore off completely. The anesthesiologist was in a c-section and he was the only one available. I was dying. It was the most awful pain I had ever felt in my life. They say the "transition" period (going fro 7-10cm) is the worst part and I can tell you it is excrutiating without any meds. At one point I lost it and sent Marco on the hunt for another anesthesiologist. The worst part was that my contractions were clustering. So it wasn't like I would have one then wait for the next. I would have three or four back to back then a break. I have no idea how people do this with no pain meds. It was by far the worst part of this whole ordeal. I was so upset! You don't get an epidural for it to go away. At 2:15 the anesthesiologist was done with the c-section and fixed my epidural. He had to replace the bag because it was totally empty. I was glad everyone was at lunch when this happened because it was not pretty.

Around 3:30pm I insisted that Marco leave and go get something to eat. I was doing ok, the epidural was working and it was back to the waiting game. At 4:00 I was still 8cm and the epidural stopped working again. Everyone was in the room with me this time except Marco and his mom. Marco came back to a very unhappy Me and the anesthesiologist came in much quicker this time to fix it. I couldn't believe it happened twice! I felt bad that everyone was there but I made it through and was happy there wasn't a c-section happening this time.

I finally saw a doctor for the first time at 5:00pm. She walked in and took one look at my belly and said "that's a big baby you've got there- probably a 9 pounder".  I was shocked! No, now it's a small baby- look how little my belly is compared to what is was when I got here!!  The doctor checked me and I was still at 8cm and had been that way since 1pm. She wanted to monitor me for 2 more hours to see if I progressed past 8cm but had some concerns.  Because she felt G was on the larger side she was worried that if I delivered vaginally the shoulders may get stuck. We would talk about a c-section if I didn't progress. By this time, Nannina and Jamie had to leave to get back to LA. I felt so bad that they had stayed and waited all this time and she wan't here yet.  *Looking back, I have no idea why they made me wait two more hours if they didn't think a vaginal delivery was possible anyway.

The doctor came back at 7:00pm and I had not progressed. We talked about it and agreed that the safest thing for both of us was to go ahead with a c-section. I got kind of upset at that point. I had been in labor for 23 hours, up for 35 hours and was just physically and emotionally exhausted.  I hadn't planned on a c-section and hadn't prepared myself for one. Ann, the nurse who taught our childbirth class, had been checking on my all day long and it was such a blessing to have her there. She asked me if I wanted her to come in the operating room with me. I said YES! It was really nice to have her there as someone who knew exactly what wa happening and could be there to walk me through it. They started prepping me and I got epidural number four of the day.

When they took me into the operating room it was surreal. Marco couldn't come in at first until I was set up on the table. It felt like I was in another world. I was nervous. Ann was super sweet and took pictures for us which was really cool because she was able to go wherever she wanted. She even took video for us. The c-section was really fast. The drape kept falling in my face making me feel claustrophobic. The new anesthesiologist was cool and kept fixing it for me. Everyone was pretty chill and were chatting with each other. It was so laid back that at one point I asked if they were going to check me to make sure I didn't feel anything before they started. I was surprised when they told me they already did that. Oh, ok. Guess I'm good to go then.

I will never forget the sound of hearing her cry for the first time. It was loud! This girl has some lungs on her. :) It was the best sound I have ever heard. I just started tearing up and still can't believe she's mine. They brought her over to be cleaned up and Marco went over to her. Gianna Lucia Angioni was born at 8:07pm, 9lb 5oz and 22" long (kind of- more on that later).

Hi Daddy!

Meeting Mommy for the first time. She stopped crying when she heard my voice, which was pretty much the coolest thing ever.

When we got back to the recovery room I was completely exhauseted and out of it. It was the longest day of my life! Marco went to the nursery with Gianna and took pictures of her first bath and then met me in recovery and showed me the pics. He also had a surprise for me. He got me a necklace with Gianna's birthstone. He joked that he was really glad she held out until November! It was so sweet. He thanked me for Gianna and it was a moment I won't forget.

I didn't get to see Gianna again for almost eight hours. She went to the nursery and her glucose levels were low so we gave them permission to give her formula. She had to pass four glucose tests before she could come to our room. It was 4am on Tuesday, 11/6 when I got to hold her for the first time!

Marco made sure I was the first person to hold her. When the nurse brough her in and took her out of the bassinet she tried to hand her to Marco but he told her to give G to me. Daddy was patiently waiting to hold her. I love this picture! She will be a daddy's girl for sure!





Grandma bought Gianna her first baby doll. She was awake and so alert. She kept staring at the doll.

We were in the hospital for four days. Our nurses were great but we were stir crazy by the end of it and ready to go home!


My going home outfit and special blanket

I was so excited to go home but I ended up getting sick right before we left. I had been pumped with so much fluid during my labor and the c-section and between that and taking some pain meds on an empty stomach, I was a bloated light-headed mess. Both of our moms met us at home to help us get settled. They brought us dinner, too.

Now the real fun begins!