Miranda's Birth Story

Well, we have a beautiful baby girl now! We named her Miranda Quinne Orlowski. She was 5lbs 15oz and 17.5 inches long. Here's the whole story:

Tuesday we went in for the amniocentesis. I went to patient registration first but I guess I wasn't supposed to because they sent me right to Labor and Delivery. So I went over there and they got me all set up in a delivery room. They monitored Miranda's heartbeat for a little bit and then they brought in the ultrasound technician to figure our how she was lying and where a good pocket of fluid was. They drew some blood and inserted an IV. Dr.Law prepped my belly area and got ready to draw out the fluid. They took the fluid out of the top left of my belly, right where her butt was. I was worried they would poke the baby but the doctor said that she would move if the needle touched her. The amniocentesis was not as painful as I thought it was going to be. There was a pinch when the needle went in and my uterus cramped up a little. There was a general discomfort the entire time but I felt much better once the needle came out. Afterwords they monitored me for an hour or so before realizing that they needed to give me my Rhogam. So they had to get that ready and then it seemed like they forgot about me. They finally gave me my shot and we got out of there around 3:00pm. Afterwords we went to get my eye exam done.

On Wednesday we got up very early to be at the hospital for 6:00am. I was a little agitated at that because I thought that would mean we'd be waiting around forever. But, surprisingly it all went pretty quickly. They got me all set up for surgery and then they let Adam in to put on the scrubs. They wheeled me into the OR and told Adam to stay outside while they put my spinal in. That didn't take long and didn't hurt all that much either. It felt funny to have my entire body numb but it worked really well.

After I was all situated and ready for them to begin they finally let Adam in. He came and set next to my head. The nurse I had was amazingly nice. She was so sweet to me the entire time and she knew how special this birth was to me. She explained everything along the way and made sure I was as comfortable as possible. Dr.Law said that they were starting the operation but I was completely oblivious. I asked like a minute later if they had really started. Adam and the nurse were shocked and happy that I didn’t know that already. The c-section itself was completely painless. The only thing I felt was a pushing sensation up near my ribs on my left side. I was so anxious the entire time. All I wanted was to hear my daughter cry. The nurse and Dr.Law both told me when they could first see her head that she had a lot of hair! I was so happy to hear that. Shortly after they said that she out and I could hear her crying. I started bawling immediately. Dr.Law lifted her over the curtain for Adam and I to see. She looked so big and very healthy. I couldn’t have been happier than at that moment. She continued her loud and healthy cry for several minutes while they cleaned her up and what not. Adam and I cried and smiled and rejoiced together knowing our dream of being parents had finally come true. I remember them telling me her APGAR scores were 9 and 10! Dr.Law made a point to tell me that almost no babies get a score of 10. Finally a huge weight lifted off my shoulders and I knew everything would be okay. They swaddled her up and brought her over for Adam to hold and for me to see. She was so beautiful to me. Adam went off to the nursery with her and I had to be stitched up and wheeled to recovery. Before that though Dr. Law showed Adam my uterus because there was two quarter size holes in it.

I was literally days away from rupturing my uterus which would have killed both my daughter and me. Yikes! Afterwords I felt nauseous and tired so I was given some medicine to help me relax and I ended up falling asleep. They woke me up in the recovery room where a very nice, very chatty nurse was there. I stayed there for a while. Adam called from his cell phone and we talked. He told me he wanted to name her Miranda and I knew it was the right name. When I could easily move both of my legs they moved me into my postpartum room. I immediately called Adam to tell him where I was. He came in very shortly after and I was so happy to see him again. The father of my baby. My parents came by shortly after that. Miranda was still in the nursery and I had to wait until shortly after noon to finally be able to hold and see her. I was so happy in that moment when I could just hold my baby girl in my arms. She looked so healthy, so beautiful and so little! I almost immediately wanted to try and breastfeed her. I waited until the lactation consultant came in though. The first few attempts were a little trying but slowly and surely we got the hang of it. The two days Adam and I spent in the hospital we used to just get to know our new daughter. She slept a lot. We were able to take her home Friday morning.