Birth Story!

Finally I have the time to type up this past week. Nevermind that it is because my little booger is awake and doesn’t like to sleep at night. I have PM shift one. He’s so cute I don’t even mind (much). OK here goes… I had kept a note of times etc to make this easier.

Friday January 25^th, 2013 (the greatest day in existence)

4:30am- I wake up for the last time. Sure its time, but not wanting to call chicken. I had been suspicious for the last day that it was imminent. I lost a ton of my plug the day/night before and my body cleaned itself out twice the day before. I crawled out of bed without waking the hubs, and started timing contractions while I played on facebook and dreamed in anticipation.

5:30- Woke up the hubby and told him “I think this is it.” Contractions are 2-3 minutes apart lasting 40s to 1min and had been for the last hour. He is groggy and I think wanted to go back to sleep more than he wanted to get up and get the ball rolling.

5:40-6am- We get up and finish straightening the house. One of my stipulations of going into the hospital. The house must be as clean as I could get it so when we came home it was home and not a to-do-list. I contracted and cleaned (made the bed, put away laundry and straightened the miscellaneous things around the house.) Then packed. We were terrible and didn’t pack until the last minute. So I started putting things together and had the bag all ready while hubs washed dishes and wiped down the kitchen. All the while I would get a contraction that made me pause and breathe.

6:10am I called Labor and Delivery and told them this was it. My contractions have been going since 4ish and they were consistent. They said come in when I was ready. And stick it out as long as I could at home. I was still doing pretty OK so I decided to wait until I was ready to get going. We put on an episode of Numb3rs and those were our last 40 minutes at home with a family of two plus bump.

7:15am- We snapped a last bump picture and loaded up us and the car. Double checking my lists to make sure we weren’t forgetting anything. On the way to the hospital we drove through jack-and-the-box for a breakfast sandwich for the pre baby “last meal” which was one bite me, the rest hubby.

7:30am- Hubs dropped me at the entrance to the hospital and went to park. Valet didn’t start until 8:30 and I was not waiting. So I waddled inside and waited on a bench. It only took him about 3 minutes but it felt like forever. Did I mention it was raining all morning and day? It was perfect stay-inside-and-have-a-baby weather.

7:45- We checked in and they put us in the triage rooms where they monitor you to make sure you are far enough before they will admit you. Final weigh in 138.4lbs. The belly buds monitor picked up my mountain looking contractions of course, so the on call dr came in to check my dilation. What was really neat was this dr was the one we met the first time we were sent from the NST to L&D. really awesome guy who made us feel right at ease, laughed and joked with us and sat on the foot of my bed while he discussed stuff with us. He recognized us and then checked me. I was 4cm so he said they would go ahead and admit me.

8am- They moved us to the room e would be in until baby A came, then came the mountain of admission paperwork and questions while they set our delivery in motion. Then I got an IV In my wrist/arm. Our nurse-for-the-day came in and introduced herself. Luanne was the greatest and sweetest lady. She told us babies are on their own time and he might not come today…not what I wanted to hear at 8am. It seemed like admitting me took fooooorrreveer. The hospital we delivered in has an on-call complimentary doula program where if you want one, a doula will come in and stay with you until your baby is delivered. I said yes when they asked and soon enough two arrived! One was in training, so we got two for the ‘price’ of one. They were a little older than us and great. When contractions would hit they would breathe with me or push on pressure points or tell hubby where to press.

9:25am- My waters ruptured on their own. Granted it was only a little leak, and not a huge full-water break. But it was enough to jumpstart labor and push up our timetable. After the fluid was checked to make sure it was amniotic I was rechecked and now dilated to a 6. My nurse then said “well it looks like I might be here to see this baby come after all!” because she got off shift at 7. At this point hubs called his parents and when they answered he told them he was only calling to get their hopes up. Then said “just kidding. We are in the hospital.” And they made arrangements to come down.

The next 3 hours were a blur of painful contractions and doing everything I could to make them bearable. My pain-plan was to last as long as possible before caving so I set goals. I spent a good 2 hours ish on a birthing ball bouncing through contractions and trying to breath. If you know me, you know that I am directionally retarded. So having the doulas give me breathing tips (in through your nose, out through your mouth) took me a good 5 minutes to not get backwards. Which was frustrating but distracting. After every contraction I was praised like a show dog and given a sip of water to stay hydrated. This made a routine that I fell into and liked counting on. While I was bouncing, the monitors they had me hooked to the pick up the baby’s heartbeat would slip and his beat would fall off the graph so a nurse would come in and have to refind it every time. Until finally one doula just sat in front of me and held the bud to me and kept in time to my bouncing. Everyone that was there kept telling me I was a great laborer.. who knows how many people they say this to, but they said it was hard to tell I was in active labor. That I was keeping really calm and made it look not painful. I always joked that I would be a bear during contractions and wring out hubs. But it turns out that I can and will whine over a splinter like it’s an amputation, but when it really matters I internalize and turn into a statue when in pain. The longer the contractions went on the stronger, longer, and closer they got and the more worn down I was getting. I set noon as my goal to make it to before an epidural.

12:00pm- Noon came and I was handling it, so I went to 12:15. I was at the point of short goals. 12:15 came. I set my new goal to 12:20, then 12:25, and at 12:30 I threw in the proverbial towel and one of the doulas went for the anesthesiologist.

12:45pm- The drugs arrived in the form of a doctor and his resident. I was not relaxed enough for them to work on a highly sensitive and accuracy needed place like my spine, so I was doped with an IV full of fentanyl so they could work without me fighting them. He pushed it in and said it’ll take a minute to kick in. 5 seconds later the room was moving on its own. I was high as a kite and felt my body relax and want to sleep. The next hour was a haze or them inserting the epi and checking it. I could hear them discussing the placement and dose and spots while I sat hunched over riding the contractions on a magical fentanyl unicorn. My eyes were closed at this point and I lost interest in most everything except keeping them closed and getting a nap.  After the dose was put in they asked me a ton of questions that hubs said I would answer with my eyes closed, then ignore the next question or two, then answer again. So hubby had to answer for me. I was also asked if I wanted to participate in a study for something or other and I was told I said “sure, as long as I can nap.” So I did. Nap and participate. After my odd answer they double checked with hubs to make sure it was ok. Because I’m pretty sure my consent would not hold up in court. They hooked electrodes to my neck and side and hooked them to a machine to read them for an hour. The dr came in at this point to check my progress and see how far I was. I had made it to 0 position and 9.5cm drug free! He then broke the rest of my water with a little hook. I felt a little pop and water came out and I could feel his head lower. The contractions after the water broke were more effective at moving him and he felt bigger.

3?ish- I wake up from my nap, fentanyl free and feeling only vague contractions. The epi was a success on the left side completely. I couldn’t feel or lift that leg at all. The right leg was fine. I could still use it. So I was feeling the contractions on the right side only. I used the power-booster button a couple times to up the dose while we waited for things to move along. I could only press it once every 24 minutes and it worked great. The nurse came in and checked my progress because I leaked a little more and she said she could see his head and hair! She said he was low enough that I could push if I wanted to, or if I would rather, because he was doing so well and was happy we could let him “labor down” farther and farther to make less stress on my body and make pushing a shorter endeavor. I opted to let him make his own way because I wasn’t in a huge hurry and was painfree. The doulas and the nurse said I would have been great at having him naturally because we made it so far and so fast and I handled the contractions really well. I love being told I do amazing. The nurse also said he most likely would have come hours ago naturally, because the epi slowed him down a bit. Personally I’ll take longer and easier over shorter and harder. Though the epi made me itchy. I declined the Benadryl because I had already been drugged and wanted to be lucid for meeting A.

4pm-5pm- I hung out with Hubs and the doulas, talking and playing on facebook and texting my mom and sister. At 5 the dr came in and checked me and said it was time to bring this baby out. Our dr couldn’t be there for A’s delivery but she had two of her partners come in and check on us and attend his delivery. Which was nice. That made two doulas, one OB, one nurse, and two other doctors all at the foot of my bed. Hubby by my head. Because I was high risk, they had to remove the bottom half (foot) of the bed to stand closer and have better access if his shoulders got stuck (a risk with gestational diabetes) so they would have room to turn me and get him out safely. It was odd having 6 people at the foot of the bed ready for this child to debut. But I really didn’t care. The nurse prepped the room and baby cart(!!) while the drs explained what we were going to be doing and got us all on the same game plan. The hardest part was advice from 4 different people that I was trying to keep straight. What I got from everyone: “use my hands to grip my legs. Make them dead weight. Legs weigh 20-30lbs. The doulas will support a leg each. When pushing, take a deep breath first to make my diaphragm more effective. Push during contractions only. Go to the count of ten in sets of 3. Curl around my stomach to push. Sometimes women push for an hour or so.” 5:10pm we were ready to try. First contraction and my team of cheerleaders counted for me, took a breath with me, and generally cheered on our progress. We did a set of three. Then waited for round two. 3-5 min later the contraction came and we went again. Etc etc. I was doing “really well” and “really effective” and he was coming slowly. Did I want to see. No. I talked with everyone during rests and at one point my dr said that it looked like I was laughing this baby out. Because every time I laughed he moved farther down. When it started getting serious. Time for the head and shoulders we moved to sets of four ‘give it everything’ pushes. At one point something popped and the dr said “I heard that.” I thought it was my hip. Nope. The little booger cracked my tailbone. At 5:35 a gush of liquid flew (literally flew) out followed by a very slippery and purple looking baby. He was immediately placed on my chest and he took his first breath and screamed. He alternated crying and not for the 20 minutes he laid on me. They rubbed him down still on my chest, the cord cutting was delayed a bit then hubs did the honors. I don’t remember that. After he was put on me I lost interest in everything else. I had a person to get to know. I totally teared up and cried a little when he was put on me. I think I said “hi” to him about 3948348 times. They took him off me to weigh, measure, clean, etc and hubs finally got to hold him and trim the cord closer. He was 7.15lbs, 20.25 inches long. born at 39w5d.Then he was brought back to me and I held him and memorized his face. They checked his blood sugar and it was perfect to they said there is nothing more to worry about with him. !. hubs and I just stared at him. While this was going on the doctors were delivering the placenta and then fixing the exit he made. At one point they had been down there about an hour and there were still 3 doctors all working together and I asked what they were doing. The words ‘plastic surgery repair’ were used. The good news… I didn’t have an episiotomy. Why? Because I tore anteriorally. He literally ripped me a new one. I got inside and outside stitches. The tmi info my “labia minora separated from the clitoral hood on both side and they needed to be reattached.” Say what!? I had never heard of that! After that was all taken care of it was time to move upstairs to recovery. The doulas said goodbye and headed home. I still can’t feel one leg, so getting in the wheelchair was like asking a paraplegic to stand. I pretty much slip down the nurse and hubs helped get me in the chair. Baby was handed back to me and we wheeled up to our room for the next 2 days. Getting into that bed I fell on the nurse and slid to the floor while trying to transfer. Baby was safe with hubs, but I was on the floor. Two nurses put me in the bed after that. And that’s how life as we knew it ended.