Birth Story

{Birth Story Part 1}

Sunday, July 8th started out as a typical weekend day~ church, naps, a birthday party, a baby shower... although it was the hottest day of the year so far at 104! I felt totally fine all day and in fact had never had any braxton hicks contractions throughout my pregnancy or any indication that labor was impending. I was 39 weeks, 5 days pregnant. It started to get stormy outside during the baby shower I was attending and went home from there about 8:00 pm. As soon as I got in my car I started feeling a little strange. Not really thinking much of it, I drove home and I only felt weirder as I got closer to home. I decided to take a bath and noticed when I was going to the bathroom that I lost some of my mucus plug (sorry boys! lol!). I got in the bath and I started having cramps. I've always had really awful period cramps so thats what it felt like to me and just to be sure I started timing them. Right away, they were around 5 minutes apart and lasting about a minute long. I thought maybe I was timing them wrong! My husband walks in a few minutes after I got home and says, "I think I have food poisoning..." to which I replied, "You'd better not because I think I'm having contractions!!" I started to freak out a little at that point and told him to take some pepto bismol. Thank goodness he started feeling better- or just toughed it out! For the next 2.5 hours I talked to the labor and delivery nurses and my doctor and tried laying down an drinking water to see if it would stop the contractions, but they continued at the same pace, getting a little stronger. So I decided to sit on the exercise ball for a bit and about 10:45, when contractions were definitely stronger and 4 minutes apart, and there was a couple times I thought I was going to puke, Jacob demanded that we head for the hospital (it's an hour away!). He packed us up and off we went, stopping off at my parents to drop the dog off.

The way to the hospital was uneventful... just breathing through the contractions while intermittently watching the lightning storm outside, and trying to find a happy medium with the air conditioner.  When we finally got to the hospital I had to check in and answer all these ridiculous questions before they admitted me. I wanted to say, "Can't you see I'm in labor people?!" I had to lean my head on the desk and breathe through the contractions a few times during all the paperwork-haha!

When we got up to the room, they put the monitors on me and checked to see how far I was dilated... which was a 3. Luckily, the anesthesiologist was in the room next to me and my doctor was on call so things happened fast. I threw up twice right before my epidural~ which they said was a good sign I was progressing. Let me just tell you, the epidural was WELL worth it my friends. I had the little button where I could press and get more meds if I needed them too. A continuous drip. SO nice! I did not feel any contractions or pain up until the last 45 minutes of pushing~ and thats probably because I stopped pushing the button when I was focused on pushing at that point.

Soon after, my doctor came in to check me and said, let's just go ahead and break your water~ but when he tried to do that he said it had already broken! I think it must've been either in the bathtub at home, or when I threw up. Not really sure! From then on, we just hung out and took naps until morning time. I progressed to a 9.5 pretty fast, but had to get pitocin early in the morning because that last 1/2 centimeter took awhile. The doc kept coming in and checking on me and assuring me that baby's head was right there and I wouldn't have to push long. I started pushing around 11:00 am Monday and the first hour and a half was totally fine. Then, not eating since the night before, not a ton of sleep, and the exhaustion from pushing 2 hours hit... the doctor was a little perplexed as to why it was taking so long but decided not to intervene until about 1:45 or so when he came in and said he was going to try the vacuum because I was too exhausted and we needed to get this baby out! I just kept thinking, if this doesnt work, and I have to have a C-Section after all this labor I am NOT going to be happy! Plus, I knew I had tore already because the doctor told the nurse that I had. Ugh!!

A few attempts with the vaccuum and a whirlwind of coaching from nurses and Jacob, it was found that the cord was wrapped around Jack's neck twice. When his head came out, and everyone was yelling at me to stop pushing so they could cut it off of him it got kind of intense. There were more nurses in there and the doctor had a concerned look on his face. I had to get an episiotomy to make more room. He finally came out and I knew when they didnt put him up on my chest but whisked him away that something was wrong. He wasnt crying and both Jacob and I kept asking if he was ok. I was focused on the Dr who kept assuring me that Jack would be ok, that he just needed a jump start. I didnt even realize at this point that the cord had been wrapped around his neck~ I was sort of in shock, everything was so surreal it felt like I was in a movie. Jacob started to panic soon after that and I just watched helpless from the hospital bed as the nurses worked on Jack, getting the breathing bag and the CPR equipment out. Thank the Lord, one minute and 30 seconds later we heard Jack cry. Oh what a relief! It seemed like it took forever for them to stitch me up and for Jacob to finally put Jack in my arms. And as every new parent says... it was love at first sight! :o)

{After the Birth Story to Come}