My Birth Story

I arrived at the hospital at 6:30 PM on Wednesday, November 29th. We were 30 minutes late thanks to horrid traffic! It was terribly windy which I guess confuses drivers on the road! Anxious, I walked into the hospital carry my stuff, so excited that this was finally happening!

As I walked up to labor and delivery, I saw my OB waiting for me. The nurse led Roger and I into our room and directed me to get changed into my gown. My OB came in afterwards and checked me. I was still about 2 cm dilated. She then inserted the first round of gel. Damn that was painful! The gel wand didn’t actually click, and my OB was worried enough gel didn’t go in. She considered doing another one, but thank goodness she didn’t! Right afterwards they hooked up my monitors and the nurse told me I was having contractions already. I was having period-like cramps. She said it was normal to contract for a couple of hours after the gel. As I was laying there, the cramping got worse. I kept walking around and pacing trying to get relief. Roger was rubbing my back and putting counter pressure on my hips to try and give me relief. Around 9:30 PM, I was still having contractions. They hurt, but I declined the epidural so early. Roger was unsure about leaving since it seemed my contractions were strong and didn’t seem to be going away. He hung around while I griped and moaned about the pain! Around 10:30 PM, the contractions still had not gone away and I was in quite a bit of pain. The nurse gave me an Ambien to help me sleep and get ready for my rough day. By 11:15 PM, I still could not overcome the pain and the nurse suggested the epidural. I was nervous it would slow my labor down, but she assured me the gel would continue doing it’s job and I would probably get another dose in the AM. I caved and got the epidural. The nurse came in and started my IV. That hurt like heck! Then the anesthesiologist came in with this massive tray of drugs. I was pretty freaked out, but I think the sleeping pill helped me stay calmer. The pain of the contractions by this point was also pretty intense. I leaned forward on my husband while they prepped and did the epidural. Honestly, the IV hurt worse! I was surprised it was not that painful to get. From there I felt like I could sleep and Roger went to stay at his mom’s so he would be closer in case anything happened. Through the night I tossed and turned and itched! But I was relived to not feel the contractions any longer!

At 6 AM, the nurse came in and started Pitocin by my doctors orders. At 7:30 AM my doctor came in and checked my cervix before a scheduled c-section that she had. I was still around 2 cm. She broke my water at that point. She then came in around 8:30 AM and checked again. My cervix had thinned and I was 3 cm dilated so she was not going to do another round of gel. She told the nurse to check me around 10:30 and keep her posted. She thought the baby would be born around 6:30 PM that night.

Around 9:45 AM I was complaining to Roger that I had begun feeling pain again. He called the nurse. She explained that I was probably moving into active labor and I would need to push the epidural to drip stronger. I did, but it would take 15 minutes to kick in. She also noted that I needed my epidural bag refilled, it was empty. By 10 AM, I was still complaining of pain and it had gotten worse. The anesthesiologist came in and shot me up with something cold and strong that was supposed to help me quickly. Meanwhile, I was almost in tears with pain! At 10:10 AM, the nurse decided to check my cervix. She was shocked to say that I was 10 cm dilated and ready to push. I was freaking out because I was still in so much pain, I didn’t want to be in more. Here came the anesthesiologist with more cold wonderful drugs! They called my OB and got me positioned to push. I freaked and yelled to Roger to call my mom and have her get there ASAP. I knew she was an hour away. I pushed pain-free until around 11 AM and finally got her down low and engaged. They then called my OB and prepped the room for the baby. By this time, I was shaking pretty uncontrollably from all of the drugs in my system. My OB got there and got ready, then my mom walked in! I pushed with my OB for about 15 minutes when they told me I would need and episiotomy. They did it and I pushed her head out the next round. I was a little in shock and was not really all that into feeling her head L The next round of pushed at 11:20 AM, I pushed her out. I remember thinking, no way- that baby did not just come out of me, they had to have pulled her out from under the table! She was huge!

The nurses cleaned her up and asked if I wanted to hold her. I said no. I was still shaking so hard and was still up in the labor position while they fixed me. I was too nervous to hold her. My mom held her, then Roger held her. Finally, they lowered the table and put my legs down. I felt much more secure and held her J She nursed right away! I was so proud!

Afterwards Roger got to go down to the nursery with her while the nurse got me moved into post-partum. He got to see her get weighed, measured, and bathed! Then they brought her back to me in my room. She was so tiny and we were in love!

The rest of my hospital stay was quite crazy with visitors and having the baby in my room at night. We finally went home on Saturday morning :)