Hi guys! I just want to apologize for how long this gets! In the days leading up to my labor I had days where I was just done being pregnant. I had severe hip pain for most of my pregnancy that limited movement and sleep during the night. I was exhausted and tired of waking up in pain every hour of the night. But I fully expected to be pregnant much longer than I was. My due date was November 16th and I teased my Dad that I was going to be in labor on Thanksgiving (10 days past my due date).
At 10pm on the 10th of November I started feeling what I thought were contractions. I started kinda timing them out and they were about 15 minutes apart. I figured that I would try to get some sleep and see how I felt in the morning. I was up and down the entire night, I didn't get much sleep- if any at all. My husband came home and I told him that he should try to get some sleep just in case this was really it. At 5 I got up and called the midwife to see if what I was feeling were really contractions or if they were suped up braxton hicks (I had been warned that most first time moms would believe that braxton hicks were contractions.) She told me that I was in labor and that when they got to around 1 minute long and 5 minutes apart to go ahead and come into the hospital. I woke up my husband to let him know that I was in labor but that he should still try to get some sleep because he had only been asleep for 3-4 hours.
At 9 am I called the midwifes office and asked if I could just come in and see how dilated I was. No reason for me to drive all the way into the hospital if I wasn't dilated very far. At this point my contractions were about 6-7 minutes apart still only lasting 40-50 seconds long. They said of course come in and they would check me. So I went in and I was at a "tight 3" no need to head towards the hospital quite yet. Back home to labor some more.
Around 4:30 we went in to get checked again. I was almost at a 4- the midwife reassured us that it takes the longest time to get to a 5 and that my body was doing it. It was just taking some time. This was not what I wanted to hear and almost brought me to the point of tears- I had been having contractions for what felt like forever and I hadn't made that much progress. She told me that I could go to the hospital whenever I felt like it- but since I wanted to go un medicated I decided it was best to go home and sit on the birthing ball and try to deal with them at home some more.
Around 6 I decided to get in the shower and see if the hot water would let me relax and get some relief from contractions that were 3-5 minutes apart but still only lasting 40-50 seconds long- So I stubbornly still refused to go to the hospital.
At 7:30 I got in the tub and tried to get some relief- Nothing was working at this point, I was exhausted and frustrated because my contractions were 3-5 minutes and still not lasting the minute. When I had gotten out of the shower and I was exhausted and laying on the bed just crying out of frustration my husband put his foot down and said enough- we are going to the hospital.
I called my midwife when we got in on the highway to let her know that we were on our way. She said that she was on her way into the hospital to deliver another baby and she would meet me there (I really can't express how much I love my midwife and will be extremely disappointed if I can't see her for my future children) When we got to the hospital they put me in triage for an hour to monitor my contractions not knowing the my midwife just wanted me admitted- just a miscommunication. However they checked me and said that I was at 4.5- at this point I was ready to cry. In 12 hours I had made minimal progress.
10 PM- Moved to a labor and delivery room. IV started (a first for me) paperwork signed, and they started monitoring baby again- I started walking around the room pacing trying to deal with the contractions.
11:30- Midwife came into the room after delivering another baby (there were a total of 19 babies born during the night shift that night) and talked with me some about how things were going. I was exhausted and just wanted some rest at this point. She expressed her concern that I hadn't been able to get any rest in over 24 hours with the contractions- That it was looking like it was going to take more time that we thought. During the drive into the hospital I had told my husband that I was ok with the IV pain meds but I was still wanting to avoid the epidural if at all possible. So when she suggested the narcotics for me to get some sleep and see how I felt afterwards I gladly accepted.
11:45ish- Narcotics were brought in by my labor and delivery nurse (Jessica). For those of you that have never had narcotics in an IV- WOW- that stuff was fantastic. I was still feeling my contractions- but I really didn't care. I but it made me really nauseous so she also gave me zofran in my IV.
1AM- woke up from my drug induced sleep and felt like I needed to get up and walk through contractions again- Only I had to call for my nurse to help me get out of bed because they were afraid I would slip and fall with the narcotics in my system.
2AM- Cervical check STILL AT A 4.5 I was at the point of tears now. They told me that at this point the considered that my labor had stalled and I could either try to stop the contractions or I had the option of Pitocin, or for them to break my water to get things going again... I was opposed to them breaking my water because then we were really on a time crunch. I opted for the Pitocin- but also requested the epidural. I was done. I was exhausted and just ready to hold my baby. If the Pitocin and the epidural were going to get me to that point I was going to take that step. So they turned up the saline drip on my IV and called for the epidural.
2:30- Epidural was placed and I was laying flat on my back waiting for the epidural to kick in.
2:45- Epidural had kicked in. LOVE IT. I could get some sleep and relief. They wanted to see if maybe the epidural would allow me to relax and get some more dilation-
5 am- another cervical check- not quite at a 5 yet.
5:30 - Pitocin started.
7am- nurse shift change. Another cervical check- she said maybe at a 5.5 but it was hard to tell because baby was really low and my water was bulging.
7:30ish- My water broke. I just remember looking at my husband and telling him that my water broke and that I think I needed to call my nurse. She came in and checked me and said that I was at a 5.5 but my water had broke and things were on their way.
8am- They had me laying on my left side for everything but my cervical checks(turns out we were dealing with a shorter umbilical cord and his heart rate would only stay stable when I was laying on my left side) - so my epidural had worn off my right side- OUCH. My left side was so numb that I couldn't move my leg by reaching down and trying to lift it with my hands- and my right side was dealing with the contractions that were lasting 80-90 seconds. I called my nurse and asked if there was anything that they could do so they came in and let me lay on my right side for a little while- which worked
9am- The new midwife from the office was making rounds and came in to check on me. She said that she was going to position me on a peanut (an odd shaped birthing ball) to get my pelvic bone to open up and help the pitocin a little bit.
9:30- I told my nurse that I wasn't sure if it was just the position or what but I was feeling a lot of pressure. She checked me again and said that I was just shy of 10CM and I was getting ready to push. I told my husband to call my mom. I had planned to call her when I was at a 7-8 and tell her to head towards the hospital- There was no stops between 5.5 and almost ready to push. The nurses started to prepare the room for pushing and told me that when I felt like my body was pushing on its own to let them know and that's when we will start pushing- so that i wasn't doing all of the work on my own,
10:20- Called my nurse and told her that it was time to push. The midwife came in and we started pushing!
10:42- My midwife told me to reach down and grab my baby as he was being born. I have never in my life been so in love with anything like that. From the moment I could see his little face and heard his cry I was completely obsessed with him.
He was 7 LBS 3.2 OZ 19 inches long- Everyone in our families are completely obsessed with him.
These are his newborn photos taken at 8 days.
https://www.facebook.com/charmingmemoriesphoto/
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