My birth story

Here is my story...better late than never...
Sunday Morning, Nov 9th, 6:00 am – A big contraction woke me up. I went to the bathroom and had lost more mucous plug and had my bloody show. I showered and got dressed in hopes of going to the hospital soon. My contractions were regular, every 5 minutes, but not very strong. I could talk through them and walk around. They would tend to come and go all day and when I called the dr he said I needed to wait until they were 5 minutes apart for over an hour and strong enough to keep me from walking or talking. That never happened and I was just uncomfortable all day.

Monday Morning, Nov 10th, 2:12 am – Another big contraction woke me up. I was still losing my plug and bleeding so I was hoping the contractions would increase. Sure enough they did and by 3am I was waking Justin up to go to the hospital. We didn’t call our family and tell them because we wanted to make sure it wasn’t false labor. I got to L&D and was sent to triage. They kept me on the monitor for 4-5 hours but eventually sent me home. I was 2cm and contracting but my contractions were irregular. I would have them one after another but they weren’t strong enough to dilate me, and then all of the sudden a huge one would come and keep me from talking or moving. I was told to go home and get some sleep and take a hot bath.

I got home and took two Tylenol PM and tried to sleep. Within 2 hours I was up and in lots of pain. The contractions were 10-20 minutes apart and really bad. I took a hot bath and then got back in bed. Nothing would relieve the pain. I dozed on and off between contractions and decided to take another bath. I called the nurse and asked her to talk to the dr for me. I didn’t want to be in this kind of labor for days on end. I told her I would take a csection if I had to (kidding of course). She said that he told her he would have admitted me and broke my water while I was in L&D this morning but he knew I wanted to go natural so he sent me home. I hung up with them and felt so beat down. The pain would be easier to tolerate in the tub but I hated being in there so I got out and got back in bed. I played some music and tried to sleep through it. I got up again and decided a hot shower would help me relax before trying to go to sleep for the night. Justin had called my mom and asked her to bring over dinner. I wanted to eat before lying down. I was having more contractions on a regular basis but I knew if I went in they wouldn’t let me stay unless I was at least a 4. My mom got here with the food and before I could even open the container I had a huge contraction hit that sent me to my hands and knees on the ground. I had Justin call the dr right away and tell him I had to have some relief. He described to the dr my contractions and how I was on hands and knees on the floor crying and he said it sounded like labor to him. So he wanted me to go to triage, get checked out and he would meet me up there to break my water. So that’s what we did. When I got there I was 3-4 cm so they put me in a room. At this point it had already been 38 hours since the contractions and I was ready for a little mental and physical rest. I asked for the epidural. The guy came in and administered it and waited for it to take effect. It never worked. They would ask “do you feel warmth in your legs? Numbness? anything different?” I was getting so frustrated because I knew it wasn’t working and they kept asking. They even gave me another big shot of pain meds and I couldn’t feel that either. I felt every contraction and they were getting harder, more regular and lasting longer. The dr finally came back and removed my epidural and gave me another one. Almost instantly I felt it kick in and numb me. The nurse put in the catheter and the OB came in and broke my water. This entire time my mom, granny, in laws, brother and nephew were there. Then my other brother and sister in law showed up. Everyone hung out until about 1am. Everyone except my mom and granny left. Justin and I tried to get some sleep but that never happened, I was way too excited to sleep.

Tuesday Morning, Nov 11, Midnight - The nurse came in at midnight and I was 5 cm so she gave me a little dose of pitocin to help regulate my contractions. It was all just a waiting game. She kept checking me and at one point I was 7.5 cm, then 20 minutes later I was a 9. I was so excited that I had progressed that fast. We all just figured I would be pushing any second! Then all of the sudden I felt pressure down there and called the nurse to check me. I was still a 9. I was disappointed but figured it would still be soon so I dealt with the pressure. The pressure increased to the point where I couldn’t stand it, but ever time she checked me I was still at a 9. She would try to stretch me to a 10 but it never worked. At some point I asked my family to stay out of my room the rest of the time until he was born. I was really bothered by the pressure and having people watch you bear through it made it worse. My ob came in to check me and I was still a 9. He said he would let me push a little and see if we could get my cervix to stretch to a 10. Besides the stalling at 9, the baby’s was sunny side up and he wanted to try to flip him over. I pushed for a little while as the dr flipped Deacon over. Every time I stopped pushing my cervix would tighten up again around his head and make me start over. I was getting so discouraged because the pressure was no longer just pressure, it was painful and I felt like I had to push and couldn’t control it. The OB gave me two options 1. Throw in the towel and have a csection or 2. Give it another hour and see if I dilate. I decided to wait it out even though I was crying through every contraction and losing my temper. After 50 minutes I was yelling for the nurse to check me. I told her that if I was still a 9 to take me directly to the operating room because I was passed done! Ugh, still a 9. She called the dr and they set up the OR. They rolled me down the hall and within no time I was getting more drugs and being cut open. I was so loopy from the meds that my eyes couldn’t focus and I had no idea what anyone was saying or what I was saying back to them. I remember feeling the incision and the tugging and then I just heard Deacon crying and crying. They had Justin come over to the warmer and see him and they were all taking pictures and doing footprints and I just laid on the table thinking “I can’t see him, this is not how its supposed to be, I can’t see anything”. And I was so sleepy that I didn’t care to see him right away, I just needed to sleep (hence my eyes being closed in the picture, the picture I don’t remember taking).

Anyhow, Justin took Deacon back to my room and my family got to meet him. The nurses wouldn’t let anyone hold him until I got to the room and held him first, I thought that was awesome. Jus told me about it later because I had assumed they had all passed him around by then. I got to breastfeed him right away when I got to the room but I can’t remember what that was like. Justin told me it didn’t work. The nurse opened up my shirt and put my naked little baby on my chest, that was the best moment I had had all day. He just looked up at me and stared.

I think its safe to say that my birth story is the exact opposite of what I had hoped and planned for but it is exactly what I needed. I don’t regret the meds or the csection for one second. I never knew my little boy’s head would be too big to fit through the cervix and I never knew I wouldn’t dilate past 9, so I can honestly say that all these unforeseen events didn’t make me have a bad birth, just an unplanned experience.