I have said ever since A was born that I need to write down his birth story so I don't forget. Then I tell myself, surely I won't forget that! But knowing my stellar memory, I'm going to give it a shot. (especially considering that I'm actually writing this just a month before his 3rd birthday, oh well better late than never!).
Tuesday, March 10, 2012
I went to Little Rock to do a little shopping and meet Nana, Bobpop, Grandma, and Payton for lunch at Cracker Barrel. Not really anything memorable about the day, I just remember feeling tired and huge. Same as most every other day. At my last doctor's appoinment (the previous Friday), I was dilated to a 1 or 2, and 90% effaced.
Wednesday, March 11, 1:00 a.m. (ish)
I wake up feeling awful. Not really sure how to describe it. I was crampy, like I needed to use the bathroom, and just generally uncomfortable. I tried to go back to sleep, but woke up off and on the rest of the night.
(8:00)Chad got up and went to work, I was on Spring Break this week, so luckily I didn't have to be anywhere. The weather was cold and dreary, so I got up, took a shower and put on some comfy clothes, and settled in on the couch. I had contractions all through the day, but never very close together.
(12:00) Leanne and Lauren came over around lunch time. I was able to carry on a conversation with her, but would have to stop and catch my breath when I had a contraction. They were definitely getting stronger at this point. I called Chad to keep him in the loop, but told him not to come home yet. I don't remember if I ever truly timed them, I just kept a general idea of how far apart they were. They were pretty sporadic, 10 minutes, 20, then 7 or 5, lots of back and forth. I talke to/text Rita through the day to tell her what's going on. She tell me that I am definitely in labor.
(3:00) My contractions were starting to get much stronger, and I began to pace the house for relief, stopping to breathe through each one. I called Chad and asked him to come home. I spent the next couple of hours walking around the house, I never really wanted to sit down. I did sit on the "birthing" ball some and lean against my bed to help relieve the pressure. We called my parents sometime around all of this, but told them we weren't going to the hospital yet, so they could wait and come after church if they wanted. They are 2 hours away, so they decided to head up now rather than risk missing something. They arrived probably around 5:30.
(6:00) My contractions are very strong and by this point I am pacing in Andrew's bedroom, using the footstool to the glider to drape myself over and rock back and forth. This actually helped tremendously. More than the pain, I remember the intense pressure I felt in my butt, like he was literally going to out the wrong way or something. Very strange. I call Rita and she offers to come over when she gets off work to check me.
(7:30) Rita comes over to check me. She gets a panicked look on her face, then asks to check me again. I'm between a 5 and a 6. (she later tells me she thought I was at least an 8 at first and needed to go to the hospital!). I told her to go home and see her family and get some rest and I would call her when I decided to go to the hospital.
(8:30) My contractions are coming very quickly and becoming very strong. I decided I wanted to go to the hospital. We got checked in and settled in to a room. Chad's parents arrive somewhere around this point. I am unable to speak to anyone now, and focus instead on breathing through each contraction. Leanne arrives after church, along with Cindy. My room is full of people watching me writhe around on the bed. I remember thinking, "why doesn't somebody make them all go away??, but I could't verbalize it. My dad ends up leaving the room because he can' stand to see me in pain. I'm not sure why I wasn't still walking around for relief, all I could think about was the pain and all the people in the room looking at me.
(10:30 ish)The nurses attempt to get in a heplock, but can't since I wasn't smart enough to be drinking any water during the day, and I'm a little dehydrated. They end up having to call the anesthsiologist to try to get it started. I remember suddenly feeling panicked and thinking, well if he's here now, if I decide to get an epidural later, will he be able to come back in time?...I know, totally wacko. I whisper to Chad that I want an epidural. He asks if I'm sure, and I nodded. Rita ask me if I'm sure too, because she knows I was adamant about not getting one. She asks if I want to try something to take the edge off first, but I again requested the epidural. (note to self: listen to your friend!) I remember feeling first not relief that the pain would be lessened, but guilt that I had "failed". The epidural does allow me to be able to rest some. It wasnt' perfect, though, and I could still feel every pain on the left side, and of course still the pressure. I was glad to be feeling something, I never wanted to feel like I wasn't in control of my body.
My time detail gets a little fuzzy at this point. I think around midnight I was dilated to a 7, I know the epidural seemed to slow everything down considerably. At some point they had to break my water. They ended up turning me onto my side, which seemed to help, and by 2:30 or 3:00, I was ready to push. My mom and Chad stayed in the room with me. I wasn't sure how Chad would do with all of this, considering the jokes he kept making during our childbirth class. He was a wonderful labor coach! I was so proud of him. And I was proud of my mom, for letting he do most of the coaching. I wasn't making a lot of progress pushing, I remember they got a towel for me to hold on to, and the nurse held on to the other end. She told me to pull as hard as I could while I pushed, and I nearly pulled her on top of me! TMI alert...I was so afraid I was going to have a BM while in labor, that I think that was keeping me from pushing as hard as I could! I pushed for about 45 minutes, then I could tell that he was crowning. What a beautiful, weird, intense feeling! They called in the doctor (not my doctor, but that's another story), I pushed a couple more times, and he was here (3:48 a.m.)! They had to cut me some when he head came out, so while they checked him out, I was getting stitched up. After about 1/2 hour of so, they let our families in to see him. Both sets of parents were here, as was Chad's sister. Leanne (big and pregnant too, of course) and Cindy had both sat in the waiting room most of the night, and Rita stayed on after working a 12 hour shift the day before to make sure everything worked out. Amazing friends? You bet! I remember nursing Andrew then going to sleep. I was absolutley worn out at this point, having labored for about 26 hours. I think everyone left the hospital by around 5:00 a.m.
The next day is a blur, they didn't let him come back to our room (funny how now I don't exactly remember why, but I do know they did a chest xray on him) so we spent most of the next day going back and forth to the nursery to feed him and becoming increasingly upset that he wasn't in the room with us. Finally around 7:00, they brought him back to us, we had a room full of visitors at the time, so Andrew got to meet lots of friends! There are a lot of things about this day that I will remember and/or change for the next time, but I'd say the outcome (healthy baby, healthy momma) was perfect!
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