birth story

Here we go.. This is long, so don't feel inclined to read! It's so I don't have to remember the details. There are pictures at the bottom, though.

I woke up at 3:30 the morning of October 12 (Friday) for a trip to the bathroom. I felt a bit more awake than usual, which I've heard from a few people is a sign that "something" is going to happen soon. I tried not to think much of it and attempted to fall back asleep.  It always takes me at least an hour to fall asleep, and while I was playing sudoku on my phone I felt a contraction.  I had been feeling contractions off and on for the past week or so - maybe 3-5 a day, so it wasn't surprising, but I again wondered if labor would start soon. About 10 minutes later I felt another contraction, and that really got my mind going. I pulled up my contraction timer app on my phone and started timing in between playing sudoku. After an hour I realized I was having contractions every 8-10 minutes. There was no way I was going back to sleep at that point so I just kept timing and playing games. Eventually Keith's alarm went off and it was time for him to get up. After he showered I casually mentioned that I was having regular contractions, although far apart. He didn't say much, but I think he started to get nervous/anxious at that point. I got out of bed finally and told Keith that I'd let him know if the contractions changed, then he went off to work.

I had been working from home the past two weeks so I didn't have to get ready for work or anything, but I decided in case this was the day that I'd "prepare" myself so I showered, actually blow-dried my hair and all that jazz. I did have a doctor appointment to attend that morning, and we found out I was 2-3 cm dilated and  70% effaced. I told him about the contractions and we decided to stretch my membranes to hopefully speed up the contractions and get me into labor. He believed that I'd deliver that day or the next, but just in case we scheduled an induction date for the following Thursday.

When I got home I texted Keith with all of the news and began working. Soon I noticed that my contractions had picked up some. They weren't painful - really just some tightening of my abdomen or mild period cramps   - but they were happening 2-3 minutes apart!  I continued to time them, told Keith about the change and suggested that he come home. That was the fastest he had ever left work! He picked up some lunch on the way home (Checker's! I love their fries), but when he got home I worried that I had told him to come home too soon. The contractions were still light, but same frequency. The doctors had previously told me to come to the hospital if I was having contractions 5 minutes apart or less, so around 2 I finally decided that we should head to the hospital.   I finished packing my hospital bag (and Keith his) and off we were!

At the hospital they checked me and said I was about 3 cm dilated and 80% effaced. Not enough to be admitted, but while I was hooked up to the heart monitor, they noticed baby girl's heartrate was dropping during the contractions. They had me change positions so I was lying on my side instead of my back and monitored me for an hour. Things improved, and this time my doctor checked me and said I was 3.5-4cm dilated and said I could be admitted. Woo!

They moved me to the birthing suite and hooked me up to a saline IV. After an hour they checked me and I wasn't progressing much, so the doctor broke my water (6:30pm). I'm group B strep positive so they started antibiotics at that time as well. Contractions were still 2-3 minutes apart and getting stronger, but not strong enough, so they started pitocin. I was about 4cm at that point. We ran through two cycles (?) of pitocin when I decided it was time for an epidural. I had always planned on getting an epidural (why deal with the pain when we have all of this amazing medicine?) but I wanted to see how much I was willing to tolerate before getting it. I could have waited it out longer but I figured being comfortable was better than testing my pain tolerance.  The anesthesiologist came in and gave me the epi - it hurt a bit more this time than it did with Aidan, but amazingly it worked on both sides of my body!  I was so thrilled! After this point it was really just a waiting game. I labored through the night and into the next day, trying to get as much sleep as I could. My blood pressure was a bit low from the epidural so sometime in the morning they gave me a shot of epinephrine! I actually liked it - it gave me some energy which I was going to need for the long labor ahead. I also threw up a few times, due to the epidural or just labor itself, so they also gave me Zofran. I don't think I've ever had so many medicines pumped into me before! The Zofran helped my nausea, and around 11am on the 13th my parents came up to the hospital to wait for baby girl's arrival.

The nurse kept upping the pitocin and my cervix was dilating about 1cm every 2-3 hours. The dilation stalled at 8cm, which means I was threatened with a C-section since I wasn't progressing.  I really didn't want one, but I would do anything for my baby girl as long as she came out healthy! The doctor decided to try lowering my pitocin and then upping it again to see if that would kick-start my contractions.  It worked! The contractions picked up and they put me in a completely up-right position in bed (the bed turns into a chair position), which was strangely comfortable, to encourage her to drop down since she was sitting around a 0/+1 station for a while (too high up).

I could slowly feel her moving down since (TMI ALERT!) the pressure on my rectum increased. That was an interesting feeling! The pressure kept getting worse and worse, which is something the epidural can't help with. I was checked again and we found I was 9cm, then 9.5, and the doctor helped out at that point and had me push while he spread my cervix the rest of the way to the full 10cm. Now labor can begin!

They put me back into a reclined position in bed, and the nurse had me start pushing (around 2:15pm). I hadn't taken any labor or lamaze classes, but I knew that you had to push as if you were moving your bowels and that there was a good chance I'd poop on the table! The nurse of course helped and told me how to push and when and how long: 3 big pushes per contraction was our goal.

This is where labor gets its name! With each contraction I would do my best to give three good pushes. For whatever reason my first push was always the best, the second was good, but with the third it felt different and therefore I couldn't push as hard or as long as the first two. I'd rest for a minute or two inbetween the contractions and then push again. Oh my that rectal pain was intense! And then when she was crowning I had the added joy of pain around that area. "I want to see results!" was what I said to my mom and Keith who were holding my legs while I pushed. It felt like I was doing so much, but each push only brought her head out a millimeter at a time, and then her head would go back in after I was done pushing. After almost 2.5 hours of pushing, the doctor realized that I was just not going to stretch enough on my own, so he had to do an episiotomy. I was so caught up in the pain of the pressure that I'm not sure I felt him do it, but both Keith and my mom got to watch and apparently it was horrifying! I believe he did the episiotomy during a contraction and immediately after he pulled out the forceps and used them to get my baby girl out and into this world. Again.. PRESSURE!  I was not prepared for that amount of pressure and all the pain that accompanies it.

The moment she was out, she let out a cute little scream, and the doctor put her on my stomach so Keith could cut the umbilical cord. I was in shock and in a ton of pain, but so so so happy that she was out and alive!  The doctor stitched me up (more pain! I could feel the needle going in and out) while the nurses cleaned up our little girl. Keith took some pictures, and minutes later she was all bundled up and in my arms. I started crying. One, because I was in pain, Two because she was out and alive!, Three because I was thinking of Aidan and my deceased relatives who were surely watching over us this day.

It's day 5, baby girl is doing great and I'm still recovering, but now the story of Enora can begin.

And for the record, I did not poop on the table!