Birth Story

Well, as you can see my little man decided to come a little early. Before I forget any of the details I wanted to record the birth story.

On Monday I did have some contractions throughout the day but nothing too bad. I did notice though that these contractions were also in my back when all of the ones I had been having previously were just an uncomfortable tightening in my belly. Monday evening I had some more contractions and Shawn and I decided to time them. They were about 7 minutes apart for a while but when I changed positions they went to 10 minutes apart, then 20 minutes apart and then they disappeared. So we went to bed. Shawn ended up getting up to go sleep on the couch around 1:00 a.m. because the cats were being noisy. All of a sudden I was awaken at around 1:30 a.m. by a huge gush of water. I knew right away that my water had broken, there was no mistaking it. I tried to call for Shawn because I was leaking everywhere but he didn't hear me so I had to get out of bed and go to the bedroom door where I called his name and told him my water broke. I went and sat on the toilet while Shawn brought me the phone and my insurance card because I had to call my doctor's office. That's when the contractions started, painful contractions which were coming almost one after another. We rushed around the house finishing packing our hospital bag. Shawn's parents met us at our house and we were off to the hospital. It is about a 40 minute drive to the hospital and the closer we got the more worried I got that we weren't going to make it. The contractions were coming fast, about every two minutes and I was in a lot of pain. By the time we got to the hospital it was around 3:00 a.m. Shawn took me in a wheelchair because there was no way I could walk. I had to wait in the lobby for a few minutes for them to bring me back to triage and I continued to have more contractions. They got me back to triage and had me change into a gown and asked me to give a urine sample. It was so hard to urinate because I was leaking fluid and had a tremendous amount of pressure down low. They got me into the bed and hooked me up to the monitors. By this time I was in excruciating pain and begging for an epidural. They told me they had to check me and get a bag of IV fluids in me before I could get the epidural. They checked me and they all seemed shocked that I was already 5 cm dilated. So they went ahead and admitted me. I told them that I was scheduled for a c-section because of the blood pressure and the diabetes and the fact that my doctor was convinced that my pelvis wasn't big enough to have a baby. They told me they were going to do an u/s and if the baby was head down we were going to try to proceed with a vaginal delivery. They did the u/s and baby was indeed head down so they moved me to a L&D room. I was in awful pain and still begging for the epi. Shawn had me working on my breathing (guess the childbirth class did come in handy after all.) By the time they were able to get me the epi I was already 7 cm dilated. I can't even begin to describe the pain of labor. It is like a really intense period cramp that also extends into your back and accompanied by an intense amount of pressure down below. I admire anyone who is able to go through labor without an epi but I had no desire to do so. I can honestly say that the pain was so bad I thought I was going to die. Once I got the epi it did make me feel better on the left side but I still felt the contractions on the right side. They came in again and adjusted it, still the right side wasn't working. At this point the nurse told me I was fully dilated and it was time to push but that the doctor didn't want me to push until she got there and she was still on her way, she also took the catheter out. She also said that the doctor recommended not increasing the epi anymore because it would make it impossible to feel anything to push. While we waited for the doctor I began to realize that I might actually have to push this baby out when I had been expecting a c-section. I was also not thrilled with still feeling the pain while having to push. When the doctor finally got there she checked me and said that while I was fully dilated there was still a small lip of the cervix still there. She had me push a few times to see if I could push past the lip but it wouldn't budge. So we waited another half hour and she checked me again. So we waited another hour and still the same, only then my cervix was starting to swell and so was the baby's head. It was then that the doctor decided to do the c-section. Within a half hour they upped the epidural, (sweet relief!) put back in the catheter, and took me back for the c-section. At this point I was just ready to get him out! The c-section is all a blur. I remember them scrubbing my belly and thinking it was so strange that I couldn't feel it at all. I remember Shawn coming back and sitting next to me. The anesthesiologist was great, he talked me through everything and made sure I was comfortable. I didn't feel a thing but a lot of pressure when they finally pulled him out. When I heard him cry it was the most amazing sound in the world! Of course I cried like a baby! Shawn followed him as they cleaned him up and checked his breathing. He was strong and healthy and needed no breathing assistance at all. I didn't get to see his face for like 10 minutes and I swear that was the longest 10 minutes of my life. Finally Shawn brought him over to me. I noticed right away how much he looks like Shawn. I still couldn't believe that he came out of me! They moved me to recovery and by that time I felt pretty awful. No pain but I had the shivers really bad, so bad that my muscles and my bones ached. I couldn't stop shaking no matter how hard I tried. So they took Noah to the nursery to feed him and give him his first bath and Shawn went with him. They wouldn't let me leave recovery until I was able to move my legs which took a while because of the amount of epidural I had. Finally they moved me to the room where I spent the next four days. Shawn stayed with me the whole entire time and slept right next to me. We finally got home on Friday after Noah's birth.

The last two weeks have been crazy! Noah is such a good baby. He sleeps a lot, we still have to wake him up to eat and he sleeps all three hours in a row in between feedings. He rarely ever cries unless he is really hungry or unless he is naked. I am loving being a Mommy and it is just as amazing as I always dreamt it would be. I have so much more to say but my little man is fussing. I will hopefully post again soon. I will leave you with some pictures!! Be back soon!