As many of you know, June 14th was my actual due date. I believe I read somewhere that only 5% of babies come on their actual due date, so when June 14th approached, I didn't think much of it. It was a sunny Tuesday. I woke up early because we had a 9:30 am doctor's appointment. I showered and made sure I had my bags packed in case the doctor was going to send us to the hospital. I had been having braxton hicks contractions, but they were painless and irregular. I had lost part of my mucous plug on Monday (gross) and right before my appointment on Tuesday I had what they refer to as my "bloody show" (gross again). I thought to myself, "there is just no way this baby is coming today." We got to my doctor's appointment and had a non-stress test as well as a biophysical profile before meeting with the doctor. Both tests looked perfect minus a slightly lower amniotic fluid index. If you all remember, my fluid was already on the low side, so I was told that if it continued to drop, we could be looking at an induction. She checked my cervix and to my surprise I was still only 1 cm dilated. As she was telling me how dilated I was, without a moment's hesitation she stripped my membranes (aka WORST PAIN EVER). I had no idea she was doing it, so I nearly leapt off the table and Chad had a look on his face like "what the hell did she just do to you?!" She told us that if we wanted to be "granola" and try to let things happen on their own, then she was comfortable letting us wait another week, or we could go ahead with an induction since my fluid level was indeed lower. Chad and I decided we did not want to take any chances, so we scheduled an induction for 4:00 am Wednesday morning. I scheduled it for this time because the nurse midwife that I wanted to deliver me was on call and the Good Sam nurse practitioners were at B. North (where I was delivering) until 11:00 pm Wednesday night, so I figured I would deliver before they left for the night (just in case they needed to come back for the delivery...I know I'm a crazy NICU nurse). So we left our appointment and couldn't believe that in less than 24 hours, we would be gearing up to have this baby!
We ran a few errands and then decided to go home and rest since we had to be up extremely early to get to the hospital by 4:00 am. I was a little crampy after my appointment, but I associated it with what the doctor had done to me that morning. I also had a decent amount of bleeding every time I went to the bathroom (she told me to expect this). When we got home from running errands, we decided to lay down since we knew we wouldn't be able to sleep that night. I laid down between 3:00 and 4:00 pm and was up at 5:00 pm with more cramping. I began to time my contractions. To my surprise, they were coming every 6 minutes or so. Again I thought to myself, "no way is this baby coming on it's due date!" Within an hour the pain had intensified, so I called my doctor and she told me she thought I was in early labor and that I could stay home as long as I wanted. I decided to take a shower and see how I felt after. By the time I was done showering, I was having to stop what I was doing to get through the contractions, this was around 7:30-8:00 pm. I told Chad that I was ready to go to the hospital. On the way to the hospital the contractions were even stronger and about 4-5 minutes apart. I prayed that when I got to the hospital they would not send me home! We had to park in the emergency room parking lot, because the front doors to the hospital had closed for the day. It seemed like we walked for an hour before we finally got to the triage desk. I was asked to sign some papers and by this time I could hardly write the pain was so intense. We were finally sent to our labor and delivery room and I was asked to change into a gown. Now the contractions were 1-2 minutes apart and I was doubled over in pain. My nurse checked me and I was 2 cm dilated. I was in so much pain I begged for my epidural. She called my doctor and they gave the okay to give it to me. I was laying in the bed for what seems like forever turning my head from side to side begging for the pain to stop. Chad and my nurse were standing on either side of me just having casual conversation. Then, my dear husband takes one look at me and decides he knows exactly what to say to make me feel better...are you ready for this? He asks me if I want him to take his shirt off. Even though I was in more pain than I had ever been in my life, I couldn't help but laugh at him. I wanted to hug him and punch him at the same time. He thought he was pretty funny. Finally, the anesthesiologist walks into the room. They prep me and she says to my nurse "are you sure she is not further along than 2 cm?" It doesn't take her to long to get the epidural in and while the pain had lessened, it was certainly not gone. She stayed in the room for a while before deciding to give me another dose of medicine to help with the pain. About 15-20 minutes later I was finally pain free!! My family had arrived by this time and we were all just hanging out in my L&D room. About an hour after I got my epidural, around 11:00 pm or so, the resident came in to break my water. When she broke my water, she said I was about 3 cm. My family asked my nurse when she thought I would deliver and she said she thought I would deliver before she left in the morning around 7:00 am. She checked me again an hour later (around midnight) and I had gone from 3 to 6 cm. She then said she thought I would deliver by 4 am due to my fast progress. Chad decided to squeeze in a nap at this time. My dad had gone home to get some sleep, and my mom, aunt, and grandma had gone down to the cafeteria to get food. As soon as they all left, she checked me again (1:00 am) and what do you know...10 cm! I didn't believe her when she told me! I just got to the hospital a couple hours ago and you are telling me I am ready to push? I thought most first time mom's were in labor for days! I woke Chad up, called my dad to come back to the hospital (he had just gotten home from the hospital) and I tried to call my mom down in the cafeteria, but she had left her phone in my room. I asked if we could wait until they got back before I started to push. My mom and Chad were my support team as I began to push. I will never forget pushing, with the Reds game on in the background, my mom by my shoulder and Chad at my side. We were all joking between contractions. My epidural had worn off enough that I could feel pressure and move my legs, but no pain whatsoever. I couldn't believe that I was about to meet my baby and that I was actually enjoying being in labor! Never in a million years did I think that labor would be pain free much less enjoyable. I pushed for an hour before my doctor arrived. When she got there, I looked at her and told her that whatever she did to me at my appointment that morning worked!! She just smiled and said that our baby was coming on his/her own terms not on someone else's! Boy was she right! 30 minutes later our baby BOY was brought into this world on June 15th, 2011 at 2:52 am. When he first came out, no one announced what the sex was. We were all crying and just so happy to see this beautiful baby! Several seconds later I said out loud "wait...what is it?" She lifted up the umbilical cord and said 'IT'S A BOY!!" I thought that it was too funny that for a moment we were so overwhelmed with joy that we forgot that we didn't know what the sex of our baby was. That moment, with Chad by my side, and my new son on my chest was the best moment in my life. If I could freeze that time I would live in that moment forever. After spending a few minutes with our baby boy, they took him to weigh him and get him cleaned up. Chad never left his side. It was amazing to me that within seconds he became this incredibly overprotective and loving father. I told Chad in his father's day card that the moment our son was born and I saw the two of them together, was the moment I fell in love with him all over again. I can't describe the feeling. At the time, we still had not picked a name, so we will just say that Baby Boy Clark weighed in at 6 lbs 9.8 oz and 20 inches long! Our long and lean baby! We all held him for a while before the nurse had to take him due to some breathing difficulty (I will get into that in a different post). So even though this post is extremely long, my labor was in fact short! My nurse joked that when we have our second baby, we should head for the hospital immediately! I guess all we needed to do is threaten an induction (and strip some membranes) to get the ball rolling! While the pain was intense at the beginning, I would not change a thing! My labor was fast, easy (after the epidural of course), and so enjoyable! He may have not been born on his EXACT due date, but he sure came close!
No comments:
Post a Comment