Baby W's Birth Story

This took forever, but I didn't want to forget a thing. It's rough to stay away from this little face for too long, so most of this was written with my foot rocking a car seat and that little face giving me dirty looks whenever I stopped! Now he is snoring!

Things are going pretty great now. He's eating a ton and gaining weight like a crazy guy. Nursing is exhausting and I can see why people give up. Nipple sheilds are my savior - I have inverted nipples! Who knew! That does not mean they are innies, it means they retract when I squeeze my boob. He's sleeping great and has a fun little personality. This is wonderful.

So here's the birth part of the birth story. It's long and doesn't even begin to describe they whole experience.

We woke up around 6 am to get ready for the induction. I had cheerios and water for breakfast. It wasn’t very satisfying. I wanted to eat a lot, but the instructions I had said to eat lightly that morning. I should have ignored that! I went to the bathroom shortly before leaving the house and saw that I lost my mucus plug. Hooray! Labor would happen in a week or two!

We arrived at the hospital around 8 am and I was in a room and hooked up to the monitors by 8:10. The weather outside the window was grey and steamy – we were looking out over a bunch of roof vents. M was freezing and I was sweating. The baby’s heart rate stayed in the 130s and 140s and I was so relaxed knowing it was ok and I would be seeing my baby soon! My IV went in at 9:12 and Pitocin started at 10:10. They upped the Pitocin drip at noon and stripped my membranes. I believe I was up to 3 cm at the time and the contractions were barely noticeable. We watched HGTV for a while and read. I tried to nap, but I was so excited. M and my mom got some lunch and ate it in front of me. The nurses kept saying that I could eat whatever I wanted as soon as the baby was here. I wanted everything I saw advertised on the TV.

My contractions started getting more intense around 1:45. They were getting painful and coming in regular waves. I decided to hold off on the epidural a little longer. Then I started crying through contractions and my nose would get stuffed up (I was still recovering from my awful cold!) and I wouldn’t be able to breathe and I’d start coughing. Those three things would send me into a panic. We decided I needed some pain medication at 3:00. I had a student do my epidural, but a real anesthesiologist was there with her. M and my mom were sent out of the room (that made me sad) and I was left with the nurse. She did a good job of calming me down and getting me into the position I needed. I am grateful for her doing that. The worst part of the whole process was the numbing needle. Everything else was painless (except for the contractions I had while they were working on me). I also got the catheter put in and that broke my water fully. It was gushes and gushes and felt gross.

The epidural was great for about 2 hours. Then it wasn’t great anymore. I was having strong contractions that I could feel down my right leg. We learned that epidurals are gravity fed afterwards… I had been propped up on a pillow at some point for some reason, so the medicine didn’t go all the way to the right side. Bummer.

At some point, the alarm for the epidural pump kept going off saying there was a kink in the line. I sat up and they inspected the whole thing, but no one could find the problem. Hearing that alarm go off was driving me nuts!

Around 7:30, I decided I wanted to push. They checked and I was close to 10 cm, so I just had to wait for the doctor. Someone opened the epidural pump and saw that the kink in the line was inside the pump, so that got fixed. The medicine wasn’t at 100%, but at least it was something. I could feel that I was having contractions, but they weren’t crazy painful. I was also scared out of my mind. M and my mom were right by my side holding my legs in the position I wanted and giving me love.

The doctor showed up and we were pushing. It took a few tries to get the hang of it and then I was an expert. You know how I knew I was an awesome pusher? Because I pooped the ENTIRE time - with every push. The poor nurse. I could feel it. It was funny and gross. Mike said it was not as funny as I thought. At some point I told the nurse to shut up. The blood pressure cuff would tighten during the contraction and I would lose the ability to push. I was sweating like crazy and my last push with every contraction turned into a scream. I pushed with the handle bars, I pushed holding my own legs, I pushed with the tug of war. I pushed for over 3 hours. No dice. I could tell when the head was close because M and my mom would get so excited and tell me to keep pushing. But he wouldn’t come out. The doctor finally called it off. I was getting tired and the baby couldn’t be having too much fun, either. The heart rate stayed wonderful for the entire time, so that was good to know. They checked out the OR and we had to wait for an emergency c-section to finish before I could go in.

At this point, M got pretty upset. I wasn’t afraid or anything, but I imagine it’s pretty traumatic to see someone you love go through all this at once. That 1-hour (plus) wait was rough. I still had contractions and the baby’s head felt like it was going to explode out of my butt. I made the nurse reassure me that I didn’t have hemorrhoids. She said I didn’t. That made me feel better. So the contractions were killing me and M took pictures. We have a great one of me in pain and him all dressed in scrubs and smiling.

I went into the OR first. M had to wait for me to be completely numbed up before he could come in. I remember them sticking me with sharp things to check my numbness. I kept feeling it. They were surprised and just gave me more drugs. Then I was very happy and very numb. Suddenly, M was next to me. I was happy to see him. Then I looked over towards the baby area and I could see a small hand reaching up into the air. I had no idea the baby had even been born. I could not believe what I was seeing. M told me it was a boy and just cried. I just remember being so happy. After a few checks, M was able to hold him while I got sewn up. I could feel little tugs, but nothing bad. Who cared what they were doing to me. I had a son! My husband was holding our baby! M got pretty emotional (who wouldn’t!). I think it took more than 45 minutes to get me all back together. We just looked at out little boy. He was wide awake and so beautiful.

The nurses put him in my arms to get me back to recovery. I cried the whole time. We got back to my room and M went to get the grandparents from the lobby. He didn’t tell them anything except that we were fine and happy. They walked in and I introduced them to their grandson. The grandmas screamed and cried. I cried. M took the baby into the room alcove to meet everyone while the nurses finished some stuff with me. They pushed on my belly some more and changed some pads and got me ready to leave labor and delivery.

W had to go to the nursery at 2 hours old. I hated seeing him go. I wasn’t allowed to try to nurse him (it makes sense now – so many drugs!). I also could not have anything to eat or drink. I had to beg for ice chips. They tasted like heaven. Once I was able to lift my butt with my own power, I was moved to post partum where I would stay for the next few days.