Birth Story

Tuesday (9.21) morning around 4am I woke up to some cramping in my lower abdomen along with the backache that had not left my side over the past week and a half and made my way to the bathroom where I found loads & loads of my bloody show. I had already lost my mucous plug at like 36 weeks, and had lost a bit more around 38 weeks and was lost the rest the day before. I was having mild contractions and lots of constipation, which was weird because I had not had that problem the entire pregnancy! I let my sister in VA know that I thought baby girl would be making her appearance within the next few days. Throughout the day I had contractions mainly in my back and noticed that the pressure had gotten a lot more noticeable. I went to dinner that evening at my Dad's to celebrate my sister Kim's birthday and we topped the evening off with a nice long walk!! I headed home and continued to update my sis Danyell so that she knew when to head to town. That evening I started timing contractions and they were still pretty sporadic until I headed off to bed. They were them 13, 20, 8, & 6 minutes apart. ALL in my back, yes they wrapped around into my tummy but no pain there. I knew it wasn't time since I wasn't having to breath through them and was able to sleep. I woke up later that morning Wednesday (9.22) to TONS of pressure and at that point I knew she was coming sooner rather than later. I let my sister know that she needed to head to town sometime soon. I was still not having regular contractions but the pressure was getting much more intense. I had barely slept since Tuesday and was having a difficult time sitting or even laying down. I was noticing when I was changing positions I was getting the back contractions & lots of pressure. I was pretty much doubled over in pain until the pressure was relieved a bit. I spent the majority of the day on the birthing ball or on my side. Nick headed off to work at 4:30pm & my sis arrived at 6:30! YAY she was there and now all the stress of her making it to the birth was gone!!! We did lots of walking and had some more spicy popcorn. I was having contractions but again nothing super time able unless I was walking. At one point I thought I was trickling water since there were water droplets all over the kitchen floor from making tea. It was too funny...looking down & asking my sister is that me??? Suppose you had to be there but it sure is a good memory!!! We headed off to bed around 12:30 where my contractions were getting closer & closer just like the night before but felt much more intense. I had a few contractions that day that I couldn't talk through but they were never regular, and these were a bit more like those but not as intense. I drifted off after timing the last one at 8 minutes. I was jolted out of my sleep by a contraction as 1:59! Headed off to the bathroom where I had more pressure and lots of pain. I was still in the bathroom when Nick came home around 2:10 and I looked at him and said it was definitely time. Not because my contractions were consistent but because I was in so much pain from the pressure I was sure something was wrong and I wanted to make sure it was all normal. I had called doc earlier that day & she said I could go get check or wait for contractions to be 5min apart, lasting 1 minute long, for an hour. I was def having contractions but they were rearing their ugly head in the form of back labor and it was super hard to time them. So that moved with the added pressure and the fact that every time I moved I was double in pain I was pretty convinced it was either time or something was wrong. So Nick, Danyell, and I headed to the hospital around 3:30am Sunday 9.23.2010 in hops that little miss would be arriving soon!! We made our way into the hospital and was stopped by security so that we could get visitor passes, are you kidding?!?! I am in labor dude!! He checked my sis in and when he looked at me breathing through a contraction he said oh, you guys go ahead she looked better when she walked in . Um, thanks? Then we headed to admissions, where I had thought we would head straight to triage, but nope they had lost my pre-admission slip, so there I was answering a million and one questions through contractions. Good times. Finally got in to triage where i was 4 1/2 cm and 100% effaced and baby was at a -1 station. They admitted me around 430am that morning. Thankfully the room was pretty coszy and I was able to get through my contractions without a hitch, except for the pressure when trying to move around and go to the bathroom. At 630am they checked me again and I was between 5cm and 6cm. My contraction were getting closer together and at this point I was having to breath through them. Every time I had to get up to go to the bathroom the pressure was unbearable, but I would try to stay out of bed as long as possible to keep things moving along. Eventually the contractions were starting to move into my stomach as well as my back, some where just in the back and some in the stomach but the majority was in my back. I was relaxing and breathing through the contractions and at 930am had barely progressed to 6cm. I knew I wasn't progressing because I was in the bed and honestly was the only place I was comfortable. My doc new I was trying to avoid pitocin and knew I wanted to do things as naturally as I could, the called this natural vs. epidural birth, I called this flying by the seat of my pants ;o) time my doctor came in and gave me the option to break my water, at this time it was my best option to help progress in dilation. Once my water was broke the contractions came and they started getting worse and worse. I made it until noon when I asked for something to take the edge off and was given "stadol". Looking back I feel like that was a huge mistake! This medication didn't help at all with my pain but made me feel high as a kite. And when that wore off it put me to sleep for the short time in between contractions & I would jolt out of my sleep at the pea of the contraction. NOT GOOD. I had no way to relax through any of it leading to "the peak" and further more I couldn't deep breath, physically it felt as though I had a load of bricks on my chest and could only shallow breath. Not good for relaxation or child birth!!! I had not mentioned an epidural up until the point they came in and I was still right at 7 cm and baby was in -2 position. She informed me that my body was pretty much going through transition but I wasn't dilated enough. I made it through a few more contractions while accidentally slapping hubby in the face while searching for his hand or shirt or anything to grab...I then looked up at him and said "white flag, white flag!!" This was our code word. I told him no matter how much I ask for the epi or say I want it to talk me out of it up until I wave that flag. Getting the epi wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, the worst part was trying to relax and breath during contractions while getting it. And the anesthesiologist kept asking me about my cancer UM DUDE don't you see that is NOT what I want to be talking about right now!! Once I received the epidural I was able to fall asleep for about an hour. And the best hour it was!! After not sleeping much at all since tuesday morning!! At 3pm the RN came in and noted I was at 9.75cm and I just had the lip of my cervix to go and the doctor would be in shortly and we would start pushing!!! YAY the epidural relaxed me enough to fully progress!!! Doc said it may or may not, so thankfully no pit for me!!! My legs felt heavy & uncontrollable as they placed them in the stirrups. I had a mirror for my viewing pleasure and Nick on one side and Danny on the other side holding my "jello" legs up while I pushed. The doc & nurse both said I was doing great getting in 4 pushes per contraction but the hardest part was not feeling my legs & when the nurse or doc would say ok get ready to push they would lift them from the stirrups, while they were doing this I was supposed to be getting a big deep breath, well that wasn't working out so well because I was focused on these heavy legs of mine. Once I had them just keep the legs up I was on a roll!! Briggsley Mae Grant was for at 4:06 pm after pushing just under an hour!!! It was love at first site of course!!!! We are so truly blessed to have our daughter here with us. It has been a hard first week but she is worth every bit!!!

P.S. Q: What will a hubby do while his wife has her hands full with a baby and nursing?
A: Type a blog for her :)



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