My labor started early Tuesday morning around 4 am. My husband and I had stayed up late carving pumpkins and didn't go to sleep until about 2 am. I woke up feeling sharp pains "down below" but I wasn't sure if they were real contractions or braxton hicks. They came about every 10 minutes. I went to the living room to lay on the couch so I wouldn't wake my husband up...just in case it was a false alarm. I paced the living room a little bit to see if they would get closer together but...nada. After about 5 hours of contractions 10 minutes apart I started to think it was a false alarm. My husband woke up and found me on the couch. He was supposed to go to school and work but we decided to head to L&D just in case he went to work ( an hour away) and real labor started.
We got to labor and delivery around 1 pm and by this time my contractions were about 15-20 minutes apart. I was pretty sure they were going to send us home. The nurse checked me and said I was about a 3 but that she'd call my Dr and let her know. I had one contraction the entire checkup. My Dr showed up and decided to check me herself. I had another contraction (which i'm sure was due to her aggressive cervical check) I was now suddenly a 4 within the minute. I'm pretty sure we could've gone home and waited for stronger contractions but she admitted me and immediately informed me that I could get my epidural now. (which kind of annoyed me because we had been talking for months about my Natural Birth Plan) My contractions were still pretty far apart so I walked around for 30 minutes, was monitored for 30 minutes and then walked around again for 30 minutes.
They decided to break my water and then I walked around a little bit more. I started having stronger contractions and decided it was time to get in bed. We waited a few hours for stronger contractions but there was nothing steady. They decided to give me Pitocin. This was something I had been hoping to avoid because I had been planning on a Natural Unmedicated Birth. But they started me at a low dose. I started to feel the contractions then! And they were coming on strong. I was determined to still go natural so I fought through them. It was intense! My family and husband watched me suffer through the night with very slow progression. Around 8 pm the Dr came in and asked if I was ready for pain medication, but I still refused. By about 10 pm I was still at a 5 1/2 and they decided to up my Pitocin. At this point I could not take the pain any longer. I asked for the Epidural. I won't lie...I felt so much better after. I watched the monitor rollercoaster up and down and was relieved that I could feel none of it. I started to prepare myself for what pushing would be like. About 2 hours later I started to feel my contractions again. I pushed the button frantically but could still feel it on my right side. I told the nurse but she said "just push the button." I waited for the pain to go away but I definitely could feel it. The called in the anesthesiologist and turns out my catheter had moved in my back and it was only medicating one side of my body.
By around 4 am, I made it to a 9. I was getting excited. Only problem was I was still not completely effaced. So we waited. I had loved all of my nurses up to this point by the last shift change, I had some very weird nurse that hardly left the room and was over explanatory and wouldn't let me rest. She said things like "I'll call the dr and tell her where you are and then she'll call me back and then I'll tell you what she said because that's why i'm calling her because she will know what's best, so I'll just go call her. " Ummm...ok. Go call her then and leave me alone. I'm pretty sure she was bored. Anyway, The pitocin was really taking a toll on my lil guy. His heart rate had been dropping with every pitocin induced contraction and it was getting to be too much for him. By 7 am, the Dr came to check me again and I had made no progress. By now she thought the best thing for baby would be emergency c-section. I pretty much broke down at this point. This is not what I wanted but he needed to come out.
They quickly prepped us for surgery and rushed us down the
hall. The Dr asked what kind of music I wanted to listen to during surgery. I said something like jazz. When we got in there, they were playing some kind of scary Italian Opera music and strapping my arms to these boards. I felt like I was in BraveHeart. It was terrifying. The nurse was so excited to be a part of surgery she nearly ripped my catheter out of me while transferring me to the surgery table. The put up the blue "shield" and immediately started to cut me open. I felt her put the scalpel in and said to my husband "Am I supposed to feel that?" and then I felt her pull the blade across my abdomen and pull it open. At this point i'm crying and saying " I can feel it! I can feel it!" The anesthesiologist said "It's normal to feel some pressure." This was not pressure! Finally he walked his slow ass over and upped my dosage. A few moments later I felt my lil guy being pulled out but did not hear him crying. My husband brought him over so I could look at him and then went with them to the nursery to make sure he was ok. They then began to put everything back in and once again I could feel it. The dr said my knees kept coming up. I was bawling at this point as I waited for the pain to be over. They are not gently tugging and putting things back. anesthesiologist said again "pressure is normal ok" as I laid there crying. Finally when I didn't stop crying the put me completely out. I woke up in recovery with very faint memory of getting there and holding my baby in there. They said his head was stuck on my pelvis and that prevented his head from putting pressure on the cervix which in turn stopped dialation. What an awful experience! I was so elated to finally have my baby boy in my arms that it all just seems like some kind of nightmare. First few days getting up and walking around was hard. It hurt to sit up, sit down, cough, laugh, blow my nose, even hold my son but I was determined to get out of that hospital. They let us leave 3 days later. On the last day my dr came in and checked on us. She said "Remember that soccer injury you told me about when you first came in?" ( I had broken my pelvis 12 years prior and was concerned with how it would affect a vaginal birth but she was "not concerned with it" ) "well maybe that's why he got stuck." If I could've jumped out of that bed and socked her, I would've!
In the end...I have my son and that's all that really matters. He is beautiful and healthy and we are all home and enjoying our new lil family. 28 hour birth but he was born October 18, 2011 at 8:08 am via emergency c-section 6 lbs 1 oz 18 1/2 inches. I love him so much and I'd do it all over.
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