2 weeks later...I'm getting to this. :) Such is the life of a new mommy I'm realizing! Let's see where we left off...I want to get this written before I forget details!
We arrived at the hospital, and while we'd pre-registered, were still required to check in, make a payment, etc. I was able to breathe through the contractions while sitting there, then rode the elevator up to the birth center floor. They definitely took their sweet time in getting me checked in, weighed, in the room (which wasn't a delivery room, just one to monitor before officially checking someone in)...all the while my contractions were starting to increase in intensity. Once in the room, I was hooked up to the monitors and left for about 20 minute intervals to monitor my contractions. They were having trouble tracking G's heartbeat, so I had to lie there for over an hour, some on my side, some on my back. When having contractions, that was not the most pleasant experience. They checked me and I was only dilated to a 3 when I arrived, and after that first hour and a half, I was still only a 3, so they advised me to walk. Walk I did...mom, Jim and I walked all around the floor for about 45 minutes; I was having to stop and breathe through the contractions whenever they came, holding on to the railings on the wall and Jim rubbing my back. When we got back to the room, they hooked me up to the monitors again and re-checked me; I was STILL only a 3! Ugh. That discouraged me a lot, as the contractions were pretty painful already. I kept telling Jim "I don't want to do this, I don't know how!" and he kept saying "You are doing it! You're doing it." Thank God for him-I don't know how I would have managed.
Knowing I wanted a natural birth, they gave me the option to go home and labor instead of staying there, which we decided to do, so as not be pressured by anyone regarding drugs/medicines, etc. We arrived home around 8:30 pm and I tried lying in bed with Pride and Prejudice on the computer; Jim and mom and Carol taking turns rubbing my back. This worked for a while and I was able to rest a bit, but soon the contractions were too strong and I did
not want to lie still. I jumped off the bed and was walking around, then decided to get in the shower. At this point it gets a little fuzzy...I was in the shower/bath for the majority of the next 2 hours. Jim tried to get me to eat a little, but I wasn't able to swallow much except a few grapes and a couple crackers. Mom poured me a glass of wine to help me relax (and before you freak out-this is much more safe than any of the drugs I would have had at the hospital!), and I went back and forth between sitting and having my back rubbed and being in the shower.
I labored differently with each person helping-with mom, I just wanted her to help me breathe. Carol would just talk to me like normal and I was able to focus on conversation and not as much on the contractions. Jim would talk to me about things we had done/things we had planned, so as to keep my mind off the pain. I was also repeatedly asking for drugs! :) In the shower, I started...moaning?...I don't know what you would call it, but it felt good to make some noise and have it reverberate off the shower walls-this helped immensely when a contraction came on. At some point, I realized they were getting extremely strong, and I would feel my body wanting to push. I told mom this and they called the hospital, who informed them that since it was my first baby, it was highly unlikely I'd progressed that quickly, and just to take "comfort measures" (I think this was sometime shortly after 11 pm). I tried to just focus, but they continued to intensify; Carol came back over and helped time the contractions...when she realized they were lasting 2-3 minutes and with little to no break (maybe 30 seconds) we decided it was time to go to the hospital-mom called to let them know we were on our way. I did NOT want to get out of the shower; Jim had to coax me out in between contractions, and threw some clothes on me to get in the car. We left around 12:15 am on November 8th.
That car ride was the most miserable experience I have ever had-sorry, but while birth was a beautiful, natural thing, it was
painful like nothing I've ever experienced. For days afterwards I kept thinking "I don't EVER want to do that again!" I think part of it may have been made worse by my fear that I wasn't progressing...I was thinking, "If I'm only a 5 or 6 and already feeling like I have to push, I can't do this!" I told mom and Jim that on the way to the hospital-that if I wasn't progressing, we were seriously going to consider something to take the edge off (even though I honestly didn't want this, but the pain was just too intense). Mom helped me breathe through each contraction in the car, and as soon as we pulled up they got a wheelchair and wheeled me in. Jim laughs at this part, because it was the exact opposite of when we checked in earlier. This time, I was semi crying/moaning, sopping wet, trying to breathe, in a wheelchair...they just looked at me and said "go on up, we already called ahead!"
I was taken straight to a delivery room, and the nurse had to get me hooked up to a monitor, which I was fighting like crazy, because I didn't want to sit still again. I had another contraction and told her I needed to push; she wouldn't let me at first until I was hooked up. Another came soon thereafter, and I said "I
really need to push!" and to my surprise (and relief!) she said "OK, go ahead!" She checked me while I was pushing, I heard Jim ask how much I was dilated and she said "She's pretty much fully dilated" and she could see his head! I can't even tell you how excited I was to hear that! Not long thereafter-a few more small pushes, and he was close enough to crowning that they called the doctor in. Pushing was HARD-I kept wanting to make noise/yell when pushing and they kept telling me to hold my breath...I finally got it down after a bit. I don't have a concept of time at this point, but about 1/2 way through pushing my water broke, which felt wonderfully relieving, and with only about 45 minutes of pushing, out he came at 1:53 am!
When his head came out, the cord was wrapped around his neck too tightly to pull over his head, so the doctor had to cut it right away. Another couple of pushes and he was out-I remember Carol saying "Open your eyes!" and I did and there was my son! It was the most surreal experience I can imagine-and almost immediate relief once he was out. He had merconium in utero (his first poop) so they took him immediately and suctioned him. I didn't know it then, but the neo-natal team was in there, as that can cause an infection...Jim said it was a bit scary. I delivered the placenta and had to have some stitches...all the while they were still working on him. He was a bit weezy and they were concerned he had some respiratory issues; they were about to call the neo-natal team back in when one nurse (bless her!) said "Why don't we just put him on mom and see what happens?" They put him on my chest and he
immediately started breathing normally. That was probably the sweetest moment of my life, to feel your child and know that what he needed was to be with his mama. Looking back, had I known he wasn't in any real danger, I would have insisted he be put on me immediately (as we planned) but thinking he was in danger, I let them do what I thought needed to be done. Thankfully he is a healthy boy!
That's the basics of the birth story...life since has been a whirlwind, which I'm going to try and blog about as well-one of these days. :)
