Skip this blog if you’ve already heard enough birthing stories. For the rest of you, let’s start from the beginning of labor.
Around 9 PM on Sunday, May 9, my Braxton Hicks contractions started to really hurt. The kids were in bed. Husband and I were watching an episode of Lost upstairs on the TV by streaming Hulu.com from Husband’s computer. We started timing the contractions, but they were not consistent or close together, so we quit timing them. Pain level on scale from 1 to 10 was about 2.
Around 10:30, I was getting ready for bed and the contractions were really quite painful, enough so that I was pretty sure I would not be able to sleep through them. Husband was already in the bed, either reading or playing solitaire on his iPod Touch. We started timing the contractions again. They were not exactly consistent in frequency (between 3 and 4 minutes apart), but they were pretty consistent in duration. We went back and forth trying to decide whether to wait or to go on to the hospital, all the while gathering up the toiletries and other various items that needed to be added to our suitcase. (I had a list of these items, of course.)
By 11:00, I was having to concentrate on my breathing to get through the contractions. My pain level was a 5 or 6. We got on the Internet and looked up the signs of labor (yet again) and read how the pain usually increased dramatically when the baby was moving into the birthing canal. I felt pretty sure that this is what I was feeling. It was definitely different than my normal Braxton Hicks contractions. So Husband calmly called his Mom and asked her to come over to stay with the kids, as planned, so we could go to the hospital. She had predicted that the baby would come that day, so I’m sure she wasn’t surprised to get the call. It took maybe 15 minutes for her to arrive. It was a surreal feeling, waiting for her and anticipating that the big event had finally arrived. With the finality of it settling on me, I felt ready and excited, and time seemed to roll on inevitably like the waves of the ocean gaining momentum before crashing upon the sand.
When Granda arrived, I felt a little silly and embarrassed that the pain was difficult to bear so I went to another room when the contractions came. We weren’t there much longer. I went to say silent goodbye’s to Bryler and Kelby as they slept. I wanted to share my excitement with them, to let them know that the baby was finally coming! I knew they would be so excited! But I knew better than to wake them.
We were on the road at 11:30 PM. Such a strange feeling to be getting in the car and driving to town in the middle of the night, leaving our kids at home. It reminded me of the dream I had a few months earlier where we had gone to the hospital to have the baby and had forgotten to call Granda, only to realize hours later that the kids were still home alone in the bed. We kept timing the contractions in the car and actually considered turning around and going back home when I skipped a contraction altogether. But the next contraction after that was the strongest one yet, as if my body was trying to compensate for the missed one. It hurt so badly that I almost cried. I gripped the handle above the window and tried my hardest to breathe through it. There was no turning back home after that. I knew that this was true labor.
There was no traffic, so it was about 11:45 when we checked in at the emergency room. We were happy to find that Dr. M, the same doctor that delivered Bryler, was on call that night. It was weird having to pause the conversation we were having with the receptionist when the contractions hit me. I hadn’t felt this much pain with Kelby and Bryler until just before getting the epidurals, and maybe not even then.
Around midnight, I was taken in a wheel chair from the emergency room to the triage room in the labor and delivery wing. They hooked me up to the monitors and checked my dilation. I was 4 cm dilated. I was so relieved to hear that! It meant that I was moving along in labor and we definitely would not be sent home to wait any longer! Baby on the way! The nurse asked me if I wanted an epidural and I said yes and she said that she’d get to work on getting that arranged.
At 1 AM, we were moved to our birthing and recovery room, which are very nice and spacious at this hospital. By this time, my pain level was an 8. I was really having to work hard to breathe through my contractions. Each one was an excruciating cramp. I felt it in my back, my groin, and my abdomen. I had never experienced this much pain with my other two babies. I had tested positive for Strep B earlier in the pregnancy, so I was given an antibiotic through an I.V. in my arm. They warned me that it would burn for about a half hour because it was a concentrated dose. It was really miserable. I thought, “Sure, the contractions aren’t enough. Let’s add some more pain on top and see if you can take it!” This pain was even more annoying than the contractions because it was constant burning at a pain level of about 5 whereas the contractions, at a level 8, lasted about 40 seconds and then I had a reprieve for about 3 minutes. There was no relief from the burning in my arm and it seemed to last forever.
While we waited for the anesthesiologist to come give me the epidural, Husband went out to the car to get our suitcase. He was gone for maybe 10 minutes, but I missed him terribly while he was away. It was so much worse bearing the pain alone. He was a great encouragement and comfort throughout the whole ordeal. He also kept it interesting by keeping up a steady stream of questions for all the nurses, not just about the delivery, but about themselves — whether they had kids or grandkids, how long they had been nurses, etc.
The anesthesiologist arrived around 1:30 AM and prepared for the epidural. (She was a very nice woman who was also 7 months pregnant. Her hospital clothes hid it very well. She offered the information as a result of some of Husband’s questions. Otherwise, we would never have guessed she was pregnant. The conversation was a nice distraction.) As much as I dreaded the feeling of the needle going in my back, I was ready for some relief from the painful contractions. Getting the epidural was one of the most memorable moments of the night. I was sitting up on the side of the hospital bed, bent over so my spine would stick out, with Husband holding my shoulders to help comfort me and to keep me still, with all the I.V.’s in my arm, and being told to be as still as possible so the epidural could be safely inserted into my spine — and then a contraction hit me full force. I looked at Husband and the nurses and told them, “Here one comes” and the nurse just looked at me fervently and said, “Breathe and don’t move.” That was one of the most painful 40 seconds of the night because of my bent-over position and not being able to move to alleviate any of the cramping. I didn’t make a sound or move, but I somehow breathed through it. Husband says he was really proud of me. Heck, I was proud of myself!
After that, the nurses asked me what my pain level was and I said it was a 10 during the contractions. It was around 2 AM. It was only a few more contractions before I felt the pain ebb and within about 15 minutes, the pain was back down to about 2. Ah, what a relief! Shortly after that, the nurse checked me and announced that I was fully dilated! No wonder it had hurt so much! I had gone through all the labor except the pushing without an epidural! Oh, but I was so thankful to have gotten it before I had to push! I’m sure that if they had checked me before giving me the epidural, they would have told me that it was too late to get one. I thanked God that I was spared that!
They called for the doctor to come. He broke water my water at 2:20 AM. They told me to let them know when I felt like I needed to push. It was maybe 10 minutes later when I felt that it was time so the nurses got me in the stirrups and called for the doctor to come back. I don’t know how many contractions I pushed through. I would estimate about 4 contractions. This part of it was less painful than it was when I delivered Bryler, but I did have to work hard. His head crowned and it felt really strange – like a big piece of poop that needed to come out (sorry for that — but that’s what it felt like). At the next push, his head came out and then I asked if I needed to push any more and they said no and then the rest of the body tumbled out. It was 2:40 AM, almost 6 hours after the very beginning of labor.
The next part is a little fuzzy in my memory but I know that Husband cut the umbilical cord and that he said something about it being tough to cut. As soon as he was cut free, they put his tiny body in my arms. I wasn’t expecting it. I had a hard time feeling present in the moment. I felt like I was moving in slow motion and kept thinking about the blood all over his squirming body and trying to convince myself that this was the little guy who had been in my belly for so long. Perhaps I was experiencing some shock. The nurses took him over to the table with a heat lamp the clean him up and I listened to his little cries, which were not at all annoying. Husband went over to take pictures and video of our new baby.
I delivered the afterbirth and then the doctor stitched me up. He said it was just a very minor tear and then he stitched and stitched and stitched for like 15 minutes until I felt pretty certain that it wasn’t really a minor tear at all. I kept an eye on the baby and kept trying to convince myself that he was ours.
After about 30 minutes, I was feeling a bit more like myself. We weren’t able to hold him because he needed to get warmed up first, but we got to take a good look at him. I was so glad to see that he had some hair. It was dark brown and he had a nice hairline. He had long fingers, long arms, long skinny feet, and super-long toes. His face was perfect. He was perfect. We were exhausted, but we were very happy!
Husband is especially very anxious for the baby to come out so he can see that he is fine and to have the stressfulness of delivery behind us. I’m getting pretty anxious myself. I can finally say I’M READY!!