Born February 20, 2009 12:39 pm
7lbs 10 oz 20 inches long 35.5cm head
Wednesday afternoon I was shopping for things for Adam’s birthday dinner at wal-mart. It was a rainy day and I was wearing stupid shoes and I slipped and fell hard on the floor. Hard enough that 3 wal-mart workers came to try and help me up. I didn’t think anything of the fall at first, but after about 10 minutes I really started to hurt. I called the dr and they told me to just go straight to L&D. I started calling Adam repeatedly because he was home with Maggie but of course he didn’t answer his phone. I got Katrina though and let her know we’d be dropping Maggie by. After waking Adam out of a dead sleep off to the hospital we went.
We got to L&D and they took us straight to a room and hooked me up to the monitors. They found the heartbeat right away and it was strong, which was a good thing. After about 30 minutes on the monitors one of my docs came to check me and tell me I could go home. I was 1cm, thick, and posterior at that point. My waters were still in tact and since his heartbeat was good I was sent home and told to take it easy.
We picked up Maggie and went to bed, no worries. I felt him move some that night, but not like normal. I woke up at 630 in the morning and felt sore, but mostly fine. By 9 I was starting to worry because I hadn’t felt him move at all, so I ate some sugary cereal and strawberries and drank some juice. Still nothing. I took a shower because sometimes that would get him moving and still nothing. So in a panic I call the OB and they told me to go straight to L&D it was time to get the baby out. I started calling everyone to get my parents up here, Maggie taken care of, and Adam home. Of course neither of our Maggie sitters were available so Adam stayed with her at home until Ana could get here so I drove myself to the hospital. Thank heavens for Tess and the fact that she answered her phone at 5 am and kept me calm as I was driving to the hospital. I was freaking out.
They got me into triage and get him on the monitors and picked up his heartbeat right away, which made my life so much better. It stayed steady, but in the 110s so that combined with the fall we made the decision to induce. I got admitted and into a room and the IV all started around 1:10pm, before Adam even got there. They started the pit and the antibiotics at 1:30pm and about 10 minutes later Adam walked in. We had a really great nurse and student nurse who joked and played with us, which was fantastic. The rest of the day was really uneventful. They kept turning the pit up and while I was contracting they weren’t bad and I was laughing and joking through 90% of them. Every time the nurse would come in she would make a comment about how she was going to stop the laughing and every time I just kept going. Finally around 6:30pm the decision was made to stop the pit, let me have some dinner and a shower, do cervidil over night, and start again the next morning. They checked me at that point and I was 3cm, 50% and -2 station. Adam went home to put Maggie to bed while my Mom stayed with me. Adam came back at 9pm with dinner and my Mom headed home. At 10 they put the cervidil in and we settled in for the night.
About 4am I quit being able to sleep because I was having contractions in my hips. They weren’t bad, but they definitely weren’t something I could sleep through. I didn’t think anything of them though, because I had been contracting for a while and it wasn’t doing anything. At 5am the cervidil came out and they checked me again, no change. At 6:30am the pitocin drip started and things really kicked up. Within 30 minutes the contractions were strong and even, about 3-5 minutes apart lasting a minute at least. They were moving out of my hips, but there was still a lot of pressure on them so I decided to move to the ball. Well of course the baby wouldn’t stay on the monitors while I was on the ball, so I couldn’t stay there. That was hard to hear because that was the easiest place for me to be. I tried standing for a while but with the contractions being in my hips it was hard to stay standing. Plus the monitors were still having a hard time keeping him so I decided to go ahead with the epidural. There was no way I was going to be able to manage my pain while being stuck in the bed. By the time the epidural was put in the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and strong.
After they put the epidural in they checked me again and I was 5cm 60% and -1 with bulging waters. They called my OB and told him to come in so we could break my water and get things really moving. Around 11:15 the contractions started breaking through the epidural, so I tried turning over and boosting the epidural to try and deal with them. They weren’t horrible, but I figured I still had a ways to go and I wanted to be rested to deal with them. The doc showed up at around 11:40. They started setting everything up and he checked and told me that I was 7-8cm and 85% and -1 during a contraction but only 5cm at rest. They broke my water at noon and things really started moving. The contractions were right on top of each other and going straight through the epidural. They were really hard to manage while being stuck on the bed, but I didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter. By 12:15pm his heart rate was taking a dip on every contraction so they put a fetal monitor in. I didn’t know it at the time but it was dipping pretty bad. At 12:20pm they called for the doc, and about 2 minutes later the nurse demanded the doc. I hit transition then, which was the weirdest experience. I was shaking uncontrollably and crying, but having a regular conversation between the contractions. It was so strange. I was complete at that point and they told me to start bearing down if I felt the urge. The next two contractions I did bear down and I could hear his heart rate dipping. I didn’t know it at the time, but it dropped down to the 70s. The next contraction I had the urge to push so I went with it and somehow managed to push his head out in one push, no crowning. As soon as his head was out the doc, the nurse, and Adam started telling me I had to push him out right then. Somehow I found the strength to push his entire body out in one push with no contraction to help. I think the panic I could hear in all of their voices helped. I heard him cry right away and seriously the first words out of my mouth were ‘is it really a boy?’ They laughed and put him on my chest and started drying him off. Adam cut the umbilical cord, something he didn’t get to do with Maggie, which was cool. I was still reeling from the birth and trying to look at him and take everything in when Adam tells me that not only was the cord wrapped around his neck, it was in a knot. The doc showed me the knot and it was a TIGHT knot. We know now that the decells were because the knot was getting compressed even more during the contractions. It was also probably the reason for the lack of movement. He had some issues latching on right away, but once he did he nursed like a champ. They left us alone for about an hour before the weighed and measured him, which was really nice. I feel very blessed that we had the birth that we did considering how many things could have gone wrong. I really believe that I fell on Wednesday for a reason. There was a reason he needed to come out now, and I’m grateful that it happened.
Maggie came up about 2 hours later when she was done napping and had zero interest in him. She was way more interested in Mommy, which I expected. She seems to like him, and she definitely wants to help, we’ll see how long it lasts!
