At 2:15am on Sunday February 26, 2012 I woke like every morning needing to go the bathroom. Frequent pee breaks were nothing new so I didn't think much of it as I rolled myself out of bed. On my way to the bathroom I realized my stomach was crampy, they didn't feel like I imagined contractions would feel so the thought didn't even cross my mind. My first clue should have been the way my body emptied itself when I got to the bathroom, the next should have been the way the cramping increased on my way back to bed... But wether it was my exhaustion or my reluctance to believe I finally was in labor I still climbed back into bed not giving it too much thought.
Once back in bed however things were becoming a bit more obvious, by this point nothing was comfortable no matter which way I lay. My cramping was coming and going and becoming more distinct. I felt it mainly across my pelvic area between my hips but my lower back had a dull ache to it too. Every now and then the cramping was extending to the top of my stomach.
At 3:00am I woke hubby and told him my suspicions, I used an app on my iPod and started to time my contractions, they were irregular lasting anywhere from 30-60 seconds every 2-3 mins. At 3:15 I decided to call labor and delivery to get some advice, everything I knew before had escaped my brain I felt lost and anxious. They told us to keep timing, and come in if they increased in severity, came less than 1 minute apart and were lasting longer than a minute. To me that sounded like we were waiting to the last minute but I hung up and tried to sleep. The next 3 hours flew by, sleep was not an option so I continued to time the contractions and tried to "rest" in-between.
By 6:15 we were in our car on route to the hospital. We made a quick stop to buy gaterade and a coffee for hubby and I called my mom and hubbys dad to fill them in.
We were admitted to the labor ward at 7:15. The doctor had examined me and I was 4cm dilated and my membranes were bulging. The contractions were less regular at this point but stronger and longer lasting. They brought us to our delivery room and we made ourselves comfortable. By this time my mom had arrived and kept us company and distracted.
I had decided during my pregnancy that I wanted to give natural childbirth a try. I know people have different ideas of what that means, to me natural childbirth is vaginal delivery without medications such as epidural or other narcotics etc. The thought of being paralyzed by the epidural even tho temporary frightened me. I wasn't against it completely but I wanted to see how I could do on my own. The nurse brought out the birthing ball and for the first few hours I bounced and swayed on that. It was extremely helpful for me, a lot of my discomfort at that time was through my hips and sitting on the ball really helped relieve it. I had brought music and magazines for distraction but didn't use them, when it came down to the contractions I found it best to just breathe and concentrate on working my way through them.
At about 10:15am the doctor returned to check me and break my water since it had not yet on it's own. In preparation for stronger contractions we decided to bring in the nitrous gas incase I needed to take the edge off. The hope was that by breaking my water it would help me progress at a good rate. It worked and by 12 noon I was 7-8cm.
The contractions were definatly stronger but knowing I was so close helped psych me up to keep that epidural out of my back. I had been huffing back some of the gas on occasion but I made it to 8 cm without it and something had to give. The gas was wierd, at first it made me woozy sort of like that predrunk sort of feeling I almost pushed it aside but like drinking you have to just keep going and get past that feeling lol.
Over the next hour I really started feeling pressure down below in addition to the contractions. It felt like I had to push but I knew it was too early. I told my nurse how I was feeling and she checked me again at 1:00pm. 8cm no more no less. I was given strict instructions not to push and they would check again in an hour. By this time I was too uncomfortable to sit on the ball so I hung out in bed. And by hung out I mean I clenched the bed rail with all my strength for each pressure filled contraction trying what felt like to hold this baby in.
An hour came and went with no change. The morning had flown by but i remember these couple hours mid day just dragging on. The pressure was becoming unbearable, with each contraction I had to fight my body's urge to push and I could no longer relax. If your body can't relax your body won't progress. MV was putting so much pressure on my cervix that it was starting to swell and we were stuck at 8cm still. His head was basically stuck because of the swelling, he continued to try to push through and instead of dilating more his pushing was doing the opposite only causing more swelling.
I caved and asked for the epidural. I knew without it things could stretch out a lot longer and get a lot tougher for both of us. I dont know if it's been mentioned on this blog or not but I have Epilepsy, so at this point in labor I'm starting to have to consider the risks the stress was having on my body I did not want to seize and cause any complications.
Once the epidural was in place and working my whole body just relaxed. It was great. I managed to get some much needed sleep and thankfully continued to dilate.
Just before 7pm I started to shiver, my skin was warm to touch and I thought it was just the epidural. I found out later that my nurse was worried by this but she had kept it to herself. 7pm was shift change the new nurse came in to assess us and that's when things started to happen fast.
I had a fever, it wasn't crazy high yet but high enough you could see the concern on her face. MV's heart rate was jumping high as well. After the nurse checking both of us multiple times the doctor finally arrived. She too was concerned about the fever and MVs heart rate. They stuck a probe up my hooha to get a more accurate reading. His baseline heart rate was over 200 at this point and jumping dangerously high with each contraction. In a matter of seconds I was signing consents and being wisked down the hall to the OR. I remember crying because I was scared, not of the surgery but because I was afraid something would be wrong with my baby.
Once in the OR the blue curtain went up as they prepped me for surgery, they had to pump me full of the epidural to make sure I was fully blocked (there had been a spot by my right hip where I could still feel the contractions) once I was ready they let hubby into the room and began.
At 7:59, only minutes after beginning MV was born. I felt some tugging and discomfort as they pulled him out, it was an odd sensation I can't really describe.
Hubby snapped some pictures and followed them to the other side of the room where the nicu team assessed MV. He did great apgar scores of 9 and did not need any time in the nicu. Hubby got to hold him right away and they came and sat with me while I was being stitched up.
That was the worst part, I felt nauseous and dry heaved as they fixed me up. It took forever. During this time I was unaware but my blood pressure dropped dangerously low and they gave me something by IV to correct it. I don't remember too much at this point it was all a haze. Since they pumped me so full of the epidural I was numb from the shoulders down, I had to wait on the operating table until I had feeling in my arms then I was finally allowed to go into recovery. I had to remain on my left side (not that I could have moved if I wanted to) until I had feeling back in my toes.
I "held" MV as they rolled me back to recovery, once there the nurse helped me get some skin to skin with him and we had our first attempt to latch. This part was really frustrating for me, I was useless, I could barely move but the nurse got him latched on.
Eventually we got to go to the post partum ward. I was exhausted, it was such a long day and it didn't go exactly as planned but the end result was all that mattered. I wasn't upset or disappointed for getting the epidural or that we ended up in the OR because in the end MV was here and healthy. <3
