The birth story with this little nugget is quite the extravagant production. I had always hoped I would be one of THOSE moms whose water broke, and the baby would make their entrance a MAX of 10 hours later. HA! Such a naive, silly person I am! Muahahahaha! Let's go ahead and get started!
I had my 40 week appointment on Wednesday, May 28th, Karsen's due date. At the appointment, my doctor was not all the pleased with my dilation ( I was still at 1cm) but my cervix had continued to soften. She also felt around on my belly and said, "Wow! I think you are going to have a big boy here! I bet he is at least 8 pounds, so by next week, he will be up to 9 pounds. When a baby gets that large, it usually ends in a C Section. With that said, lets schedule a sonogram to get a good idea of his weight. We will also go ahead and schedule an induction for Tuesday evening." Wow...I figured I would just have spontaneous labor and everything would proceed as naturally as the next person...but now all the sudden I'm hearing words like "induction" and "C section." Yikes! That had me a little concerned but oh well. Bruce and I left the appointment with a sonogram scheduled for Monday (June 2), and induction scheduled to begin Tuesday (June 3).
That night, I did a little more nesting, and Bruce headed off to his indoor soccer game like normal. I was slightly annoyed still from the doctors appointment earlier, so I decided to bust out the exercise ball and do a little bouncing while I worked on one of the sewing projects. I started bouncing around 9p and had given up by 9:15p. I could feel some mild cramping but that was it. No biggie...just thought I would try to help things along. And then....
MY WATER BROKE!!!
Such a weird feeling! I had to bust out the old school pads. I have heard to watch ruptured waters. If you fill a pad within an hour, you should call the doctor. Well, I filled about 4 pads in 5 minutes. Awkward! BUT, I didn't call the doc because I wasn't feeling any contractions. I guess it depends who you ask but I thought ruptured waters meant contractions would start right away. Heck I didnt know?! Im going to change to a list to make this story a little easier...
9p-915p: Bounced on exercise ball
945p: Water broke but no contractions.
1030p: Mild contractions started and were about 15 minutes apart. I tried to lay down and get some sleep but that sure didnt help. I headed to the living room and sat and watched some tv.
130a: About this time, I started timing contractions. They were about 10 minutes apart. Since I noticed this pattern, I laid down and tried to nap between them.
600a: I called the OBGYN on-call doctor to see if I should go to the hospital. With my waters breaking and the contractions, I figured it might be time. Sure enough, she told me to get to the hospital. I headed to wake up Bruce around 615a and told him "Um...I think it's time to go to the hospital." He says, "Alriiiiiight!!!!" There was a lot of excitement in his voice!
730a: I showered at home real quick and we headed to the hospital. I was checked into triage by 730a. The nurses there checked me and said my water definitely broke, and I was actually having contractions about 4 minutes apart. Clearly I was only feeling the really strong ones. We then walked to our labor and delivery room! It is go time!
830a: In the labor and delivery room, Bruce and I got comfortable and sent out some texts to family members letting them know the situation. I continued to try and relax through contractions. Bruce and I took a few laps around the L&D floor to see if we can get things moving. The nurse with me would check my cervix every few hours. At 830a I was 3cm and 90% effaced. A few hours later, 4cm, still 90%. A few more hours, 5cm, still 90%. Ugh...this was taking forever and the contractions were getting much stronger.
100p: By this point, I had been feeling contraction for over 12 hours, and they were getting more intense each time. At the rate I was progressing (or not progressing...) I knew it might be quite a while longer so I broke down and got an epidural. To be honest, it wasn't as great as I had hoped. The anesthesiologist came in and got things going. I was told I wouldnt be able to feeling anything after about 20 minutes...well my right side was good...the left was where I could still feel activity. So I laid on my left side and I guess the meds headed that way, because then I was finally comfortable. By 3p, I could feel activity again. Um excuse me! Wasnt it supposed to take effect and stay that way?! Ugh!
300p: I could feel the contractions very heavy on my right side, but my left was ok, so I rolled over to my right in hopes the gravity effect would work again...no luck. Why isn't this working?! I kept pushing the button thingy to keep sending meds to my back, but no pain improvement. UGH!
400p: The nurse came in again to check my cervix and I was FINALLY 100% effaced and at 9cm (I think). Either way, she said I can start pushing to help move Baby K down the birth canal. She wanted to call my doctor, to let her know the plans, then she would be back to get me to start pushing.
445p: The nurse came back in and it was time to finally start pushing. I've heard all of these great stories about how people only pushed 2 or 3 times and then their baby was there...oh great! So I am hoping that happens with me too! I worked to push during the contractions (since I could feel EVERY. SINGLE. ONE.) and pushed and pushed. I kept looking at the nurse's face to see how I was progressing. Were things happening like they should?! What is going on down there?! She said she could see his head, but he wasn't moving through the pelvic bone. DANG IT! I tried 3 different pushing positions and still nothing was working.
645p: By this time, I am exhausted. FREAKING TIRED! I didnt get any sleep the night before, and the day was full of different types of pains and aches. And now, I've been pushing for 2 solid hours and still...nothing. Some contractions I decided to just breathe through, so I could give myself a break from pushing. Frustration was setting in HARD CORE. I just want to meet my baby! I continued to push off and on and then the nurse told me the on-call doc from my OB office was going to come in to check me and see how things are going.
650p: Dr. Martin came in, checked what was going on "down below" and started talking to a midwife (also on-call at my OB office) to have her check as well. He also asked the nurse to check out the situation. All I could think was "What the heck are they all talking about?! And why doesn't the doc know for sure? He is having the other two check something out too? That cant be good." Finally, after all 3 got in there and discussed, they all agreed that the opening to my pelvic bone was not wide enough for the baby to pass through. WHAT. THE. FU...NDUS?! (a little uterus humor...haha) Not wide enough?! How did we not know this before all of this B.S. from today?! Basically the doctor told me that my pelvic opening was more oval shaped, where it really needed to be a circle. Dr. Martin said, "There is no way for the baby's head to conform and change enough to get through the opening. I am sorry to say, we need to head down the hall for a C section." Talk about TEARS! I wanted to avoid a C Section like the freakin plague. Man I was UPSET. I wanted to meet this baby boy SO BAD and this was just ANOTHER road block. Fine. Whatever. Just get it done and over with!
715p: By this time, I was in the operating room and the Anesthesiologist was administering meds through my epidural catheter...bad thing is, the meds weren't working. I was supposed to be completely numb from my ribs, down. Well, after 15 minutes of his first administration of meds, I could still move my legs, toes...and even felt the sharp pains of the "prick test." Clearly something wasnt right. They made the quick decision to put me under general anesthesia. Last thing I remember was answering some questions about my name and age.
817p: He was BORN!!!
845p: This part I don't remember the best, but I was rolled out to the recovery room where Bruce and Karsen were hanging out. I was still fairly out of it but I do remember seeing them sitting there. I also remember the tremendous amount of pain I could feel in my lower abdomen. By 9p, Im fairly certain I was acting like a raging B, because I wanted pain meds and I wanted them NOW! After all the other CRAP throughout the day, seriously...can I be without pain for like an hour...PUH-LEASE! While in the recovery room, the nurse (who had been with me ALL day and stayed after her "release time" to see me through to the end...ROCK STAR!!) had told me that at some point earlier in the day the epidural catheter had slipped out of spinal column so any meds being pumped into me...were not being felt. "That's neat" was about all I could think...
From this point on, we were moved up the Mother/Baby floor of the hospital and spent the next 3 days there. We had GREAT nurses and I appreciated all of their help throughout the whole process. We are adjusting to life and learning every day from this little guy!
AH! LOVE!!
Such an amazing labor of love! This is so well written! You are an amazing mother, laboring for all those hours! Even though his birth was not what you wanted or planned, you gave it a valiant effort and still have the same reward. He is amazing and so are you! I can't wait to watch him grow!
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