Birth Story

Several of you have been asking for my birth story so here goes....

It actually started about 6 weeks ago now. Back in Dec I lost part of my mucus plug- not knowing that you can keep losing more and more of it for as long as I did, I assumed I would be starting labor soon. Not too long after that I started having contractions. I had contractions everyday from about 6 weeks out until his birth. Some nights they were so intense that I would be woken up and having diarrea and painful contractions at regular intervals. At 36 weeks I was checked and a 1 and 50% effaced. At 37 weeks a 2, At 38 weeks a 3, and at 39 and 40 weeks a 4. His head went from a -2 at 36 weeks to a 0 by 39 weeks. It is crazy to me how much labor my body did this time beforehand, with the girls I started at 0 and had my water break and my contractions would begin. This time is a much different experience....

I was set to be induced on Friday the 8th but called and cancelled it feeling that I wanted to wait to go on my own. The 18th is the longest out he would let me go so I set up an induction on that date praying I would go on my own beforehand. Friday the 15th, 3 days before my scheduled induction I had to go in to have a 20 min. fetal strip done on the baby. I guess they do this for all postdate babies. While at my appt. we discovered my fluid was leaking. I then got sent up to the hospital for further testing. It took them 2 hours to tell me that yes my fluid was leaking and they were going to admit me. My dr. is out of town so I got passed onto another dr. that I have never met. She, without seeing me wrote up orders for the nurse to start giving me pitocin. I refused it and told them I want my water broken all the way and I want two hours before any pitocin. She left to call the dr. and came back into my room telling me it was my lucky day and the dr. agreed to do that. The nurse then tried to I.V. me only to have my veins in my hands rupture twice. She called in a different nurse who finally got one in.

At 1:40 the dr. came and broke my water. I immediately started having strong contractions 2-5 min. apart. By 2:10. they were every two minutes and very, very hard. I couldn't walk, talk and needed my back squeezed with each one. By 4:00 they were one on top of the other and I was having a strong urge to push- infact, I was pushing with them even though I wasn't supposed to. I was only a 6. At this point I was on my back laying in the bed. I had to be careful as to how I layed because the babies heart rate was getting too low with contractions. The nurse wouldn't let me down to labor how I wanted and I needed my back pushed with each one which is extremely hard while laying down on my back. It became unbearable and I caved and wanted the epidural. Looking back now- the nurse should have told me no and that I was in transition (one on top of the other contractions, cold and shaking, nauseous) but she was more than happy to oblige. My friend Sarah who was with me kept telling me I could do it and it was almost done but I didn't believe her. All I could think was that I went on and on at a 7 for 7 hours with Abby and I just couldn't do that again. The anestegiologist came in and he was such a nice man. I felt at peace having him there. We had christian music on the whole time and he came in and immediately started talking about the artists and we knew right away he was a christian. I felt like I was in good hands. He did his magic amidst my hard contractions and before he even was even done with the epidural I was a 10. It was 4:23. So- less than 3 hours since the start.

It stinks to know I did the whole labor on my own and got the epidural when I didn't need it and all the risk associated with that. I have been having pains in my back where it was administered to me. There is a reason for everything though and I am choosing to believe that. Now that I had the epidural I was able to hold off on pushing and we let the baby work his way down for almost a whole hour. The dr. was busy and not able to get up to our room right away so without that I would have been delivering with the nurses. Without the epidural there is no way to control that horrific urge to push and there is no way I could have waited. I would have pushed then and there and he would have been here sooner but I also probably would have torn more severe.

At 4:15, the dr. arrived, the head was visible even though I hadn't pushed yet so we started pushing. I got his head halfway out on the first contraction and the dr. just had me wait like that to work on stretching. I had 4th degree tearing with Abby and have all the scar tissue now so tearing is always an issue with me. The 2nd contraction came and out he came. 5:20 p.m. All 9 lbs 6 oz of him. The dr. had to unwrap the cord around his neck twice before handing him to me. He was so beautiful. I just felt deeply in awe! There was a knot in his cord too and the dr. told us she had never seen that except for in c-sections. I had 2nd degree tearing again. That is what I had with Emily too. Even with letting him work down on his own and stretch me so there is a good chance that without that epidural and with a faster pushing delivery I would have torn much worse again. The dr.'s dated him 41 weeks gestation which did put my due date to Jan. 8th. It is amazing to me. Abby was born 12 days earlier than Kenan weighed the same, their heads measured the same and she was 1/2 inch longer. How crazy. She was a big girl!!!

All in all, it was amazing. It was super fast- and intense but so worth the result. Now, if only I can find a way to keep him little longer. I just don't want the time to pass so fast! I am going to do my best to enjoy every moment. Thanks for all your prayers during this time in our lives! We appreciate it!