Birth Story

Okay, the beginning labor was HELL - I had back labor this time around and it was for two solid days. Thurs morning I was in so much pain I called the midwife and told her what was going on and how bad my pain was. She told me to come right in so they could check me. I did - still 3cm, still 50% effaced but much softer blah blah. I had a scheduled u/s that afternoon at 3:30pm and she said to go home, walk around to try and speed things up. She would check me again after the u/s that afternoon.

So I went home but honestly was in so much pain that I didn't get any walking around done. Back to the office at 3:30pm for the u/s and all was well. I went into the exam room and YAY I was 4cm dilated! She told me I could go into the hosp then or go back home. I said I'd be more comfortable going to the hospital what with the Group B positive and the not knowing how long to wait you know? My midwife had previously said to go in when I could no longer talk through the contractions. Um, hello?? I can talk through anything lol. That is what keeps my mind off of things! Perfect example happened later w/the nurse, I had a doozy of a contraction and was still talking. She asked if I felt it and I said of course I did - that was a hell of a contraction. She said she couldn't believe I talked through it and I said that is what I do - I can always talk lol. So I was kind of worried about when to go in and when not to go in - bottom line I went in.

So I got admitted, got my room, answered all the nurses questions - all that routine. Then they got dinner for me since it was about 5:30 at that point. After I ate John and I walked around the maternity floor, I got on the birthing ball and just hung out. The midwife wanted to break my water since I was over 4cm but since I had the Group B Strep this time I had to get an antibiotic IV in and it had to be running for 4 hours before they could break my water.

So, at 10:30pm the midwife came in and tried to break my water but the bag was tucked under Ryan's chin so every time she got it with her fingers she couldn't pull enough to break it. They wanted to give me Pitocin so they called the anesthesiologist. Since I was over 4cm dialted I could get the epidural. So he came in and did the epidural which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I never really felt it w/Aidan b/c I got it after my hard labor had started. I could only concentrate on the contractions I was having with him and not the epidural.

Now comes the only scary part. After the anesthesiologist gave me the epidural Ryan's heartrate dropped to 60. At first I had NO clue what was going on. The nurse was putting me back on the monitor and was having a hard time finding his heartrate. Then, when she did it was reeeeaaally slow. At first it didn't click in at all what was happening. The nurse kept having me roll side to side and I didn't think anything of it until I looked at her face. Then I started to panic. My room filled up with every person on the floor and they gave me a wide open IV of something (saline maybe?) and put me on oxygen. After 5min his HR came back up again but they kept me on the oxygen for 30min. I have never been so scared in my life - I could only envision an emergency c-section. But thankfully it didn't come to that. When I asked what happened the anesthesiologist said some babies have a reaction to the initial dose of medicine but that everything was going to be okay. Thank God.

So after all that they started the pitocin which was fine b/c I couldn't feel a damn thing. Around 12:30 - 1am the epi started running out. The anesthesiologist gave me a bolis (sp?) shot right in the catheter in my back and I went completely numb from my waist down. At 1:40am they broke my water. I was 6cm. The nurse kept coming in asking me if I was feeling pressure, the need to push, anything. I said nope, I'm completely dead from the waist down. Then all of a sudden at 3:30am I was like hey, holy pressure in my butt. The nurse checked me and I was 10cm and Ryan's head was RIGHT THERE. She said to me "DON'T PUSH" and ran to get the midwife. Midwife comes in, checks me, says "don't push, don't do anything! I have to get on my gown and my gloves!!!" I was laughing and told her I wasn't pushing at all. So she suits up, says go ahead and push, I push um this is bad but I was hardly pushing at all - it was like trying to push out a fart. I was so numb I couldn't really feel to push so I did what I could. Then my midwife says "stop pushing! stop pushing!!" Ryan's head was already out. One more tiny push and I was done. It was amazing. I started "pushing" at 3:41am and two minutes later he was out. I never felt a thing. I only needed one stitch this time around. YAY!!

I can't believe how easy it was and I *almost* feel guilty. Yeah, until I remember my labor and delivery w/Aidan and my entire pg with Ryan.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far!!!