I realize this is a loooooong entry and that maybe 3 people actually want the story, so apologies to the other 20 people that don't care so much (also, I'll warn it may be TMI for some folks).
At 39 weeks I had a doctor’s appointment to see how ready for delivery I was. I basically wasn’t. I was dilated to a 1, which is better than 0, but definitely not looking like I was going to be delivering any time before my due date. Dr. Olender’s exact words were, “I would be highly surprised if you deliver on time.” At my 40 week appointment on Thursday, the 1st of July, my due date, I had progressed to a 1 and ½. Again, doc was positive I wasn’t going to deliver on time and we had an induction date scheduled for Monday, the 5th at 8 pm.
After my appointment, since it wasn’t looking like labor was imminent, Mom (who came in Wednesday), Mark and I decided to head to the beach. It was cool and windy and I wasn’t comfortable in any laying down/seated position so I decided to go for a long walk. I ended up being gone for 45 minutes while I walked a couple miles, which panicked Mom and Mark, who were “this close” to asking the lifeguards if they got a call about a woman in labor somewhere on the beach.
My stomach was sort of upset that night, I didn’t really feel like having a real meal for dinner, so I had Cinnamon Toast Crunch with milk, an apple and a little cheese. We went to bed that night, planning on doing some shopping and pool time the next day.
In the morning around 7 am, I woke up, went to the bathroom and felt something…weird. A little gush, with a little popping sound and that was it. The sound could have been my hip popping, which happens from time to time (since I’m such an old lady) and the gush wasn’t a ton. Not the way my books/people have described water breaking. I told Mark about it and while he agreed that it didn’t seem likely I was in labor, Doc was pretty clear that if you even suspect your water broke/leaked, you needed to go straight to the hospital. I was so sure I wasn’t in labor, I decided to get dressed in my cute little nursing dress, have a bowl of cereal and just take my purse, instead of finishing packing a hospital bag.
I was so sure I wasn’t in labor because Doctor was so sure I wasn’t going to go anytime soon, the baby still hadn’t dropped, so I wasn’t waddling and baby was still clinging to my ribs and I hadn’t had a single noticeable contraction that morning. I’d been having warm up contractions for weeks, so it seemed unlikely I’d go without them when I actually went into labor. In short however…I was wrong. Surprise!! We went to the hospital, just in case where the nurse said that my water hadn’t completely broken, but that I was indeed in labor. I’d progressed to a 3 and things were looking good and ready. She said we could leave, go shopping, walk around, whatever, until contractions were 5-7 minutes apart. Immediately after she said that though, surprise!!! My water finished breaking and the party was underway. I wasn’t even going to be able to go home and pack my hospital bag, I was heading straight to a delivery room. I couldn’t believe it. I think I was just in shock when I got into the delivery room, put on my gown, started getting prepped by nurses…it was surreal. I went to bed last night praying that the baby would decide to at least drop over the weekend so I could be more physically ready for the induction and wound up in labor less than 24 hours after my last doctor’s exam (the first of so many prayers that were answered that weekend). 
Checked in to the hospital and getting ready to deliver.
We got settled in and then I reminded Mark and my mom that we needed hospital bags and that they should probably leave me sooner rather than later to do that. I would want Mark back once the pain got a little worse since I was hoping to avoid the epidural for as long as possible so I wouldn’t be tethered to my bed and the mean nurse wouldn’t take away my water and juice (which she tried to deny me in the first place until I told her that my OB specifically said I could have water and juice until the epidural was in place). I called Sarah to help distract me, since I was alone and in labor. It was sort of fun to share that with her. She asked me lots of questions and really helped me focus on something other than the pain. It was funny because Sarah asked me how far apart my contractions were and I was like, “I have no idea…” and was shocked when the nurse came in and said I was 2 minutes apart. By the time Mark and mom got back and the nurse came to examine me again, I’d gotten to a 5! The pain was starting to get bad and I knew the epidural would be 45 minutes from kicking in after I asked for one, so I decided to get the ball rolling. By the time it was in place, I was at a 7. Not only was I in labor, but my labor was progressing really quickly. By 2:30 I was at a 10.
Then the bad news started. Baby was nowhere near the birth canal; he was still sitting high in my ribcage, despite my body being ready for pushing. Worse though, when we tried pushing, his heart rate dropped really low and took more than 4 minutes to bounce back. Doc had me lay/sit in different positions to try and get baby to move into the birth canal for more than an hour, but nothing was working. Doc was afraid his umbilical cord was wrapped around him somewhere and that his giant head wasn’t going to fit in the birth canal. Hearing the cord might be wrapped around him somewhere scared me to no end. We tried petocin to make my contractions stronger, but had to stop because baby’s heart rate dropped into the 50s. Doc gave us another half an hour while she put a c-section team on stand by and told the nurse we’d try one more time. I haven’t prayed that fervently in a long time. Please, just let us deliver this little boy and let him be healthy. I really didn’t want a c-section and it seemed that everything had gone so well, how could it end here with a c-section after all that?
We tried petocin again and this time, baby’s heart rate stayed stable. He wasn’t moving into the canal though either. Everything was just staying the same, so we upped the dose. I laid on my side and while I couldn’t really feel any pain, I could swear that he was moving in the right direction. Sure enough, he was! Yay! C-section canceled, nurses swung into action breaking down my bed, getting stuff out of the way for doctor. Less than half an hour of pushing later, baby Bennett was born.
Obligatory post delivery picture where everyone looks happy, but awful.
The doctors and 7-8 nurses who had stopped by to cheer us on (the benefit of delivering spontaneously on a long holiday weekend – nothing gets scheduled, so all the staff have lots of time to devote to you) all exclaimed when he finally came out, something along the lines of, “Oh My Goodness, he’s HUGE!!!” Doc was like, “oh, he’s 9-9 and a half pounds, easy.” Turns out, he’s just all noggin (which was all anyone could see). I got to hold him for a while before they took him away to weigh him and check him out and when the nurse came in and told me he was 8 pounds, 9 ounces, the first thought I had was, “That’s it?!” Yes, my baby has a giant head on a skinny little body. I blame his daddy and his big head. He had such a hard time coming down the shoot because his umbilical cord was wrapped around his leg and it was a short cord to begin with.
Taking baby home from the hospital.
All’s well that end’s well. Bennett is about as perfect a little angel as can be. The first week was challenging and overwhelming, but also the best week of my life so far. The closer you get to your delivery date, the more crazy things people tell you to try to go into labor. Now I can add my own recommendation, try a long walk on the beach and some Cinnamon Toast Crunch...worked for me!
No comments:
Post a Comment