Birth Story

This is more for me to remember everything, but I figured I would share.

Short version:
I woke up to my water breaking at 1:45am on the 29th. We were at the hospital by 4am and I got an epidural around 5:45am. By 7am I was at 10cm and ready to push but the nurse had to get everything ready. I did a few practice pushes around 7:45 and at 8 started pushing. About 5 sets of pushes later Jake was born!

Long Version:

I had a dr's appointment on Thursday and when she checked she said I was 75-80% effaced and still about 1 cm dilated. But she also said he was really low and she could feel the top of his head through the amniotic sac. Thursday evening I was having some stomach cramps but by 9pm they had gone away and we went to bed. I woke  up at 1:45am feeling like I had peed on myself. I jumped out of bed and there was a lot more fluid that came out. I assumed it was my water but didn't want to wake Josh up until I was sure. So I waited until about 2:15 when I started to have contractions to get him up. We figured we would wait a little bit to call the doctor because I had had so many contractions before. About 15-20 minutes later the contractions were pretty regular and getting more intense so we called the doctor. She told us to come on in so we got up and Josh got dressed quickly and started getting all of the last minute things together while I attempted to get up and get dressed. I called my mom and told her that we were going to be headed to her house with Cosmo. It took my a lot longer to get dressed than I had anticipated, I had to stop what I was doing every time I had a contraction, which at this point was about every 3 minutes. We finally got out the door around 2:50.

The drive to my mom's was hard because my contractions were coming two at a time. I would have one that lasted about a minute, then about 30 seconds of rest, then another one about a minute long, then about a 3 minute break. After we dropped Cosmo off we headed to the hospital with my mom right behind us. I was trying to drink water on the way because I knew I wouldn't get a lot to drink once I got to the hospital. So during that 3 minute break I was getting I was drinking. Every bump we went over made the contractions worse so Josh was trying to avoid them and drive quickly, oh and it was raining. When we got to the hospital we pulled into the parking garage and Josh asked if I could walk in and of course I said yes. About 20 seconds later I threw the car door open (while we were still moving) so I could throw up all the water I just drank and I quickly changed my mind about being able to walk. After Josh parked he ran in to get a wheelchair and the admissions desk people said they would get a nurse. Josh saw a wheelchair in the corner and asked if he could take that one, so he did. We were almost in the hospital when the nurse came out with a wheelchair. Once we got in I had to sign (or scribble randomly) all the consent forms (not sure why they think this is neccessary when you are in labor). My mom got there as I was signing, and was talking very loudly trying to find us.

Apparently they thought I was really in labor because we bypassed l&d triage (normally where they would take you to see if you are dilated and make sure you are really in labor) and headed straight to a room. I asked about getting in the tub (figuring I couldn't because my water broke) and they confirmed that I couldn't. That was my best coping skill for dealing with contractions. I asked if I could shower and they were checking with the on call doctor but I still had to get in a gown and checked, which took about 30 minutes because again I was stopping every time I had a contraction. When I was checked the first time, about 4:30am, I was 2-3cm dilated. By the time we got to the point that I could get into the shower I had already decided I wasn't going to make it without an epidural so they got the fluids started. I had to have an entire bag of fluids before they could do the epidural but the nice nurse (I had fabulous nurses in l&d) turned it all the way up so I could get it more quickly. While we were waiting for the fluids to get in the contractions were horribly painful and seemed to be getting worse. I couldn't get comfortable during one and couldn't move very much during them either.

About 5:20 my new best friend (anesthesiologist) was on his way so Josh and my mom had to leave the room, I was not happy about that because I was using Josh's had to squeeze everytime I had a contraction and I knew that I was going to somehow have to sit very still during the epidural. The nice nurse promised she would help me and told me just to let her know when I was having a contraction. After we got me sitting up and in position the nurse would come over and let me squeeze the crap out of her hands everytime I had a contraction then when it was over she would go work on getting stuff ready then I would tell her when I was having another one and we repeated this until the dr was ready to put the epi in. Then she stood and held my hands while I got the numbing shot (that hurt) and made sure I was staying still during contractions (of course I was having one right when he went to put the epi in.)

After the epi was in they said it would be about 5-10 minutes for it to fully kick in, but about 3 minutes after it was in Jake's heart rate started to drop, so the nurse had me flip to my side and his heart rate went back to normal for a little while, then dropped again, so we flipped to the other side. By this time the epi has kicked in so the nurse is having to help me turn over. After we did this for about 5 minutes she called in another nurse to help and see if they could figure out why his heart rate kept dropping. They were also having a hard time getting him to stay on the monitor, which after the fact they figured out he was so low and that was part of the problem. They put an internal monitor on him and checked me at about 6am and I was 5-6cm. Once the internal monitor was on his heart rate was better so they let Josh and my mom come back in.

I was feeling much better at this point and we were guessing what time he was going to be born. A little while later I realized that I was feeling the contractions a little bit in one spot on the left side, but it wasn't anything bad so the nurse had me (well told me to, she, Josh and my mom had to move me) lay on my left side to see if that would spread the epi medicine out. It worked for a little while then I could feel it again. This was right before 7am and there was a shift change so my new nurse came in. I let her know that I was still feeling some pain and she said that it could be because he was so low but she gave my epi a boost and said to give it a few minutes and she would check me. About 7:15 she checked me and said I was at a 10 and would be pushing soon. So she started getting everything ready in the room and I took the time to put some make up on. (I knew there were going to be pictures afterwards!)

Around 7:45 the nurse had me push with a few contractions. The monitor wasn't picking up the contractions up well so she was relying on me to tell her when I was having them, but I wanted to wait to start really pushing so I would tell her for every other one. I figured if I couldn't feel the contractions I might as well let them do as much of the work as possible instead of me doing all the work! A little after 8am I started really pushing. 3 pushes for each contraction then I would rest. The nurse pulled out the mirror so I could watch (it helped since I couldn't feel the left side of my body, that epi boost did its job a little too well!). Around 8:15 the doctor came in. I pushed through about 5 contractions with him. Once Jake's head was out he had me stop pushing, he sucked out his mouth and nose then told me to give him one small push and the rest of him was out.

The doctor and nurse put him right up on my chest where Josh cut his cord, they cleaned him off and tucked him into my gown. I got to hold him for about an hour before giving him to Josh to hold. Then they took him and weighed him and checked him over.

In the end it was definitely not what I expected, I was planning on being in labor much longer than that and it being more difficult than it was. But I am glad it went quickly and smoothly. I am hoping that my next labor and delivery are just as quick and easy and maybe I will be able to make it without an epidural next time.