Owen arrived right on his due date! No one thought he was going to be in that long. Even my OB commented at my appointment on Thursday that she was surprised to see me!
So on to his birth story.
Thursday afternoon I had a dr's appt scheduled, my 40 week appt. So that morning Jake and I headed to the grocery store (our normal grocery shopping day) and the plan was for Josh to come home so we could all go to my appt together (Jake and I usually pick him up from work on the way then drop him off to get his car on the way back). We had everything packed and in the car just in case something changed and we had to stay. That morning I was having a lot of contractions, but just the same as the normal non painful ones. Then when I went to the bathroom I noticed blood on the toilet paper. That was a good sign that something was going on and I was thinking I may be calling Josh to come home earlier. But no increase in contractions or pain from them, so we just went along with our day. Throughout the day I was still seeing bloody discharge when I went to the bathroom, so when we got to the doctor we made sure to let her know. She said she was on call until 7am Friday morning and currently had 4 patients in labor and asked if I was going to join them. I was 2 cm and 70% effaced and she said she thought she would see me later given that plus the bloody show from the rest of the day. After we left the dr Grammy suggested we meet for dinner, so we met Grammy for some Mexican food (she was trying to make me go into labor). I was having contractions off and on throughout dinner and on t he way home. Josh and I weren't sure we were going to be spending much time at home once we did get home. But the contractions weren't getting worse, so we put Jake to bed, made sure everything was ready to go, and hung out watching TV. My contractions were about 5-7 minutes apart starting around8:30 but weren't getting closer together or more intense, so we just hung out waiting. Around 10:30 they started getting stronger, but I was still walking and talking through them so we didn't call. Around 10:45 I started having a hard time walking through them and they were anywhere from 4-7 minutes apart, so we went ahead and called. While we were waiting for a call back from the doctor they got stronger so we went ahead and started getting ready to leave. We got the rest of the stuff in the car then I went and got Jake out of bed. The doctor called back right as we were getting ready to walk out the door and she agreed it was time for us to come in. We left about 11:15 and called Grammy to meet us there.
We got to the hospital a little before midnight. My contractions had spaced out a little bit in the car, but were still painful. We got there and got checked in (by the slowest admissions person ever) and went to triage to make sure I was in active labor and they could keep me. So I got all hooked up and checked and sure enough I was 4 cm and 85% effaced, so progress from the afternoon appt. My dr came in and said she could break my water if I wanted her to just to help things move more quickly, but it was up to me. I was in there for about 35-40 minutes then they sent me back to a room, so Grammy and Jake joined us back there. At this point standing up and leaning on the bed during contractions was the most comfortable position so I had done that in triage and continued that when we got into the l&d room. The triage nurse stayed with me and got me all set up in the room since my l&d nurse was busy with another mom who was delivering. She had gotten an iv in and left the room to get some more things and as I was standing there, my water broke. As the nurse walked in I let her know my water didn't need to be broken by the dr now. Once that was all cleaned up, my l&d nurse, Allison, came in and introduced herself. She was immediately fabulous. She asked what I needed and told me to just tell her what I needed. My feet were starting to get tired from standing so I asked for a ball to sit on in between contractions. That was working for a while and helped with some of the fatigue from standing. I was still timing my own contractions at this point because it gave me something to do and focus on and control. Josh was pushing on my back during contractions to help and in between doing that was helping Grammy with Jake. Jake was busy watching videos on the ipad but refused to lay down. About 2:30 the contractions started getting worse and I was feeling a lot of pressure so Allison came in and checked me. I was at a 5, almost 6. And I was pretty disappointed since I was sure I would've been further by then. But my dr came in and said I could be off the monitors for a while if I wanted to get in the shower, so I decided to try that. Allison got everything set up and Josh came in the bathroom with me to help. The shower was great. The hot water pounding on my back during a contraction really helped and I was able to sit down and relax in between. Around 3:15 the contractions started coming closer together and by about 3:25 they were right on top of each other, I was feeling nauseated, and I was having a hard time dealing with them in any position in the shower so I got out. As I was drying off (or attempting to) I told Josh I didn't know if I could do it any more because I couldn't get a break in between and I couldn't handle throwing up in addition to the contractions. We decided I would try to keep going until 4 and see where I was then before making a decsion.
By the time we got out of the bathroom though the contractions were pretty unbareable and I didn't think I was going to make it. I had Josh call Allison at that point, right around 3:45. She came in and she asked what I really wanted and wanted to check me first. It took me a good 5 minutees to be able to stand and get into the bed and during that time Allison gave us another way to try and cope with the contractions, which worked for a few minutes but then the contractions just got so bad nothing was helping. Once she checked me she said I was a 7 almost an 8. Josh asked how long she thought it would be and she said maybe an hour. I didn't think I was going to make it an hour but she said lets get to 4 and then decide. I could deal with that since it was only a few more minutes. About 2 minutes later I changed my mind and said I couldn't do it and asked how fast the anestheseologist could be there. She said he could get there quick he was just down the hall, but she had to get a bag of fluids in me first, so she hooked me up and pushed them in as fast as they would go and called the anesthesiologist. Grammy and Jake had to leave since they couldn't be there for the epidural. Meanwhile, I was doing anything I could to get through each contraction, which was meaning squeezing Josh's hand leaning on him, trying not to fall over. Somewhere in there (I was not paying attention to the time anymore) the contractions stopped coming on top of each other, they were still unbareable during the contraction but since I was getting at least a minute in between them by the time he got to the room. I still wasn't sold on getting the epi but didn't know what else to do at that point because I was exhausted. I had been up for 22 hours by then and between being tired and the contractions I didn't think I could do it. Allison and Josh were great during this time. Allison said she thought I could do it and suggested iv pain meds to take the edge off. Josh was doing whatever he could to help when I was having a contraction. I decided I wanted to get the epidural, but I knew I was going to have to sit on the bed and I wasn't sure I could do that, actually I knew I couldn't do that, but I started trying. Allison told me to take my time, but when I stood up to get on the bed I had a contraction that just caused my body to start pushing, it felt like I was going to poop on the floor. Allison told me to try not to push so I didn't cause my cervix to swell and I told her I couldn't control it. I had another one like that before I could sit down on the bed and told her I was feeling a lot of pressure. She and the anesthesiologist suggested she check me before they tried the epidural. Josh helped me climb into the bed and I had another contraction causing me to push. Allison hurried over and checked me and told me I was complete and he was right there. (At this point, according to Josh the anestheseologist said well I guess I'm not needed here and took his cart and left). Josh called Grammy to come back with Jake then texted her. Allison called my dr and let her know I was about to deliver, right as she hung up the phone, another crazy pushing contraction happened and I hear Josh say, ummm...and indicated he saw Owen's head. Allison quickly called the dr back and said delivering now! A couple seconds later, my dr, another nurse, and Grammy and Jake all file into the room. Dr Woodbridge got gowned up and the nurses got the bed ready. The other nurse that came in tried to get me to put both of my legs up in the leg holder things, which was so uncomfortable so I kept moving them and telling her I couldn't. Dr Woodbridge finally told her I didn't have to have them up there right before I had another contraction. Both Dr Woodbridge and Allison told me to push, but it wasn't really controllable for me. I think it was one big contraction and his head was out, followed by another contraction pushing his shoulders out. He was out at 4:34am. I thought that would be the worst part of not having an epidural, but it surprisingly wasn't nearly as painful as I was thinking.
Once he was out they put him on my stomach while they got him cleaned up. He initially cried when he came out, but then was just looking around so they were trying to get him to cry some more. We hung out like that for a while looking at him and letting him start nursing before it was time for Josh to cut his cord. He latched on great and nursed off and on until we left. Jake came over to see him and was fascinated with him. Once they got him cleaned up some more they took him over to get weighed. Someone guessed he was about 8lbs 8oz and everyone agreed. Then they put him on the scale and saw 9lbs 12oz and everyone was shocked (and impressed). Jake and Grammy headed home shortly after, right around 5am, since they had both been up all night and were tired.
Even though it was hard (really, really hard), I am glad I was able to go without the epidural this time. It was definitely a different experience than Jake's birth, but I am proud of myself and my body for getting through it. And in the end, I felt much better afterwards, less pain and swelling than I had with Jake, which is surprising since Owen was so much bigger. But if we have another baby I would do it without an epidural again.
Pictures!
Getting all cleaned up (and me checking out his hair)
Josh cutting the umbilical cord
By the scale saying 9lbs 12oz
First picture as a family of 4
Getting ready for his first bath
Big brother holding Owen for the first time
Grammy and Owen
Me and my boys...looking exhausted after maybe an hour of sleep after being up for about 26 hours
Getting ready to go home
