Birth Story

As you all know (or you could probably guess from the lack of posts), our little bundle of joy, Max Grayson, was born on Tuesday, April 1st. He decided to join us one week early and we couldn't have been any happier. Considering he is almost six weeks old now (holy cow!), and my maternity leave is almost over (boo!), I figured it was about time that I sat down and wrote down our birth story. Todd and I have been very busy taking care of Max and adjusting to our new life, but he really is a good baby; rarely fussy and just so darn cute!

Ok, so here we go... It's rather long, so grab your popcorn!

Let me start with my 39 week doctor's appointment I had on Monday, March 31st. I had my doctor do a membrane sweep, which is an internal examination where the doctor sweeps his finger around my cervix to separate the membranes of my amniotic sac surrounding the baby from the cervix. He let us know that it usually helps bring on labor in one in every five women, so it isn't a for sure thing that it would work for me. During the sweep, he could still feel baby's head really low down and said I was 3.5 cm dilated. My waters were "bulging," so he had to try not to break them! That really got us excited because that made it sound like I could go into labor at any time. By the end of the sweep, I was 4 cm dilated. We set an induction day for Monday, April 7th, but our doctor really thought we wouldn't make it that far. In fact, I had my next appointment that Friday and he didn't even think we would make it that far! Before we left, he jokingly said he hoped to see us the next day...Little did he know.

At midnight on April 1st, I woke up to contractions that were five minutes apart and each lasting about one minute long. I knew immediately these weren't the usual Braxton Hicks contractions that I have been getting for months now, these things hurt! I laid in bed and timed them for an hour, because seriously, there was no way I was going to sleep through them. At 1 am, I woke Todd up and let him know I was having "real" contractions. When contractions are every five minutes apart and lasting one minute each, you are supposed to go ahead and go the hospital. I wanted to make sure they kept up at that pace, so I laid there for another hour (while Todd went back to sleep, lucky him). At 2 am, I woke Todd up again and told him we should probably go ahead and go to the hospital. At this point, they were still coming every five minutes, but the pain was becoming more intense. To wake himself up, Todd got in the shower while I (very slowly) finished packing up our hospital bag. By 2:30 am we were on the road. On the way to the hospital I called my dad, mom, sister and mother-in-law to let them know what was up.

Once at the hospital (around 2:45 am), we were taken to Triage 4 where they hooked me up to a few monitors. One measured contractions, the other monitored baby's heartbeat. The nurse checked dilation and measured me between 4-5 cm dilated, but mentioned her reading could just be from the difference in her hand size compared to my doctor's. Since labor can take a long time, she then asked me if we wanted to stay at the hospital and maybe bounce on a birthing ball or walk the halls to help bring on labor quicker, or if we wanted to go home. I was a little confused why she thought we would want to go home. She made it sound like I wouldn't be having this baby any time soon and I got a little upset. She left the room and let Todd and I decide. There was no way I was going home! I was in extreme pain! My parents and sister were already on the way as well. When she came back in we let her know we were staying and her whole demeanor changed. She got very excited that we were staying and said, "Why not!" Again, confusing, but I was glad she felt that way. I got my birthing gown to change in, which really made it feel real!

At this point, my contractions were even more strong. Every time they came on I couldn't talk and had to remind myself to breathe through them. Talk about pain. The admin lady with all of the paperwork then came in and I remember wanting her to hurry up and leave me alone. While I am there writhing in pain, the last thing I wanted to worry about was paperwork. Of course she decides to be very chatty! Once she was done giving her spiel, we were taken into our labor and delivery room. Our doctor was notified that I was at the hospital.

We were introduced to our two nurses and I was hooked up to an IV. That alone was painful because my vein supposedly disappeared once the needle was inside, so she was moving it all around trying to get it back in. That didn't work, so they moved it to my right arm. They said the IV usually hurts worse than the epidural and I thought good, since that really hurt! I could get my epidural any time I wanted, but decided to wait a little longer. My parents and sister then came in and helped distract me a little. My contractions were getting even more strong, which was hard to believe. I really couldn't talk during them now and was in extreme pain. Time for the epidural.

It is now about 5 am. The anethesiologist was brought in to get me prepped for the epidural and then to administer it. I was nervous, but not as nervous as I expected. The nurse told me it would be a sharp pain from the needle, then a burning pressure from the fluid going into my spine. The poke from the needle wasn't bad and yes there was pressure from the fluid, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. The whole process lasted about ten minutes and every time they said I would feel a lot of pressure, it wasn't so bad. They were making it out to be worse than it actually was, which made me wonder if it wasn't working since I wasn't feeling much pain. Of course everything was good. Todd watched the whole procedure and actually got really faint. He started sweating and got really pale. He was worse off than me and he just watched! I was still feeling contractions when the anethesiologist was packing up, and that scared me, but they told me it takes at least 10 minutes for it to take effect. Then I would really feel the difference! My legs started to tingle and go numb first.

I could still feel the contractions, but they definitely did not feel as strong. I wasn't doubling over in pain anymore, but they still were strong. They were lasting 10-15 seconds now, but those 10-15 seconds were not pleasant. The nurses let me know I could up the dosage by pushing a button. I had to push it three times. My contractions were coming every 2 minutes now! I could still feel my legs and were able to move them, which is the sign of a good epidural. My parents got a kick out of me saying I could feel my numb legs, but couldn't clench my vagina or butt. That feeling was so weird!

At 6 am I was told they were going to break my water! A doctor came in to do that. He had a plastic needle type thing. I couldn't feel what he was doing, but I faintly felt a jab and then some fluid coming out. He said I was at 5 cm dilated, at -1 station (and I can't remember how effaced I was). Next was the catheter. For some reason I was nervous about this, but so thankful for the epidural. I didn't feel a thing (another sign the epidural was working wonderfully, even though I was still feeling contractions). Its crazy watching a long tube being inserted inside of you. Yuck. Finally the epidural was working full force and I couldn't feel any contractions.

Around 7:45 am, the nurse decided to check how far along I was. Right away she mentioned how far down the head was. The next thing she said/asked was "What do you think about starting to push?" Really?! It was time to say our goodbyes to my family! With our goodbyes out of the way, Todd started to get really anxious and nervous. He was ready to cry; I was the one who had to console him! Surprisingly I wasn't that nervous, I was just ready to meet our little boy. At 8 am we started pushing, with the nurse guiding me through. Towards the end of each contraction (I could still feel the contractions, just not the pain associated with them), I pushed. I pulled my feet/back of my knees towards my head and pushed for about 10 seconds, three times in a row each time, then took a break until the next contraction. We did this about 4-5 times for about 15 minutes. After about 10 of those minutes the nurse called my doctor to let us know how far along I was. He wanted to wait five more minutes before he came in (he was at the hospital already, had to do an emergency c-section earlier that morning). So I pushed for 15 minutes with just the nurse. This kind of surprised me because I just assumed the doctor would be with us once the pushing started, but he is really only there at the very end of labor (at least for me since there were no complications). While we were waiting for the doctor, Max's head was right there. I had asked if he had hair and the nurse said yes. She asked if Todd wanted to see, and surprisingly he said yes!

Our doctor finally came. He was amazed at how far along I was and how well I was doing. He guided me through more pushing after each contractions for 10 seconds each still, but sometimes shorter. After 15 more minutes, Max was here! At the position I was in, I was able to watch Max's head come out (at which time our doctor sucked the fluid out of his mouth - Max started crying right away!) and then I watched the rest of his body come out. I really did not know I would be able to see that. It was very surreal. He was placed on my chest right away so we could do skin-to-skin. He was perfect.

Only 30 minutes of pushing and our baby boy was here! Born at 8:30 am, he weighed 6 pounds and 9 ounces. He was 19 3/4 inches long. The labor went perfectly. What made it even better was that I did not tear or need an episiotomy. My doctor said I had one of the best and easiest labors and everyone would be jealous of me. Seriously, I couldn't have asked for a better labor experience. Everything was just so relaxed and everyone was so nice and helpful. The whole experience was amazing.