On June 25, 2010, I had a regularly scheduled doctor's appointment. Unfortunately, my doctor was at a delivery, so I saw the nurse practitioner. However, it was in his notes to offer me a scheduled induction. This was because I had Strep B and therefore had to have antibiotics for a certain amount of time before delivery. By scheduling an induction, the hospital would be able to ensure the correct amount of antibiotics would be in my system before I delivered.
Doug and I decided that having an induction would be the best idea. We were told it would be either on Tuesday or Wednesday of the following week and that they would call us and notify us of the day and time we needed to go to the hospital. For some inexplicable reason, once we left the doctor's office, I became very emotional. I think having a 2-day window for when we would become a family made this whole 10-month situation more real. I cried for a long time wondering if we had made the wrong decision by scheduling an induction.
Later in the day, I received a call saying that my induction would be on Wednesday, June 30th and that I needed to be at the hospital at midnight that morning. I kept hoping that in the next 4 days, I would naturally go into labor. Apparently my stubborn son thought better of it, because we made it to midnight on June 30th with no overly exciting progress.
However, knowing when this baby would be born did allow me to get a pedicure, spend quality time with Doug during our last weekend as a two-some and prepare a little bit more for what was going to come, like I knew what to expect (haha).
So, on Tuesday we spent our last day as a couple. We left the house about 11:45pm for a 5 minute drive. What? We were excited! When we got to the hospital, since it was so late, we had to go through the ER to get to Labor and Delivery. We pre-registered at the hospital a few weeks before Weston's due date, so when I went into labor, we wouldn't have to waste time (or me trying not to kill someone since I'd be in pain) getting to L&D. However, the triage nurse made me give all of my information again (name, ss#, blood type, etc.), which if I were in labor, I'd be pissed to be giving this information.
When the triage nurse was finally finished grilling me, she opened the doors to the ER treatment area and told us she'd call L&D and let them know we were on our way. No wheelchair, no directions, just go. Our hospital was under construction at the time, so there wasn't a direct path to L&D. Instead, Doug and I weaved our way through the halls like mice in a maze. Except we couldn't find our cheese...and there weren't too many people roaming the halls at midnight to ask for directions. We went to several elevator banks until we finally found the correct one. I remember we had to push the call button outside the doors of L&D and tell them who we were and why we were there. That really stuck with me because it meant we were not going to be leaving those locked doors until we were parents. Oh My!!
Once we got into our LDR room, which was quite spacious, the nurse had me change into a hospital gown and then they kicked Doug out. I was a little confused because I was sure whatever part of my body they were planning on working on, Doug had seen before. I mean let's face it, I was there to deliver his baby. The baby got into my belly somehow... Anyhow, they began asking me all kinds of questions, some of which included whether or not Doug abused me in any way while I was pregnant or if he tried to hurt the baby in-utero. I thought those were the most bizarre questions and if you knew Doug, you'd know that the idea of him abusing me or anyone else is extremely laughable. I'm pretty sure most people don't get asked those questions and when I mentioned to my mom that I had been asked them, she thought the OB might have asked the hospital to ask me the questions because Doug came to every prenatal visit and perhaps the doctor thought he was controlling me. Weston was our first baby, Doug was excited to go to all the visits and hear our baby's heartbeat and on ultrasound days, see the baby. I'm fairly sure he won't accompany me to all of the appointments for baby #2, but if he wants to, so be it.
Anyway, once Doug was allowed back in, the nurses finished my IV and inserted the induction medicine into (onto?) my cervix. They then told me I had to lay flat for the next several hours and to try and get some sleep. They brought me an Ambien to help out with that. I've never been a great sleeper, but I've never taken sleeping pills before to help combat insomnia. Let me tell you, I will NEVER take another sleeping pill in my life! There was a bottle of Gatorade or something on a table across the room. I saw it as a very pregnant hula dancer giving birth.
Before I was induced, the doctor said the cervix medicine would do its job and we would have a baby by lunchtime. At 8am when the OB arrived, I hadn't progressed much past 3cm, which I was almost at when I was admitted. He made some comment about how comfortable I looked and then he broke my water, which I have heard some people say was the best feeling. I hated it!! It felt like wetting my pants for what felt like a couple hours. Every time I would shift in the bed, there would be another gush. YUCK!!
At apparently the same time as breaking my water, Satan my OB also ordered the Pitocin (which I'm pretty sure I wasn't hooked up to previously) turned up, WAY up. I went from perfectly fine, playing cards and contracting without much discomfort, to OHMYGOODNESSMAKEITSTOP!! in about 15 minutes.
My goal was to go without an epidural. I planned to walk around to both have gravity help the situation and to be in a different position to labor. I had a normal pregnancy without any real complications, so I figured walking around would be acceptable. However, the nurses wouldn't let me get out of bed to use the bathroom, much less to let me walk around. Therefore, I had to do all of my laboring in the bed. Between that and the intensity of the Pitocin, my labor was very strong and my contractions were one on top of the next from 3.5 cm on.
I labored naturally for the next 6 1/2 hours in darkness and silence, during which time the nurses kept making me move out of the only position that was comfortable* because they couldn't monitor the baby. At some point, late in the 6 1/2 hours, they decided to put an internal monitor on the baby's head so that I could be in my comfortable* position. So smart those nurses were... Why I couldn't walk around at that point, I'm still not sure, but my requests kept getting denied. There was one nurse that kept telling me "just breathe". She almost found herself thrown out of the window!
*comfortable if you are going through the most intense pain you've ever felt but momentarily, it's one step down from that.
By 2:30, I asked for an epidural, not because I couldn't just muster through the pain, but because at that point, I'd had energy-draining contractions one after the other for 6 1/2 hours and I didn't think I would have the energy to push when it came time if I didn't get some rest. The nurse told me that I would have to wait until 2 bags of fluids were pushed into me to get my epidural. I had been on an IV for at least 9 hours at that point. Why did I need so much more fluid before I could get the epidural?! When I heard that fun news, I thought I was going to lose my mind. After finally getting the fluids, they called anesthesia to come give me my epidural. The anesthesiologist tried 3 times before successfully getting my epidural in the correct place. I didn't care, just give me some relief FORTHELOVEOFGOD!! Doug tells me before the nurse had finished securing the epidural lines and whatever else she needed to do, I was in a deep sleep. Apparently I did need the sleep.
The next thing I remember is the nurse waking me up after what seemed like 15 minutes, but was almost 2 hours later. She told me it was time to push, so I needed to wake up. I remember thinking, just let me sleep, I'll push when I'm less sleepy.
I began pushing about 5:00. I truly believe this was the most difficult part of the whole labor. As much as I didn't enjoy the intense pain I was feeling, I hated pushing. My epidural was great, I felt the pressure of the contractions so I knew when to push and it didn't hurt. However, I have exertion-induced asthma. Therefore, as you can imagine, I had a lot of trouble breathing and getting enough breath to push. They didn't give me oxygen, so I guess they figured if I turned blue, they'd give me some?
After 46 minutes of pushing (and not breathing) I gave birth to what my OB said was "a solid one". Weston was born at 5:46pm on 6/30/2010. He weighed 8 pounds 13 ounces and was 22 inches long.
I had a student nurse that had been one of my nurses since 7am and she wanted to see her first baby born. She was supposed to be at a meeting at her other job, but stayed until he was born. :-)
At literally 5:47, a cafeteria worker came in with a cheeseburger she claimed we ordered. I was thinking 'sweetheart, my legs are still up in stirrups, I haven't birthed the placenta yet and I've been pushing for almost an hour. I didn't order any food!'
Shortly after he was born, a nurse came to get Weston to take him to the nursery. I told them that wasn't happening, I had just had him, come back later. The lady gave me a real attitude and I wasn't impressed.
My parents met Weston that evening and my in-laws met him on July 5th.
When I have another baby, I will make sure I can move around during my labor to try and help manage the pain. I also hope to not have to be induced so that I can avoid Pitocin altogether.
