Now that Rowan is two months old I figured it was time to get back into the swing of blogging. The following is my labor and delivery story. Don't worry there is no graphic images, but if one comes to mind, apologies all around!
First off, I have to thank my super wonderful husband, Bryon, for being there and supporting me. I don't think I could have made it through without you. I don't think I can even begin to express the depth of gratitude and love that I feel for you! Thank-you feels almost inadequate.
Now, for the story you all have been waiting for!
As far as birth plans go, I had one. That's about all I can say about it. About 97% of it did not come to fruition, but since my main goal was to have a happy, healthy baby, then what does it matter when it's all said and done?
My water decided to break at home at approximately 5:40 p.m. It was one of the weirdest feelings I have felt. It was a small gush, almost like I peed myself. In fact, I had just peed so I was wondering if maybe my bladder had decided to empty the rest of the way. I went out to the living room and asked Bryon what it felt like when you water breaks (because it had totally happened to him before, right?). The decision at that point was to keep an eye on things because I wasn't 100% sure that it was my water. Then, I decided to go sit on the couch. Gush again! From there we decided to go into the hospital, but only after we ate dinner (which was almost ready). We were telling Asher what the plan was and he asked me, "Are you sure you don't have the runs?" This made me laugh and gush some more at the table.
After we ate, I threw the few last minute items I needed in my suitcase and we loaded up the car and headed to the hospital. At this point, I was having contractions, but they were similar to the ones I had been having so I wasn't in pain really so to speak. We were almost to the hospital and we saw a black bear! My first live one out in the wild. I wanted a picture but there were cars behind us, plus there were a couple of people that looked like they were approaching it for a picture. Maybe it would have been a cool pic of "When Bears Attack." But I digress...
Anyways, we get to triage on labor and delivery and get all hooked up into monitors and such. I'm still gushing fluid and we figure out that there is meconium in it. Not good. Then the midwife comes in and does my exam. I'm not even dilated to a one. She wanted to start Pitocin which I absolutely did not want. We talked her into giving us time to get this labor going on our own. The plan was to walk once I was admitted. She reluctantly agreed to this. The nurse came into complete my admission and that's when the holy hell! contractions came. I could not talk, tears started leaking out of my eyes, I didn't want to breath etc. Asher was still with us and he was so sweet. He kept telling me how strong I was and that I could do it. He made me so proud of him during the whole process!
Once my admission was complete, we were taken to the labor and delivery room. I had a pretty sweet room. It was humongous! Bryon's friend came and picked up Asher and then we started trying to work on this labor process. The contractions were hurting pretty bad (I think that is an understatement). I tried the birthing ball for about 20 minutes. I tried swaying my hips for just a few. Then I made the mistake of laying down. Let's just say the walking never happened. I tried as hard as I could to breath through the pain. I kept thinking (and verbalizing) if the contractions would just stop for five minutes then I could refocus. It was like as soon as one contraction would calm to where I could breath normal again another one would start.
I finally broke. As much as I wanted a natural delivery and as much as I wanted to try the tub and stuff it didn't happen. I thought if I tried the IM and IV Nubain first then I might calm down enough to be able to go the rest of the way without meds. Well...it took like 30-45 minutes to get the meds ordered which feels like an eternity when you are in severe pain. By the time I could get the medicine I had turned into...
THE PATIENT FROM HELL!
You know, the one you can hear screaming clear up and down the hallway. The one that can't focus on anything or listen to anything. I yelled a lot of curse words (luckily not attacking anyone or thing in particular). Mostly I was just crying "Please make it stop!!" I think they gave me some oxygen at that point because Rowan's heart rate was starting to drop. The Nubain finally arrived and it helped for about 10 minutes. Then the whole mess started all over again.
I was in the hospital all of four hours before I said, in a very controlled tone, "I...want...an...epidural." To which I received. I had to have the epidural placed twice because the first one only numbed the right side of my body. After the epidural was placed, then Pitocin was started because I could no longer naturally augment my labor. I was stuck in bed for the next 19 or so hours. After my pain was under control, I kept apologizing to everyone, Bryon, the nurse, the midwife. They all told me it was okay, that they didn't really have a problem with it, but, as a nurse, at some point (in the dark recesses of my brain) I would have thought that my patient was completely over-dramatic. Would I ever admit that to my patient? Of course not.
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| I was a much happier camper after some pain meds and three hours of sleep! |
The next several hours consisted of resting in bed, watching movies, nothing too exciting. There was a moment where I puked. I drank a lot of Sprite, took some IV Zofran. I ate a granola bar at some point. There were a couple of times that everyone got all excited (in a worried way) because Rowan's heart rate decelerated. Then everyone would help me re-position until it came back up. Rowan did not care for me on my back at all, and he didn't so much like the left side (but I could get a couple of hours at a time over there before he acted up). I got more boluses and stuff for my epidural (since I had one, I didn't think I should have to feel pain). One of the CRNAs told me that I must metabolize the meds quicker than most.
Moving on to the exciting part...it was finally time for me to start pushing!
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| Pushing is harder than it looks..... |
I think I pushed for about two hours. I am so glad that they had a mirror because Rowan's head became my focal point. They had to tell me not to push a few times to give him a break and let him recuperate. It was so hard not to push during those times! Another thing, and this is way TMI, I know, but it's part of the experience...I had poop that needed to come out! Nobody would take it out and I resorted to begging even. They were all, push it out, and I was all, I am and it is stuck! It was sooo uncomfortable! The nurse and the midwife were trying to tell me it was the baby's head pushing on my rectum but I knew better....it was the poop.
-Moving on-
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| He was bigger than we thought he was going to be! |
I finally pushed my baby boy out and the plan was for him to go right to my stomach. Unfortunately, Rowan did not breath spontaneously so they had to whisk him away to the warmer. The NICU team was on hand for the birth already because there was meconium in the water. I could tell Bryon really wanted to go over there, but he looked a little torn and I told him to go see our boy. The team suctioned Rowan's cords and then he had to have some PPV (positive pressure ventilation) via a bag-valve mask. He became more alert, but not quick enough so there was talk of him being transferred to the NICU. Everything was like tunnel vision and slowed time for me at this point. Thankfully, he perked up and started to cry! Meanwhile, I delivered the placenta and they had to give me some medicine to prevent hemorrhaging because my bleeding wasn't slowing like it should have.
Once everything was under control, I finally got to hold my little man. I cannot even put into words the feelings that went through me at that moment. It was one of the happiest moments of my life! All of the hard work of pregnancy, labor, and delivery were totally worth it!
And that was how Rowan was introduced to the world!
