Here is my last picture pregnant, right before we left for the hospital Tuesday night.
Your birth was priceless. It was unexpected and beautiful, not my plan at all, and you are the best thing I've ever done!
How most women as young girls dream of their perfect wedding day, I always dreamed of becoming a Mom, and Isaac you make me proud to call you my son!
Tuesday (12/4/12) I had gone into the midwives' office for another AFI (amniotic fluid test). And there were very tiny pockets of fluid in the four quadrants. Right away Margie (one of the midwives)told me that I would need to be induced. At this point, I was ready, since the past Thursday was so scary, this came by surprise but I wanted me and my baby to be healthy. So at 4 pm my mom and I left the office, went home to pack and ate dinner (with much excitement). Michael was already home, and at 7:30 we had to go to labor and delivery at the Birthing Inn. They started me on Cervadil to "ripen my cervix." I thankfully took the suggested Ambien, since I had gotten no sleep the last Thursday while on the baby monitor all night.
Wednesday morning nurse woke me at 6 am to eat some cereal and take a shower. My cervix was still closed. At 7am I was started on Pitocin, for the first hour I was able to rest in bed while listening to music, my mom came around 7:30 to be with us for the big day. By 8 am I was demanding to get into the labor tub, the hot water felt so good, since at this point the contractions had started to get stronger.
I spent about 2 hours in the tub. Luckily the hospital has wireless baby monitors for us to wear to be able to be in the tub, and for the IV line I just did my best not to get it wet. I couldn't keep still due to the contractions, I kept moving my position which then caused the monitors to move. Once I got out I didn't feel the need to get my gown back on. Being strapped to baby monitors and my IV line I had enough going on I didn't need one more thing on me. I did however ended up tossing my breakfast, after getting out of the tub. Which then after the clean up I hopped into the shower to hose me down.
At this point labor was really getting tiring and very painful. I ended up getting meds. I could still feel my contractions but it helped to relax me, and I was able to rest for a good 1/2 hour, though I was awake, and still doing my breathing exercises it did help. But by the time the drug was wearing off I wanted the Epidural. Shannon and Paula the midwives came to check me. Getting checked was more painful than the epidural (which didn't hurt at all). I was 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced after being in labor for 4.5 hours. HAHA, there was no way I was continuing at this point I could barely concentrate on breathing, the contraction were excruciating at this point. Not only was I in full body pain, and exhaustion, the contractions were now piling on top of each other and I wasn't getting any breaks. I told them I wanted the epidural, and Shannon then asked if we wanted to discuss the matter, and I said no, no, no need (Since she knew I had planned for natural childbirth she wanted to make sure I knew I was making the right decision). Shannon had to get in my face and help me breath while getting the epidural, I had small pits in my spine so the Anesthesiologist ended up getting the needle into the spinal fluid space (once I got to my postpartum room, every time I sat up I had an instant headache, called a Spinal headache).
As soon as I was comfortable in bed, I kicked everyone out to take a nap. I felt bad Michael and my mom hadn't gotten to eat lunch yet. Well I should have had my mom go get lunch because, I felt nauseous once more from just having ice chips awhile back. I was scared, I was completely numb, I called the nurse and the secretary sent her to another room. It took every inch of strength I had to toss my torso over the side of the bed to "toss my cookies." My nurse Lani was not happy when she arrived since she wasn't there to help due to the stupid secretary. Just the look on her face I could tell she needed a break. But she was a rock star and gave me excellent care. I have yet to write her manager to tell her how happy I was with my experience, thanks to Lani, and my midwives. I'm not gonna lie, both times I puked, it got on me. This time though of course I couldn't get out of bed.
The epidural felt very weird. Being completely numb, made my legs feel as if they were floating. And now I know how amputee's say they can feel their toes wiggling still. Because I kept asking Michael if my toes were wiggling.
I ended up taking a 1 hour nap, then the midwives came back in to check me. I had gone from 2 cm to 10 cm in 1 hour!!! My body needed the drug to calm me down. There would have been no way I could have continued without the epidural. I have no guilt what so ever because I got an epidural. It was the right choice for this labor.
As the midwives prepped for delivery which took 2 seconds, I began to push, and with the first push we could see the top of Isaac's head! I did watch on the mirror, I never thought I would want to, but it was extremely encouraging. Shannon joked saying that this baby will be out by 2:03pm, when we were 20 minutes in. When we were getting closer I had them take the mirror away, I definatly did not want to see myself tear if that was going to be the case. But after a good hour of pushing Isaac arrived into this world at exactly 2:04pm! On the last push I love how they yell "STOP" and his head popped right out. Isaac had stooled in utero, so Rachel the Neonatologist Nurse Practitioner was waiting with a NICU nurse to take care of my sweet boy. Shannon first suctioned out his mouth and nose, then the rest of his body just slid right out. The nurse needed to cut the cord, and I saw my green baby rush to the warmer. I was HIGH on adrenalin and love! I still can't believe I was only in labor for 7 hours, with my first baby!
