Labor Story

OK, now that I'm not sleep deprived, and the laundry is caught up, and Brian isn't watching baseball on my computer, and my mother-in-law is here to keep my hands free... *pant, pant* I am going to get caught up here! So to start with, the labor story. I'm going to try not to go into too much gory detail, but my perception of TMI is rather skewed right now :).

Wednesday, July 11th 3:15pm
My sister Jaime and I went to rent movies and get some food at the grocery store. When we arrived at home I leaned into the backseat to get a bag of groceries and paused. Um... I must have had a funny look on my face because Jaime asked me, "What?"

"Either I am wetting my pants or my water is breaking. And I don't think I'm wetting my pants."

It became even more clear as I walked into the house and there was a little gush of fluid with every other step. Jaime kept saying that it was OK and not panic, but really it sounded more like she was panicking and I felt surprised but not too terribly upset. I took care of myself (changed pants, etc) and then we started making calls.

Brian wasn't answering his cell or office phones, so I called the scheduling desk, asking them to help me find him. When he responded to the page he didn't believe them when they told him my water broke - he thought it was a pretty mean joke to play. When they stuck to their story he called me right away. I told him I wasn't having contractions yet so I didn't think we had to get to the hospital, but that it would be a good idea for him to come home. I called my OB next, and he didn't quite seem to believe that my water had broken at first. I convinced him and he said I did need to get to the hospital right away. Apparently 5 1/2 weeks early plus broken water is not a good mix. Of course, he still said that they would check and make sure it was amniotic fluid, then they would let him know.

I was planning to pack my hospital bag that afternoon, so Jaime and I rushed around throwing things together while Brian drove home. It was around 4:15 by the time we got to the hospital. They got me right upstairs and into a triage room, instructing me to get undressed and wear only my bra and the gown. *WARNING - icky detail coming* The body continues to make amniotic fluid until the baby is born, so I was still gushing fluid. By the time I got back out of the bathroom I swear I was leaving a puddle trail. "Do you want the pad I was wearing?" "Oh, if we can swab that it will be easier on you." "Um, how about you just swab what's running down my leg?" Yeah. Gross. Incidentally the little swab changed color immediately and they decided my water was indeed broken. No kidding! A towel and a wheelchair helped things immensely, and I never even sat on the triage bed. Off to our labor and delivery room we go!

We got a room with a view of the mountains which was really nice. I got all set up with an IV (the first one blew which hurt really bad), and monitoring equipment. All this time I wasn't sure if I was having contractions or not - things felt achy but I wasn't able to tell when one stopped and the next started. Apparently that is because the contractions were 2 minutes apart at most and about 1 minute long. Basically one on top of the other, making it hard to tell them apart. Luckily Kian handled it very well and his heartrate was nice and level and within normal range.

At 5:25 I was dilated to about 1.5 cm and they told me they weren't going to check me too often to avoid greater risks of infection. They worry about that with broken water anyhow, and with him being so early that is an even greater concern. Our nurse mentioned starting pitocin, which I was very against. I wanted the labor to progress naturally if possible, plus my contractions were already coming so hard and fast I didn't think it was necessary. She said she'd talk to the doctor. A few minutes later a note appeared on our monitor (it's all connected and we are nosy so we were watching it) saying that Dr D was ordering pitocin to be started. By the time the nurse came back in I was ready for the argument. No pitocin until I could talk to the Dr about it. When he called a while later he was pretty grumpy. "You refused the medication I ordered?" I tried to explain I just wanted to know his reasoning, and that I really didn't feel that it was necessary, but I would do whatever he felt needed to be done. He didn't want me to labor for more than 16 hours, but that was a long way off so I asked for a few more hours at least. At that point he basically said I had to have it. Happily for me, before they could give me the drugs he called back, apologized, and said we'd give it some time. Yay!

There was a shift change and we got a new nurse (all of the staff was fabulous by the way). Around 8:10pm I decided it was time for the epidural. The pain wasn't unbearable, but the contractions were still coming so hard and fast I was having a hard time keeping my breath. Besides, if I know I'm going to get pain meds, why wait and suffer? They thought it might help even my contractions out a bit too, which I thought might be better for Kian even though he was handling them just fine. At that point my blood pressure was up a little too, and the epidural helped with that. Dr R the anesthesiologist was fantastic! I was really worried about the epidural but it wasn't bad at all. A little pressure, some warmth, but that's about it. And then it was time to sit back and wait for the pain to slowly abate.

At 8:30 the nurse checked me again - 3cm - and put in the urinary catheter. I wasn't totally numb yet and apparently folks in my family need a pediatric catheter (I did not know this) so it was extremely painful. I mean, EXTREMELY. Other than the very end of labor it was by far the most painful thing I experienced. In fact, it might have been the worst part bar none. Horrid.

Around 10pm or so we all decided to try to get some rest. Brian was out pretty quickly, and I dozed a little. I ended up waking up in pain again around 1am and laid there trying to breathe through it, thinking that if I told them I was hurting they would have to re-place the epidural. When it got to be pretty bad I finally paged the nurse, and lo and behold, the anesthesiologist came in and upped my dose! Apparently I was on a low dose anyhow, and that really did the trick. Silly me for suffering. The nurse said that increase in pain is usually caused by 'something going on down there' so she checked me. 6cm! We called to let my parents know and my mom was instantly sure they weren't going to make it.

Increased pain again around 2:30, and I was dilated to 9cm! Wow, that was fast! Really the 9 was conservative and I was basically fully dilated and almost completely effaced. I got a little more pain meds - the last I would get. She called Dr D, but he was in the middle of a C section at another hospital. I didn't feel the need to push at all and wanted to try and wait until my parents arrived anyhow, so all was well. When the doc got there he said he could feel Kian's head with just his fingertips inside and I could push whenever I was ready. I told him I wanted to wait and he was OK with that. I was in a ton of pain with every (still fairly close together) contraction now, but they didn't want to give me anything more - that way I could feel when to push. I just breathed through and held on. OK, and moaned and squeezed Brian's hand and rolled back and forth a little. No screaming or mean name calling or crying though! Woo!

Somewhere in here I asked the doctor if there was any chance that he wouldn't have to go to the NICU. By now I was really, really worried that he was going to have a very hard time. The doc said anything is POSSIBLE but not to get my hopes up. Basically, get ready for him to have to be whisked away and to have to spend time in the NICU. I just tried not to think about it.


My parents arrived around 4am and it was decided that my dad would wait in the waiting room since we could only have 3 people in there. My mom held one leg and Brian held the other. My mom helped me count out my pushes while Jaime looked on. I guess watching tons of baby TV shows paid off because I was a good pusher (apparently). I knew not to make any sound and to try to keep my face relaxed and to put all of my strength into the push.

I ended up pushing for just under an hour. Dr D never told me to push more gently or to let up or anything. Usually they have you stop pushing when the head emerges so they can suction and check the cord isn't wrapped around and all of that. Not in this case! It was push as hard as you can until there was a huge woosh and an icky sound and he basically came shooting right out! The doctor literally had to catch him as he plopped into his lap! Right away he was crying and pinking up, and we could tell he didn't look like a preemie at all. And he was huge! Brian and I both pretty much sobbed at this point. I don't think I've ever seen Brian cry like that. Our special little miracle was here!

They whisked him over to evaluate him (no snuggle for me), and Brian was stuck on the far side of me while I delivered the placenta and got stitched up. That hard as you can stuff resulted in a pretty severe tear, but it was still worth it :). His APGAR scores were 9 and 9, which basically means he was doing great from the start. He never needed any oxygen and it was clear that he wasn't going to be whisked off to the NICU. What a miracle! No problem nursing from the start either, and soon enough we realized that though early, we had a very healthy baby. What an amazing ride!