my baby story #3

Let's see where should I start?  How about the morning of August 30th at 5:30 am.  This was the day I was I scheduled to be induced.  I was 39 weeks and 3 days pregnant.  My first delivery went all wrong and my son has problems now from all the complications that took place from my delivery so each delivery afterwards has been scheduled a few days early with my doctor on hand in case any complications arise.

So here I am at 5:30 am calling the labor and delivery department to find out when I am supposed to come in for my induction.  I did this same exact thing with my last pregnancy so I expect the nurse to tell me to eat a little something and head on in to the hospital.  Unfortunately, that didn't happen this time.  This time 10 women went into labor the previous night and the labor and delivery department was packed.  I was told that I would be called as soon as a bed opens.  I'm totally bummed but try to go back to bed and rest up since I am certain they will call very soon.

12pm- I was losing hope that they would ever call.  My husband kept telling me to call my doctor, to call the hospital back, to call my senator, etc. Ok, the last part was a bit dramatic but you get my point.  I called my friend Jessie and complained about how bummed I was.  She came over shortly after with a box of baby clothes and diapers her little boy grew out of and a bottle of castor oil.  Up until this point I was certain that I did NOT want to try the castor oil but I was depressed and feeling like I would never have this baby (yes, totally dramatic).  Jessie made a mint chocolate chip/castor oil shake and I drank it up.  Looking through the baby clothes she brought over helped me feel a little better and so I decided to join my family on a walk a few blocks away to get some tacos for lunch.  I quickly realized that leaving the house was a BAD idea after drinking the castor oil and I basically ran home to the bathroom (yes, tmi) avoiding food entirely and feeling like I was gonna die.  My stomach was cramping so bad.  I started to have contractions but was in so much pain that I couldn't tell what was a contraction and what was gas from the castor oil.

3:15 pm- Sure enough, while I am laying on the couch doubled over in pain the nurse FINALLY calls and tells me they are ready for me.So we pick up my son from school and give the kids a kiss goodbye and get in the car.  We live over an hour from the hospital and shortly after getting on our way my contractions started to get worse.  They were about 10 minutes apart.  We stopped to get some food before we got to the hospital and at this point I was in a lot of pain.  I honestly can't even remember what I ate. 

5:30 pm- We arrive at the hospital and I am in labor with contractions 2-3 minutes apart and I'm dilated to almost 6 cm.  They decide to skip the pitocen since I no longer need to be induced cause I'm in labor.  The doctor pops my bag and they start entering my information as fast as they can.  My sweet husband lets the nurse know that I prefer an epidural and they better get on it soon.  Yeah, he's a keeper.  The nurses were afraid that there might not be enough time for the epidural and gave me a pain pill of some sort.  The pill works and I am now as high as a kite.  The doctor finally shows with an epidural but I don't remember much of that.  By the time I get my epidural I am 7 cm dilated and moving along fast.  They keep informing me to let them know when I need to push which makes me think my little boy is coming soon.  I still feel the pain from the contractions and let the nurse know so she ups my epidural.  Looking back now I realize that was a mistake because I'm pretty sure now that I was feeling so much more pain cause it was just about time for me to start pushing. 

9pm-ish- I am 10 cm dilated and my doctor is on her way.  I am told that there won't be any practice pushes because this baby is coming too fast.  She shows up and I start pushing.  I realize now that the extra meds from the epidural was a mistake because I don't feel the urge to push like I should.  I pay really close attention to my body and the nurse and push with the next contraction.  I do this 2 more times, each time it's easier for me to feel when to push and on the third set of pushes my son is born.

9:48pm- Our sweet boy is born and nothing else matters in the whole world as I hold him and fall madly in love with him. 

My labor was very easy and short but the downside of this was that my legs were numb for quite some time afterwards since my epidural was given to me just an hour or so before the birth.  Both baby and I ran into some problems after the birth but we are both doing better now and he is a happy and healthy little boy.  I honestly couldn't have asked for a better labor.

We are so blessed.