Friday 7/31, I started to lose my mucous plug slowly but surely. As soon as I told my girlfriend Melissa who just had her baby in May about it, she told me I would definitely be having the over the weekend. She guessed Sunday 8/2 to be exact.When I told Dan this information, he of course begged me to stop working out and staying off my feet so I would hold out until after Monday - when he was planning on attending a big golf tournament with his brother Jack.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Worked all day.... we got a pizza for dinner and Dan picked me up some non-alcoholic beer so we could both have a couple of 'drinks' and relax.
Early Saturday 8/1 morning I remember turning over in my sleep and hearing a pop. I thought it was my back cracking since I was having such a tough time rolling over in bed at this point in the pregnancy. I got up to go pee and nothing happened. I woke up again around 5AM, went pee and then when I stood up I noticed a trickle down my leg. The next time I stood up it was more of a leak with a puddle on the floor. I woke Dan up telling him I thought my water broke. He came in as I was cleaning up the floor and asked if it was like Niagara Falls? I said no and so he said he wasn't buying it. I told him I thought we should both shower and see how I felt. Within a half hour I was convinced it was my water and decided we would call the doctor at 6AM.
We put in the call and then headed to Dunkin Donuts to pick up some breakfast. When the doctor called back we discussed how the water was clear and how I wasn't having any contractions yet so she said I could stay home for the time being and we should head in after 3 or 4 hours. So we headed home and had breakfast, got the pool cleaned up and did some laundry and dishes. We sat down to watch TV for a while and I thought that maybe I was starting contractions since I was feeling cramps in my back now rather than just in front. Once they got to 6 minutes apart we decided to head into the hospital since we were hitting the four hour mark anyways.
As we got in the car to leave I mentioned to Dan how disappointed I was that it rained on Friday night so we couldn't go for our weekly walk to Davidians Farm Stand for ice cream. Now that's not to say that I only ate ice cream on Fridays... ice cream was definitely my one big craving during pregnancy. Throw in a piece of cake and I was in heaven! Anyways, we thought the ice cream stand opened at 10AM so we stopped by before getting on the highway. I was so bummed that the window was closed :( Dan went in to double check whether it was open or not and by playing the 'my wife is in labor and on the way to the hospital' card, he was able to get me my peppermint patty ice cream. What a guy!! I loved that my last meal before giving birth would be such yummy ice cream!
We got to the hospital at 10:30 AM and headed to the triage area so they could determine if indeed my water had broke. I knew as soon as it was confirmed I would be staying in the hospital until after birth. Of course I was right! They asked me if I knew what my progress had been so I told them that the OB told me I was 'a stretchy 2 cm and 85% effaced' at my Monday appt. They said that was great and then asked who my OB was. When I told them they all laughed and said my doctor is very generous with his measurements and I was probably only 1 cm. Now is that what you want to tell a woman who is about to enter labor with her first baby!?!? I was so sad because I thought I had made such great progress over the past couple of weeks and then to hear this .... bummer.
Anywho - I headed over to a delivery room so start the whole exciting process. When I entered the delivery room, the nurse asked what my pain level was on a scale from 1 to 10. I said 5 or 6... HAHAHAH oh how naive! Looking back now, I was only at a 1! I brought my exercise ball to use as a birthing ball. Supposedly sitting on the ball while laboring is supposed to open up your hips faster. Not sure if it actually helped or not but I preferred sitting on the ball or sitting on a chair backwards instead of standing, walking or swaying.
Finally at 2:30 PM I was really starting to feel some serious pain. especially in my back. I kept asking the nurse if that meant the baby was sunny side up (head facing up instead of down like it is supposed to) - she told me not
necessarily. I originally said that I was not going to take any pain killers since they would also affect the baby. I decided to get checked and they said I was at 4cm. Rather than getting an epidural at this point, I chose to do the pain killer. Dan tried his best to talk me out of it but at that point I was looking for some relief. I took the shot and it definitely took the edge off but did not
alleviate the pain completely. Really it just made me feel like I drank a bit too much wine - a feeling I hadn't had in the past nine months :)
At 4:00PM, the rest of the pain
meds had worn off and I asked to be checked again. I was now at 5cm and I decided to go for the epidural.... WHY I decided to try to play tough and not get it earlier I have no idea. I so wish I did the epidural right at 2:30 rather than even trying the pain killers. Oh well - you live and learn right?
For the next few hours we listened to music, watched some TV and pretty much just hung out. Time is a bit of a blur now. At one point I was checked again and told I was 8cm...... another time they thought I was ready to push but decided to put it off a bit longer.....
Then at 9:00PM is was finally time to push! My epidural was AWESOME!! Once I got it, I did not feel one contraction the entire time I labored or pushed. The nurse had to tell me when I was having a contraction so I knew when I needed to push. The entire time I was pushing, I was watching TV in between contractions - how sick is that?? Does that mean I am I TV
junky or what!!
The movie playing was Men in Black and I remember telling the
nurses that I would be delivering the baby
before the movie was over. When it ended at 10:00 PM I was so bummed ... but low and behold, they played it again!!! I thought YES - I was in - still going to deliver when that movie was on. While pushing I remember being really thirsty but I was supposed to slowly sip water and suck on ice chips. Dan had to ration me because I was so ready to chug!! I remember feeling like I was going to throw up - that feeling went away and was replaced by wicked heartburn. I must have taken tums 2 or 3 times in between pushes.
I remember SO many people coming in and out to check on things, help my get propped up and even having a nursing shift change during the pushing phase. It's amazing how you completely forget that you are laying there half naked and EVERYONE is getting a birds eye view of your goods. I pushed in so many different positions I can't even remember them all. So many positions that we saw in
birthing classes that I said I would never do - but there I was, trying to push this little guy out as best I could.
At one point security called our room to ask Dan to move his car to a different level of the garage. You would have thought there would have been a sign somewhere telling overnight guests not to park on that level. So Dan ran out to move to the next floor down. Luckily he remembered from our birthing classes that the doors to the parking garage were all locked at 8:30 PM and was smart enough to prop the door open so he could get back in. Can you imagine if he didn't? The only way in at that point would have been going
thru the emergency room. This hospital is such a maze I don't know how long it would have taken him to find his way back to our room!!
At midnight, the second showing of Men in Black was over and was replaced by Lethal Weapon 4. My prediction officially didn't happen. I was starting to dread the doctor coming in, expecting to get 'the talk' about a c-section. Luckily, she was willing to try the
vacuum first. While getting set up, I asked her if I was going to need an
episiotomy and she said yes. At that point I asked if I could juice up my epidural since I was so scared of being cut.
So the
vacuum was attached ......... and Nicholas Daniel was officially born at 1:01AM on August 2
nd. As he was pulled out, I can remember feeling the first pain since getting my epidural. I had such a hard time focusing on the pushing at the point I needed to most! But once out, total relief.... no more pain..... until the stitches. I guess at the last moment, they decided to let me tear naturally (thanks!). The actual needle didn't hurt, it was the tugging of the stitch that was uncomfortable.
Some other points ........
Once I started pushing, my contractions spaced out to 5 minutes at some point. I think that was one of the reasons I was able to labor so long since I had such a break in between. But I guess it was a double edge sword since it also meant that the pushing phase took so much longer.
I completely blame my friend Melissa for having the baby at 1:01AM. She HAD to predict I would have the baby on Sunday and not Saturday.... just to make me suffer a little bit longer :)
Dan tells me that I had a smile on my face
thru the entire process. Like I said, the epidural was AWESOME! It never wore off and I was able to juice it up a bit whenever I wanted.
Dan chose not to cut the cord so I decided to do it - apparently I said it felt just like cutting
thru calamari. Interesting
comparison don't you think?
I think there was something in the water in Webster because two of my high school friends and I have all given birth to sunny side up babies. I was so afraid of this since my friend Melissa had just pushed for 3 hours to give birth to her sunny side up baby and I so was hoping for a shorter labor. I really can't complain though - all and all I feel like my experience was a positive one. From my water breaking at 5AM to delivering at 1AM - the 20 hours wasn't all that bad.
When I asked about my tear, I was told it was a second degree tear and wasn't all that bad. I asked how many stitches I had and all they would tell me was 'way less than if you had to have a c-section'.
The one traumatic thing that happened was that the
vacuum had slipped at one point and ended up cutting Nicholas' head pretty bad. Dan said it was about 3 inches long and about 3/8" of skin had flapped up. When he mentioned it to the doctor, she said 'oh it's probably just some of
momma's blood'. When she saw it, she was like 'whoa - I guess not'. The
NICU team had already been called to the room since they had to use a
vacuum so they were able to evaluate it right there. They folded it back put medicine on it. I've included pics of his head with the open gash vs. what is looked like a couple days later.
When Nicholas was born, he measured 21.5 inches. When he went to the pediatrician 4 days later, he only measured 20 inches. Talk about a cone head adding some serious height!! I swear his head was twice the size after birth than it is now. We are sticking with the 21.5" though since that was the official measurement :)
We finally made it to our post delivery room around 4:30AM. So 24 hours start to finish!!
My healing has been going very well and I really can't complain. I won't be jogging again anytime soon but am getting around just fine.
Thanks to everyone who visited at the hospital and brought flowers and balloons and gifts. So sweet to see you all!!
