Our Birth Story

Saturday morning I woke up around 2:30 am from a dream that I was using the bathroom. I woke up to find myself leaking fluid and soaked. For a while I thought I had pee'd the bed. I got up to go to the bathroom & felt more of a gush and was fairly certain it was my water so I smelled it (gross I know!) like they dr had told me to if I thought my water broke. I kept leaking so I woke up Derek and told him I thought my water broke and I was going to call labor & delivery. He laughed & said I probably just pee'd myself. I called l&d & they said I could shower but then to come on in to get checked out. I took my time with my shower and Derek went back to sleep for a few. I got ready; we took Chloe to his sisters and headed to the hospital. I still wasn't contracting but I knew that if indeed my water had broken hey wouldn't let me go home.
Once we got to l&d (around 4 am) they got us checked in right away and hooked up to monitors. I was having tiny contractions but nothing like before. They tested my fluid and sure enough my water had "grossly" broken. I was dilated 1 cm & 60% effaced & baby was at a -2. They said I would have a few hours to see if my contractions would start on their own before intervening. DH got set up to sleep & I thought I would be able to nap as well but my nerves were too high. At 6:00 they decided to start cytotech. I had this with Chloe to induce my labor so I "thought" I knew what I was getting myself into. By 8:00 am I was definitely feeling the contractions. They checked me again & I was 90% effaced but only dilated to 2 cm. The dr came in & said I could take a hot bath if I wanted but no epidural until 4 cm. By this point I was ready for any sort of relief. The contractions felt much stronger than they ever had with Chloe. The nurse got the tub ready and about 15 minutes later I was soaking away. The contractions were very strong so I was hoping by the time they checked me again at 10 I would be at 4 cm so I could get the epidural. The plan was to see what I had dilated to at 10:00 and either do another round of cytotech or pitocin. They checked me and I was only at 3 cm but baby was at 0 station so we had made some progress.
I was a little disappointed that I hadn’t dilated much and was already in so much pain. The nurse got me set up in the rocking chair and it was a lot more comfortable than the bed. She offered pain meds thru the IV, which I hadn’t planned to not use. I refused and she left us to labor for a while. About 15 minutes later I had all I could take so I ended up with meds in the IV and the relief was almost instant. I could still feel the contractions but I wasn’t tensing up with each one and I was able to get thru them. The meds wore off about a half hour later so I still had 15 minutes before they would check me again to work thru on my own. When she came in I was in a lot of pain and praying for the epidural. When the nurse checked me she said “oh my”… I knew either I had made no progress or it was too late for the epi. She said I was already at a 8-9 and baby was even lower. She told me it was probably too late for the epidural but I could have more meds thru the IV or they could give me a “mini epidural” shot in my back, which would last 2-3 hours. I opted for the shot as pushing without the epidural was not something I really was prepared to do.
Thankfully the anestisiologist was available right away and soon I felt pure and utter bliss! The anesthesiologist however said the shot would only last about an hour and a half so we were praying the rest of my labor would progress quickly. The nurse called the dr back to the hospital so she was there when I was ready. About a half hour later they checked me again but no real progress. The baby was turned on his side and they needed him to flip. They also saw that due to my previous cervical surgeries I had quite a bit of scar tissue on my cervix that was causing a tight “rubber band-like” ring preventing me from dilating the rest of the way. This is also why I had trouble dilating in the beginning. I had read about this before but didn’t give it a lot of thought. The nurse did what she could to stretch my cervix more and shortly after that I felt a large pop and a ton of pressure. I started feeling the contractions a lot stronger and knew the shot was wearing off. The nurse came in and I was fully dilated and baby had dropped the rest of the way. She had me push once at which point the baby finished turning and it was “go” time. The dr came in and I started feeling the contractions and pressure very badly. I knew the shot had worn off completely and I would have to push without any meds. I know it sounds silly but I was completely unprepared mentally for the actual pushing. With Chloe I pushed twice, felt nothing and out she shot. This time…. Not so lucky! Although it felt like I pushed for an hour Derek said it was less than 10 minutes. At first I was pushing and not being very effective and was panicking thru it. Derek and my nurse helped me focus and then I was able to push like I needed to. I felt a big contraction coming on and began to push although I felt like I was on fire! The contraction ended and the pain was pretty unbearable. They told me to stop pushing. All I could think was “you’ve got to be freaking kidding me!” The cytotech had caused my contractions to come 2-3 at a time with barely a break between them and then about 5 minutes for the next one. I had a long break of intense burning and then came a large contraction. The dr told me to push slowly. It was hard to listen when all I wanted to do was push as hard as I could and get the baby out. I had never planned to look but Derek told me his head was out so I looked down and saw the rest of him be born. It was such an amazing thing. As soon as he was out the burning and intense pain stopped. They layed him on my belly and it was like the world stood still for that moment. Derek hadn’t known if he would want to cut the cord but at that point he knew he would. They cut the cord and took Ashton to check him out and make sure all was ok. He was so quiet not a single cry had come out so I was worried. Turns out he was just fine and is just a quiet baby (so far)! Thankfully I hadn’t torn so I didn’t need any stitches.
They got the baby all cleaned up and me settled. Our plan was to nurse immediately but Ashton has some trouble latching on so they brought in the lactation consultant and then he nursed for almost an hour. I was able to get up after that and use the restroom and then they brought us to our room to get situated. They took Ashton to the nursery and I took a shower. He had pee’d on me the minute the set him on my stomach. I felt very good afterwards and have since. All during my pregnancy I had gone back and forth about getting the pain meds but once the contractions started last week I knew I would want one. I really admire women who go thru it without one but I just couldn’t do it. I was not able to focus or work thru the contractions and would tense up and panic which caused them to not be all that effective, just painful. My labor did not really go as I expected or planned but I don't have any regrets, other than not preparing more mentally for the work involved. My labor wtih Chloe was so easy I was expecting the same thing in the back of my mind. I certainly had a great labor and delivery though. And the minute it was over any pain I felt was a distant memory. I never believed it when people said that but it really is true.
Ashton has done great and aside from some jaundice he has had no issues that they would expect from a premature baby. At 6 pounds 4 ounces and 19 inches long he is the size of a full term baby but to me he just looks so tiny. I am so in love with my son already. I was worried during my pregnancy how I would be able to love my two children the same and have enough love to go around. I think with each birth your heart swells because I find myself overflowing with more love than I imagined for both of them.
Derek was amazing during labor and delivery. He was so supportive and really helped me to feel like I could get thru it and that taking the meds was ok. He has been so incredible with Ashton and during our struggles to breastfeed. Seeing him hold our son I love him in a way I never imagined before. It’s indescribable.