We walked for a little more than an hour. Perry's parents walked with us for a little while until I froze up from a horribly painful contraction. A nurse from the Mother-Baby side of the unit grabbed a wheelchair for me and I was wheeled back to my room. At 8:45pm, my nurse checked me again. I had progressed to 6cm dilated, 90% effaced, and -1 station! I teetered back and forth about getting an epidural- it sounded more and more appealing! I was in no way trying for an "all natural" birth, I just wanted to see how my labor went. My pain was pretty bad, so I asked for a dose of Stadol for starters. Other than making me sleepy & act drunk- slurred speech and everything- it didn't have much effect. Because a fluid bolus is required prior to an epidural and it takes 1 hour to infuse, my nurse suggested I go ahead and get the bolus so if & when I wanted the epidural, I wouldn't have to wait! (I think they said I had 1 hour after the bolus to get the epi, any longer and I'd need a second bolus). I was confined to the bed due to the monitors and the LR infusing, so our parents took turns coming back to visit with us (my Mom had arrived at the hospital at some point). Notice I am gripping the siderail in all of these pictures... I was in pain!
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| My mother-in-law "Nonny" |
I hated being on my back, but I did my best to cope with the pain! With help, I changed my position in the bed; I raised the head of the bed way up and turned over so I was kneeling, facing the wall, and could lean over the bed to support myself. That position worked for a little while. Mostly, I laid on my side (like the pictures above). Perry said he heard plastic popping when I gripped the siderail so hard! During my contractions, I was very vocal! I moaned really loudly and as their intensity and frequency increased, I started "yodeling" (as Perry & our Moms described it)!! I would hold a note for a good 20 seconds without taking a breath. Another thing I did was wildly wave one hand in the air, as if I was shaking it dry! My pain was reaching a 10 on the pain scale (from 0-10).
Perry was my best supporter!!! He hated seeing me in so much pain and felt helpless because all he could do was stand there, but he never left my side. Through the whole thing, he kept encouraging me- I never felt like I was doing it alone. It did surprise me that I did not want to be touched; the massage techniques we learned and the handheld massager & tennis ball we brought were useless.
Around 10:00pm, I decided... I wanted an epidural!! I could not relax between contractions; my lower body was ridiculously tense which is not ideal for birthing a baby! I had made it to 7cm dilated and 100% effaced which was good enough for me. I felt like I accomplished a lot at that point. Perry agreed that getting the epidural was the best decision.
The anesthesiologist, one I am familiar with from work, arrived at 10:30pm. I did not feel a thing related to the epidural because he injected the local anesthetic during the peak of a contraction. My focus was on remaining perfectly still in an awkward position in an immense amount of pain! Thankfully, the first one worked like a charm {I've heard horror stories of multiple attempts and failed epidurals}. Once I was numb, I was allowed to raise the head of my bed back up. My blood pressure immediately dropped to 80/40's and I felt very nauseated. My nurses increased the rate of my IV fluid and I was good!
I felt great! I could enjoy the birthing process a whole lot more now. And I felt other things beside pain... like hunger! It had been well over 12 hours since I had anything to eat. Mmm, popsicles and broth.
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| My Mom "Grandma" |
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| Perry and his Dad "Boo" |
An hour later, my contractions had weakened so my doctor broke my water. At 1:45am, my nurse checked me again. I was now at 8-9cm and Gabriel had moved down a little to 0 station! The epidural definitely slowed down my labor. By 3:15am, I had only changed to 9 1/2cm and was still at 0 station. Pitocin was mentioned but I was initially opposed to the idea because I had not stopped making progress, although it was slowed. My nurse left us to discuss it, and we decided it would be beneficial after all. We wanted to 1) get the strength of my contractions back, and 2) speed up my progress to ultimately get our baby born!! The pitocin was started at 3:35am at the lowest dose. I had high hopes that Gabriel would be born before shift change so I could deliver with my awesome nurses!
Every 30 minutes, my nurse returned to taper up the infusion. Finally, at 5:00am, I had reached 10cm!! I was instructed to call when I felt pressure like I needed to poop and couldn't hold it. My nurse suggested we do "a few practice pushes" which we started at 5:25am... well, that turned into two and a half hours of pushing!! Perry stood on my left side to hold my leg and the nurse sat on the edge/end of the bed and held my right leg. My right leg was completely numb; one time she set it down between contractions to chart and it slid off the bed! I used a mirror to watch until they told me that I pushed better with my eyes closed {I guess I was concentrating on the feeling with my eyes closed as opposed to how it looked}. Perry's back & knee must have been killing him from standing in one spot for 2 1/2 hours and supporting my leg! He watched the whole thing- I think he even saw Gabe's hair before I did!
*Addition from 2/24: I remembered a couple more details. I was the one to initiate each push (when I felt discomfort/pressure at the start of a contraction), but it was still somewhat "directed pushing". I pushed to the count of 10 x3 with each contraction. Perry was my counter. One time my nurse took over the "1, 2, 3, 4..." and I did not like it! Nothing personal, I had just gotten used to Perry's rhythm and preferred to hear his voice! She didn't do it for long; had she continued, I was ready to say "Perry, count!". Also, I was obsessed with burping! I must have been swallowing a lot of air. I said to my nurses numerous times, "If I could just sit up straight to belch..." and "I need to burp"!*
Sadly, Amanda and Lisa's shift ended at 7:00am. I worried about what nurse I would get, especially being so close to delivery and not having time to get comfortable with her. Thankfully, the nurse who took over my care was incredible! Her name was Sherry and she had been a L&D nurse for 25 years and a nurse even longer than that! When birth was imminent, she notified everyone and the room started filling up with people & equipment. I think there was 2 Stork nurses (for the baby), Dr. Anthony, an assistant for him, my nurse, and of course Perry & me in the room for the actual delivery. The lady who was assisting my physician (a surgical tech?) said "Dad... do you have a camera?" so Perry grabbed it from our bag. It was wonderful that she offered to take pictures so Perry could just enjoy the moment.
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| Dr. Anthony and my nurse Sherry! |
He was immediately placed on my chest and rubbed down. Perry & I were already in love. His first cry was precious!! His APGAR scores were 9 and 9- perfectly healthy! Perry then got to cut his umbilical cord.
The nurses took him over to the warmer to clean him up a little better and do a full assessment.
He weighed 7 pounds and 14 ounces (actually it was 13.5 ounces but they round up) and was 19 3/4 inches long. Littler than I expected!
Once the Stork nurses were finished, they swaddled Gabe up and brought him back to me. I told her to hand him to Perry so he could be the first one to hold our baby {since I got to hold him on my chest already!}. There are a lot more pictures in the Happy Birthday, Gabriel post!
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| Proud Daddy talking to his boy |
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| Proud Mommy taking it all in |
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