The Labor

(I wrote this a couple days after I had my sweet baby)


So I had a pretty awesome day Tuesday, getting into the nursing program and all the day before I have a baby. I couldn't stop smiling all day. Tuesday night I got very little sleep. One time my mind would be racing about nursing, the next about labor and delivery, the next about Zoey with her new baby sister, and sometimes about how the heck am I going to do it all in 5 short weeks. Needless to say I was up before my alarm.

We leave a little early at get to the hospital about 10 minutes early. The front desk gets my information and signs me in and tells me to wait. So we sit down and wait and wait, then the charge nurse comes over and asks if they told us to call before we came in. Obviously not. There wasn't enough room for me at the time but there should be at noon, so I was to call at 11:30. Lovely. Not what i wanted to hear. So we leave and go to Chris' family's house to see Zoey and take a nap. We went to Arby's to eat and pass the time. I call at 11:30 and the charge nurse is busy and they say she will call back. By this time I wonder if I should have just stuck with the 7 instead of this roller coaster of going in or not. She finally calls at 12 and says to come in at 2. Finally!!!

We get there and they send me back and get me all set up. The pictocin starts a little before 3. I was dilated to a 2.5 when they started me. That was surprising since I was only a 1 on Monday. Shift change is at 5 and I got a new nurse who had a natural birth for all three of her children so she said she would help me out. She told me everything to expect. 1-6 is the longest, around 7 is transition, and after that it is hard and generally when people change their mind about the natural thing. I was really worried about the pushing and how that will go. She told me the ring of fire is probably the worst part of it. So there I was fully informed on how my labor and delivery will be.

I hang out in the bed for a while watching tv and listening to my ipod. I found it helped to turn up my music and sing when a contraction hit. So I was constantly putting my earbuds in and out because I wanted to hear what was going on but needed them ready at a moments notice. The nurse got me a birthing ball which was nice. It felt a lot better to be able to bounce than just sitting there. My doctor came in about 6:30 and broke my water. My contractions started getting a lot more intense almost immediately. I just kept bouncing away listening to Cute is What We Aim For. They had the only song I could find that had the right tempo, but didn't change or have much just music time. So I don't know how many times I listened to Curse of Curves. But it put me in the Zone to get trough them without too much uncomfort. Chris made fun of me a lot when he heard the SAME song again. I got checked again at 8:30 and was a 6! That was surprising. It took me 10 hours with Zo to go from a 2-3, so 5 hours to get to 6 was aweeeesome.

The contractions were starting to get a lot more painful, so my nurse showed me different positions I could try. Some helped, some were awkward, and some were just strange. At about 10 I was a 7 and my doctor text my doctor to let him know how things were going. An hour later I was still a 7 and I was wearing down. My nurse at this time got rid of her other patient so she could just be with me. I was very grateful for this. She would show Chris things to do, but it always felt so much better when she did it. I started shaking. Transition! Around 1130 (I'm just kind of guessing at the times here. I wasn't paying that much attention) she checked at I was about 7.5. It hurt so bad. I wasn't getting much time between contractions and they were super painful. I started thinking that I wouldn't be able to do much more. My nurse was so supportive and talked me through each contraction- only 30 seconds and its over, you are through the hard part ect. She checked me again around midnight because I was starting to feel some pressure but didn't think I was feeling "the pressure." I was still about the same part was an 8 and part was still the same. She could see the disappointment and frankly terror to hear that. She asked if I wanted some fentinol to take the edge off, which I agreed to. But when she checked me I thought I was going to pee, so I went to the bathroom. I didn't have to go after all, but sitting on the toilet felt kinda good. while I was in there she started setting up. I started to feel even more pressure so she called in anyone she could to help her. I remember her telling me whatever I do don't bare down for anything. All of a sudden I had lots and lots of pressure and I knew that the bathroom probably wasn't the best place anymore. I somehow managed to get back to the bed with Chris's help. She checked me and sure enough I was complete. She had the charge nurse call my Doctor. Nurses were running around getting everything else set up while my nurse sat there with me telling me not to push. After what seamed like forever he still wasn't there, she made sure the charge called and I guess she didn't realize just how fast baby was coming so she said she would call and tell him to get there stat. At that point she started talking about how she has delivered a few of his babies. She had gloves on and was giving counter pressure to keep her in. I kept saying I'm sorry I can't help but to push, which was the honest truth. That was the hardest part of the whole birth up til that point. He walked in the door gowned up and was there. One contraction and well they don't call it the ring of fire for nothing. Holly Cow. Ring of Fire is a nice way to put it. The only thing going on in my mind is she better get out now so this is over. I felt her head come out and knew just a little bit more and she would be born and BAM Ava was laying on my belly. It didn't feel real at all. I think I was just trying to get through the fact that I just went through all that pain and there was my sweet reward. I knew I still had the placenta to deal with so I just watched as they took her and did all that fun stuff. I did it. I had a natural childbirth. Something I wasn't able to do with Zoey.

(to go on to where things got crazy go here)