The Birth Story

Thursday, March 19, 2009 was just like any normal day, I woke up drank my coffee, cleaned the house, did some laundry, watched some TV, and finally decided to make that list of stuff I needed to take to the hospital just in case Jeff got stuck having to pack most of it (little did I know I'd be using it in 8 hours). I cooked dinner around 6 p.m. and then Jeff and I settled in for our big night of TV which starts out with Ugly Betty and ends with Private Practice. About 10 minutes into Grey's I got up to pee and get a popsicle, I happily came bouncing back to the couch with popsicle in hand went to sit down and felt something "run" out of me. I thought, is that pee?? Now on top of being huge and pregnant, I'm thinking that I'm now incontienent, GREAT!!! So I said to Jeff, I think I peed myself and went to the bathroom. I sat down on the toilet and had maybe 1/2 cup of something run out of me and at this point I'm not sure if this is pee or my water breaking (I'm still in water breaking denial at this point). So I stand up to go back out to the living room and when I did a rush of fluid came out all over my favorite pants and on the bathroom floor. I yelled out for Jeff to come look at the bathroom floor. He determines it is pee, I said to him "NO, honey my water broke" and I sat back down on the toilet and that was the big gush, I swear it went on forever and Jeff was still convinced it was pee. He is now in full on water breaking denial for a good 10minutes. The poor guy had a big meeting the next day with two people from corporate that were driving in from out of town and had a class to take for continuing education Saturday. I informed him that once your water breaks you have 24 hours to deliver, he argued that point and basically begged me to find out if it could wait until Monday. Men!! So I called the OB around 9:45 p.m. and she called back about 10minutes later. She agreed it was my water and told me to take my time since I wasn't contracting or in pain but to get to the hospital as soon as I could. She told me I could even shower! So I showered, dried my hair, put some makeup on, told Jeff where that list was I made earlier and then got dressed. Jeff did so well packing up our stuff :o) Maizy was freaked out the entire time. She jumped up on the couch and just looked at me with this concerned doggie face the entire time. We decided to call my mom and she came over to stay with the dog, she also helped us pack up a little. She is a great mom!! Now for the play by play:

11:30 p.m.

Jeff and I arrive at the hospital, after stopping at BP for some iced tea and a diet 7-up of course. We are taken back to labor & delivery and put in their triage room first because they need to determine that I'm truly in labor before putting me in a real room. I put a gown on and the nurse checked me with this special paper that tells them if my water broke. It turned purple so that means it is my water. She asked us if we wanted a big room or a small room because they had both available. We of course said big and she went on a quest to find a really nice one for us.

March 20, 2009

12:30 a.m.

I'm walked to my new room and get into bed. The nurse inserts Cervadil which is a very small tampon looking thing that ripens the cervix because mine was only a fingertip dilated. This thing did it's job, I had contractions within 30 minutes and started dilating. I'm now in pain, but it wasn't so bad at this point, it reminded me of mild period cramps.

At this point nothing is really going on except for an annoying internal exam that hurt like a bitch because I'm contracting at the same time. I think those were the worst part of the entire ordeal. Jeff had to run back home since he thought we'd be sent home and chose not to bring comfy clothes for himself. While he was gone I got my IV, she found a great vein right off the bat but blew it up. It hurt so bad I cried, I thought she hit my bone and guess what, it still hurts!!! I was pretty mad about it. She tried another vein and finally got it right.

From this point on I just try to work throught he pain on my own. I was still trying to go med free. I was given a birthing ball to bounce on, told to walk around, lean over stuff, basically try anything to get me through the painful contractions. It is all a crock of shit, nothing helps.

4 a.m.

I'm now in a lot of pain!!! I debated for a while whether or not to take drugs and finally decided I'll take something. I am given Morphine, it sucked. Morphine did nothing for my pain, it might have taken the edge off slightly. I just dealt with it by sitting on the birthing ball because this was really the only trick that kind of worked.

6 a.m.

More Morphine!! I thought, yeah, the 2nd dose, this should do it. It did nothing. So I proceed to just lay in bed and moan like a beached whale while Jeff apologizes to me because he feels bad. So there I lay, in pain, eating popsicles, chewing on ice and leaking water all over the bed. At one point the nurse was in the room and she helped me to the bathroom during a contraction and a bunch of water went all over the floor. I apologized for it, she just laughed.

7 a.m.

My nurse's shift is up and am told that a nurse named Erica is going to be my new nurse. Imagine my surprise when my nurse walks in and says, "Hi, I'm your nurse for today, my name is Anita". I guess there was a change and I am ecstatic for that!! Anita had been a labor and delivery nurse at the hospital for over 30 years, she is now retired and works contingency. I just so happened to be in labor on a day she decided to work. Anita was the L&D nurse of all nurses, there wasn't anything this woman didn't know and she didn't mess around. I loved her!! The first thing she said to me was "Are you getting an Epidural" and I yelled out "YES". She had to check me first and said I was 2 cm dilated, almost 3 cm. I said well isn't this too early for an epidural and she said it was not and that my doctor didn't believe in making woman suffer through pain and they'd just give me Pitocin if the contractions stopped. I knew what Pitocin was and really didn't want it, but I really wanted that Epidural so I didn't care at that point.

8 a.m.

Here comes Mr. Heaven aka the anesthesiologist. The epidural went so quickly and this was something I was really afraid of getting for some reason. By 8:15 a.m. my pain is nearly gone!!! I'm loving the Epidural at this point.

10 a.m.

Anita comes in and checks me and says I'm 6 cm. I was shocked that I progressed that quickly in such a small amount of time. I had been given a small drip of Pitocin but my doctor determined I was doing so well on my own that they just gave me that tiny drip and stopped the Pitocin.

11 a.m.

Here comes Anita to check me again, I'm now 8 cm dilated. I couldn't believe how quickly this was all happening. She said I'd probably have a baby in 2 hours and she was just about right on with that. I had some more popsicles and ice. My doctor came in to check me and was very happy with how well I was doing. The baby was head down, but he was looking to the side so she had Anita put me on my side to get him to turn. Being on my side was a little uncomfortable but Anita put pillows all around me and it worked. I'm telling you she was awesome.

12 p.m.

I call Anita in and tell her that the pressure in my bottom is crazy and told her I was shaking like a leaf. She informed me I was in transition and decided to check my progress again. I'm now 9 cm dilated.

12:45 p.m.

My mom and sister come in for a quick hello and I tell them to get my nurse because I had an urge to push. Anita comes in and kicks them out right away. She calls the OB in because she says it is time to start pushing. They both rush around getting things ready for the arrival of Baby Davis. I'm still shaking at this point and in disbelief that I'm about to give birth.

1 p.m.

I start pushing, this was also not bad at all, I'm sure it is because I had the Epidural. I do want to say that the Epidural doesn't numb all the pain, I still felt his head coming out and I wouldn't call it horrible pain, but I wouldn't call it happy either. I think I did about 5 rounds of pushing with 4 pushes each round.

1:31 p.m.

Davis Jameson Barror is here!!!

The Aftermath:

My doctor doesn't do episiotomies, which was a relief to me because why be cut if you don't have to be, I realized I had a risk of tearing but with an episiotomy you can tear even further because now a tear is started for you (make sense?). Think of it as tearing a ketchup packet, it is now torn and will just keep going. I ended up with a 2nd degree tear, so she spent about 10 minutes stitching me up and honestly I can't even tell that happened. I was in pain right after delivery, but that is expected but by Monday I felt like I didn't even have a baby in that area. My placenta came out within minutes of Davis being born, I was happy for that, Jeff said it was gross. I had to look at it though because I am weird like that, it was just a big purple, bloody blob with a cord attached. After the doctor was done stitching me, Anita pushed on my belly several times to get blood out. That was probably the grossest part because I could feel it almost pouring out of me. She then cleaned me up really well and that was that. After about 2 hours I could feel my legs so my new nurse helped me up, took me to the bathroom, I put on the special mesh panties and a huge pad and a new hospital gown. I felt hot!! The first night after delivery was by far the most painful, but by the next day I started feeling better and by Sunday felt tired but great.

Here are some fears I had regarding having an Epidural:

Fear #1 - They cause c-sections

Fear #2 - They'd slow my contractions down and I'd be pumped full of Pitocin

Fear #3 - It would make me feel loopy and drunk

Fear #4 - Not being able to walk

Fear #5 - Having a catheter

Guess what, none of the above happened to me!! I was honestly shocked that a catheter was not placed at the time of the Epidural as I know that is normally common practice. Well at the hospital I delivered at they don't normally do that. I was actually given a straight catheter moments before I started pushing, which is a catheter that is put in to empty the bladder and then taken right back out. I wasn't given one after delivery, in 2 hours I was up and walking and peeing on my own. I was also still able to move myself slightly with the Epidural, I couldn't walk, but I could move my right leg a little bit on my own. My left leg was totally dead though, which was quite humorous. All in all I'm very happy I took the Epidural, not saying that every Epidural experience is as great as mine but the fears I had for a medicated birth were crazy. I had watched a DVD called "The Business of Being Born" and it made me really think that all the drugs and interventions were horrible. What I didn't realize is the show was very one sided. In the beginning of my pregnancy I was very, very anti-drug and anti-interventions. As my pregnancy progressed though I started going with the no plan, plan. I didn't want to set myself up for disappointment so I had a whatever happens, happens attitude. I was just going to go with the flow and if I could deal with the pain, great and if not I was OK with taking drugs.