Kevin's Birth Story: Part 1

(I'm long winded...I know. I really tried to cut this down a bit but I'm writing it mostly so I can go back and read it years from now and I do want to remember every detail. And I love reading other people's detailed birth stories so there. Sorry but not sorry. Heh.)

August 6th (39 weeks, 1 day) was our date to induce. My blood pressure had started to rise a week beforehand and we were ready to meet our 3rd son and to deliver before my blood pressure had a chance to continue to rise.

Whoa momma!

Early that Tuesday morning (6am) my mom came over to be with the boys and Marcus and I headed to the hospital. Although this was my third induction I had a lot more anxious energy this time. I later realized it was probably because it was the first time I was induced without being drugged up on blood pressure medicine. I wasn't necessarily scared but mostly excited. I could not wait to see this little guy! I was so wrapped up in the process of birth with my first born but after having a few kids you start to focus mostly on the end result- a sweet babe wrapped in your arms and the feeling of your heart and family expanding all at once.

After we stopped so Marcus could get an iced coffee (and I did my best to ignore it) we arrived at the hospital and went up to Labor and Delivery. I had my spider man pillow tucked under my arm, something I grabbed last second to feel like my older boys were with me (and also to be sure the hospital didn't think it was their pillow). This pillow did not go unnoticed. I'm pretty sure I quickly became nicknamed "the girl with the spiderman pillow" among the nurses.

Spidy was all like "you go get 'em girl!" cuz he would totally say something like that right?

Not long after we were there my nurse hooked me up to the monitors, gave me an IV and started me on fluids and pitocin. She checked me and said I was 3cm dilated but almost 4. The baby was very high so I knew that the length of this labor depended mostly on how long it took him to get into position for me to push.

My nurse was named Stacy and I asked her how late she would be there. She said 3pm and I hoped Kevin would be here before then because I have never delivered during the same shift change. I always get attached to a nurse during labor but she never gets to be there for delivery.

Around 8am my sweet and smiley doctor came in and said "let's break your water!" I was a little taken back and said "Now...? But we've always waited until after the epidural...?" I guess this time we were to do things in a different order but that was fine by me. After she broke my water I started to feel some pretty strong contractions. It's definitely a different sensation to get contractions after your water breaks versus before. They jump in intensity.

At one point the baby's nurse came in to introduce herself. We chatted for a bit between contractions and I told her that it was really important for me to get to experience kangaroo care immediately after birth since I never have (Kangaroo care is holding the baby skin to skin. There are numerous health benefits for both mother and baby). She said as long as the baby is healthy she will make sure he gets placed on my chest and gets to stay there for the hour after birth. She could sense how passionate I was about this and I could tell that she really cared about doing everything to give me that experience.

(When I had Nathan I wasn't aware of kangaroo care and they wrapped him in multiple layers before giving him to me. Due to misinformation I wasn't able to nurse Nathan until he was 6 hours old. With Luke I only got to hold him a few minutes before they had to take him to the nursery to clear his lungs since he had aspirated meconium. With Kevin I was dearly hoping I could hold him for a long time right after birth and experience what they call the "Golden Hour" of uninterrupted skin to skin contact and the first experience breast feeding.)

I labored for a few hours with the contractions getting stronger and stronger. I had the "go ahead" to get the epidural whenever I wanted but I wanted to labor for awhile without it and make sure my contractions were in a steady pattern.

My blood pressure fluctuated with my pain. That is one of the main reasons that I choose to get epidurals with the births of my sons because the pain makes my blood pressure rise (I also have low pain tolerance- that or I'm just an extra sensitive person)

Resting between contractions.

I would do my best to focus and breathe through the contractions. I knew each one was bringing my baby closer!

Counting distracted me from the pain so I tried to focus on counting seconds on the clock. Eventually the counting didn't help and I needed Marcus' hand to hold to get through them. I had told him to tell me when he thinks "it's time" for the epidural (I know that sounds weird since it's my body but I wanted his opinion). Around 11:30am he said "babe, I think it's time." I said "me too!" because I was to the point that with each contraction I wondered how in the world I would be able to handle the next one if it intensified. The contractions were steady and pretty close together at this point (maybe 1-2 minutes apart, sometimes every 30 seconds) so I agreed and told Stacy when she came back in that I was definitely ready for the heavenly epidural.

However the epidural I was about to experience would NOT be as "heavenly" as I would have liked!!!

To be continued tomorrow.

Grrrrr....I know.