Birth Story

I love hearing birth stories. I think it's so interesting how it seems like every woman and every pregnancy has a completely different birth story. In some ways, Baby K's birth story isn't that different from Z's but it's also completely different. I have an irritable uterus so I get contractions pretty much constantly starting from my third trimester on. Which makes it extremely difficult to tell whether or not I'm in labour. As such, I went to the hospital an embarrassing number of times during my pregnancy with Baby K. I went several times with Z as well but I definitely beat that number with Baby K. I think it was 5 times at least. However, the big difference was that with Z, I went three times leading up to his birth (Friday morning, Friday night and Saturday and he was born on Saturday) while with Baby K, I went twice in July, once in August and then twice in September (the 2nd time being when I was finally in labour). But in the end, that just doesn't matter. Thursday, September 20 seemed like any other day. Unlike with Z, I wasn't in labour all night, waking up feeling like this must be it. I went to the Ladies Morning Out group that I joined at our church and I was having contractions during the session, but that doesn't really make me panic or think I'm in labour - that's just my norm. They were more painful, I was having a hard time concentrating on the lesson, but they weren't super close, only like 10-15 minutes apart. That's the other thing that was really different, with Z, my contractions started at 3-5 mins apart so I was expecting that as well. I was even joking about the contractions with some of the ladies at the bible study that day and I went home thinking it would still be awhile. It was only 2 days before my due date (coincidently, I had Z two days early) so I was starting to pay more attention to my contractions but I was so sure I would be late since I had felt like I had been pregnant forever. I got home and put Z down for his nap and hubby came home for lunch. He even asked me at lunch if I thought he should stay home but I said no, I didn't want him to miss any work for a false alarm and I was determined that I will only go in when I'm sure. I called my sister when he left and we chatted and I still was having contractions but they were still 10ish minutes apart and I didn't feel like they were super regular so I told her I wasn't going to go in. But as soon as I hung up with her, they started getting closer together and were getting more intense as well. I decided to call hubby and get his opinion, he thought we should go in so he came home from work and I called my parents to have them pick up Z.
We got to the hospital around 4:30 p.m. and checked in, a process I'm VERY familiar with. I got to the assessment room and the nurse checked me and decided that I was not in labour. A fact that made me want to cry. But then she said that I had a labour feel to me and she thought I was going to go very soon so instead of sending me home, she wanted me to go for an hour long walk to see if that would kick me into high gear. So we walked to the mall, got some food in case I was in labour and wouldn't be allowed to eat and then walked back to the hospital. I couldn't tell if I was having more contractions or what because the steady walking was making me cramp so consistently that I couldn't tell what was contractions and what was just cramps so I had no idea what was happening. I got back to the assessment room and the nurse said I was still 3 cm dilated and I would probably be going home but she had to check with the doctor, I didn't recognize the name but she said it would be awhile because he was in surgery. I was starting to have really painful contractions at that point and about 3 minutes apart so I was not happy with that news. Right when I was having a really painful contraction, my doctor came in which made me so happy because she knows my history and I just really like her. Apparently she had just started her shift and heard I was there so she came to see me. She checked me and said I was 3 cm so I thought for sure I was going home since the nurse had basically discharged me already. Then she asked what type of pain medication I was planning during labour so I said epidural but I thought she was just asking but then she turned to the nurse and said lets arrange that for her. Hubby and I just looked at her in confusion and I asked if that meant I was in labour. She said that I was close to a 4 (which is when they admit you) and with how painful my contractions were, she wasn't going to send me home. Hallelujah! So they got me set up in a delivery room and started an IV. I thought they had started me on Oxytocin because my contractions got so intense after that but apparently it was just fluids. I had to wait a bit for the epidural but oh man, it was worth the wait. It was about 7 p.m. by the time I got admitted to a delivery room. At about 8:30 p.m. I was just at 4 cm and not progressing so they decided to break my water. That took a bit of work but eventually she was able to. I felt like things were going really slowly, they checked me at 10:45 and I was at 5 cm. But after that, it started to get really painful. I had an epidural but the contractions were getting super intense and I felt like they were just constant. I told the nurse how much it hurt and she ordered me a top up of my epidural but unfortunately we ended up not having time for that. She checked me at 11:00 and I was almost 6 cm and then it just went from there. My epidural wasn't able to keep up with how fast I was progressing, every time she checked I was further along and feeling the need to push. At 11:20 I was 10 cm and ready to push and with just 2 intense pushes, my beautiful little boy was born at 11:25 p.m. on Thursday, September 20 weighing 7 lbs 15 oz.
I was able to hold him immediately, something I was not able to do with Z and we were able to start nursing in the delivery room. He had a great latch and nursed for twenty minutes before we needed to move to the recovery room. I was feeling great and Baby K just seemed so quiet and content. We nursed again and then he fell asleep in my arms. I wasn't able to sleep but I was on such a high, that I didn't feel tired at all. I sent hubby home and just waited for morning. My doctor came in and said I was doing great and asked if I wanted to go home that day or if I wanted to spend a night. Remembering how poorly both Z and I slept in the hospital, I said I would go home as soon as possible. She discharged me and I just had to wait for baby K to be seen by the paediatrician and at 9 a.m. I was sitting at home.
Life is good.