July 25th, 2003
9:48 am
6lbs,10oz ~ 20 inches
On Thursday, July 24th, I went to the mall to do some shopping for my sister Dawn and my nephew Nolan's birthday presents. I walked around for about 1.5 hours and was truly in pain from pelvic pressure, back cramps and exhausted when I came home. I spent the day on the couch watching tv and napping. At around 4:00 I found a mucous discharge that was yellow/brown when I went to the bathroom. This kept coming all afternoon and evening as well as the back/pelvic pressure I was feeling for the previous few days. At 10:30 when I was about to go to bed, I went to the bathroom to urinate, but before doing so, I felt and heard a gush of "other" liquid. Had my water broke? I thought so and told Mike right away. I went downstairs right away and called the doctor. He called me right back and because contractions hadn't started, he told me to either call him back when and if the contractions started and were regular for every 5 minutes for an hour or to call back in the morning if the contractions hadn't started. He also told me to try and go to sleep as I would most likely have a busy morning.. no kidding!
Well, I went back upstairs, went to the bathroom, and found a lot more liquid/bloody discharge. The amount of blood scared me a little, but I knew that a "bloody show" was the sign of the start of labor, so I went to bed. Not too long after my lower back started killing me, feeling like I had to go to the bathroom (#2). There was not any pain coming and going, so I wasn't sure if what I was feeling were contractions or just constipation or something along those lines. I was back and forth to and from the bathroom for about an hour when I started to realize that pains WERE indeed coming and going. I started keeping track and writing down the times and durations of the pains around 12:00 midnight. The pains were really not that regular right away, but they were definitely getting worse. I was pacing, walking, rolling around in bed, and really scaring our dog Maggie!
Finally, around 2 am I was contracting/having intense back pains at about 3-7 minute intervals and I decided it was time to take the next step. So, I got in the shower, which felt WONDERFUL, got dressed and went downstairs to get Mike. I called the doctor again and he said "well, come on in". We left our house around 2:45 and arrived at the hospital at about 3:15. Of course we had to stop at Blockbuster on the way and return the movie we rented! We got there in no time at all and I was contracting the whole way.. sometimes 2 minutes apart, sometimes up to 7. I was admitted to the Labor, Delivery, and Recovery room #7 at Bryn Mawr hospital. It was a really big room and it even had a skylight!
I was immediately hooked up to a monitor and after a lot of questions from the nurse, was checked and was only measuring 1.5-2 cm dialated. I was disappointed and was hoping for more with all the pain I was feeling. In addition, the nurse said that I was really only in "pre-labor" and that my contractions were not at all regular. She did a swab test to see if my water had indeed broken, and the results were inconclusive! The orange swab was supposed to turn black if there was amniotic fluid. Well, my test turned brown. So at that point, we weren't really sure if my water had broken and we weren't really sure if I was really in labor or not!
The nurse told me to do some walking, so I started around the delivery floor as Mike went to move the car. The contractions were still coming and when I got one I had to stop and lean against the wall or Mike to bear them out. I asked the nurse for pain medication and she told me that she wanted to see more progress first before anything was given to me, but that she would check me in an hour - around 5:15 am. I walked until then, dealing with the pain. I was so much looking forward to some pain relief- especially the epidural!
As promised, at 5:15 she checked me and I was at 2 centimeters only! I asked again for something for the pain and she was very hesitant to give me anything. She put me on the monitor again and when she came back about 15 minutes later she told me that she had called Dr. Dein and he gave the approval for some pain relief. 15 minutes later I got some Stadol. What a relief! It made me drowsy and helped me relax, although I could still feel the contractions. I basically slept between the contractions and woke up and breathed through the pain when it came. This went on for a few hours and I finally saw Dr. Dein around 7:00 am. He came in and looked at the contraction chart and didn't seem too impressed with my progress. He didn't even check my cervix to see if it was dialated any more! At this point it had been 2 hours since my last check and I was getting nervous as to why I wasn't checked.
In the next few minutes a new nurse came in and asked how I was doing. I told her that the pain was REALLY bad in my back and not as bad in my uterus/belly. She changed my position (I was laying down) to sitting up, raised my legs up and told me how to breathe correctly through the contractions. This made ALL the difference in the world although I was still in horrible pain with each contraction! However, she still didn't check to see how dialated I was! About an hour later she finally checked me and said "You are doing REALLY well! You are 9 cm dialated!" At that moment I was shocked and upset- it was too late to get the epidural- the thing that I was looking forward to the most to relieve the pain. She told me that the epidural wouldn't help me through the pushing anyway and that I would be ready to push in 15 minutes!
Mike immediately called my mom and the nurse set out getting everything in the room ready. I "hee, hee, haw"ed my way through each contraction, not believing that I went from 2 to 9 centimeters so quickly and that I would have to deliver this baby without any pain medication (the Stadol had long since worn off). When it was time the nurse told me that instead of breathing through the contraction, to hold my breath, push my chin into my chest, pull my legs back and PUSH with each contraction. With the first pushing effort, her and Mike counted to 10, 4 times in a row. She congratulated me on good pushing and said that it may take 1-2 hours of pushing to get the baby out. Between contractions was sometimes a long break of 6-7 minutes, and other times it was only 2-3 minutes. The long breaks gave me a chance to gain my energy because pushing was HARD work!
This went on for about 45 minutes (very blurry memory now) when she told me that she was going to get the doctor but to keep pushing if and when a contraction came. It was very hard for me to tell when the contractions were coming because it hurt constantly in my back. But, with the help of the monitor, the nurse, and Mike I pushed when it was time. Once the doctor came in, I knew that I had to get this over with and get the baby OUT, so I put more effort into the pushing. With each contraction I pushed 5-7 times, and the doctor worked the perineum so the baby's head would stay out. It was interesting to watch in the mirror because the head would be seen, then between contractions it would go back in- 2 steps forward, one step back each time. The second to last push was when I finally got past the pubic bone and the "point of no return" and when the contraction was over it hurt like hell because his head was almost out. On the very last contraction I pushed 7 times and there he was! His head came out first, facing up (the reason why I had such bad back labor). With just his head sticking out of me, the baby started screaming- a very strange sight! The doctor, nurse and Mike told me "look down between your legs" and there he was- the doctor was pulling the rest of him out of me!
Mike cut the cord and the nurse immediately put the baby on my belly and I just can't explain my emotional state! I was so happy, but also so relieved that the pain was over and I had a son! My head was swimming and I was gasping for breath. The baby stayed on my belly for about 3-4 minutes before they took him away to get weighed and cleaned off. In the meantime, the doctor was stitching me up- I tore a little, no episiotomy! Then, I saw Mike standing next to me with our bundle of joy and the doctor worked at delivering the placenta. This was more painful than I thought it would be and took quite awhile. After 15-20 minutes of pushing on my belly causing pain and pulling the cord, the placenta was delivered.
Mike gave little Benjamin back to me and the 2 of us just stared in wonder at our new baby boy. About 15 minutes later my mom, dad & step-mom, and sister Dawn came into the room to see me and to marvel at the newest member of the family.
