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My due date was March 27th, 2001 and this birth story begins on the evening of March 25th. It was Sunday night, Academy Awards night, and my mother and her boyfriend were at our house playing dominoes and eating chili while we watched the show. I had been on strict bedrest for the past 4 days due to high blood pressure. This had by no means been an easy pregnancy. I was vomiting with morning sickness all but 2 months, had developed gestational diabetes, had been hospitalized with kidneys stones at 2 months which I thought was a miscarriage, had sciatica and carpal tunnel syndrome so bad I couldn't even hook my own bra or button my own clothes. So the bedrest was the last straw and I was officially miserable. I had been having braxton hicks contractions for a few months and this evening was no different except that I noticed they were happening every 15 min or so. No big deal, they didn't hurt at all but I was aware of each one. Around midnight, dh and I went to bed and had sex. In my dreams I kept feeling pains in my stomach, until finally at 4:23 am I woke up and realized that I was having contractions that felt like the real deal. I timed 3 of them at 11 min apart so I got up and took a shower since there was no way I could go back to sleep. I noticed a little bleeding- what they call a "bloody show". That told me that this was probably IT. I went to dh, who was sound asleep and whispered in his ear "Honey, you're not going to go to work today. I think we're going to have a baby." He gave me a kiss and said what a wonderful way to wake up! He had told me that I had better go into labor because he did not want to have to go off to work on Monday and leave me alone. We proceeded to call the dr. and pack up our bags, she told us to go ahead to the hospital and get checked out. We drove to the hospital and dh said that for being in labor, I was really calm and quiet. I was at the time because I wasn't in pain. I thought, "This labor business is nothing! I'm not going to be one of those crying, moaning women." Ha ha, little did I know I would be eating those words in a few hours. We were in L&D triage for 4 1/2 hrs before they sent me home. My blood pressure was skyrocketing and the nurse was hesitant to send me, but the dr. ordered it. So we went back home, pretty angry because I knew I was in labor and all I could do was lay on my left side in bed. Then the contractions started coming harder, and I had a little crystal clock that I held in my hand every time I had a contraction and would watch the hand go around for 55 sec. That was how I would know how much longer it would hurt, and it made me feel better to know it would end soon. Dad took a nap on the couch and Gramma was back in the bedroom with me, rubbing my back and timing the contractions. We waited until the contractions were about 4-8 min apart and then we went back to triage about 4:30 pm. I was beginning to be in a bit more pain, and my back was hurting pretty badly. I got a dose of medicine at 6:00 for the pain; it helped a lot but slowed my contractions. At 7:00 the dr. wanted to send me home again with more pain meds and a sleeping pill, but I refused her orders this time. My nurse in triage, Lisa, agreed with me and did all she could for me to speed up my contractions so the dr. would have no choice but to admit me. She intervened quite a bit on my behalf. The dr. came in to see me and was angry that I refused her orders to go home, but I knew in my heart that I had to get my baby out sooner rather than later. By this time I was about 4 cm, making very slow progress. I was in quite a bit of pain, moaning a little through the contractions, which were coming every 2-3 min. Dh was with me the whole time, rubbing my back and telling me to relax and breathe. At 9:00 pm I finally got admitted, so they started an IV and I finally accepted some more Stadol. However, the drug made me too sleepy and I was forgetting to breathe, so I struggled to stay awake until it wore off. The next time I asked for something else that wouldn't be so strong. I got Demerol, which did absolutely nothing for the pain. After that they couldn't go back to stadol, so for about 3 hours, I was in the worst pain of my life. I had only 30 sec. to rest between contractions and they were lasting over a minute long. I was finally told to wait until 2:00 am and then I would get an epidural. My mom, dad, and step mother were there, but it was dh only that I could focus on. He crouched over me for hours upon hours rubbing my back and pressing his cheek against mine to whisper in my ear. He is the only way I made it through. I finally got the epidural and what sweet relief! I slept for 4 hours until the epidural started wearing off. The feeling got stronger and more painful, so I got 2 more extra epidural doses, which did not take. At 6 am, I woke up Dh because I was having trouble making it through the contractions again. I kept telling them I needed to push, or I had to have a bowel movement. The nurses kept checking me frequently and by a little after 8:00am, I was completely dialated. The urge to push was so strong that soon I could not hold back my body's urge anymore. Then it was finally time to begin pushing. I looked up at dh and gave him a kiss, held his hand and closed my eyes. I said a prayer for my baby to come out all right and for the strength to complete my labor. I was very scared about the pain because I had a most of my feeling back. Right at my first pushing contraction, I realized that pushing helped the pain. My mother happened to walk through the door with some food, and I remember the expression on her face. She looked with wide eyes, closed them and turned for the door, but I called her back and asked her to stand at my side to hold my leg and help. She was absolutely beaming. Then I turned all my attention to the birth. Every time I would feel a contraction starting, I would tell everyone it was time to push again. I would take a deep breath, push and count to 10, release it, and repeat 2 more times for every contraction. The dr. came in shortly to see how I was progressing. She decided she had time to run over to her office for 30 min. She was wrong. Everybody started scrambling to get things ready for the delivery, because I was pushing very hard and the baby was close to being completely out. The dr. had to be called back quickly, and I had to pant and slow down my pushing. With each push I could feel the head coming down and when it was crowning, I was scared to death because I was in pain. But I had no way of stopping until the baby was out, so I just started pushing with all my might. I screamed that I was tearing and the dr quickly cut a third degree episiotomy, which I felt. Then they said they could see the head, lots of hair! I gave another push and out came the head. They suctioned the mouth and nose and then I pushed again to get those broad shoulders out. They had to turn and twist a little to get them out, but out they came and the rest followed. The cord had been stuck over the shoulder and it snapped back when they pushed it off. Then the dr. cut the cord without asking if dh wanted to, and held my son up for me to see. Dh touched his hand and he grasped it and I touched his foot. They didn't give him to me right away. They took 30 min doing the reflex tests and examinations, so I grabbed the video camera and started filming while I was still in the stirrups. I was elated! The dr started pulling on the cord and ripped the placenta out of me which hurt very much. She then started stitching me up and I informed her that my epidural was worn off and I could feel everything. She finally gave me a shot of lidocaine in my perineum. My son, Pierce, weighed 7 lb 15 oz. and was 19 3/4" long. I finally got to hold my boy in my arms and I just got all teary-eyed looking at his cute scrunched up face! My labor had lasted 29 hours, pushing lasted 30 min, and he was worth every bit of discomfort and pain that I went through! I am currently expecting my second child in late October, 2002. I have a better, more attentive OB and look forward to an easier labor and delivery this time. But so long as we're both healthy, I'll take what I get!
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