Mother's Day, 9am....While sitting in sacrament meeting I began to notice that my frequent "practice" contractions were starting to change. Just about every 30 min or so. I felt some pulling from my back and they seemed to be stronger. Ben and I went home so I could rest. Even with a nap they did not go away. At 11am I started to time them, 10 min, 7min, 9min, 6min. Pretty irregular but consistent pain and lasting longer.
My brother and his family came over for dinner around 4pm and my contractions were starting to make me pause whatever I was doing until it was over. I continued to track the contractions. (Ben found an app on his I-pod touch to help me out.) Still very irregular in timing but getting a little closer together. Now I was starting to wonder if these were the real deal because I only felt pain down low in the middle of my back nothing in the front. I called the on-call doctor at 8pm and she suggested that I go to Labor and Delivery triage to have them check on me.
Ben and I made our way to the hospital but we didn't take anything with us. The nurse hooked me up to the monitors and asked me my pain level wguch was about an "8-9" and said that I was 80% effaced and 1-2 cm dailated. So yes I was in labor....back labor. It felt like a hot sharp knife in my lower back that took my breath away. With each contraction the pain would come fast and stronger. So the options were:
1. Stay and walk around to see if anything progresses.
2. Go home and labor in the comfort of your home, if the pain gets worse and unbearable you can come back and they would give you iv pain meds until it was time to be admitted.
Well we went home thinking it may take a little while longer. Guess again....we were only home about an hour and a half before I decided that this back labor was too much too handle. Back to triage. The nurses called the doctor, this time I has effaced to 85% and now I was very much 2 cm dialated. The nurse came to tell me that I was now going to be admitted to Labor and Delivery and I could get my epidural! Wahoo! Usually you only get an epidural when you get to 4cm.
Midnight...the nurses are getting me ready, putting the IV in and getting my history and hooking me up to the monitors. Shortly therafter the anesthesiologist came in with his cart and starts putting in the epidural. Its amazing how much you can endure, like a contraction, to hold still while someone is sticking a needle into your spine. Once the medication went in I was in heaven. The back pain was gone and I was free to rest through the night while my body labored on....or so I thought. I could still feel my tummy tightening up but no pain. I also noticed that my left side seemed to be more numb than the right. The nurse said that was normal.
At one point around 4am a bunch of nurses came rushing in and turning me and giving me more fluids. The baby's heart rate had dropped to 70bpm. I told them that I had just felt flushed and sweaty and it seemed that my blood pressure had dropped. I soon discovered that if I was laying on my right side I would get very nauseated and it seemed to correlate with my blood pressure. An effect of the epidural. Since that incident I would keep one ear on the babies heart rate and drift in and out of sleep.
7am...My nurse checks things out and declares that I am going to have a baby around lunch time. I was also elated to find out that my OB doctor was the one on-call. Mom and Dad came to the room by 9am. They brought with them our packed bags we left at home. I remember how nice and calm it was in the room because I had pain control and everyone was just reading and waiting for the moment to start pushing. Just before 10am I noticed that I could feel some cramping on the right side of my abomen and the nurse called the doctor for more epidural medicine. It took effect quickly and I was good to go.
At 11am my wonderful nurse Stacie came in and said that it was time to start pushing. Ben held my left leg and my mom held my right. It was the strangest feeling to hold onto numb legs. It took me 54 min of pushing. Dr. Dean happened to come by the room just in time and as she was getting her stuff and me ready she barely had time to grab Harrison as a contraction just pushed him the rest of the way with no help from me.
It was sureal moment to see a baby knowing just where it came from. That baby was mine! Now what do I do. They placed him on me and the nurse and I started rubbing him down. Then he started to pee, everywhere. They took him away and the doctor fixed me up. He weighed 6lbs 12oz, was 19.5 inches long. And he came out with strong sucking reflexes. His cry was the sweetest thing. We love our Harrison.
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