A couple months ago, Jillian and I moved our bedroom from a downstairs room to the upstairs. We still had some totes full of clothes in our old bedroom, so we started going through them. It was about 6:30pm on September 10th and at 8pm I started having some consistent cramping. I suppose all that bending helped start labor.
I wasn't having anything painful but we were clocking them about 5mins apart lasting a minute for an hour. I called Nurse Direct which contacted the OB on call. She said to head to the hospital since we live a bit away and I'm high risk.
I waited until I was sure the cramping was consistent. I got on the treadmill, bounced on the exercise ball and took a shower. I was in total denial of being in labor. Jillian finally said enough was enough and we needed to go. So, off we head to the hospital. We arrived about midnight and I was hooked up to all the machines to get the base readings. I was at 2-3cms which was disappointing but Anne (my nurse who went to school with a friend of Jillian- small world) said I was 90% and having good contractions so I was staying. Also, I was at -1/0 station.
3am I was at 3cms so I was progressing.
6am I was still at 3cms.
At 8am my OB came in to see me. He says "So, we're going to have that baby today, ehh?" I was so excited! He checked me and I was still at 3cms and stalled. He asked if I wanted him to break my water and I said no. I asked if he would give me till noon and he said ok.
12pm OB comes back and I'm still at 3cms and still have no pain just cramps. He asks what I want to do. I can either have him break my water or go home and augment labor myself. I said I want to go home and see what happens. He agreed with me that is what I should do since I want a least amount of interventions as possible and he's so not aggressive. My mother kept saying to let them break my water and Jillian kept saying that I should do what I want to do which was to go as natural as possible.
I went home to sleep. I laid in bed for hours trying to sleep but the cramping was enough for me to not be able to.
At 11pm I called nurse direct again. The OB I spoke to said to head to the hospital- again. I was still not in "pain". I was basically a "2" on a scale from 1-10. The OB said that didn't matter.
At midnight I arrived at the hospital. Anne was my nurse again. She said baby was at 0 station and I was a 3-4cm. I could cry. Anne kept reassuring me that getting to 4cm was the hardest and I was almost there. I kept telling her that I wasn't in pain so I didn't even feel like I should be there. She said that most women are asking for epidurals by 4cm so I probably have a great pain tolerance.
6:30am the OB on call came to see me. She checked me, still at 3-4cms. She broke my water. It seemed like that took forever. Zander was so low that the bag of water was super tight around his head. I said "don't poke him in his soft spot" – you'd think I didn't believe she'd probably done that hundreds of times before! I ended up bruising Jillian's hand mostly because of anxiety that Zander would be arriving for sure within the next 12-18hrs. It also wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world! The lady OB was funny after she broke my water because she then says "Well, I hope Chris (my ob) doesn't get mad at me." I found that mildly amusing.
At 8am, my OB came in and said "Are we going to have that baby today? I'm almost scared to ask that since I said that yesterday too!" He's such a dork. Anyway, he checked me and I was still 3-4 but more towards 4cm. Mr. Zander was posterior too.
During all of this: Apparently, the cramping I had been feeling was actually back labor. As soon as my water broke I was in lots of pain! I was trying to lift myself up sideways by the rails of the bed, I couldn't stop the pain, even inbetween contractions. The nurse, Susan (who use to work with Jillian- again, small world!), got the whirlpool ready and I hung out in there for a couple hours while Jillian sprayed me with water while the jets were going. I tried the breathing techniques- that's all crap.
Finally, I looked at Jillian and told her that I wouldn't be able to push later with me not sleeping since Wednesday night and being in such pain at that moment. I wanted the epidural. The hooked me up to the IV because I needed a bag of fluid before I they could call anesthesia. After the bag was empty, I got out of the tub and got into bed. At 12:30pm they were hooking me up to the monitors while the anesthesiologist walked in. He was an egotistical maniac. My gown was up so I was "exposed". Like I said, they were hooking me up to the monitors. The guy looks at me and says that I need to cover up to maintain my dignity. I didn't even respond to that! I had a student nurse (who was such a sweetheart) helping out too. The anesthesiologist thought he would act all "big man on campus" and show off to her. He starts asking Susan how long it takes for alcohol and betodyne (sp?) to dry. Of course, she didn't know that completely useless piece of information. As he's asking stupid questions, he's sternly "correcting" me for moaning during contractions. He wasn't even working on me yet! Jerk. Well, since one of the nurses was a student, he starts telling her all the horrible things that can go wrong. I'm already terrified because this dude is sticking a needle in my spine, I don't need to be hearing about paralysis and spinal leakage beyond the normal warnings they offer. I have to say, he was a spectacular anesthesiologist because I still wanted to be able to move my legs and know when I was having contractions which I could.
As soon as the epidural was in, they had to cath me. I ended up falling asleep during. Yes, I fell asleep during catherization! Jillian told me that Susan was worried that she would wake me but Jill said to her "I recognize that snore. You won't wake her up for anything.". When I woke up I was at 5cm. Yay!
At 5 pm-ish I was still at 5cm. I knew, I freaking knew, that I was going to stall. I knew the consequences of an epidural. Also, I know that 5 hrs (or so) isn't exactly a long time to decide that I'm stalled either but with an epidural, I figured it was enough. My OB came to talk to me. He knew my fear of pit and knew that I am well educated. He said that he wanted to start it but wanted my opinion as well. I told him I'm scared of a c-section and said that he didn't see that happening. I believed him because of how every nurse I had saying that my particular OB is so not aggressive and so low intervention. I trust him, and started pit. I started feeling the contractions a bit more but it was nothing- just pressure.
Sometime around here I was put on oxygen because Zander's heart kept dropping during contractions. OB came to visit and I asked specifics about the oxygen, OB said it really wasn't necessary and took me off of it.
At 6pm-ish I was at 7cm
At 6:30pm I was fully dilated. I told them I was waiting until I felt the urge to push on my own, more than I was feeling already.
At 6:45pm the urges were stronger.
At 7pm I told them I needed to start pushing. I was checked and Zander was still sunny side up. I had two nurses who were in there. After my second push one of them left and then all of a sudden people started swarming the room. My OB was in there almost the whole time who was watching the monitor in shock. He said that my pushes were "off the chart". In between pushes I was talking/laughing with my Doc. He said something about delivering the baby and I said "Well, you helped put him there!" The nurses both looked at each other a bit nervous and I said "on paper! On paper! We did artificial insemination!". At that point everyone was laughing hysterically. OB was actually red and belly laughing. It was about 10 pushes (give or take because I pushed a lot more than twice per contraction) and Mr. Zander graced the world with his presence at 7:52 pm on Friday, September 12th 2008. According to my OB he was a good Wisconsin baby "full of cheese". He was 7lbs 5oz 19.25 in tall. His head was a whopping 14in which caused a 2nd degree laceration. Sometime between being checked and Zander arriving he turned so I didn't deliver him posterior.
Jillian was an amazing coach. She even watched the mirror and cut the cord. I was a bit worried that she was going to pass out. I am so lucky to have had her there!
Even though things didn't go exactly as I imagined, I am so happy with how things went. I'd do it that way again because I know what interventions happened, needed to happen.
I wasn't having anything painful but we were clocking them about 5mins apart lasting a minute for an hour. I called Nurse Direct which contacted the OB on call. She said to head to the hospital since we live a bit away and I'm high risk.
I waited until I was sure the cramping was consistent. I got on the treadmill, bounced on the exercise ball and took a shower. I was in total denial of being in labor. Jillian finally said enough was enough and we needed to go. So, off we head to the hospital. We arrived about midnight and I was hooked up to all the machines to get the base readings. I was at 2-3cms which was disappointing but Anne (my nurse who went to school with a friend of Jillian- small world) said I was 90% and having good contractions so I was staying. Also, I was at -1/0 station.
3am I was at 3cms so I was progressing.
6am I was still at 3cms.
At 8am my OB came in to see me. He says "So, we're going to have that baby today, ehh?" I was so excited! He checked me and I was still at 3cms and stalled. He asked if I wanted him to break my water and I said no. I asked if he would give me till noon and he said ok.
12pm OB comes back and I'm still at 3cms and still have no pain just cramps. He asks what I want to do. I can either have him break my water or go home and augment labor myself. I said I want to go home and see what happens. He agreed with me that is what I should do since I want a least amount of interventions as possible and he's so not aggressive. My mother kept saying to let them break my water and Jillian kept saying that I should do what I want to do which was to go as natural as possible.
I went home to sleep. I laid in bed for hours trying to sleep but the cramping was enough for me to not be able to.
At 11pm I called nurse direct again. The OB I spoke to said to head to the hospital- again. I was still not in "pain". I was basically a "2" on a scale from 1-10. The OB said that didn't matter.
At midnight I arrived at the hospital. Anne was my nurse again. She said baby was at 0 station and I was a 3-4cm. I could cry. Anne kept reassuring me that getting to 4cm was the hardest and I was almost there. I kept telling her that I wasn't in pain so I didn't even feel like I should be there. She said that most women are asking for epidurals by 4cm so I probably have a great pain tolerance.
6:30am the OB on call came to see me. She checked me, still at 3-4cms. She broke my water. It seemed like that took forever. Zander was so low that the bag of water was super tight around his head. I said "don't poke him in his soft spot" – you'd think I didn't believe she'd probably done that hundreds of times before! I ended up bruising Jillian's hand mostly because of anxiety that Zander would be arriving for sure within the next 12-18hrs. It also wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world! The lady OB was funny after she broke my water because she then says "Well, I hope Chris (my ob) doesn't get mad at me." I found that mildly amusing.
At 8am, my OB came in and said "Are we going to have that baby today? I'm almost scared to ask that since I said that yesterday too!" He's such a dork. Anyway, he checked me and I was still 3-4 but more towards 4cm. Mr. Zander was posterior too.
During all of this: Apparently, the cramping I had been feeling was actually back labor. As soon as my water broke I was in lots of pain! I was trying to lift myself up sideways by the rails of the bed, I couldn't stop the pain, even inbetween contractions. The nurse, Susan (who use to work with Jillian- again, small world!), got the whirlpool ready and I hung out in there for a couple hours while Jillian sprayed me with water while the jets were going. I tried the breathing techniques- that's all crap.
Finally, I looked at Jillian and told her that I wouldn't be able to push later with me not sleeping since Wednesday night and being in such pain at that moment. I wanted the epidural. The hooked me up to the IV because I needed a bag of fluid before I they could call anesthesia. After the bag was empty, I got out of the tub and got into bed. At 12:30pm they were hooking me up to the monitors while the anesthesiologist walked in. He was an egotistical maniac. My gown was up so I was "exposed". Like I said, they were hooking me up to the monitors. The guy looks at me and says that I need to cover up to maintain my dignity. I didn't even respond to that! I had a student nurse (who was such a sweetheart) helping out too. The anesthesiologist thought he would act all "big man on campus" and show off to her. He starts asking Susan how long it takes for alcohol and betodyne (sp?) to dry. Of course, she didn't know that completely useless piece of information. As he's asking stupid questions, he's sternly "correcting" me for moaning during contractions. He wasn't even working on me yet! Jerk. Well, since one of the nurses was a student, he starts telling her all the horrible things that can go wrong. I'm already terrified because this dude is sticking a needle in my spine, I don't need to be hearing about paralysis and spinal leakage beyond the normal warnings they offer. I have to say, he was a spectacular anesthesiologist because I still wanted to be able to move my legs and know when I was having contractions which I could.
As soon as the epidural was in, they had to cath me. I ended up falling asleep during. Yes, I fell asleep during catherization! Jillian told me that Susan was worried that she would wake me but Jill said to her "I recognize that snore. You won't wake her up for anything.". When I woke up I was at 5cm. Yay!
At 5 pm-ish I was still at 5cm. I knew, I freaking knew, that I was going to stall. I knew the consequences of an epidural. Also, I know that 5 hrs (or so) isn't exactly a long time to decide that I'm stalled either but with an epidural, I figured it was enough. My OB came to talk to me. He knew my fear of pit and knew that I am well educated. He said that he wanted to start it but wanted my opinion as well. I told him I'm scared of a c-section and said that he didn't see that happening. I believed him because of how every nurse I had saying that my particular OB is so not aggressive and so low intervention. I trust him, and started pit. I started feeling the contractions a bit more but it was nothing- just pressure.
Sometime around here I was put on oxygen because Zander's heart kept dropping during contractions. OB came to visit and I asked specifics about the oxygen, OB said it really wasn't necessary and took me off of it.
At 6pm-ish I was at 7cm
At 6:30pm I was fully dilated. I told them I was waiting until I felt the urge to push on my own, more than I was feeling already.
At 6:45pm the urges were stronger.
At 7pm I told them I needed to start pushing. I was checked and Zander was still sunny side up. I had two nurses who were in there. After my second push one of them left and then all of a sudden people started swarming the room. My OB was in there almost the whole time who was watching the monitor in shock. He said that my pushes were "off the chart". In between pushes I was talking/laughing with my Doc. He said something about delivering the baby and I said "Well, you helped put him there!" The nurses both looked at each other a bit nervous and I said "on paper! On paper! We did artificial insemination!". At that point everyone was laughing hysterically. OB was actually red and belly laughing. It was about 10 pushes (give or take because I pushed a lot more than twice per contraction) and Mr. Zander graced the world with his presence at 7:52 pm on Friday, September 12th 2008. According to my OB he was a good Wisconsin baby "full of cheese". He was 7lbs 5oz 19.25 in tall. His head was a whopping 14in which caused a 2nd degree laceration. Sometime between being checked and Zander arriving he turned so I didn't deliver him posterior.
Jillian was an amazing coach. She even watched the mirror and cut the cord. I was a bit worried that she was going to pass out. I am so lucky to have had her there!
Even though things didn't go exactly as I imagined, I am so happy with how things went. I'd do it that way again because I know what interventions happened, needed to happen.
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