Jakob's birth story
I went to work on Thursday, Jan 14th like any other day. I had been having contractions off and on for a week or so, especially the night before. I started having contractions around 3pm at work and they were sporadic but pretty painful, wrapping all the way around my lower back.
I called my Dad to see if he could come up that night and go ahead and stay over (my parents were already scheduled to stay the weekend as it was the weekend before my due date and we figured that it would be nice to already have them there if I went into labor). He came up that evening, probably showing up around 7pm. I was still having very irregular contractions. They were coming anywhere from 3-30 minutes apart but they were very painful. Once Dad got in, DH and I went to WalMart for a few things and to see if walking around did anything. It definitely was hurting more and I had to stop to deal with them.
When I got home I called the nurse and they called the midwife and called me back and told me to go ahead and go to the hospital. The midwife on call was the one I had seen the day before for my 38 1/2 week appt which was nice. She wasn't my favorite but I liked her well enough. Well, when they checked me out I was 4cm. They monitored me for a bit and the contractions were still very irregular. They weren't sure what to do with me. At first they said they could do pitocin or I could walk around for a bit to see if anything happened or they could send me home. I chose to walk around as I really wanted to avoid pitocin for one of my 3 births. I walked around the smallest, most boring hospital floor in the history of mankind for about 45 minutes. We got back and my contractions were still very irregular and not much had changed cervix wise. There was talk about sending me home again but the midwife wasn't too keen on it. In the end we sent DH home to see if he could get some sleep and I would stay in the hospital. The midwife ordered some sleeping meds (a shot in the bum) for me to take when/if I decided I couldn't sleep through the contractions anymore. So, DH left and I tried to sleep.
Well, that lasted for approx an hour. I had a contraction that just reduced me to tears. I rang the nurse and all I could say was that I "needed something" and I was just bawling. Let me tell you, I did an unmedicated birth with pitocin for my 2nd and that had nothing on these contractions. They gave me the visteril (sleeping meds) and some narcotics at the same time as loading up the IV fluids to prep for the epi. Around this time I was 6cm and at some point during this, i think before I got the drugs onboard, I called DH to come back to the hospital. I desperately needed someone there with me. I also, at some point, started seriously shaking, which the midwife said was just my body's reaction to labor. At about 3:30am I got the epidural. The narcotics had taken the edge off the contractions and made them bearable (thank god) while I waited for the epi. The epi was awesome. I still had some sensation in my legs -- they were tingly but I didn't feel the pain. I was able to fall asleep!
When I woke up I was 10cm!! So, so far, even though I had pain meds I didn't have any other interventions like pitocin or artificially breaking my water. This was the 1st time I got all the way to 10cm without that. This was about 6:30am. At this point they did break my water and we started to work on pushing. It took forever to get him over the pelvic bone (or whatever that is). Turns out he was sunnyside up and the midwife said that was why it was so difficult for me to get his head out.
At 8:03 am he was born (right at shift change). Apgars were 8 and 9. He was 7lbs 12oz and 20.5" long (though I think he had unfurled a bit by his next appt as he has measured 21.5" since then).
I had an EMT in training working with the baby nurse. I let him in because I'd want experienced EMT people if I had to deliver in an ambulance. Apparently one of the baby nurses nearly fainted and had to leave. I didn't know that was going on and still don't know what that was all about. My midwife was great. I had no tearing or anything (yay 3 for 3 on that) and I'm sure it was due to her stretching the perineum the ENTIRE time I was trying to push and in between pushes.
That was my story in a nutshell. We stayed in the hospital one night past delivery and we've been doing well since.