My boyfriend and I headed to my regular, weekly doctor's appointment on Tuesday, January 5th; I was 40 weeks and 3 days along. We arrived in the office around 9:00 am and waited for almost an hour to see the doctor. Once we were in the exam room, the doctor came in and checked me and I had progressed to two centimeters and was 70% effaced. He noticed that my blood pressure was still a little high as it had been the week before and that now my face was starting to look a little puffy. He suspected that I might developing toxemia, so we all decided that it was time for our little one to arrive and we were sent to the hospital around 10:30!
We checked in and they set me up in triage to take some blood and urine, to monitor the baby for a bit and to sign all the paperwork. While I was waiting for a delivery room to become available my boyfriend ran home to make all the phone calls and to grab our bag. After a couple hours I was moved to a delivery room and ate some lunch. The computer system in the hospital was being updated so we could not start the induction until they were done. My boyfriend returned around 1:00 and at 2:30 the nurse came in and sent us to roam the halls for an hour. When we returned the nurse inserted a gel into my cervix to prepare it for the induction and sent us walking again. During this walk I started to have a few very small contractions about 15 minutes apart. We returned to the room at 4:30 and the nurse started to get things ready for the induction. At little after 5:00 she started the pitocin. Almost immediately I started to get pretty strong contractions lasting a minute or so about 5 minutes apart.
When I was 3 centimeters the doctor broke my bag of water and my contractions quickly started coming on VERY strong and were all concentrated in my lower back. Though I had intended on laboring without an epidural, by the time I was four centimeters the pain was more than I could bare. I tried to calm myself and to relax my body through them like I had practiced, but I just could not get my body to concentrate and half way through the contraction, I would loose it, so through the tears I asked the nurse to send in the anesthesiologist.
Unfortunately, the epidural only took to my right side. The nurse told my to lay on my left side and to add medication as needed to see if it would block out the rest of me. By the time I added a couple more doses of meds, my legs were fairly heavy, but most of the pain was blocked out of my left side. I could still feel the contractions on that side of my back, but they were much more manageable and I felt more in control of them and I even started to sleep in between them. From this point on, most of the labor became a blur!
What seemed like 5 minutes later (though it was actually more like 2 hours later) around 10:30 the nurse checked me and said that I was 9 centimeters and at 11:30 I was 10 and started pushing. In just a couple pushes, baby's head was starting to show. They quickly prepared the room for the birth and the doctor came in. I started pushing and her head quickly appeared. I could barely see the dark hair on the top of her head as I tried to peer over my belly. In just another push her shoulders came out and the doctor let my reach down and catch her. As I pulled her onto my chest I announced that it was a girl! My boyfriend's hands were shaking as he cut the cord. They whisked her away to be cleaned off and weighed; a whole 6 pounds 7 ounces! I was so busy watching her that I didn't even notice the placenta come out. I had a first degree tear and the doctor sewed me up. Once we were both ready, they gave me our baby girl and she started nursing immediately for about 30 minutes. I couldn't (and still can't) believe that she was actually here.
Even though my birth did not go at all how I wanted it to, I couldn't be happier with the results and I wouldn't change a thing. My precious little girl is here with us and we are both healthy and that is all that matters.
Haidon Tanis
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Haidon's Birth
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