Not the birth I had planned. But I am so in love with the end product I'm OK with it. But will try for my 100% natural birth on #2.
At my 39 week appointment on Monday the doctor told me he wanted me delivered by the next Monday. I was contracting fairly hard and regular but not dilating. I was 65% effaced and finger tip. Plus between BP that liked to creep, and me having some major pain, everyone thought it best for him to come on out.
The delivering doctors office called me on Tuesday, they had me set up to go in Wednesday at 6pm to start Cervidil, then induction on Thursday- so we all assumed I would have a baby no later than Thursday....
Big snowstorm hit Wednesday afternoon, so we headed over early, had a fairly big dinner at Houllihans then headed to the Hospital. They got me checked in really fast, in a room and the Cervidil in place by 6:15. I was still contracting about every three minutes, but they were easy to get through. Overnight they got stronger and closer together at times, but no change in dilation. I had really hoped that the Cervidil would do it all on its own. By morning my cervix was thinned out but still a little high.
At 7am they hooked me up to the pitocin. They increased it every hour, and I was handling everything really well. I was still determined not to get an epidural and stick to my hypnobabies, which was working great at this point. At 8 pm my doctor checked me and I was about 1 1/2 cm. we discussed it and decided to break my water to help move things down to dilate me more.
After that the contractions got a lot stronger and they continued to up the pitocin,
Evil nurse Frankie came on duty then.
At around 10 pm, my contractions were starting to hump. When the first one ended I had about 15-30 seconds in between. EN (Evil Nurse), kept telling me that they were only 2-3 minutes apart because she only paid attention to start to start not how long they were lasting. I was in tears through most of them at this point.
Jim and I discussed it, and decided to get an epidural, because I was not making it through these, and after 28 hours of labor (from the start of the Cervidil) I was running low on energy. We had snuck me in some food, like raisnettes and crackers, because we knew they wouldn’t let me have anything more than popsicles and water. But even with a big dinner the night before, I was losing steam with no food, IV fluid just doesn’t give you energy.
Anesthesiology came in- it was the same doctor who did my anesthesia last year for my surgery- he is really good. He put the epi in and my BP immediately went down, so did C.J.'s heart rate. The put me down and oxygen on me and started massaging C.J.'s head through my cervix. We both responded quickly. But the epi was not working at all. He had to go through some scar tissue from my back surgery, and it was interfering. They decided to give it some time.
It never got better, the contractions were worse because I couldn't change positions thanks to EN and both Jim and I were getting scared that I was going to end up one of the induction to c-section statistics. I decided to have them take out the epi, EN told me that was my only choice. My doctor came in and said he would like to see if they could redo it in a different spot. We all wanted to avoid any narcotics in my IV, just didn't want C.J. to get those.
The anesthesiologist agreed to try again and went in lower on the spine than normal. After he was done, I didn't even feel the next contraction.
They started upping the pitocin again, but they started back at the beginning dose. They upped it every 20 minutes. I was able to sleep sort of for about 2 hours, which was so so needed. When I woke up at 3 am I told EN that my heartburn was really bad, she blew me off. Plus I was shivering- the b&^% had never bothered to change my bedding pad after they broke my water. I was freezing. I finally griped enough to get her to at least do that. About 15 minutes later, I had to call the nurses’ station and told them I really needed something for the HB, it was making me really nauseous. They said they would check with the Dr., About 5 minutes later I woke up DH and told him I needed someone I was going to be sick and started vomiting. He got on there yelling for help. I filled 2 or 3 of the little bedside pans, plus I was projectiling. The other nurses who were there were awesome, they were in the room in just a few seconds. EN finally came in, wish I had had some left to point at her!
After they got me cleaned up, she checked me and I had jumped to fully effaced and 3 cm. She attributed the vomiting to that. But begrudging got me something for the HB.
The next hour and a half were horrible. The epi had pretty much quit working; I was still shaking like crazy and couldn't get comfortable for anything. I mentioned to Jim, that I wondered if this was transition, but EN was convinced it would be noon or later before we got even close. At 5 am I told EN that all my contractions were in my bottom and I was really fighting the urge to push. She looked at the monitor and said- "you have pushed, don't do that you will damage your cervix!" I kept telling her I was doing all I could not too. So with the nasty little look she decided to check me. She didn't say anything at first, and then when we prodded she said you’re ready. She left and another nurse came in and told us that this never happens, but EN wanted her to double check me, because she didn't believe that I could be ready when 90 minutes ago I was just at 3cm. She checked and said yep, you’re ready, we need to call the doctor, and she helped show me how to breathe through a contraction and not let my body push.
My doctor was across town at the other hospital delivering but was on his way. He got there at around 5:40, they got me set up and I started pushing at 5:45, and he was born at 5:59! I was watching the monitor in between contractions just waiting on the next one so I could push, of course Jim and the Doctor kept up some inane conversation the entire time.
He was 7 pounds 11 ounces, 21 and 1/8 inches long. APGAR’s were 8 and 9.
In delivery when they were giving him his bath, they kept saying his hair was red. It has a slight reddish cast to it in certain light, but is more light brown to me now. But I am completely in love. He is nursing pretty well, he likes to fall asleep in the middle of it, plus I am having to use a shield on my right side.
Managed to escape the hospital on Saturday afternoon, and we are still working on our schedule. Being in the hospital I couldn’t even establish any sort of nursing schedule because someone would always interrupt us.
More pictures still to follow, DH took off again with the memory card!
This is 3 days old, all snuggled in his bouncy seat.
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Chester James birth story- long-
Congratulations!
I hate that you had such a crappy unsupportive nurse. I can't believe you had to sit in your amniotic fluid for so long. I too wish you were able to throw up on her. 
In the end though... you did it! You grew a perfect little baby boy and he's here, and you avoided a section which I know was the ultimate goal! Be proud! 
She really gives nurses a bad name - grrrrr!!! At least you made her co-workers have to clean up after her patient...that's a really bad thing for a nurse to do in her co-worker's eyes - and then you got to prove her wrong by being complete and ready to deliver 
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