Levi's Birth Story

momtothe3rdpower · #1 June 4th, 2010, 06:49 PM

Levi Edwin Wells, June 1st, 2010 at 3:18 p.m. 7 pounds, 12 ounces, 20 � inches long

The hardest part to decide about this story is when it really begins. Two days before Levi�s birthday the normal Braxton Hicks contractions I had been having most of the late pregnancy began to feel different. They were consistently spaced at times, but would stop at times, especially when I went to sleep. The next day they began again, I lost my mucus plug around 10 a.m. but still no big increase in the number or intensity of contractions, went to bed that night and once again they stopped. I woke up at 5 a.m. the day of Levi�s birth. I had a bit more mucus streaked with blood and again the contractions started again, but after two days of these smallish contractions I was like, I can�t trust my body! I don�t know if I am in labor or not! I had a feeling today would be the day, told Todd to stay close to the phone, sent the girls off to school and noticed the contractions were a lot more frequent as I walked around. As I accepted I was probably in early labor at this point I was thinking early labor can take hours or days! I was not in any big hurry to get to the hospital because I thought they would say, �You look too comfortable, you don�t need to be here, ect.� I was only in pain if the contraction came and I could talk through them so I thought I need to be in like tears before it is time for the hospital. I called my doctor�s office to give them the head�s up today was probably the day. They told me if I was in early labor I should be at the hospital. I didn�t listen, I was thinking I will be stuck in a bed bored for hours and not progressing if I go to the hospital now. I called my sister-in-law who is an OBGYN nurse practitioner for a second opinion. She seconded I should just go in but commented I wasn�t breathing through the contrations ( I interpreted this as, see, I am not REALLY in labor yet and so I didn�t listen. I realized I was hungry and had not eaten that morning, so mom and I went to Panera for a sandwich and salad . Then we were off to walk the mall a bit and decided we would go to the hospital after a bit of walking just in case I hadn�t progressed enough yet. The contractions kept coming through this but they were quite spread out and I could handle the pain so I really wasn�t in a hurry to go the hospital. I made a few more excuses of stops to make on the way to the hospital to stretch it out (so afraid to be sent home!) stopping at the cash machine, buying magazines, dropping off diapers at Kayleigh�s daycare�.couldn�t think of another excuse to make so OK, I told mom, let�s go to the hospital (But don�t have Todd bother coming since they might not keep me there yet) As I was walking in I was feeling like I was going to waste their time but I really wanted to know how far along I was. Walking into the hospital apparently was the go sign my body was waiting for?! Trying to check in the contractions REALLY started coming fast, and the pain level just jumped immediately. I had to bend over and stare at my feet every couple of minutes during check in. Of course, in typical hospital fashion they were not sure I was in labor, so they stalled putting me in a bed. They had me change into a gown and I had like 3 contractions trying to get dressed and so I yelled out to my mom in the other room while I was changing/contracting �Mom, you better call Todd. I need him here.� It is a good think I didn�t wait for the hospital to admit me before calling him because it was a downhill slide from here. My first check, I was 4 and � cm and my cervix was paper thin. They called my midwife, and in my second check I had a contraction and moved to a 6 but she couldn�t feel my bag of waters. The first nurse to check me said it was there when she checked. I hadn�t felt a gush or anything though so where was it? Next contraction, I felt the amniotic fluid leaking out. Now things took off here, even faster. The baby�s heartrate was dropping as I contracted so I had to stay in bed, put on oxygen, and put monitors on baby�s head and me to figure out why. As soon as they did that, Levi�s heartrate started looking better so soon they let me get up and stand through the contractions. There was almost no break in between contractions. The pain was getting worse, of course they offered me pain relief. I thought I could take more pain, so I refused. They checked me again, DURING a contraction (holy cow, that really hurts bad!) during that contraction I went from a 7 to an 8, very painfully I might add. At 8 cm is where things started getting a little shaky. I did not know what to do during the contractions, they were beyond excruciating. I was standing up through them because they were a lot more painful on the bed. I really lost my focus and concentration here�previously I had been praying through every contraction. At this point, I am really not sure what was going through my head. It was a bit like an out of body experience?! There were seconds between the contractions now. The great thing was after just a few minutes I felt the pressure and they said they would see if I was complete. I was at 10 (and shocked!) so I got to push through my next contraction. I counted to 15 in my head, definitely felt the baby coming out, the head first, then shoulders. One push and he was here! They quickly put him up on me and I was in love. He was totally healthy, absolutely adorable, and just as sweet as can be!
Afterwards, I was told I had torn twice

and one was just to the left of my clitoris. That got me a bit concerned, I really like that spot! They tried to stitch me up and I was like, nope I can't take it! Drugs please! SO I had Staderol? put in my IV for my repair. That stuff is insane, I was so chatty and somewhat out of it....I can't imagine being on that in labor! It wore off somewhat quickly though, about an hour? So wierd. Praise be to God for how well my labor went!