[Carmela]

I had been having some irregular contractions for weeks. Friday night, Jan 17 I started having mild contractions every 10-11 minutes. Went to sleep, and they stopped after my shower Saturday morning. But I started having TONS of cervical mucous. Around midnight Saturday night I started having contractions again. We were at a friends house, so I didn't start timing them until we were driving home. 3-5 minutes apart. We continued to time them for he next hour and when they stayed at 3-5 minutes we went to the hospital.

We walked into labor and delivery and I told them I thought I was in labor. I don't think they believed me "I wasn't in enough distress." But the nurse put me in a room and hooked me up to the machines. I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes and when she checked me I was 95% effaced and 3cm dilated. As she finished the exam my water broke. So that was it, I was staying. That was around 2:30am. Called my mom and she got up, showered and came in (she lives about an hour away.) It took several tries to get a IV in me, and they drew blood as well. Then ran in one liter of fluids. After that I asked her not to hook up another bag because I didn't want to sit in that bed any longer. The nurse was very excited I wanted a truly natural labor, so not only did she not add another bag, she rolled in a birthing ball, showed us how to set up the birthing bar and rolled in a mirror. She told me to come back to the room every hour and then I have to keep the monitors on for 15 minutes.

Her shift ended at 7am, but my new nurse, while she was good and accepting too (this hosipal loves natural births) she wasn't Eva. My doctor checked me, I was still only 4cm. He told me to hang in there and predicted we would have this baby by 3pm. So I continued walking, sitting on the ball, moving around. I got checked pretty rarely, but didn't make any more progress. At 3pm the nurse told me that I had one hour to get to 6cm or they would have to start some pitocin. I started doing squats and walking around more. At 4PM I was still only 5cm, so they started a slow drip of pitocin. I was again confined to the bed for the next hour. After that hour I was only 6, so they kept me on the drip, but I could not sit in that bed any longer. I was still attached to the monitors and stuff, so I couldn't go far, but I started walking around the room and sitting on the ball. I even tried some more squats with the birthing bar. When Eva came back for her next shift at 7, she started turning the drip up every 15 minutes and would unhook me from the monitors to let me walk the halls, with monitor checks every 30 minutes. I had also been started on antibiotics since my water had broken so long before. That lasted for about an hour and Eva got in trouble for letting my off the monitor while on pitocin, so I was confined to the room again after that. By 10pm I was still only 6 or 7 cm and the pitocin was running super fast. I was having contractions continuously and I was basically standing there, swaying side to side with my arms around DH's neck. My doctor told me that bascially we would really need to think c-section if I had not progressed in another hour. Baby at that point was fine, so I really didn't want to.

During the next hour my contractions really got intense, and baby's heart rate started spiking more in the 170 range than the 140 range he had been the rest of the time. By the time my doctor came back Eva had already stopped the pitocin because she was worried. When he checked me, still no progress, and little Blaise was actually moving away from his hand when he felt his head. I still didn't want a section and asked him to give me a little more time. It took a few minutes of talking with DH and Eva about it and thinking about what I had felt and that Blaise was potentially not doing ok with labor anymore. I agreed to the section while baling my eyes out.

At that point I could no longer relax. I couldn't breath with my contractions and everything HURT. They prepped me quickly, I got a spinal, and Blaise was out and crying by 11:35. 8lb2oz/ 22inches long/ head circumference of 13.5in/ chest circumference of 13.25in. He is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen in my life.

I will add some pictures later (and likely proof read and edit.)

[Isaeph]

Wow, congratulations! WTG for laboring so long, especially with pitocin. Even though it ended in a c-section, it was REALLY good for his body to experience the chemical changes from labor!

[KrystalB]

Wow, what a story! You're such a trooper for laboring so long.
Welcome to the world little Blaise!