Our baby boy was born on February 5, 2013 at 8:05 pm. It was an eventful and crazy day but most importantly, he came out healthy and we are soooooo happy.
He weighed 9 lbs. 5 oz. and was 21 1/4 in. long. His apgar scores were 8 and 9. Here are the details....
I started having contractions around 12 but figured they were braxton hicks since I had been having them frequently and they had been feeling "crampy". I did all the textbook suggestions to get them to stop, laying down, drinking water, walking....nothing really helped but they weren't getting worse and weren't regular. Finally at 3 pm after picking Maeve up from school, I called the doctor. When I talked to them at 4 pm, they asked the regular questions, were they getting worse (no), how far apart (irregular from 3-10 minutes) etc. They said since it was my fourth child I should probably go to the hospital to get checked out. Jon and I arrived at 4:45 and they hooked me up. After about 15 minutes the nurse came in and said they were real contractions, about 3 minutes apart and that I was 4-5 cm. She said we needed to wait and see what the MD would want to do (have us walk around to see if I dilated more or go ahead and get admitted). Just then Dex's heart rate dropped. About 5 more nurses came in and made me get on my hands and knees since his heart rate wasn't going up. They started talking about an emergency c-section and I was in tears. Finally it went back up and the nurse declared " you just bought yourself an admission". They set me up in a room and talked about breaking my water but then decided not to so that I could wait for my blood work to come back (so I could op in to an epidural if my platelets were above 100). Jon and I made ourselves comfortable and around 7 pm I started feeling more uncomfortable and talked to the nurse about an epidural. Then around 7:30 your heart rate dropped really low again. Back on my hands and knees, the MD decided to go ahead and break my water. She stated things would probably move quickly and to get the epidural. They checked me and I was 6-7 cm at 7:45 pm when the anesthesiologistcame in to put the epidural in. Jon and everyone but the nurse left. I had to sit up to wait for the anesthesiologist to prepare my back and put the needle in. It felt like forever and I was starting to curse with each contraction and was begging for him to hurry up. The nurse told me to stay still and hang in there. Just as he was finally putting the needle in I told the nurse I had to push and could feel him coming. She had me lay down and there he was! I was crowning. The nurse was telling me to stop pushing, calling for help (there was MD to deliver him) and I felt his head come out. Then the nurse was telling me to push again to get his shoulders out and I was like "hell no! that hurt!!!" She yelled at me to push and I pushed again and out you came. =) By then, the MD was coming in and went to cut the cord. The nurse said to stop, could she wait while we got Jon. So they rushed out and got daddy in time for him to cut the cord. Jon walked in and was amazed. He didn't believe he had actually been born. So to sum it up. From 7:45 to 8 pm, I dilated 4 cm and had a 9.5 lb baby, without pain meds!! It was something I had wanted to experience and am so glad I did, but I gotta say, it really does hurt and I can't imagine how women do it when it takes longer than 15 minutes!!!
He is beautiful and we are so blessed.
