It was a cold day, on the brink of a potential blizzard. The day before, my doctor had informed me that I needed to go into labor that night because he was off to be married over the weekend and would be honeymooning in Hawaii for the next several weeks. This astonished me, and I thought, how does one make themselves go into labor? And why didn't my Doc tell me about this sooner? The next morning, because I had not miraculously gone into labor at some point during the night, my doctor informed me to call the hospital to see if they could schedule me to come in to be induced. I called, and they said I was second on the list, and to call back in an hour. About 25 minutes later, I received a call from the hospital - they had tried to call the person ahead of me on the list, but she didn't answer. This meant that I needed to pack my things and head to the hospital.
We arrived at the hospital at around 7:45am. I checked in and then they showed Bob and me to our room. The nurse came in and hooked up the external fetal monitor, something to monitor my contractions, and placed an IV to administer the Pitocin to induce labor, and also for the epidural when it was time. They set the Pitocin at a very low level. Even before they started the Pitocin, my contractions were quite strong and regular. The nurse said I was well on my way. I think at this point, I was dilated to about 2.5 or so.
Then we played the waiting game. I remember Bob and I watched The Price is Right. Bob loves this show and never gets to watch since he is always at work when it airs. He was so excited! We watched some TV, talked, and waited. And waited. From what I can remember, at some point the doctor came in and broke my water, and I dilated fairly quickly. Before it was too late, the anesthesiologist came in to administer my epidural. He did his thing, and all I could see was a look of horror on Bob's face. This scared me a little, and then the anesthesiologist said he couldn't get the epidural in the right spot and he'd have to do it again. WHAT??? Two epidurals for one labor? What the heck? So, again he went, with that giant needle in my back. This time it supposedly worked. He finished up and before he left, he explained that if the pain starts hurting more than I wanted, to click a button and more medication would be released.
When he was gone, I asked Bob why he had that look on his face. He explained that when the doc did the first epidural, blood started spraying everywhere. It freaked him out. Him telling me this freaked me out! Nice that our anesthesiologist poked a vein or something...scary.
I don't really remember what we did from this time until the actual delivery - but I know nearly each contraction hurt like a son of a gun. I don't know if this was a result of the pitocin, which after-the-fact I learned creates much more intense, hard contractions, or if it was just because I'm a wimp. Either way, it sure hurt! I kept pushing the button, but no relief came. They had to keep calling the anesthesiologist to come in and give me more pain medicine directly. So much for my epidural, or should I say epidurals!
I was dilated to a 10 at around 4:30. At about this time, the nurse instructed me that it was time to begin pushing. On a side note, my parents had arrived and were waiting outside for the birth of their grandson. They thought it would be relatively fast since my sister just had a baby 4 days earlier and she pushed for about 15 minutes. Oh boy, I wish that were the case here. I pushed and I pushed. And I pushed some more. But little Jakey had no intentions of being born. He crowned over and over again, only to be sucked back up. After about 3 hours of this, the doctor decided other measures needed to be taken. (Not to mention that my family was growing increasingly worried because it was such a different experience from my sister's.) He explained to me that he wanted to use forceps to aid in the delivery. This totally freaked me out. I didn't want anything to happen to Jake. I would rather have them slice me open to get him out if it meant less risk to him. The doctor assured me that it was rather routine and he was very good with forceps. After discussing this with Bob, we reluctantly agreed. As I was pushing with my next contraction, the doctor did his thing and poof, Jake was born at 7:42pm. A healthy 7 lb 11oz baby boy. We were so relieved, and I can't even begin to describe the feelings that overwhelmed me at this moment. My life has never been the same.
I was later informed by one of the nurses that she couldn't believe my doctor let me push for so long. Apparently, if a woman has been pushing for an hour, they take the next step, whether that is forceps, c-section, whatever. Most likely due to all the pressure Jake endured for the 3+ hours, he was soooo swollen. And the forceps had scraped and bruised his little face. He looked like he had gone several rounds vs. Holyfield. And he had the most outrageous cone head ever on record! My poor baby! But, I am happy to say that he is so healthy; no scars or marks to commemorate his difficult birth. And this last year has been such a blast. I am so thankful for my wonderful little boy!
Here are a few pictures of him the day he was born:
And here are some pics of him now:
So...tomorrow's the big day! To celebrate, we are having a combined 1st Birthday party with Tyce. Laura and I still have a ton to do to get ready, but it's going to be so much fun!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKE!!!
