Zo23
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I can't believe that I am writing this...I've been so excited to write a birth story and now the time has come!
Our story begins on Tuesday, August 10th. Do to scheduling, I went into the Doctor for my 36 week appointment two days early (So I was 35 + 5). My doctor gave me the Strep B swab and then asked if I wanted him to check my cervix. Excitedly, I told him to go right a head. He stuck his hand up there and told me that I was (drumroll please....) zero centimeters dialated. Big let down. It looked like I was in it for the long haul. Due to gestational diabetes, my doctor was not going to let me go past my due date (Sept 9th) so I had been expecting to eventually be induced for a while now. I kept cringing at the thought of Pitocin.
That night, I had a little bit of bleeding from the cervical exam. Totally normal, no big deal. And when I say a little bit of bleeding, I really mean it.
The next morning, I woke up and like every other day of my pregnancy, I went on a 3 mile run (okay so it was more of a waddle then a run at that point). I got home from the run and jumped in the shower...where I felt a little cramp. Over the past few weeks, running has caused my bowls to get things moving so thats what I thought this was. Unsuprisingly, after the shower, I had to use the restroom. (Isn't this a great story so far?). However, using the restroom didn't make the cramping go away. As I packed up and headed to work, I was not feeling good.
"Could this be labor?" I wondered? No...the doctor checked me yesterday, there is no way I could be in labor. But as the day wore on the cramping got worse. I felt me stomache during the cramps and it did not tighten..in fact, I felt most of the cramping in my back (Ouch). I even decided to time my cramping to see if there was a pattern...there wasn't. So I continued to cramp and have to go to the restroom.
Finally, it was time to go home. I drove home as quickly as possible. My commute is about an hour. I got home and went straight for the couch. Maybe resting would help the cramps. It didn't. I called triage just in case and talked to a nurse. She said that it sounded like I might have the GI tract virus that was going around and she told me to get off my feet and drink plenty of water...maybe even some Gatorade with electrolites. Even she didn't think it was possible that I was in labor. My husband called and I told him I wasn't feeling good but that it was okay for him to work out after work...as long as he picked me up some Gatorade. When he got home about 8:30pm I was not doing good but I refused to go to the hospital only to be sent home again. So we ate dinner and curled up into the fetal position.
About 9pm I decided I needed to go to the hospital. Something was definitely wrong with me...labor or not. Both of us believed we would be home in a few hours so we didn't bother packing bags. We got to the hospital and I was hooked up to the moniter. We told the nurse about the cervical exam the previous day and she agreed that I probably had a virus. However, just in case, she wanted to check my cervix one more time. Better to be safe then sorry. As soon as she felt my cervix she asked "Wait, how many centimeters were you yesterday?" Hesitantly, I replied "Zero....why?" She then told me that I was 4.5 cm dialated and that I had been laboring all day. Oh- and I wasn't going home. My husband looked at me and said "we're going to have a baby!" I told him not to talk to me about that...I need to concentrate on getting through the contractions and the pushing first. I was then 35 + 6 days pregnant and I was told that if my baby was born before 36 weeks, he would have to stay in the NICU. We just had to make it past midnight!
I was wheeled into my birthing suite and changed up. My doctor, who happened to be on call that night, wanted me to wait until I was 5cm before I got an epidural...just in case I was in false labor and I stalled. Even he didn't believe this could be the real thing. So they checked me again about an hour later and guess what? I was 7cm dialated. Get me an epidural, stat! Around that time, I hit the trasition stage and all the sudden, having dinner earlier turned out to be a bad idea.
It took them a while to get their act together so while we were waiting, my husband called in the calvary: Mother, Father, Sister, Mother-in-Law, Father-in-Law, Brother-in-Law and my two best friends. They all arrived just after I recieved my epidural. (My epidural, by the way, was absolute bliss. I didn't even feel the needle go in as I had more important things to worry about at the time). Needless to say, when everybody arrived, I was feeling pretty darn good. They all sat in the room with me and my husband and we chatted and watched my contractions on the moniter. I was having so much fun!
After a while, the doctor came in to break my water and what a relief that was. However, as soon as my water was gone, I began feeling contractions through the epidural so I asked for a topper. If I thought I was feeling good before...I was feeling great after I got that topper. About and hour later, the nurse came in to check my cervix again and low in behold- I was ready! The nurse asked if I could feel any pressure. I told her I couldn't feel anything below my waist and I was perfectly okay with that. So we rushed everybody out of the room except for my husband and the nurse told me we were going to do three practice pushes. I started what I thought was pushing because I couldn't feel a thing. Apparently I was pretty darn good at it though. On the third practice push she yelled for me to stop because if I kept going, I was going to have a baby...and the nurse said "I don't catch!" She called the doctor in and it was go time. Six pushes later, my son was born. Wyatt Robert was born 8/12/10 at 5:37 in the morning. He weighed 5lbs 15oz and was 19 inches long. Most importantly, he was perfectly healthy.
I loved my labor. It was so great to be able to share that moment with my family. My favorite part about the whole experience was the skin on skin contact I had with my baby after he was cleaned up. He slept for hours on my chest and I wouldn't let him go. I still do this as much as possible. As soon as the calvary met Wyatt, we sent them out to get us ready to bring him home. I mean, the car seat was still in the box for crying out loud! However, they were wonderful and by the time we got home, everything was set up and ready. They even bought me nursing bras!
I can't even explain how much I love my son. I wish I could express how much love I feel in my writing but I'm just not that good. I hope you enjoyed our story though...
P.S I wrote this very quickly so please excuse and spelling or grammar errors.
Our story begins on Tuesday, August 10th. Do to scheduling, I went into the Doctor for my 36 week appointment two days early (So I was 35 + 5). My doctor gave me the Strep B swab and then asked if I wanted him to check my cervix. Excitedly, I told him to go right a head. He stuck his hand up there and told me that I was (drumroll please....) zero centimeters dialated. Big let down. It looked like I was in it for the long haul. Due to gestational diabetes, my doctor was not going to let me go past my due date (Sept 9th) so I had been expecting to eventually be induced for a while now. I kept cringing at the thought of Pitocin.
That night, I had a little bit of bleeding from the cervical exam. Totally normal, no big deal. And when I say a little bit of bleeding, I really mean it.
The next morning, I woke up and like every other day of my pregnancy, I went on a 3 mile run (okay so it was more of a waddle then a run at that point). I got home from the run and jumped in the shower...where I felt a little cramp. Over the past few weeks, running has caused my bowls to get things moving so thats what I thought this was. Unsuprisingly, after the shower, I had to use the restroom. (Isn't this a great story so far?). However, using the restroom didn't make the cramping go away. As I packed up and headed to work, I was not feeling good.
"Could this be labor?" I wondered? No...the doctor checked me yesterday, there is no way I could be in labor. But as the day wore on the cramping got worse. I felt me stomache during the cramps and it did not tighten..in fact, I felt most of the cramping in my back (Ouch). I even decided to time my cramping to see if there was a pattern...there wasn't. So I continued to cramp and have to go to the restroom.
Finally, it was time to go home. I drove home as quickly as possible. My commute is about an hour. I got home and went straight for the couch. Maybe resting would help the cramps. It didn't. I called triage just in case and talked to a nurse. She said that it sounded like I might have the GI tract virus that was going around and she told me to get off my feet and drink plenty of water...maybe even some Gatorade with electrolites. Even she didn't think it was possible that I was in labor. My husband called and I told him I wasn't feeling good but that it was okay for him to work out after work...as long as he picked me up some Gatorade. When he got home about 8:30pm I was not doing good but I refused to go to the hospital only to be sent home again. So we ate dinner and curled up into the fetal position.
About 9pm I decided I needed to go to the hospital. Something was definitely wrong with me...labor or not. Both of us believed we would be home in a few hours so we didn't bother packing bags. We got to the hospital and I was hooked up to the moniter. We told the nurse about the cervical exam the previous day and she agreed that I probably had a virus. However, just in case, she wanted to check my cervix one more time. Better to be safe then sorry. As soon as she felt my cervix she asked "Wait, how many centimeters were you yesterday?" Hesitantly, I replied "Zero....why?" She then told me that I was 4.5 cm dialated and that I had been laboring all day. Oh- and I wasn't going home. My husband looked at me and said "we're going to have a baby!" I told him not to talk to me about that...I need to concentrate on getting through the contractions and the pushing first. I was then 35 + 6 days pregnant and I was told that if my baby was born before 36 weeks, he would have to stay in the NICU. We just had to make it past midnight!
I was wheeled into my birthing suite and changed up. My doctor, who happened to be on call that night, wanted me to wait until I was 5cm before I got an epidural...just in case I was in false labor and I stalled. Even he didn't believe this could be the real thing. So they checked me again about an hour later and guess what? I was 7cm dialated. Get me an epidural, stat! Around that time, I hit the trasition stage and all the sudden, having dinner earlier turned out to be a bad idea.
It took them a while to get their act together so while we were waiting, my husband called in the calvary: Mother, Father, Sister, Mother-in-Law, Father-in-Law, Brother-in-Law and my two best friends. They all arrived just after I recieved my epidural. (My epidural, by the way, was absolute bliss. I didn't even feel the needle go in as I had more important things to worry about at the time). Needless to say, when everybody arrived, I was feeling pretty darn good. They all sat in the room with me and my husband and we chatted and watched my contractions on the moniter. I was having so much fun!
After a while, the doctor came in to break my water and what a relief that was. However, as soon as my water was gone, I began feeling contractions through the epidural so I asked for a topper. If I thought I was feeling good before...I was feeling great after I got that topper. About and hour later, the nurse came in to check my cervix again and low in behold- I was ready! The nurse asked if I could feel any pressure. I told her I couldn't feel anything below my waist and I was perfectly okay with that. So we rushed everybody out of the room except for my husband and the nurse told me we were going to do three practice pushes. I started what I thought was pushing because I couldn't feel a thing. Apparently I was pretty darn good at it though. On the third practice push she yelled for me to stop because if I kept going, I was going to have a baby...and the nurse said "I don't catch!" She called the doctor in and it was go time. Six pushes later, my son was born. Wyatt Robert was born 8/12/10 at 5:37 in the morning. He weighed 5lbs 15oz and was 19 inches long. Most importantly, he was perfectly healthy.
I loved my labor. It was so great to be able to share that moment with my family. My favorite part about the whole experience was the skin on skin contact I had with my baby after he was cleaned up. He slept for hours on my chest and I wouldn't let him go. I still do this as much as possible. As soon as the calvary met Wyatt, we sent them out to get us ready to bring him home. I mean, the car seat was still in the box for crying out loud! However, they were wonderful and by the time we got home, everything was set up and ready. They even bought me nursing bras!
I can't even explain how much I love my son. I wish I could express how much love I feel in my writing but I'm just not that good. I hope you enjoyed our story though...
P.S I wrote this very quickly so please excuse and spelling or grammar errors.
Haha, anyway, congrats, well done! It sounds like you are already enjoying your little one which is wonderful!
