My due date was Sunday, May 24th, and it came and went without being admitted to the hospital. (I did show up a couple times, only to be turned away…) So when another Sunday came and went, it was final that I would go in to be induced. I had hoped to go into labor on my own, but I guess Livi was a little too comfy inside to seriously consider coming out. So after a relaxing day at home, at 8 pm on Monday, June 1st, Jon and I headed to the hospital to begin the induction process. My mom had been with us for a couple of weeks already, and my dad had arrived the previous Saturday. They stayed home, waiting for news that things were progressing. We arrived at the hospital and waited awhile to be checked in. My nurse, Amy, introduced herself, and we headed to the labor and delivery room, which was spacious and comfortable.
We started out by being “checked”, only to find that I was still only dilated 1 ½ cm. I’d been this way for about a week, so that was a little disappointing. Because of this, they stripped the membranes (for a second time- I had been into Dr. Rogers’ office for this purpose earlier in the day). It was less than comfortable, but not the worst thing in the world. Then they used some gels to help soften the cervix and prepare it to dilate more. I was then informed that they would check me again in four hours. (By the time they applied the gels, it was 10 pm, so that meant I would get checked again at 2 am). The gels seemed to work—I began to have lots of contractions pretty much right off the bat, but it was basically a lot of waiting. I tried to sleep, but was too uncomfortable, so Jon and I just hung out. He had some snacks, and I had some ice chips. When two o’clock finally rolled around, they came back to check me and after all those contractions, I had only progressed from a 1 ½ to a 2. We decided on another round of gels before starting the pitocen, and I asked when I might be ready for an epidural. The doctor told me that technically I could get the epidural whenever I wanted it, but that it could slow down labor, so I opted to wait another four hours.
The next four hours were not very pleasant at all. Jon and I watched a movie (okay, Jon watched a movie, and I tried to watch a movie, but spent most of the time breathing through contractions). My nurse told me that I was doing a great job with the breathing, which was a miracle, because I didn’t really pay attention to the whole breathing thing in our birthing classes. We joked that we would just get the epidural and call it good, plus, it made me laugh to pretend to have contractions while we “practiced breathing”. Apparently I have natural breathing skills though, and they came in handy. At six am, I got checked again and was at a 3. When they asked if I was ready for an epidural, I said “um, yes”. Good thing I said that when I did, because they had to start giving me fluids through an IV before I could get the epidural, and by the time the anesthesiologist was actually in my room, it was eight am, and I had been in painful labor for ten hours. I had actually considered going natural (even though I didn’t pay attention in birthing class) because my mom always had really fast labors, and I figured it couldn’t be that bad if it was going to be over really fast, but under the circumstances, I am so glad I opted for the epidural. After ten hours (really after about three or four) I was not the nicest person in the world. I’m so grateful to Jon for putting up with me in my crankiness. I started to feel a lot better, and they started me on a very low dose of pitocen (they didn’t want to start at a high dose since I wasn’t really progressing well on my own yet…I guess they wanted to ease my body in). Around the time I got the epidural, the shifts at the hospital changed, and I got a new nurse, Jenelle. She was really fantastic- super friendly and caring.
The hours crawled by, and Jon and I kept hanging out. We read some of our book together, Dr. Rogers arrived and came to check on me. Still at a 3. We called my parents to let them know that no, they hadn’t missed the birth, we were still working on it. We called Jon’s parents and laughed at how excited they sounded when they answered the phone. Sorry, no baby yet. At some point they upped my dose of pitocen just a little bit. Unfortunately, when they did that, the baby’s heart rate started dipping with each contraction, so they took me off pitocen altogether, which slowed my contractions down even more. I began to worry that my body really wouldn’t go into labor for real, and I would have to have a c-section, which was my very last choice of how to give birth. Somewhere along the line nausea hit me like a brick wall, and I threw up all over the floor (not that there was anything in my stomach…I hadn’t eaten since six the night before). While I was throwing up, I felt a strange gush, and thought I might have peed. When the nurse came in, she said there was a lot of fluid, and it looked like my water had broken! The contractions started to regulate a little more after that.
In the afternoon I started feeling the contractions again, and I realized that there was some sort of liquid running down my back. I didn’t think I was sweating, so I called the nurse, and we decided that it was the epidural tubing leaking. The anesthesiologist who had administered the epidural was great (and his name was Charlie Brown, no kidding) but the shifts had changed, and a different one came in. He seemed a little cranky, and didn’t really believe us that the tubing could be leaking until he saw it for himself. He repaired it, but a couple hours later, I was feeling even worse. The contractions felt like they had before I got the epidural at all, so I called the nurse, and she called the anesthesiologist back. He lectured me about how an epidural doesn’t get rid of all the pain, that it was never meant to, and that it was normal to still feel some pressure. Believe me, doctor, I was feeling a lot more than pressure! He begrudgingly added some medicine to the mix, which made me super numb to the point that I couldn’t move my legs (I had been able to move them before, although they were very tingly). Our awesome nurse Jenelle chewed him out in the hallway for not treating me nicely, and told him that she had been with me all day and knew that I wasn’t a whiner- if I said I was in pain, I was really in pain. It’s great when people advocate for you.
It had been a little while since I had thrown up, and I was STARVING! My doctor had told me that when I got to the hospital I could have a clear liquid diet, like juice, Italian ice, jello, etc, but when I got there…no such luck. So I convinced Jon to sneak me a couple of almonds from the trail mix we had brought. Since they are high in protein, I thought they might help give me a little energy for the rest of labor. I also had a tiny sip of his soda. Too bad I threw all that up too an hour later. I stuck to the ice chips after that.
Since the baby’s heart rate was still dipping a bit with each contraction, my doctor decided to put a monitor on her scalp to monitor her heart more closely. When they did this, Doctor Rogers told me I was at a 3 ½ , and then said, “Oh, now you’re at a 4! Wow, you’re almost a 5!” So after hours and hours of getting to a 3, I dilated two more centimeters within 30 seconds. Since I was still off the pitocen, it took awhile to progress much further, but a couple hours later, they had stabilized the baby’s heart rate really well and I was at a 7, so they turned the pitocen back on at a low dose and I started to have more regular contractions. We also called my parents, who headed to the hospital to hang out and wait for the big arrival. They arrived around 7:30 pm and it was great to have them there for some extra moral support. My parents hadn't been there too long when my contractions were looking pretty strong and Dr. Rogers came to check me again. She told me that I was finally at a 10! At that point, we had been at the hospital for 24 hours. They told me that the baby was also fully engaged in the pelvis, and that I could start pushing. I couldn’t really believe it…it seemed surreal that it was finally time for her to be born! I was still so numb from the extra medicine the cranky anesthesiologist had given me that I was a little nervous that I wouldn’t know how to push, but I started pushing with each contraction around 8:45 pm. At 7, the nurses had changed shifts again, and our nurse Amy from the night before switched patients with another nurse so she could be with us again. We were glad to have a familiar face, and she was so wonderful to work with. My contractions were still about four minutes apart, so we had some wait time between each one. After a couple contractions, they noticed that the baby’s heart rate was dipping again, so they put me on oxygen. I pushed a couple more times and then felt the wall of nausea hit again. I took off the oxygen mask, and this time they were prepared with something to catch the vomit. When I was done with that little episode, we went back to pushing. The doctors and nurse told me that I was doing an amazing job pushing for a first time mom. Another hidden talent I guess. Jon said that he could see her head, and that got me pretty excited. The nurse asked if I would like a mirror to watch her be born. I had heard that this is sometimes done, and I thought there was no way I would want to watch, but suddenly I really wanted to, so I said yes. It was really amazing, and motivating to see Olivia be born. I could see how far she was coming, and it helped me push harder and longer to bring her into the world. Suddenly, after a couple more pushes, her head was out. I looked in the mirror and realized that I could see her little face, and I just started to cry for joy. She was so beautiful! I don’t remember pushing anymore after that. After they suctioned her nose and mouth, Dr. Rogers delivered the rest of her body. They wiped her off and put a little hat on her. She cried her first cry, and I cried some more as they put her on my chest. Jon cut the umbilical cord, and I just cuddled sweet little Olivia, and looked into her eyes. It was the most amazing feeling.
