Wes' Birth Story

On Friday August 24th Drew and I got to the hospital at 5 pm to begin the induction process.  I was REALLY wanting my sweet boy to come on his own and wasn't really looking forward to being induced.. but at 41 weeks I was so ready to meet him and didn't really care too much how it happened.  We packed up the car, told Lucy bye (she tried to jump in the front seat 2 times and I started crying...) and headed to the hospital.  It was rather uneventful and not how I thought we would be going to the hospital, since we were not actually in labor yet.  We got to our room, I changed into my gown, and it all started to seem a bit more real. My doctor had told me that when we got to the hospital they would soften my cervix using Cervidil, and then sometime early Saturday morning (around 5 am or so) we would start the Pitocin. The nurse put the Cervidil in (around 6:00) and my doctor came in to check on me for the evening. She said she expected me to have some cramping over night, but nothing major. If the pain got bad she had prescribed me some pain killers to be given through the IV and also an Ambien to help me get some sleep.  Drew and I watched TV and just hung out and listened to Wes' heartbeat (I had 2 monitors on my belly, one for this heartbeat and one for contractions.)  Around 9 pm I started feeling contractions but tried not to look at the screen or time them since I was sure it was nothing serious. Around 10 pm I asked Drew to turn the screen towards me and as I was having a contraction I saw the line bounce all the way to the top- whew! My mom came up to hang out for a bit and kept commenting on "when I had a big one" Drew reminded her that I knew when it was a big one-- I could feel it, ha!  Before my mom left (around 11 pm) I took the Ambien and went ahead and got the painkillers in my IV, my tailbone was killing me and I was having contractions every 8 minutes.  The painkillers felt great for about 30 minutes but then it seemed to fade away. I drifted in and out of sleep until around 2 am and was really hurting again. The nurse gave me more painkillers (I could have it every 2 hours) but once again it only helped for a short time.  At  4 am the pain was getting very intense and I asked Drew to call my mom to come back up to the hospital.  The nurse came in and was so surprised at how quickly I was progressing and commented that I might not even need the Pitocin. She decided she wanted to take the Cervidil out around 5 am to give my body a rest. After she took it out I was laying in bed, My mom massaging my feet and Drew helping me breathe slowly through each contraction. I kept commenting to my mom that I felt something coming out of me but she wasn't really replying. I said I might need to go the bathroom and when I stood up a gush of liquid came out-- my water had broke! The nurse came in and checked me and I was 3 cm. She said I could have the epidural now and I was ecstatic! ha :) I had to wait for the anesthesiologist for about an hour... the hospital was crazy busy with deliveries! That hour was VERY long and quite painful.  When the anesthesiologist came in he asked if I had any questions .. I quickly replied no and my mom and Drew left the room. My nurse was Cheryl and she was AMAZING. I was leaning on her while he put the epidural in, and during that time I had 4 contractions. It was so hard to hold still and breath through it but I kept reminding myself with each contraction that it could be the last one I feel. Once I finally laid back down and the epidural kicked in I was so relieved.  I closed my eyes and drifted in and out of sleep for awhile, I wanted to rest up so I would have energy when it was time to push.  From around 8 am to noon things went by so fast. Everytime the nurse checked me I had progressed so much more than she thought I would have and she was shocked. I never had to have the pitocin which was great! At 12 pm she said I was 10 cm and called my doctor.  I carried Wes very high and he refused to drop so even though I was fully dilated my doctor wanted to see him engage some more so I would not have to push for hours.  The nurse had everyone leave the room except my mom and Drew and we did some practice pushes before the doctor came in.  I remember them praising me as I was pushing and this made me want to keep up the hard work. I kept picturing forceps and the vaccuum thing in my mind and didn't want them to have to use these--- so I pushed with all my might. Around 12:15 my doctor arrived (she was so busy-- had already delivered SIX babies!) She kept telling me what a great job I was doing and I remember looking down and seeing Wes head. It was so amazing and I was so anxious to see the rest of my sweet boy. At 1 pm I heard those first cries and it was amazing. I couldn't stop crying as they sat him on my chest and I kept telling him how excited we were to finally see him.  It is amazing how much your heart grows in that instant. I nursed him and he did fantastic for about 20 minutes, then they performed his apgar and all the other things they have to do then. They brought him back to me after a few minutes and he got to stay with us for quite a while- about an hour and a half. Drew's mom and my dad came in to see him.  Wes did fantastic during our hospital stay, he is such a happy content baby and is nursing so well.  However-- his mommy was NOT the best patient. I lost a lot of blood during delivery- and was also anemic. When I tired to get out of bed a few hours after giving birth I fainted, and fainted 3 more times the next morning. After all of this excitement my OB decided it would be best to give me a blood transfusion. I am SO thankful she had me get one because after that I felt like a new person! My recovery was still kind of slow and I am just now really starting to feel like myself again- 2 weeks later.  Still having to take it easy and my body lets me know quickly when I have overdone it.