I went to my 39 week appointment on Monday the 25th expecting it to be very routine as the last few had. For some reason, I asked my husband to tag along, even though he hadn't been going to the last few appointments with me. I'm glad I did!
The nurse took my blood pressure as usual, but then she took it again. And again. Then she had me lie on the examining bed and took it again. And again. My blood pressure was going up and up instead of down, which was a problem. My doctor came in and explained that he wanted me to come in to be induced in two days (Wednesday the 27th). I had other plans, though. Could I just go back to work for the week and let this little baby come when he felt like it? The doctor was pretty adamant that no, I could not, and in fact, I could not go back to work at all! Well, when he put it like that, I certainly didn't want to lie around the house for who knows how long waiting for my baby to decide to come. So, I acquiesced and scheduled our induction.
The next couple days went by soooo slowly! I got my substitute teacher ready, made sure our bags were packed, and.... waited. On Wednesday I had my dad take me out for lunch so I could relax and get my mind off things. Then Wednesday evening finally arrived, and Titus and I headed to the hospital.
I was given Cervadil to help start labor around 6 p.m., with the understanding that it wouldn't do much and I would need Pitocin in the morning to further things along. However, around 9 p.m., right when I was going to try to sleep, the contractions started. For about five minutes, I thought, "Oh, so this is what labor is like! I can handle this!" Wrong. The contractions got extremely painful very quickly after that.
My body wasn't ready for an epidural quite yet, so I had a shot of some type of pain medication first. That lasted all of a half hour, but it was long enough for my body to prepare for an epidural. I had no "birth plan" to speak of - I just figured whatever would happen, would happen, and because the contractions were too painful to deal with, I was definitely ready for the pain to stop! The anesthetist had to wake up and come in, so that took a while, but boy was there relief when the epidural started working.
I think I got a little sleep between then (maybe 3 a.m.?) and when the doctor came at 6:30 a.m., but the nurses were always checking on my progress and the baby. When the doctor came and said everything was good to go, I thought that was it - baby time! Instead, he laughed and said the hard part was still to come. He'd be back in a while to check on me.
So began about three hours of torture. After two hours, they turned the epidural down because I was having a hard time knowing if I was pushing correctly. Once it was turned down, I felt a horrible pain and knew the baby was not moving the way he was supposed to be. However, being this was my first time delivering a baby, the nurses seemed to think it was probably normal pain and I needed to keep working. I stuck it out for another hour, but then I stopped and insisted on seeing the doctor.
When the doctor came in, he could also tell the baby was stuck. He was going to try a vacuum, but if that didn't work, he would have to perform a C-section, so I warily signed the release forms.
The vacuum was painful as I had to push again, and it didn't work at all. Instead, the baby's heart rate decelerated, so my c-section became imminent and an emergency. Titus couldn't come with, so he had to stay up in the waiting room while I was wheeled off.
In the operating room, there must have been over twenty people working. It was nice to know there were so many hands on deck, but it was also frightening! I think our hospital has three anesthetists, and they were all in my room! The baby was still stuck, so my doctor had to work hard to get him out. However, once he was out, he was healthy, big, and had a full head of hair!
The recovery process was difficult to say the least. Of course, it was totally worth it, though!
This is Leif and me the day he was born. He looks like such a peanut now!
Leif on Easter, the day we got to go home. This is still a favorite position of his! :)
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