Monday, March 10, 2014

a birth story



Wednesday morning, March 5, I woke up as Andrew was getting ready to leave for work. It was about 5:15 am and I woke up from general discomfort, which was not uncommon even a little bit. Andrew left for work after saying "Let me know if anything happens!" which he had been saying every morning for about a week. I wasn't feeling tired at all so I got on my computer and started looking up different ways to naturally induce labor. I wanted this baby out now.

Around 7 I started feeling tired again and decided to try to go back to sleep. I'd been asleep about 20 minutes when I woke up to a gush. My very first thought was "My water just broke" but immediately I thought "No waaaaaaaaay" and tried not to get too excited. I checked the bed and it wasn't wet at all, which the lady who taught our prenatal class said the bed would get soaked through if I ruptured there, so I thought "Well, this is embarrassing. Totally just wet the bed." I stood up and walked to the bathroom and slowly more and more fluid started leaking everywhere. After about 10 or 15 minutes of me walking around the house and getting soaked every time I moved a certain way I texted Andrew and said "I'm pretty sure my water just broke."

Andrew got home about 20 minutes later (by this time it was probably 8 am) and we started gathering together our bags and the few last minute things we needed. I wasn't having any contractions but by now I was sure my water had broken. This was it. Right before we left we said a prayer that the day would go smoothly and that our baby would get here safely and healthily. And then we were off.

We got to the hospital around 8:30 and they took me to the triage room. A nurse lady came in and confirmed my water had broken and said I was dilated to a 1. Woo.

(Side note: At my doctor's appointment on Monday I still hadn't progressed at all and the doctor had already set up an induction date, so sure that I wasn't going to go naturally)

They officially admitted me to the hospital. Apparently I picked a busy week to have a baby because all the labor and delivery rooms were full and I had to be put in a surgery recovery room. But they kept assuring me that I would get into a real L&D room by the time I actually had this baby.

They started me on pitocin around 9:30 to get contractions going and within the hour I was having them hard and fast. They weren't unbearable but there were only about 30 seconds in between each one and I was getting exhausted fast. I had been planning on getting an epidural the entire time, but I always thought I would be able to hold out until I had progressed farther. At this point I was only at a 2 and I felt like a wimp. But my blood pressure started sky-rocketing and my nurse came in and told me my contractions were actually too strong and too fast and they had to turn my pitocin down, which made me feel like less of a wimp so I went ahead and asked for the epidural. Best decision.

After I got the epidural I slept for a good 4 or 5 hours. Andrew also attempted to sleep in his tiny little hospital chair. I slept pretty peacefully until about 3 when I started feeling really painful contractions in my left side and my left leg felt a lot less numb. The epidural guy came back in and gave me an extra dose of the good stuff and readjusted my epi a bit and I was all set. At this time my nurse also came in and checked me and told me I was at a 5. She also told me that a room had opened up for me and they were just cleaning it up and then they would take me in.

I lounged around for another 40 minutes or so when I started feeling the woooooooorst pressure. I called the nurse back in and told her I felt like I needed to push and she told me to take deep breaths and whatever and that sometimes you can feel the need to push earlier on in delivery. She checked me again and then gasped and said "You're a 9 1/2. We need to get you a room."

The next ten minutes or so was pretty much a crazy whirlwind of all these nurses rushing to get me all unhooked and pushed into my new room and I kept looking at Andrew and being painfully (literally) aware that we were going to have a baby soon. And oh my gosh worst pressure in the entire world.

By the time I got rolled into the room the nurse checked me again and I was complete and she said "start pushing!" It was around 4:30 at this point. Right before I started pushing the epidural guy came back in and gave me another top off (bless) so when I started pushing I really couldn't tell if I was doing anything. I could feel when contractions were coming on and when I needed to push, but I couldn't actually feel any pushing whatsoever. But apparently I am a super effective pusher and the nurse kept telling me that I was born to have babies because I was doing so well. So that was nice.

At some point the doctor came in and told me he'd be back in an hour or two, because first-timers usually take awhile. That sounded miserable to me and I wanted to prove him wrong. I pushed for 30 minutes and the nurse said "Your baby has red hair!" and then she stopped and said "Crap, I need to call the doctor."

15 minutes later at 5:18 pm Milo Benjamin Streeter was born. He weighed 8 pounds 5 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. When he first came out he was really quiet and I asked if he was okay. Apparently he had swallowed a bunch of amniotic fluid. They started suctioning out his lungs and at long last I heard the tiniest little gurgle and sweetest cry. He kinda screamed for just a second and then got really quiet and just started looking around the room and being super adorable.

Finally they brought him over to me and set him on my chest. To be totally honest, there wasn't some sort of magical instant connection and overwhelming love for that little guy. I didn't cry. I was kind of overwhelmed and exhausted and honestly I was mostly just so happy that I was done with all that labor stuff. But he snuggled into my chest and looked up at me with his hazy eyes and I knew that he was mine. I knew that he was my Milo and I loved him for it.

(sorry this is the longest ever) 








1 comment:

  1. Ahh..such a sweet story! Love the pics of him and you!! So happy for you guys!!

    ReplyDelete