The birth of my son

So Austin is down for a nap, which gives me a few minutes to get some thoughts out. I'd like to get my birthing experience down on "paper" before I forget the details, because some day I will want to go back and remember how it all happened. Note: I'm not going into any completely graphic details, but I will be straight forward about what goes on with giving birth, so be forewarned.

I was in my 41st week, and the doctor scheduled me to be induced on Friday Nov 9 (I was due Sunday the 4th). So Kevin and I are sitting on the couch Wednesday evening, watching "Snow White and the Huntsman" (I wish it was something more memorable to make for a better story, but oh well), and I notice what feels like menstrual cramps coming at regular intervals about 20 minutes before the end of the movie. (I'd been having Braxton Hicks contractions since month 5, so I knew what that felt like, but I hadn't experienced any "real" contractions; for the record, the B.H contractions simply feel like hardening or tightening of muscles around my expanded belly, but no pain associated with it.) After we finish, we decided to go for a walk, since this is a good activity to try to induce labor naturally (the weather was still plenty warm at the beginning of November; it was an awful hot summer). As we're walking, we're discussing it and determined that these were real contractions. So we went back home to start timing the length and frequency of the contractions; this was about 8pm. They were coming pretty consistently at 4-5 minutes apart, for about a minute in length, so after two hours, we called the doctor to report our findings and determine the next steps. Since it was after hours, I talked to the on-call nurse, who said "Boy, you waited until the last minute, didn't you?" I was a little taken aback, because that's when the doctor said to call. At any rate, she wasn't able to get ahold of the on-call doctor at the hospital (my OB wasn't on duty that night) and had to leave a message because she was in the middle of another delivery. So Kevin and I decided to go ahead and go to the hospital rather than wait for the doctor to call back. This is about 11pm.

On the way to the hospital, we called my parents, who were planning on driving out Friday morning to be here by the time the baby came after inducing. I said, "So... how do you feel about coming out a day early?" They got on the road pretty quickly after that and drove through the night to get here.

We get to the hospital, get me a wheel chair (the contractions were getting fairly strong by this point), and wheel me to the check-in office, at which point I sit through all the check-in details (which we figured out afterwards that I had already taken care of ahead of time so I wouldn't have to go through all the paperwork while in labor, but I was in labor, so not really noticing anything but the increasing pain in my belly). They took us to one exam room, took some surface details, then moved me to the labor and delivery room to do a pelvic exam to see how far along I was. I had been 1-2cm dilated for about 3 weeks, so when they told me I was 3cm, we were all glad to see that I was finally progressing.

The labor and delivery (L&D) nurse called the anesthesiologist for the epidural, and while we were waiting, I thought I'd try a little walk down the hall (me, Kevin, and IV). We only made a little way before the bone-chilling cold stopped me (I was shivering uncontrollably), and the contractions were getting strong enough that I couldn't walk much. So I crawled into bed and got loaded up with blankets to wait.

The anesthesiologist came and got the catheter put in for the epidural (I almost messed it up with my auto-reflex back jerk as soon as the needle touched my back, but otherwise he got it in with no problems). The epidural is a great thing... my legs were tingly and I couldn't feel a whole lot, but there was still enough motor control that I could assist in rolling myself over to one side (they don't let you lie on your back once the epidural is in, I assume to prevent cutting off the flow of the good stuff). They also got me catheterized with the bladder catheter, since there would be no getting up to pee (not that I could feel if I needed to anyway, haha).

So we're there for a little while. Kevin's mom was out in the waiting room, so after the nurse examined me to determine I was 6cm dilated, he went out to give her the update. He was there about 20 minutes, thinking there was no hurry. Well, while he was gone, the on-call OB came in and checked me out, and in the space of about half an hour, I had gone from 6cm to 10cm, which is "complete" and ready to begin delivery. Kevin comes back in the room right then, and I told the doctor, "Tell him what you just told me." So she tells him, and he's like What?? So he ran back out to let his mom know while the L&D nurse started prepping for me to begin pushing. When he returned, we got started.

In the L&D room, there is no such thing as privacy. My legs are up on the props with the rest of me exposed to anyone who walks in the room (which is why I said I don't want anyone in there but the necessary hospital staff, and Kevin). So we start pushing during contractions. Kevin was right there next to me, helping hold my legs and kept a hand on my shoulder for encouragement. After about an hour and a half, we're not making much progress, and the epidural starts wearing off and I can almost fully feel my legs again... not to mention every excruciating contraction. I tried to tell the nurse that it was wearing off, but she said, just push through it, keep going. Well, during one round of pushing I just had to stop, and started crying because it hurt so bad.

So the nurse called the anesthesiologist back in (which took like 20 minutes, during which point I'm crying because I'm in so much pain... if she had listened to me when I told her it was starting to wear off, we could have avoided this). He comes and gives me another dose, which takes another 20 minutes to kick in, but at least they gave me about an hour to rest, although it wasn't much rest because the L&D nurse (morning shift nurse) was going around the room doing stuff and making noise. I just wanted her to leave so I could have 20 minutes of uninterrupted rest (I'd been awake for about 23 hours at this point and was already exhausted). There was a recliner chair in the corner where Kevin was dozing as well.

So finally we're ready to go again, only this time I can feel nothing, not even the contractions (I think it was the night shift nurse that commented that the anesthesiologist didn't give me a big enough dose the first time because I'm taller/bigger than most people that come through... you'd think they would have accounted for that, but whatever). So I'm ready to start pushing again, but the nurses had to tell me when to push based on their contraction monitor, because I really couldn't feel anything. After about an hour, they gave me an oxygen mask, because baby's heartbeat was dropping during contractions, and this seemed to help (so uncomfortable though, and when you're in labor, anything that's uncomfortable is just plain annoying). I think after two hours, there was still very little progress, so they called in the OB, who happily was my doctor. He wasn't supposed to be on call that day, but for whatever reason, he was there, and I am so thankful because he is so great.

I have a narrow pelvic arch, which means the bony structure through which baby has to come is smaller than most, so baby wasn't going to come out unassisted without hours of labor, which wasn't going to be good for him (or me!). So Dr. L used the vacuum suction, which is a suction cup that goes on baby's head, and used that to guide him out (there is no pulling, just guiding with natural contractions and pushing). I will say that pushing is like straining when you have that bowel movement that just won't come out. I can only assume I was doing it right, because progress was being made, but I couldn't feel anything. He also had to do an episiotomy, which is a small cut to make the opening wider so baby has a little more room to come out (sometimes it tears during childbirth, so is sometimes better to make the cut first), which required some stitches afterwards (while the epidural was still going, of course).

I'm pushing and pushing, and finally out comes Austin! The first thing I saw of him was the doctor holding him upside down by his feet, which afterward Kevin told me was because Dr. L was untangling the umbilical cord, but it was so brief and there was so much going on that I didn't think much of it. Of course I cried as soon as I saw him, from relief as well as the emotion of seeing my baby for the first time. I got to hold him right away while they wiped him off, and his first meconium poo (the one everyone warns you about that's black and sticky from all the ingested uterine fluids) ended up all over me, but it wasn't that bad. My healthy baby boy was 8lb 1oz and 21 inches, and already holding his head up when they put him on my chest, alert and looking around with his blue gray eyes (which we're pretty sure will stay that way). He was born with blond peach fuzz.

It's still a little weird, I still haven't quite realized that he's mine. I never actually saw him come out and never felt a thing... for all I know, they pulled him out from under the table, haha. At least Kevin watched the whole thing and can confirm that he's mine, hehe. He was a huge help, just being encouraging, helping hold my legs up while I pushed. He got to cut the cord, which he wasn't initially planning on doing, but Dr. L talked him into it, and I think he's glad he did.

Over all, it was 13.5 hours of labor from start to finish, which for the first one is relatively short. We stayed in the hospital through Saturday (we could have gone home Friday, but there was no rush, and the nurses wanted to make sure the breastfeeding was going ok before sending us home). Kevin got to change his first diaper in the hospital, but I was off the hook until we got home (it was difficult getting in and out of bed for a while).

It was a crazy experience, but good. We love the hospital where he was born; everyone was so supportive and helpful. There have been many sleepless nights (and days) since, but little by little Austin is sleeping longer. He's growing like a weed, and such a happy smiley kid. We are truly blessed to have him in our lives.