Griffin made his grand entrance into this world on July 5th at 6:44pm. He was 7 lbs, 14 oz and 21.5 inches long! I was due on July 10th (if you go by my doctors due date he was due on 7/14, but what do they know :)
I had been in pre-labor for WEEKS! I started getting braxton-hicks contractions in June and was overall very uncomfortable. I couldn't walk to my car from work without having to stop at least once because my belly was SO hard and uncomfortable. It was hard not to want him to come sooner because I was so uncomfortable, but I knew that the longer he cooked, the better! So after weeks of braxton hicks and cramps I went for my 36 week check. I was 2 cm and 70% effaced. It was great news to Sean and I as my doctor said I could go into labor that night..or in 2 weeks. I was holding on to that night! LOL! I continued to work, which was really difficult, mainly because I couldn't sleep at night because I would wake up having strong contractions, get little sleep, then my alarm would go off at 5am and I would have to head in to work. I started taking Bendryl at night to help me sleep, it worked somewhat! I just remember every night during my contractions praying that they would be more regular and I would get to call work and tell them to find someone else to pump that mornings case...but it just never happened! On July 1st at my 38 week check, I was 3 cm and 90% effaced! I was happy that I was making progress, but to be honest I was really, really, really tired because I felt like I had already been in labor for 2 weeks! My doctor said that I had a great start already being 3 cm and that baby was in a great position! She didn't think I would make it to my next appointment and she was right! So I was on a mission to get Griffin out, we took crazy long walks every night, I bounced on my exercise ball, ate spicy food. Did everything I could to get spontaneous labor going!
Then on July 4th around 4 pm, my water broke. At least I thought it did, it wasn't that huge gush that you see on the movies but I knew I didn't pee my pants! So I come out of the bathroom and tell Sean that I thought my water had broken. He didn't believe me at first, but I convinced him! He then told Kara, who didn't believe him! She kept saying "shut up, no it didn't!". Sean had to convince her too! So I called my doctor and asked when I needed to come in, because I wasn't having painful contractions. She said as long as I could feel baby moving and I felt fine we could wait until 9 pm to come in to labor and delivery. I was all jittery at first and really nervous, but I figured that I would try and relax and eat because once I got to the hospital that would be out of the question. We made strawberry shortcake and watched a movie! Nine o'clock rolled around, so we packed all of our stuff in the car and headed to the birthing center.
 |
| We went for a walk after my water broke to speed things up! |
Once we got there they hooked me up and confirmed that my water really did break! They did this test for amniotic fluid and it came back positive, I remember the nurse saying "yep! you are going to have a baby!"...it was really exciting. At this point the monitor was showing my contractions, about every 2 minutes. They were not painful, just felt like braxton hicks contractions. Since my water had broken, they did not check to see how far I had dilated because it puts the baby at risk for infection. It was really busy that night, so we had to wait an hour or so to get a room, so I went back out and hung out with Kara and Sean. I felt great at this point because I knew we would get to see our little guy soon! Around 11 we got all checked into our room, I handed our nurse our birthing plan and Kara went home for a little sleep!
Sean and had done lots of reading, studying and preparing for a natural birth. It was something that we both thought we could do and wanted to experience. My mother, aunts and many friends had accomplished this, which gave me lots of hope and motivation. I wasn't opposed to any of the drugs or pain relief they had, I just wanted to experience my son's birth. The nurses were SO supportive of our decision, and we absolutely wonderful! Sean and I had a code word for the epidural, because I told him that I needed to be able to vocalize how hard it was or how I was feeling without him thinking that I needed pain medication. BUT, if I said the code word, it would be go time for pain relief! Of course we made the code word CHEESE!!!
Sean and I tried to sleep that night, around 1 am I started getting painful contractions. They were about every 2 minutes or so, but I could breath through them. They progressively got more painful, by about 3 am I was out of the bed, with Sean rubbing my back. I was at about a 6 out of 10 on the pain scale. We were doing all the pain relief positions we learned in our class and things were going great. At 7 am we got a new nurse, Sioux. She was absolutely amazing!! She was also a midwife, so she had so many tricks up her sleeve! She got me in the jacuzzi tub and it was AWESOME! It really took the edge off my contractions! Before I got in the tub, the on-call OB came in and checked me and said I was almost at 6cm! She said I was doing great and baby would be here soon! I was about 6 hours into labor, having really painful contractions every 2-3 minutes so I was hopeful for a little more like 7 or 8 cm, but she was very positive about it all and so I kept truckin on! Kara got back to hospital at about 8 am with coffee and food for Sean. She was such a lifesaver! Then things got real. My contractions really picked up and I was in a ton of pain. Sioux suggested we walk the halls to "show these ladies how its done", she was so funny. Sean got me out of the tub, I got dressed and we started walking. About every 10 steps or so I would have a contraction, we would stop and breath through it! It was HARD! For the next 5 hours or so we just kept repeating the same things, walk, birthing ball, tub, bed..anything to change the scenery and take my mind off the PAIN! I was at about a 8 sometimes 9 on the pain scale. My contractions would sometimes be right on top of each other, to the point where Sioux thought I was in transition. I remember one set being 10 minutes long, one right after the other. I have never been in so much pain in my entire life! The whole time Sean and Kara were either rubbing my back, coaching me through, counting my breathing and just being so positive. They were so amazing. But, I was getting really tired.
Sometime around 2 pm I asked Sioux to check me, she did and I was at 7 cm. I had only dilated 1 cm in 7 hours! But, she also found out that my water had not broken completely, which could be why I was not progressing. So she called in the doctor to break my water. Dr. Chang came in and broke my water, unforuntetly that's also when they found out that I had meconium in the amniotic fluid. In other words, Griffin pooped! When they said that there was meconium in the fluid my heart dropped, mainly because I knew it meant that Griffin could be or was stressed and that he could also aspirate the fluid, which would be really bad. My experience with newborns and meconium aspiration in my job, means ECMO. Needless to say I was really really really worried about him at this point. Up to this point they had been monitoring Griffin's heartbeat during my contractions and he would always accelerate, and was doing fantastic, so I was not worried before this happened. After they broke the rest of my water, everything picked up. Now my contractions were every 1 minute or so and they were excruciating! The only thing that helped was to stand and lean over the bed,. This went on for about another hour of transition like contractions. I basically had lost my mind at this point, the pain was overwhelming and I was so exhausted. I no longer could hold myself up during the contractions, Sean was standing behind me and holding me up. I panicked, literally lost my mind. I got really scared because the realization hit me that I was so tired and had nothing left in me, how in god's name was I going to push out a baby? I had been shaking and shivering for most of the morning, but now I was convulsing! Sean was begging me to say our code word, I realized that I must have been scaring the living hell out of him, because at this point I was crying and screaming through the contractions. I became the crazy women you see in the movies or reality shows, yep I was that girl. Looking back on it, I am pretty embarrassed because I was CRAZY! So I said it...I told Sean CHEESE!
 |
| walking the halls... |
Before I knew it, Sioux was back in our room, giving me a shot of fentyl and the anesthesiologist put in my epidural. I feel like no more then 5 minutes went by...I guess when you are screaming at the top of your lungs, things happen quickly. I probably was terrifying the whole labor and delivery floor and they needed to shut me up ASAP :) Life got so much better after the epidural set in, I felt like me again, not some crazed lunatic. It had been almost 24 hours since my water broke, I had been in HARD labor for 16 hours, what was I thinking NOT getting this wonderful thing they call the epidural? Looking back on it all, I should have done it much soon, like maybe 6 hours sooner, because at least I could have slept and regained my energy and exposure for the pushing stage. Instead, I was sleep deprived and mentally/physically exhausted and pushed to my limit and I still had to push him out. My doctor and Sioux thought that I would progress faster now that I was relaxed, so a hour later they checked me but I was still at 7 cm. My contractions were regular but I still was getting nowhere fast. I wonder how long I would have stayed that way! Dr. Chang then comes in to talk with me because he is worried about the baby, I am not progressing, etc. They want to put an internal monitor on Griffin and start pitocin to make my contractions stronger. He then tells me if I don't progress after this round or if Griffin cannot stand the pitocin, then c-section it would be. I was upset, because I had got to 7cm and endured for so long, I really wanted to be able to finish it! But, I was worried about Griffin and didn't really care how he came out, as long as it was done safely!
So, they turned on the pitocin and rechecked me 30 minutes later, I had progressed to about 8.5 cm, so they turned the pit up. I could feel my contractions again, although it was on a much smaller scale, about a 5 out of 10. They turned it up again and my contractions got even more painful! Another half hour later they rechecked and said I was at a 10 and I could get ready to push!!! Now, during this whole time, Sean is asleep. I told him to sleep once they put the epidural in because he was exhausted! I didn't get much sleep maybe about a half hour, but it was a glorious half hour! So, side note, Sean slept through the pictocin, the internal monitor and the doctor coming in talking c-section, I found out later because when we were reliving his birth I started to talk about this and he was like "what? I thought epi went in and then you were ready to push?" ..yeah, that's not what happened!!
 |
| Sean sleeping after my epidural |
They kept my epidural on the light side, so I could feel the contraction and know when to push. It was light enough that I could move my legs and pull my feet up, but numb enough to take the edge off. So, with Sioux, Kara and Sean's help I started pushing. It takes a bit to get the hang of it, but I got it after a couple contractions and we were off. He was coming down, but every time they said they could see him he would go back up..to some degree this is normal, but I was working so hard and he wasn't budging! After about an hour of this, Dr. Chang came in to check to see how things were going. I remember he said "Looks great! He will be here in 15 minutes!" . That was music to my ears because I was so tired and it felt like there was no end in sight. So I kept pushing and pushing and pushing, I getting so sick to my stomach, every time I would push I thought I was going to vomit. Gross feeling, and I was burning up! I felt like my whole body was on fire. Good times :) The NICU team came in about 15 minutes later to prep, Sioux told me it was just precaution because of the meconium. I kept pushing and pushing and pushing, I was starting to get scared because I was so tired, I had nothing left in my body. I didn't know how I was going to get him out, I kept asking for help, I was so delirious, I dont know how anyone could have helped me! I somehow gathered whatever was left in my and pushed as hard as a could for a 4 contractions and he was born! I screamed my face off those last contractions, but he came out! He let out a big cry and I was SO happy to hear that sound! They put him up on my chest and I kissed his head and told him over and over again how much I loved him. Then they took him away. Sean told me that when he came out the cord was wrapped around his neck twice and then wrapped underneath his armpit. When his head came out the doctor unwrapped him and Sean said that he literally shot out! I wonder if that kept him from coming or if I was just out of energy, either way it was about a hour and forty five minutes of pushing to get my little guy out!
 |
| Griffin is here! |
Sean went with him to the NICU, he wasn't breathing very well and had aspirated a lot of fluid. they had to stick a tube down both lungs to suction the fluid out. I'm not sure how long he was there for, I was pretty out of it, maybe 3 or 4 hours? I just remember being really worried about him and no one had any news for me about my baby! Kara and Sean were with him though, so I felt good about that. All I know is when Sean came back in the room with him all wrapped up in his arms I was so happy! He put him in my arms and I just kissed him and cried. It was my favorite moment, Sean, Griffin and I were all finally together. At the end of it all, everything that mattered was sitting on my bed cuddling. It was awesome.
 |
| My favorite moment |
What an amazing story with a great ending : )
ReplyDelete