It all started on Wednesday night, June 27th. After spending the day with my brother and sister in law, walking around the city and having lunch, I noticed I was bleeding at bed time. I called my Doctor who said to check in with her again in the morning if it persisted.
Around 6 am, under the advice of the Doctor, we went to the hospital so she could examine what was going on. I was having light contractions. They were about 6 minutes apart. It just felt like my stomach muscles contracting. It wasn't painful. It actually felt like the "practice" Braxton Hicks contractions that I had been experiencing the last few months of pregnancy. Of course, I had my "go bag" ready and we had lined up a friend to be dog-sitter for Summer Mae already.
In anticipation of the big day, I had joked that there are certain times of day you can't go into labor in NYC due to lack of taxis... morning rush hour, evening rush hour, shift change at 4pm, and if it is raining. Luckily, I avoided all of these scenarios and easily hailed a cab around 7 am. Easy - peasy! Another thing I worried about in advance was the route to the hospital. I didn't want a tour of mid-town and Times Square on the way to the hospital. It's about a 20 minute drive uptown and I did NOT want to drive through my personal HELL on the way to the hospital. But we simply asked the driver to take FDR highway on the East side and we were there in a snap!
I was admitted to Labor/Delivery and the Doctor suggested we induce labor since there was no definite cause for the bleeding and my pregnancy was full term. I could have gone home and labored naturally for a few more days I think but who wants to take the chance of waking up in a pool of blood. So we agreed and settled in for the long haul.
Thursday, June 29th happened to be the busiest day in Labor/Delivery so they didn't have a room for us. We were placed in the recovery area for about 12 hours before they had a delivery room available.
From 7 am to 1 pm, I was simply waiting around, hooked up to an IV and monitor to measure my contractions. Again my body was starting the process on its own but I was only 2 cm dilated (out of 10). So I was no where near ready to push a baby out. I was slightly uncomfortable. It felt like mild lower back cramps.
At 1 pm, they started the Pitocin, a drug used to induce contractions in order to make you dilate and start active labor. The dosage started at 1 cc and increased by 1 or 2 ccs every 20 min. Frankly, it was BORING! I was on Facebook and texting friends about the lack of excitement. One crappy thing about early labor is that you can't eat solid food once you start the IV to prevent major puking from a full stomach. So I was just on Facebook, eating popsicles, dreaming about a cheeseburger and wishing my body would get the show on the road.
About 2 hours into the Pitocin, the contractions became increasingly stronger. Laying down was way uncomfortable so I pretty much stayed on my feet. I was doing a lot of squatting and swaying to open up my hips.
Finally around 5 pm, we moved into a private labor/delivery room. It was pretty amazing actually. We were like taking photos of the view out our window over looking the East River and Roosevelt Island. The room was like a hotel with dark wood and really spacious. I didn't feel like I was in a hospital.
Around 6 pm and 15 ccs of Pitocin (max is 20 ccs), the real pain began. The contractions were coming one right on top of another like only one minute apart thanks to the drugs. I wanted to wait until I really couldn't take the pain to ask for an epidural in order to not slow down labor. Ask and you shall receive. The epidural came around 7 pm and it was great! I couldn't feel any pain in my back or stomach. But I wasn't totally numb. My skin had sensation and I could move my legs. It just numbed the contractions. When the anesthesiologist administered the epidural, it felt like a stabbing pain as they literally stuck my back with a needle but it was only for 10 seconds and then it was over. I will mention, I really loved my nurses at this moment. My baby daddy had to leave (a policy made after too many dads passed out watching the epidural being administered) so my nurse held my shoulders and comforted me.
After the epidural, we were just chilling and watching a First 48 marathon on A&E (yes, this is a reality murder series and my favorite show). We tried to get some rest and took naps.
At 3 am, the Doctor, who was MY actual Doctor throughout my pregnancy (before it was just another Doctor in the practice), examined me. I was still only 4 cm dilated so she broke my water using a long straw like tool to break the bag around the baby.
Now the real fun begins. Soon after she broke my water, I began having immense pain and they had to top off my Epidural with additional drugs. At least I knew something was going on down there! I called the nurse again shortly after to tell her that I was having HUGE pressure down there (TMI, but it's like you have to pass a huge poop whether you want to or not. You can't hold it in.). The Doctor checked me again and said I was totally dilated and could PUSH! What? Oh shit! I was not ready! I was scared! I went from 4 cm dilated to pushing in 2 hours. BTW, my husband held my leg as I was spread eagle and pushing but he looked at my face the whole time and just tried to talk to me. I have no idea what he was saying due to the fact I was a little distracted by the overwhelming situation. I'm sure he was supportive and at the least he did not annoy me.
The nurse said the average first delivery takes about an hour and half of pushing. The first hour was annoying because it was learning how to push with your vaginal muscles. You can't really practice that in advance. I felt the urge to push, the pressure, when the contractions hit but didn't feel the pain in my stomach or back thanks to the epidural. The slowest part of pushing was I had to push the baby under my pubic bone and into the birth canal to come out. I pushed as hard as I could and tried to practice calm breathing in between contractions coming about every 2 minutes.
Finally, his head was ready to come out. Those last 15 minutes of labor were EXTREMELY PAINFUL! Despite the epidural, there was no masking the pain of the baby coming out. I remember begging the Doctor to pull him out of me. But only I could do it.
Abracadabra! My son was born! They laid him on my belly and he was so cute! Seriously, he was pink and not even slimy. I think my husband expected a purple, cone head, alien baby but that is not what we got. One sweet thing I remember is my husband saying "We want to do skin to skin". That means they didn't take the baby away right away to measure him, but let him skin to skin on my chest so he could bond with his mom. Although I was a little out of it, my husband was thinking of what was best for the baby and me already and then I knew he was a Dad.
Oh my gosh Ashly this is amazing! And at the same time scary! While reading this I had to take breaks, start rhythmically breathing myself, and was also excited to keep reading on. Such a beautiful experience. Jon at the end was adorable...so happy for you! Can't wait to meet the little guy...Thanks for sharing. I always wonder what REALLY happens in those delivery rooms!
ReplyDeleteAsh, I couldn't agree more. Pushing out a baby is the hardest physical thing I've EVER done. I can relate to so many aspects of your labor/delivery, mine was seriously practically the same. Maybe it's a short women, 5'3" thing? Rumor has it the second time isn't as tedious, fingers crossed. Miss you!
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