How Hayden Arrived

On Monday, 11/10, I woke up at 4am to call the hospital to see if they had a bed available for me for my 6am induction. They did not and told me to call back at 8am, I was really discouraged but was able to get a few more hours of sleep. At 8 they told me to come in immediately. We got there around 8:30 after rushing around trying to make sure we had everything. I was fully expecting them to say come in at 10 or call back later so we were kind of taken by surprise. By 9am we were in our room and my IV was started. Dr. B came in to check me and I was 6cm. My moms best friend, Aunt Marie, is a L&D nurse and I was so lucky that she came in on her day off to be my nurse, she got there around 10. She had made lots of plans to make my experience the best it could be and we are so grateful. Since it was expected that my labor would progress quickly, we decided to get the epidural before starting pitocin or breaking my water. I was a little anxious about the epidural because I typically dont do well with anesthesia - I was right. It was uncomfortable but not painful but when he started injecting the meds my bp dropped significantly and I was feeling dizzy and sick. They only gave me a small dose to give my bp a chance to go back up and once it did I received a little more but still not a complete dose. Immediately pitocin was started and Dr. B broke my water, it was now around 11am. The anesthesiologist stopped back a few minutes later and we determined that I was only numb from my hips down and was feeling the contractions so he gave me the complete dose and we were on our way! At 12:15 Aunt Marie checked me and said she couldnt find my cervix! It was confirmed by Dr. B that I was 10cm and 100% effaced but he was still pretty high. Rather than push for hours they decided to have me labor down for a little while to see if my contractions would bring him down. Luckily I couldnt feel anything so waiting a while rather than pushing forever seemed like a great idea. After an hour I still hadnt made much progress and Dr. B had to do a c-section for another patient so we decided to wait another hour. By 2:30 he had come down a little bit so we decided to start pushing. It was just me, B, Aunt Marie and a nursing student in the room - with lots of people in the waiting room! For the first few contractions I had no urge to push and couldnt feel anything so I wasnt pushing correctly. I knew I wasnt doing it right but couldnt change it, it was really frustrating. Eventually I either got more feeling or he moved down a little more and I was able to start pushing effectively. B was a great coach! He was holding my leg back and counting and rooting for me. In between contractions he was full of sweet things to say and very encouraging. After pushing for an hour I was getting kind of tired and frustrated. I couldnt see anything so I couldnt tell if I was making progress. Everyone was telling me that I was but I thought they were lying just to get me to keep going. Aunt Marie said that she thought he would be here by 4 and I didnt believe her at all. They all saw his hair while I was pushing and B said his hair was sticking out and Aunt Marie would twirl it because it was so long! All during that time the only pain I had was in my neck and shoulders from being curled forward and tense! Funny that as I'm pushing out a baby the thing that I'm complaining about is needing a shoulder rub. Soon things started to get pretty intense so I dont quite remember details but I know that Dr. B came in, saw me push a few times and started to get dressed. I could feel the pressure of the babys head coming down which really helped me continue to push. At some point he did an episiotomy but I didnt feel or notice it. I remember thinking it was so odd because I was the only one that didnt know what was going on. Everyone kept telling me how great I was doing and all that but I couldnt actually see how far he had come down. I dont think I would have wanted a mirror but I am so used to watching all of the baby shows on tv that it just seemed odd. It seemed like all of a sudden things changed, everyone got more excited and Dr. B said he thought it would be one more contraction. Aunt Marie grabbed my hand and had me touch his head and I immediately started crying. I think it was a combination of everything we had worked for for so long was so close plus relief that pushing was going to be over. With the next contraction I could feel his head come out and Dr. B suctioned his mouth. He had the cord wrapped around his neck but it was loose so Dr. B was able to just flip it over. One more push and out he came at 4:08 after an hour and a half of pushing. The feeling was unbelievable, the physical relief and amazement was overwhelming. They put him on my belly and I remember seeing his little arms and legs flop down, I couldnt believe it, I think that is something I will never forget. Brian and I were both crying. Aunt Marie was drying him off and rubbing his back to get him to cry. At some point it seemed like it had been too long and I started to worry but then there it was! Again, at this point I started to feel a little weird so I dont have very vivid memories. Dr. B was spending a lot of time working on me but I was too busy looking at the baby who was being warmed up and weighed and cleaned off. My mom and MIL came back to get a peek at him while I was being stitched up. Finally after about a half hour, when he was finished, I got the baby back. I really wanted to try to breastfeed during that first hour. Hayden was so alert and latched right on - he has been a champ ever since. Since we were kind of VIPs, the people that were waiting were able to come back and see us while I was recovering (my parents, sister and aunt, B's parents, brother, SIL and nephew). Around 6 we were getting ready to move to my post-partum room so I had to get up and pee to prove that I could be moved. The baby had been taken to the nursery at this point. As I got up my legs gave out from under me so B and my dad had to hold me and basically carry me to the bathroom. While I was there on the toilet I started to feel sick. We finished getting me off the toilet and into a wheel chair and I got sick a few times. Honestly, I didnt mind and almost kind of expected it as I had said before I have bad reactions to anesthesia. We eventually got over to my post-partum room which was the biggest and had been reserved for me.

I do have to say that I think I had the best labor and delivery ever. I never felt true labor pains, everything happened pretty quickly and even though pushing was hard and tiring I never felt any pain. I was talking and laughing between pushes. After everything else we had been though I felt like there would be problems with the delivery too but I really dont think I could have asked for a better experience. I dont even count the 5 minutes that I didnt feel well when getting the epidural and when I was sick afterwards as negative experiences, they were really nothing in the grand scheme of things. I was pretty out of it for the rest of the night probably as a result of my low bp and losing a lot of blood but felt much better the next day.

I will continue with what has happened since in another post, I have to feed the baby now or my boobs might explode!