A Labor Story

I love to hear other people’s accounts of how their own little one came into the world. Funny how each birth and can be so alike OR so different in their experience. Mine have all been very different experiences. Here is a snapshot of my experience with J-boy.
3:50 a.m. – Phone rings. I had been moved-up to a 5:00 a.m. induction time, but the hospital was calling me to tell me that they were full and I was being put on a wait list.
4:00 – 6:00 a.m. – Too much adrenaline to go back to sleep. I toss, turn, and pray waiting for the morning light, and finally drift back off to sleep.
7:30 a.m. – The girls wake up and the day starts like any other. My sister-in-law is still on stand-by to come and stay with the girls, but the morning passes without any phone calls from the hospital. My husband decides to go ahead and leaves to work his morning shift.
10:00 a.m. – The carpet cleaner comes and is surprised to find me still at home (I had told him I’d be having a baby). I play with the girls in the kitchen while he cleans all the carpets for me. Cain has been my carpet cleaner for years – he is a small business guy and a Christian too. He tells me he and his wife will be praying for us. He leaves us with clean, happy carpets.
11:30 a.m. – My Mom’s flight back to Phoenix from Texas had arrived earlier that morning, and she is home now. Hooray!! I’m so glad to see my Mom (the girls are too!) God worked it out so she could be present for J-boy’s birth.
Noon – My hubby arrives home, changes his clothes, and I start lunch for our family and my Mom
1:00 p.m. – The phone rings and it’s the hospital telling us to “come as soon as we can.” I go back to the bedroom to tell my hubby that we got the call, and it’s time to go. We’re both a bundle of excitement and nerves. My Mom will stay with the girls until my Mother-in-law can arrive to take over in a few hours.
1:30 p.m. – My dear hubby and I both grab quick showers, I put on my make-up (have to look pretty for my pictures, right? ), and we load the car with the diaper bag, my suitcase, and some pillows.
1:45 p.m. – We check in at OB triage, sign some paperwork, and are sent directly over to labor and delivery. A nice nurse shows us to our room, and proceeds to hook me up to all of my various monitors.

 

2:45 p.m. – We complete our paperwork, and the nurse starts my IV (ouch! That long needle hurts). She also tells me that I tested positive for the group beta strep, and will need to complete several rounds of antibiotics before the baby is born.
3:00 p.m. – My pitocin drip is finally started and I am also started on the first round of antibiotics. BTW, the penicillin burns like FIRE while it goes into my arm – I hold my arm and pray for it to be quickly over each time I start another round…
3:00 – 8:00 p.m. – I am dialating very slowly. My Mom shows up and my Mom, my hubby, and I all sit around talking. I am having regular contractions, but I am able to breathe and even talk through them. When I ask why it’s going so slow, they tell me that they have had to turn up the pitocin very gradually in order for me to receive all the rounds of antibiotics.
8:00p.m. – My OB comes in to break my water. She informs me that my contractions should become “very painful, very soon” and what-do-you-know……OWWWW! The contractions are suddenly very intense and only two minutes apart. I beg for my hubby’s hand, and try to squeeze his fingers completely off while trying hard not to scream out loud during the actual contractions.
8:00 – 10:00 p.m. – Some of this is a blur for me .I do remember lot of very intense pain.
-The baby’s heartbeat keeps dipping up and down, so I am rolled onto my left side into a rather uncomfortable position. My contractions hurt even worse on my side, but I’m willing do to whatever it takes to keep the baby healthy.
-I beg for an epidural and the anesthesiologist is summoned. He is a very quiet and serious looking man with a very kind bed-side manner. I HATE epidurals (but I hate the pain even more), and I actually bite my pillow while he puts it in – he was very quick and very good though. He stays for a while and my hubby and I get a chance to talk and joke with him a little bit (he had a very dry sense of humor….he was actually quite funny)
-But then something happened that I’ve only heard of happening to others before – the epidural took effect on only one side of my body. So soon I’m back to squeezing fingers and trying not to scream while I’m rolled onto my right side to try to get the epidural to numb that side of my body.
-The epidural finally takes effect on both sides. I breathe a sigh of relief…..

 

10:05 p.m. – I’ve been pain-free for about ten minutes when I’m checked and told that I am ready to push….so I guess it’s time to go…more nurses show up and get the room ready for a baby
10:15 – My OB shows up and we’re all ready to go. I’m so numb from the epidural that I can’t really feel anything, but I push the way I think I’m supposed to.
10:20 – Three pushes later, my OB informs that the head is out, but that the shoulders are stuck. A look of concern crosses her face, and I worry for the first time that day. She tells me to push once more, and as I do, she applies pressure directly on my abdomen with her body.
10:22 p.m. – Baby J-boy slides out into the world. I was pretty freaked-out, because my first look at him was of a completely purple and blue-faced baby. My OB immediately started saying, “He’s Ok, he’s Ok, he’s just bruised, he’s just bruised…”
10:23 p.m. – I hear his first cries, and I start tearing up too. I just remember saying over and over to myself, “He’s Ok, he’s ok…he’s crying.” I get hugs from my Mom, and kisses from my dear hubby.

 

10:26 p.m. – They place him in my arms for the first time, and the new adventure begins…