My Birth Story! (kinda long)

GreenEyedBri · July 2009

So I went in to the hospital at 6 am on Monday, July 13 for my scheduled induction. My goal was to go drug-free and I knew that would be much harder considering that I had to be on pitocin but I was open to the possibility that a drug-free birth might not happen. Here's the story of my amazing baby boy's birth!!

8 am - Pitocin and penicillin (since I was GBS positive) were started.

10 am - I began feeling the first of the contractions, not too painful but they were 60-90 seconds long and 3 minutes apart.

11 am - 90% effaced, 2 cm, went for a walk to get things moving quicker.

1 pm - 100% effaced, 3+ cm, sat on a birthing ball for over an hour to see if the baby would drop more. Contractions weren't too painful at this point, I was able to play card games and joke around with my husband and mom.

2:50 pm - My Dr. broke my water, 4 cm, contractions became way more intense immediately after my water broke, contractions were about 1.5-2.5 minutes apart and lasting longer.

5 pm - spent some time in the birthing tub listening to relaxing music but the pain of the contractions were finally starting to get to me, still dilated to 4 cm.

5:15 pm - I'm no hero! Give me the epidural! Contractions were still close together, baby's head was really low putting tons of pressure on my cervix.

6 pm - almost 5 cm, +1 station, epidural only took to right side so I was still feeling lots of pain on my left side.

7:10 pm - 6+ cm, baby's head is way down, monitor was placed on baby's head to watch heartbeat, still feeling lots of pressure and lower back pain on left side.

8:30 pm - 7 cm, anesthesiologist came back to fix my epidural so I wouldn't feel anymore pain on the left side. Was having intense contractions and waves of nausea at this point, can't wait until it's over!

10 pm - Showtime, ready to push!!

10:35 pm - Ryder Cole was born after 35 minutes of pushing, I pushed for about 8 contractions total. He was 7 lb 15 oz and 22 in long, very long and skinny with big hands and feet! I had 3 tears (2 minor and 1 2nd degree tear).

He's the most amazing, calm and peaceful baby I've ever seen. He rarely cries unless he's starving, I have to set my alarm clock at night so he'll wake up to feed! Breastfeeding has been extremely painful but we're slowly getting the hang of it. Ryder's frenulum (the little piece of skin attached to the underside of his tongue) goes to the tip of his tongue so he has a hard time latching on to feed so I've been having to pump and feed him from a bottle a few times a day. We're going to the pediatrician to get it fixed this week so hopefully he'll do a better job at latching on and feeding after that. I feel so blessed to have this baby in my arms, it's been a long time coming. I could stare at him all day. All of the pain and sleepless nights have definitely been worth it, I'm so in love!!