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Birth story :-) (pretty long)

MrsIHMrsIH
in Hawaii Babies

LO was due on August 29th.  On August 24th I had my regular check up and my Dr. swept my membranes.  It was my choice but because I wasn't really experiencing any solid contractions at all she said it might be a good idea to get things moving.  I agreed and she did the sweep, which was OK on the comfort scale but wasn't pleasant.  I was also slowing losing my mucus plug that week and was about 1 cm dilated.  On August 26th my parents came to town hoping for LO's arrival and we went out for a great dinner at an Italian place.  I had a feeling it would be the last evening out for a while ;)  I mentioned to my parents a few times about LO not arriving while they were in town and my Dad said they would wait it out for several days and see what happens... plus the following week Tuesday I had another check up to see how my progress was.  The next evening, August 27th, we had a BBQ and had burgers with my parents at our house.  I moved from the table to the couch and said to MH and parents that in a couple days time there could be a baby at home with us, how crazy that was!  Seconds later I felt wet down there and got up quietly to go to the bathroom.  When I sat down I felt a small gush and knew it wasn't urine.  I finished and went back to the kitchen and said with excitement... "well I think my water just broke!".  My Mom's jaw dropped and they all looked at my with funny faces, like they didn't believe me for a second, LOL  I went downstairs to further investigate things and yep it was my water slowly leaking... MH and I thought we would retire to bed for the night but I felt contractions coming on.  Throughout the day I was experiencing some cramping but it wasn't too intense.  Once we got into bed they started to increase and I suggested we call the maternity ward to let them know I was in early stages of labor.  We called and they asked me a few questions and suggested I come in for an assessment.  It was about 9:30pm and we were off to the hospital.  Once we arrived I laid in bed, they checked me out, did some blood work and confirmed that my water had broken.  They suggested we go home for the night and try to get some rest in our bed but they also wanted to admit me and let me go on a pass and told us to come back at 8am in the morning or sooner if contractions came on stronger.  We left and got home around 12:30am.  I went straight to bed and had contractions all night long.  I tried to breathe through all of them and then tried to sleep while they passed, it was a long night but I was thankful to be in our house/in our bed.  In the morning my contractions were about 5 mins apart when I timed them on my phone.  I called in to the hospital and they said to come in around 8am when the Dr. on call arrives.  I showered and got ready to have a baby!  We arrived at the hospital and this time changed into a gown and got in bed and waited for the Dr.  My contractions weren't that consistent at this point.  The Dr. arrived (not my Dr. but another Dr. that I had heard great things about through the mat clinic, loved her from the moment she introduced herself).  She checked me and I was about 3cm dilated.  She suggested putting in an IV to get contractions going or going home and letting my body do things naturally.  At this point I wanted to get the show going, I didn't feel like leaving and coming back again, that walk to the elevator to the car on Friday and Saturday morning felt so long and I didn't want to do it again. :)  So the IV was started around 9-9:30 and the contractions began to get more and more intense.  We then realized that I was experiencing back labor, OUCH, it was painful but still tolerable at that point.  At around noon MH's friend came with lunch and snacks and I told MH to go have lunch with his friend.  I felt OK at that point and MH came back pretty quickly, within 30 mins or so.  I was starting to feel ready for the epi around 3:30-4ish so they checked me and I was about 5cm dilated.  The back labor was incredibly intense, just like everyone had warned me about.  I had the epi about 5:00pm and it was wonderful!  I felt great and got a bit of rest in but had some family members come by to see us.  My parents, IL's, brother and SIL all decided to head to our house to have a bite to eat while I was feeling good and resting.  Once they left I felt this incredible pain in my bottom and felt a huge need to urinate... I had a cathetor in so the nurse said I could just go but I felt something more... I felt a ton of pain all of a sudden and burst into tears... did the epi wear off?  I was told they would turn it up a bit but it didn't help at all.  The Dr. came in shortly after to assess me again and I was fully dilated!  That is where the pain was coming from!  Funny thing was that I could feel LO in my ribs so it wasn't as though he had dropped but the pain was so obvious.  Dr. suggested we get me into position to start pushing.  This is where the self doubt kicked in.. "can I do this???".  My brother happened to send MH a text asking how I was and he told them I was starting to push but that it could take 2-3 hours.  (Family all showed up very quickly after this).  The nurse who was with us all day was wonderful!  She said that the pushing will help and feel good... "really??".  Once I started pushing it did feel good to get things moving, she was right.  I pushed for about an hour and he was out! ( At 8:08pm, the HI area code, which we believe is pretty incredible.)  The next morning the nurse said that I was saying "I just want this over with" :)  She also said she couldn't believe he was out that fast as her shift ended at 7:30pm and she figured it would be a couple more hours before I had him.  It was the most incredible moment of my life, one that everyone tells you about but you don't quite get it.  It's like wearing your heart outside of your body.  After the labor I felt really good, I didn't bleed much and had a small tear (1 stitch).  I showered in a nice soaker tub in our birthing room and it was the best shower ever!  We luckily had a brand new birthing room so it was an even better experience.  Don't forget to bring yourself a nice towel (ahh, so glad I had one) and some nice shampoo/conditioner or body wash.  I was SO thankful for those items after giving birth.  The next couple days in the hospital were great and hazy.  We had visitors the next day and it was wonderful to see everyone and have everyone see our LO.  The second night was tough and we felt like fish out of water so to speak.  The nurse on nights wasn't the nicest (funny, every other nurse we had was incredible) and she was watching some sort of video on youtube that woke us up that night (I complained about this).  We were so happy to be discharged from the hospital in the end though, we were there 2 nights. 

Baby J has been a very mellow baby so far and we love him so much.  To the ladies who are pregnant you are in for the most incredible ride of your life :)  And to the Mamas, wow, you were right, being a Mommy is the best thing on earth.

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I love Hawaii!

Tara & Ian . 4/24/2008 . The Kahala Planning . Married

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