Harrison James is Here! (Long Birth Story)

megpyes · June 2009

I was so excited to go into the doctor's for my 40 week check-up last Tuesday only to be a little let down when they said I was 2cm and although there was progress they wanted to schedule an induction for Jun 3rd in case the baby didn't come. My doc thought he would make his appearance before then, but wasn't sure. Well that night around 9:30 that night I had my bloody show and by 10:45 I started feeling a lot of pressure in my groin area. It wasn't very painful, just incredibly uncomfortable. 15 minutes later I was getting waves of horrible back pain. Not sure if I was starting labor or something else was up I tried to go lay down. That didn't last long- I ended up throwing up all over our bed (not good since we had a big dinner that evening). The pain was getting unbearable- still only in my back.

We decided to go to the hospital. DH asked if we should bring the labor bag and I mumbled "whatever", still not thinking it was labor since I wasn't getting contractions across my stomach. We arrived at midnight and by 12:30 am I was being admitted at 4cm. Unfortunately I had back labor and it was absolutely horrible. They ran some blood tests and then I got the epidural. It was wonderful. Around 3:30 they checked me and I was already 8-9cm and completely effaced. The doctor broke my water and found that the baby had his first bowel movement already, so they were going to bring additional people into the room from NICU when we delivered. The doc seemed really calm though and said it was just a precautionary measure, which made me feel a lot better. The baby still had a little bit more to drop, but they came in to check at 4:30 and I started pushing at 4:45. They ended up giving me a little pitocin since my body was ready, but my contractions were five minutes apart. The nurse asked me to push when I felt a contraction, which was difficult since the epidural numbed me so much. After about pushing through 12 contractions our little bundle arrived. DH didn't get to cut the umbilical cord since they wanted to get him over to the respiratory therapist as quick as possible. His apgars scores were 8's and 9's and he didn't need any special medicine/ treatment.

I was extremely nervous about labor and delivery prior to my experience and certainly didn't want my husband seeing everything, but that changed when the nurse gave him the job of holding my right leg back for each contraction. I ended up not caring and fear I may have even pooped while delivering... nobody told me, but I'm pretty sure I did, which was a huge fear of mine.

Honestly it was the most amazing experience ever. I will never forget waiting to hear his cry- even though it was only a few seconds it felt like forever.

So far it's been wonderful. I never imagined I'd feel this tired, but it's all worth it. It's the most wonderful thing when he looks at us and babbles. We love him to pieces.