Dillon's birth story

I had been having contractions for days following up to his birth that were at times five mins apart and regular. I felt as if my body kept starting and stopping and I could really feeling myself gearing up for the big day. On Wednesday, I was having contractions that started to get a little painful at night. I slept very restlessly, waking up with some of the more painful contractions. On Thursday morning I was 40 weeks and went to my appointment still having contractions. My Dr found I was 2 centimeters dilated and she believed I was in labor. I found out later that she stripped my membranes at my appointment. She told me I should go right into Labor and Delivery. I waited at home for a while and finally had DH take me in around 2pm. I was having regular contractions, 5 mins apart (as always). After 6 hours in the hospital, I had only dilated to 3 centimeters and they send me home with a sleep aide. They told me that this wasn't labor and that it was a result of my membranes being stripped. I was so upset and cried because I had gotten my hopes up and felt I had wasted so much time! I got home and even with the sleep aid, didn't sleep. I woke up that morning and my contractions were a whole different ball game. They felt like cramping and I felt them all in my lower back and pelvis. This continued through out the day and they got worse and worse. By the evening, I was starting to use some of the breathing techniques I had learned about in my Ina May book and found them to be really helpful. At 7pm my contractions started to come every 3 minutes. DH and I still did not want to head to the hospital with fears that we'd be turned away again! By 9pm, my mother convinced me to call the dr. I called and he said to come in. We took our time getting our stuff together. DH took a shower. As we were getting in the car, my contractions started to come about a minute or two apart and I started to get scared that perhaps we had waited too long. I continued to use my breathing techniques: deep breath in, slow breath out. I would also blow the air out through my lips, keeping them loose and relaxed. This was so helpful in getting through the contractions. When we got to the hospital, Tim dropped me off at the door and I went in and registered. The midwife checked me and was stunned to find out I was already 6 centimeters. I turned to Tim and said, "I told you so!" She asked me if I'd planned to go natural and I told her I was shooting for it, but was open to anything. She said she had never seen a first time mother doing this well during labor. She said if one person could do it, it would be me. I was feeling very confident at this point! They admitted us and I walked myself up to my hospital room. The Dr. on call with my Ob group was a nice, but very awkward man. He ran into the wall on his way in. He checked me and I was at 7 centimeters. I was feeling great. The midwife told my nurse and dr that I was going natural and would need support as I would be nearing transition soon. I was still laughing and chattering away in between contractions. I got into the shower and labored in there for about an hour. That was heaven. I wanted to stay in there the whole time...I probably should have! I got out and that's when things started to take a turn. The contractions were now really, REALLY intense. The nurse was amazed how close together they were. My mother arrived at that point. I was trying to focus on my breathing and get through each contraction. At that point, another dr came in and suggested that maybe I get an epidural. I thought I was doing really well, but they kept telling me, "there are no awards for pain." I could feel myself slipping and giving in. I was starting to doubt myself. I had another painful contraction and gave in to the epidural. I would ask for it during a contraction, then tell them I didn't want it in between them! The Dr. told me that they wanted to break my water, and that things were going to get much more painful. So I said fine...epidural it is. I hated the epidural. It changed the experience. What I was doing before felt very natural even though it was uncomfortable. The epidural made me scared and weak. It didn't actually hurt, but felt so strange. As they poked around in my spine, I could feel strange sensations on my left and then right sides. It was gross. I didn't feel numb like I had imagined. I felt tingly and yes, much of the pain from my contractions was gone, but not all of it. I wanted FULL pain relief. If I was going to do this, then I wanted it done right! My mother and I were joking about why the staff wanted patients to get the epi's. After mine, my nurse turned off our light and went out to take her break. The staff at the hospital was incredible through my entire stay there, but I felt like they didn't encourage me enough to go natural. I wasn't screaming or swearing or being unruly. I needed reassurement. After the epi was in, things moved along fast. Within an hour I was ready to push.They broke my water at 9 centimeters. At 10 centimeters, I could feel everything. I'm not sure if the epi wore off or what. The urge to push was incredibly strong and at this point I started using my breathing techniques again. I pushed for 1.5 hours, my mother holding one leg and Tim the other. I was holding the nurse's hand! I have to say that when Dillon actually started to come out, it was the most amazing/intense feeling. My body just did what it had to do and it felt so natural. I started to feel really powerful again. After his head came out, his shoulders got stuck and Tim and my mother said it was kind of scary. There were 3 doctors in there and the lead dr jumped right in and started twisting Dillon and trying to get him unstuck. I was feeling this and just kept pushing with all my might. Tim said I kept asking if he was going to come out now. He finally popped out and I immediately felt better! I had a second degree tear, but he was out. Dillon was stunned and they had to bring him right over to the table to get him to breathe. Tim couldn't cut the cord. They placed him on my stomach after making sure he was ok and the first thing I asked was, "how much does he weigh??" He felt so solid to me. They weighed him and there it was...9 lbs, 9 ounces....22 inches long! He was estimated at 7.5 pounds..boy were they wrong!

I just want to say that I have no negative feelings about my labor. It was not even close to as painful as I thought it would be. I was not afraid of labor and I think that helped me a lot. I would not describe it as pain, but intense. Very VERY intense. I actually thought it was the easiest part of pregnancy!