Birth Story of Everett Emmanuel
Birth Story
This is going to be long so I apologize in advance but I can say he is the best thing in our lives at the moment and I would do it all again for him.
Monday, June 22 my due date ? I woke up with timeable contractions and felt it was best that I stay home from work because I didn?t want to go in only to have to go home. The contractions started at about 6am and were 15 minutes apart. By the end of the day they were at 8 minutes apart.
Tuesday, June 23 ? I was able to sleep thru the night for the most part but by 3:30pm my contractions were at 5 minutes apart and I felt like we needed to head out. So we called the Dr and they said to come in. The drive to the hospital was bad, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I think at that point, I cursed myself. We got to the Women?s Center, got to triage and they hooked me up. Needless to say I was disappointed that my contractions were not registering on their machine, personally I think it was broken because the L&D Nurse could ?feel? them on the outside but their band was not picking them up.
The RN checked me out and I was at ZERO! I had been at zero the entire last three weeks with no thinning no nothing. I felt defeated and we were sent home and told to come back when the contractions were 5 minutes apart. Here?s my thought on this, if I am feeling them, and the nurse is feeling them, then WTF??? So we went home and I was told to keep my Dr?s appointment for the next day. I was scheduled for induction on Monday, the 29th and the 24th was to be my last appointment. Guess le?baby had other plans.
Wednesday, June 24th ? So after being sent home the night before I figured maybe the contractions would stop and I would go to work. Ha! I was WRONG!!! I had gone to bed around midnight and at 2:30am I was woken up out of a Tylenol PM induced sleep with a contraction. I must have scared my DH because he said ?Babe, you ok???? He had a look of terror on his face. I told him it was the contractions kicking up again and that I would be in the bathroom. Turns out the bathroom was my favorite place to labor. The toilet was perfect when it came to sitting as leaning and lying were both very uncomfortable for me.
2:45am - DH went back to sleep because I figured these were just continuation from the previous day but WHAM, another contraction and this time it made me cussing and out came my mucus plug! My mucus plug looked like my vagina had sneezed. It was gelanatious, clear and brown stained and it came out in two big clumps. At this point I was laboring butt naked and was the only way I felt comfortable. Shortly after the mucus plug there was bloody show. Now keep in mind I had no idea about time but my mother had heard me and had come into the bathroom. Turns out I had been in there for two hours and the contractions were hitting every 4 to 7 minutes. When my mom came into our room an hour and a half earlier she told my husband to get up and start loading the car because we were going to be leaving soon. He jumped up out of bed and starting loading the car.
4:45am ? DH called the OB?s office and said my wife is in labor and we need to have the ob call us back. Wouldn?t you know it was the same Dr who was on from the previous day. He said he wanted to talk to me but my husband told him ?She can?t talk right now she?s having a contraction but I can put you on speakerphone?? Once I got myself together I took a deep breath in and said in the low, grunting voice ?Hello?? and then began to scream as the contraction to over. At that point the doc said ?Sounds like labor to me, go ahead and head out but I just got off duty.? The next Dr comes on at 7:30am. I remember saying ?F%ck? repeatedly but I knew we needed to get going.
5am ? If you have tried getting dressed while having contractions that make you rip your toilet paper holder out of the wall, which by the way I did do, then welcome to my world! It took both my husband and my mother to get me dressed at this point. After my mother convincing me that I couldn?t go to the hospital naked, I was finally in a maxi dress with underwear on, which was a feat in and of itself, and we were out the door at 5:15.
5:20am ? Now we live in NOVA, that would be Northern Virginia for all who don?t know, and at 5am there is definite traffic here. When I say traffic, I mean a trip that should take 10 minutes can easily equal 30 minutes. Our hospital is 20 minutes away with no traffic and it took us almost 35 to get there. So there I am in the back of the Forerunner on all fours at 5am and we are speeding down the highway. My husband is nervous as all hell, my mother is telling him to slow down, and I am cussing like a SAILOR! I remember Steve Harvey being on the radio and I said ?Shut the up!? That?s when the radio was turned off?
5:50am ? We are at the exit for the hospital at the light and I am really at my breaking point. I had been in hard labor since 2:30 and now in this car at a stop light. I begin to cuss my husband out and told him in a voice he has never heard ?RUN THIS MOTHERF%CKING LIGHT! DO IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!? My mother could tell by my tone that I was in serious pain and I meant business. Again being in NOVA traffic = bad, bad, bad which meant there was no chance for DH to run the light. After the light changed he made the turn and we arrived at the hospital?
5:55am ? DH drops mom and me off and goes to park the car. Meanwhile mom gets me a wheelchair and off we go to the registration desk. Now remember I had been laboring sitting on a toilet so a wheelchair was killing me. I had kept on my hospital bracelets from the day before because I knew we would be back soon and I wasn?t going to go though that drama again. The pulled up my information and then BAM another contraction. At that point the desk called L&D and told them we were coming and get ready.
6:00am ? In L&D in the lobby at the desk and BAM another contraction. At this point I noticed there are about 4 other ladies waiting and I didn?t want to scare the bejesus out of them but I was in pain so I moaned through the contractions. When the clerk heard my moan she immediately called back and said ?Uh we have a patient out here Dr K called about her. Can you come and get her she is making a lot of noise and the other ladies are getting anxious?? Within two minutes someone came out and asked ?Did she walk up here?? My mother said ?No she did NOT!? Can you tell mommy was PISSED!
6:15am ? They get me hooked up to the monitors and I beg to not have to lie down but was told that they needed to monitor the baby. My mother undressed me and the contractions kept on coming. By this time they were coming every 2 to 4 minutes and I told them I was not leaving and that if I was not dilated I was going to cry. They check me out and I am a big fat ZERO! I had a dimple and nurse tried to get me to one but nothing. That made the tears come and I told the staff I am NOT leaving, no how, no F$cking way!
6:20am ? Contractions still coming and they call my OB while I was being hooked up. The charge nurse heard me in the back groaning and said ?Look at this poor girl, she?s not dilated at all but she is banging out these contractions every two to four minutes. I cannot send her home she needs something. So she found a Dr there and ordered Nubain for me.
Commercial Break here. Let?s talk about Nubain shall we? This did absolutely NOTHING for me. It could be because I was so far gone when it came to contractions. I asked my mother about this and she said this is all that she had when she had us kids. I told her, humph guess I might have done harm to your doc then. This was said after le?baby arrived.
6:30am ? My Dr finally arrives as I am having a contraction and she says ?Well look a here.? I about lost it again and said I wanted an epidural and I wanted it NOW! She said ?Well it?s not that easy we need to make a decision about which course you are going to do. Do you want a c-section or do you want to labor?? Needless to say I couldn?t make a decision and this is where my birth plan came into play. DH and I had talked about it and we wanted to labor. All I knew is that I wanted the pain to stop and I would kill anyone who stood in the way of making it stop. So I was given a room and told the magic man would be by soon.
7:00am ? Still laboring when the magic man shows up. I was still cussing at this point and had told my husband that I hated him and this was his fault and he was never to touch me again. Ahh back to the magic man, we love him, le?sigh. Now getting stuck in your back while having a big contraction and not moving apparently makes you a rock star in l&d. Of course the needle stick happens at the peak of the contraction but I breathed through it while cussing. I asked how long it would take to kick in and BAM, pure and total BLISS!
7:05am ? I am a new woman! I asked the magic man when could I be topped off and he said anytime, see why we women who get epi?s love the magic men/women who provide them? DH comes back into the room and we begin to watch my contractions on the monitor. Pit was started; I fell asleep and dug in for the long haul.
10:00am ? Dr H comes back to see if I have made any progress and break my water when I told her, ?I sure do feel wet?? sure enough my water broke on its own and I was FINALLY at ONE. She tries to insert an internal monitor to see how strong the contractions are but apparently I was not stretchy enough but by the time she was done digging around my ute I was 2 to 2.5! Whooo hooo for progress. I asked how often I would be checked and she said they like to see progress every 2 hours. My pit was upped, she left and I went back to sleep.
12:00pm ? Right on schedule I was checked and I was at 4 to 5! Hot damn we are in business now. I felt like I needed to vomit so they got me a tray and I handled business. Dr H said she would be back at 2 to see where we were. We spent the next two hours watching the monitor and in amazement of the contractions and their strength. We were also able to watch Manny?s heartbeat and see how he was doing. According to everyone he looked ?perfect? on the monitor.
2:00pm ? Dr H checks again and I am still at 5. She said ?Lets give it another hour, up your Pit and see where you are. If no progress, let?s talk options.? I said ?Ok? and then the tears started. I couldn?t believe we had come this far and now we may end up with a c. I felt defeated by the thought but would do whatever to ensure the safety of my baby. DH and I talked it over and decided that I would not be needed a c because I was going to make progress, period, end of story. So we waited.
3:30pm ? Dr H checked again and sure enough I am at 6 to 7. C was averted and back to business. I did notice at this point that I am starting to feel contractions again and ask for more pain meds. The L&D folks called the magic man and I got two extra shots that did the trick and the pit was upped more. We noticed on the monitor that my contractions were literally off the chart/tape! We all stared in amazement at the screen as Manny?s heart rate tolerated the contractions well.
5:30pm ? Dr H checks me again and yep we are at 8. I again begin to feel pain again so I was topped off again and I knew we would be close so I needed to sleep. I closed my eyes and off to the races we went.
7:30pm ? Dr H comes back and whooohooo at 9 we are. I started to get excited and the room became all a buzz. People began going in and out setting up the warmer area and final phone calls were made.
8:00pm ? I told the nurses that I felt like I needed to push so Dr H came back in and said well 9.5. It will be soon now. She also prepared me that first time moms could push for 3 hours before they deliver. Little did she know that I had made up my mind that I was only up for pushing for 30 minutes because I was tired and I knew if it didn?t happen in that time frame it was going to be a section for me. I just knew it in my heart of hearts. I was exhausted!
8:22pm SHOWTIME!!! ? I told the nurses again that I needed to push so Dr H came back in and checked me. I was complete and she could feel Manny?s head and all of his hair. The nurses said ?Let?s give pushing a try. You want to push like your having a bowel movement.? So I pushed in sets of three. The first set of three were over and I asked if I was doing it right. The nurses sounded really surprised and ?Oh yes you?re a champ!? We waited for the next contraction and I pushed again and I heard the nurse say ?I can see hair!? At this point DH hadn?t looked but now he was intrigued and said ?Where do you see hair?? I t was time to push again and he said ?OMG I see hair!!!? Third push in set two and then I was told to stop. Here is the conversation that ensued
Me: ?STOP?!?!? What the do you mean STOP?!?!??
Nurse: Honey you?re going to have this baby now and we need the doctor.
Me: Well then where the is she??? : blowing through contractions:
Nurse: Stacy I need you to stop pushing
Me: In the low grutal voice ?I AM NOT PUSHING! TELL HER TO HURRY THE UP!!!?
Little did I know but at this time Dr H had gone back to triage and the nursing staff had paged her via her pager and over the PA. Someone actually had to run down to triage and bring her back.
Dr H: Enters the room and says ?She what? Crowning????
Nurse: Yes ma?am!
Dr H: Ok then let me get dressed! Stacy I need you to continue to blow
Me: :blowing:
Dr H: And PUSH
Me: OH MY GOD!!! RING OF FIREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE>>>>>>OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
DH: Look at all the hair!
Nurse: PUSH?.
Me: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHSHHHHHHHHHHHHHITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
Dr H: Congrats!!!! : Turns to DH and says? It?s a ??
DH: Oh yeah this is my part. It?s a BOY!!!!
Everyone?s in tears, me, DH, my mom? We kiss and DH and mom go to Manny. My placenta delivered two minutes after Manny and I didn?t have to push. I asked Dr H if I tore and she said nope no tears on the outside, you do have one on your cervix, 2nd degree but it only took 6 stitches. So after a whopping 72 hours of labor and 10 minutes of pushing Everett Emanuel ?Manny? was born weighing in at 7lbs 12 ounces and 21 inches long with a head full of hair.
If you read the whole thing you are a trooper.
Re: Birth Story of Everett Emmanuel