Team Green birth story...

At 37 weeks and 6 days, I woke up on Tuesday, October 27^th at about 4:00 AM to use the restroom, yet again.  As I got up, I realized I was really crampy, like I was about to start my period.  I used the restroom and noticed a large circle of dark red blood, like a blood clot, left in the toilet.  I had heard all about losing your plug and bloody show, but this seemed very different from the descriptions I?d heard.  Suddenly, I was very nervous and thought the worst ? there was something wrong with the baby.  I woke DH up and told him about the blood and the cramps.  He thought there was nothing to worry about and urged me to come back to bed.  I told him I was going downstairs to get on the computer to see if I could diagnose myself.  Heading downstairs, I started thinking that I hadn?t felt the baby move in a while.  I drank some orange juice and waited.  And now I was really freaking out, as there seemed to be no fetal activity.  I started crying, and DH decided we should call our doctor.  We got the answering service and talked to a nurse, who assured that he would call us back.  At about 5:30, he told us to wait about 30 minutes and if we still felt no movement, we should head to the hospital.  So we did.  Before we left, DH said, ?Maybe we should pack a bag??  I didn?t care about a bag.  I told him we were just going to the hospital to hear the baby?s heartbeat and then we?d come right back home.  He said, ?I don?t know, I think you might be in labor.?  Of course I thought that was nuts, but I appeased him by throwing a few things in a bag and tossing the car seat in the backseat just in case. 

We got to the hospital around 6:00 am, and were immediately taken into a room.  We explained to the nurse what was going on, so she hooked me up right away and we heard the heartbeat.  I felt better instantly.  At that point, I thought we could go home.  She said she would check me to see if I had progressed at all, just to see where we were.  (Side note, my doctor only does checks for dilation and effacement at 40 weeks for first-time mothers, since the numbers can make you think you?re having the baby the next day, but then really have 3 more weeks.)  She checked and said ? 100% effaced and 4.5 cm!  I was really surprised.  Then she said, ?This might be strange, but can I see the underwear you wore here?  I want to smell them.?  Uhhh, okay.  She did a little sniff test, and then swabbed and said, ?I think your water might have broken.  Or at least it?s leaking.?  And then they moved us to a Labor and Delivery room.  We couldn?t believe it.

From that point, I guess I was officially ?in labor.?  I was feeling great.  We watched a little Saved By the Bell, took long walks around the hospital to keep things going, danced around the room while reading internet news articles on DH?s phone.  It was kind of fun.  I was feeling the contractions, but they felt like my bad period cramps, and I could totally handle it.  My doctor came by before his day in the office, and the nurses came to check on me every hour.   After five hours, they wanted to check my progress.  The nurse kind of warned me that it didn?t seem like I was progressing much since I wasn?t feeling too much pain and said something about pitocin.  I was really hoping not to use pitocin, so I was really hoping the check would reveal some progress.  And it did ? I was now at 6.5cm.  That?s not awesome progress ? 2cm in 5 hours ? but it was progress, so they allowed me to continue walking around to keep that little one moving down. 

Somewhere in there, my doctor checked in again, and noting my slow progress suggested he break my water.  At that point, I was only leaking amniotic fluid.  I agreed, and once I felt the gush, he said, ?Okay, I will be leaving now before you hate me.?  And that?s when the contractions really started.  At this point, we began employing the pain management techniques taught to us in our birthing class just three days before.  DH massaged my back, we bounced on the birthing ball, kept taking walks.  After about an hour, I was loopy with pain.  Grunting to get through the contractions.  I could hear people talking around me, but I didn?t understand what they were saying.  I think I was freaking DH out a little.  We discussed getting the epidural at this time and decided to go ahead with it.  My goal was just to make it as long as I could without the epi, so I could keep moving around.  At that point, moving around wasn?t really option because of the pain, so I went ahead with it.  Once the epi was in, the nurse checked me and I was at 9.5cm!  That means in the hour that I was experiencing the intense contractions, I progressed 3 cm.  No wonder I was in crazy pain.  It didn?t take long to go the final .5cm, and it was time to push. 

Almost as soon as I started pushing, one of the nurses said, ?A head of dark hair!?  Money in the bag ? she was already here!  That?s what I thought.  DH told me later that they could see that by sticking both hands in, pulling back, and peering in 4 inches.  The pushing didn?t hurt, but it took a lot out of me.  I had to wear an oxygen mask, and at one point, I looked out at all the nurses, my doctor right in front of me, and DH to my side, and I said, ?I think I?m going to throw up.?  Everyone jumped back quickly, and I vomited right where my doctor had been standing.  I looked down to see the bag under me that had been catching everything that had been coming from me.  Gross.  Poop, blood, fluids, and now vomit.  Anyway, DH was wonderful during the pushing.  I did three sets of pushing, while the doctor counted to ten.  DH would encourage me and tell me when I was half way done.  He kept telling me what a good job I was doing.  The doctor, however, wasn?t satisfied with my pushes.  Bear down like you?re pooping, but don?t clench your butt.  This is a difficult command, especially when I can?t feel anything down there.  After three hours of pushing and several position changes, my doctor began worrying about the baby?s health.  The heart rate had dipped a couple times.  At this point, they brought out papers for me to sign, approving the emergency c-section, if it became necessary.  He told me that we could try forceps and if it didn?t work, we?d have to do the c-section or we could just go straight to the c-section.  I wanted to avoid the c-section unless it was completely necessary, so I said asked for the forceps.  The doctor waited for another doctor to join him, and got to work with the forceps.  I always pictured big salad tongs, but instead it looked like two big, separate soup spoons.  He inserted them and timed with my pushing, pulled out the head.  As they suctioned the mouth, they asked if I wanted to feel the head.  I declined.  At this point, I had already torn getting the head out, and the doctor did an episiotomy to get the rest of the body out.  He told DH, ?I will only pull the head out.?  So with then next push, the rest of the body came out. 

They pulled down my robe and put the baby on my chest.  One of the nurses yelled, ?Dad, tell her what it is!?  DH looked and was pretty sure of his answer, but didn?t want to yell out the wrong one.  Everything looks different in a newborn baby and the cord was kind of in the way, so he wasn?t 100% sure.  Finally one of the nurses exclaimed, ?It?s a girl!!?  I was so SHOCKED.  DH and I both started crying immediately.  So did Edie.  After about a minute, I said, ?Are you sure it?s a girl!?  And one of the nurses said, ?Yes, but we can check again.?  Almost everyone in the last nine months told us they thought it was a boy.  Family, friends, strangers at the mall ? it seemed like everyone believed this baby was a boy, and so, we did too. 

At some point in there, I passed the placenta, and they began the task of stitching me up.  It took about 45 minutes.  I couldn?t tell you much about this, because DH and I spent the entire time staring at Edie, staring at each other, and crying.  After they were finished and they had cleaned Edie up, weighed and measured her, DH made the trip to the hallway to tell our waiting parents.  Before he made the announcement, he sat next to me, tried to gain his composure, and recited what he would say.  ?It?s a girl.  [her full name].  7lbs, 1oz.  20 inches.?  As soon as he saw the parents, he broke down once again and couldn?t get the words out.  Finally he choked out, ?girl.?  He stood there for several moments, unable to continue.  Then DH?s dad reminded them of Zechariah from the Bible, who was struck mute until John was born.  They had to give him a tablet to write John?s name.  So FIL offered DH a legal pad to the write the name.   DH paused and was finally able to get the words out.