Early labor after zero progress reports

I'd been to the ob's office on a Thursday afternoon at 38w2d.  That afternoon was my fourth progress check at my weekly appointments and I got the same news: not dilated (maybe a fingertip, she said), cervix still very high, head high, maybe 30% effaced.  "But you're soft!" my doc said, clearly throwing me a bone.

Now, I KNEW that progress reports meant nothing.  Intellectually, yes, I knew that.  Still, I was VERY frustrated at not making any motions toward labor.  I'd been having Braxton-Hicks contractions, some even timeable - just not painful, for a few weeks leading up to that point.

Anyhow, Thursday evening I was in tears when my husband came home from work.  We went out to dinner to console my irrational pregnant self.  Then 8:30 pm, I had my first real contraction.  I knew it right away.  Actually had some back pain that felt like menstrual cramps.

I started timing the contractions on the Contraction Master app.  They started 10-15 minutes apart.  I decided to try and go to bed, figuring that if this was the real deal, I'd be up for quite some time.  The contractions kept coming, and I couldn't resist timing them.  Since they kept coming, I was getting excited, so I told my husband to keep sleeping, and I moved to the couch in the living room.  I got some zz's from about 10:00 pm to 10:45, when a big contraction woke me up.  I knew this was the real deal.

So, I got up and decided to tidy up the house.  I timed contractions until they'd been 5 minutes apart for 30 minutes.  I went and woke up my husband and told him I was going to get in the shower.  After we'd both showered, finished last minute details to leave, and brewed a pot of coffee, I decided to call the doctor because my contractions (while 5 minutes apart for the last 90 minutes) weren't unbearable by any means.  She told me to wait until there were changes (water breaking, increase in intensity or shortening of time between) or until two hours had gone by, then go in.

I only lasted an hour, until I went to the bathroom and saw some spotting. So, at 3:00 am, we drove to the hospital, got admitted through Emergency, and got set up in L&D.  My L&D nurse was so adorable, but her fingers were too short to check me.  My cervix was still THAT high.  She said all she could tell I was dilated, just not exactly how much.  She guessed me at a 1 or 1.5 cm.  Since I was completely closed at my appointment, she said that this looked like early labor.  She went to get her charge nurse, who - she said - had longer fingers, so she could get a more accurate dilation check.  LOL.

Charge nurse came in about an hour later (4:30 am now) and checked me and said I was a 3 and almost completely effaced.  You could've picked my jaw up off the floor.  They told me I was staying, so we started making our phonecalls.  At 7:30 am, my first shift L&D nurse, came in to check me and said I was at a 5.  She and I both couldn't believe it.

I haven't been talking about contractions this whole time, because they weren't terrible for me.  I have unbelievably horrible menstrual cramps, and my mom (who also had bad cramps) always told me that, after our cramps, labor is no big deal.  Seriously, it wasn't.  In fact, my 1st shift nurse couldn't believe I was a 5, because I hadn't been complaining about my contractions.

My nurse told me that, if I was considering epi at all, to go ahead and get it with as fast as I was progressing.  Plus, my doc ordered pitocin to start at 7:30 am to get my contractions more regular.  I was surprised - especially because I was progressing quickly on my own, but didn't care enough to argue. 

So, at 8:00 am, I got my epi, which took perfectly.  They started my pitocin shortly after.  At 8:30 am, the doc came in and broke my water, which was clear.  After that, my husband and I turned the TV on low, dimmed the lights and slept until 10:30, at which point, my nurse told me I was an 8, but that the baby was still high.  She had me sit up to bring the baby down further into my pelvis.

11:00 am, I was a 9, and the nurse had me lay on my side to get a stubborn cervical 'lip' to go away.  11:30 am, we were pushing.  I had a lot of anxiety about pushing, especially since I opted for the epi.  I thought I knew I was going to suck at it.  I held my own legs, tucked my chin to my chest, and concentrated on focusing my pushing effort below my belly button as I'd read on here once.  Really helped me visualize correct pushing.

It must've worked, because at 11:35 am (5 minutes later) my nurse called in the landing crew to help deliver the baby.  At 11:40 am, everyone came except my doc.  The nurse asked if the doc was running.  It was then I realized that she hadn't been putting me on with her encouraging words, I REALLY was pushing that baby out.

She had to have me stop until my doc got there.  It was then that the baby's heartrate started dropping.  She thought the cord was wrapped.  They reclined me and put the oxygen mask on, telling me to breathe very deeply.  She also started pushing on my stomach telling the baby to wake up.  Sure enough, baby woke up, and the heartrate came back up too.

11:45, the doctor came in, sat down, and two more pushes, my beautiful baby boy was born.  Graham Andrew, at 7 lbs 10 oz, 19.5 inches long.  APGARS at 9/9, head FULL of blond hair.  He had a lot of facial bruising (his face was literally blue) from being pushed out so quickly.  I had a lot of superficial tearing, thanks to my hemorrhoids, doctor said.

My postpartum healing was a lot tougher than I expected.  I had hemorrhoids really bad during pregnancy, so they were unbelievable after delivery.  Still, though, a week after delivery I was feeling much, much better.  Now, three weeks later, I feel almost back to normal.

Here are pics of the newb.  Honestly, during that first week, I had a really tough time bonding.  I had difficulty with breastfeeding (a ton of soreness), dealing with physical recovery, hormone drain, sleep deprivation.  It was a LOT to handle all at once.  It got a ton better after that first week, and now I couldn't be more in love with this little dude.

So have faith, those who are lamenting about not having progress at the doctor's.  It truly, truly means NOTHING!