birth story

I'm finally posting Max's birth story and what a wild story it is!

The short story:

Planned natural birth. Spontaneous onset. 65 hours of labor. 50 unmedicated. last 15 epidural. ended in csection.

 The long story:

I had an appointment at the Dr on Tuesday October 5th. We had an ultra sound to check on things with Max. Everything was healthy and happy. They estimated my little guy was not going to be so little. The guesstimate was 9.5 lbs. After the ultra sound I met with my Dr. He checked me and I had still not progressed any further then I had been for the past few weeks. He wanted to discuss induction and informed me he would not want me to go past the 20th of October. I really didn't think that I would, so I agreed to schedule my induction for the evening in the 20th going into the 21st. (today!) Seth and I left the appointment feeling like the next time we were here I would be having a baby. We were right.... sort of.
That night I had dreams I was in labor. Every time I would have a contraction in the dream I'd feel that I was actually having one. They weren't strong enough to wake me until around 6:15am the following morning. At that time the contractions were coming pretty intense and often. I was also having really bad back labor. Seth and I started timing them. From the start they were 4-5 minutes apart lasting 45 seconds to a minute long. Our plan was to labor at home for as long as I could stand it so I put some laundry in and tried to rest a bit more. Our doula had told us a good rule of thumb was to follow the 4-1-1 rule. 4 minutes between contractions, lasting 1 minute long, for at least an hour. Around 1pm I was meeting the time line so Seth and I headed to the hospital. Trip number 1.
When I got there I was sent to Triage where I was told I still had not progressed any further. They wouldn't admit me until my water had broken or I was dilated to at least a 4. Disappointment. On the way home Seth and I stopped to pick up a sandwich and Jamba Juice. We headed home to labor some more.
I was in a good deal of pain with each contraction so we started trying to do some of our relaxation. I bathed, tried to nap, and everything else I could to keep my mind off the contractions. At about 11pm I was starting to get pretty frustrated. I was having contractions about every 2 minutes apart lasting a minute long. This had to be it so we headed back into the hospital. Trip number 2. Still had not progressed to a 4. Go home. Rest. Come back when your water breaks.
We came home around 1am and I tried to sleep. I was able to sleep a few minutes at a time but the contractions were waking me up every time. We made it through the night. Thursday starts to get pretty blurry for me. By this time I was so exhausted and just praying for the labor to progress... and fast. I labored at home until I felt like I was going to jump out of my skin. Around 6pm we headed back to the hospital. Trip number 3! The nurse checked me and I still hadn't progressed to a 4. By this time it was apparent that I could be in labor for days so I decided to take the offer of a morphine shot to help me sleep through the night. I needed to rest. We left the hospital at about 8pm and I was able to come home and pass out. I was still about half way awake every couple of minutes when I'd have a contraction but I slept decent.
At about 2am Friday I woke up to a large gush of fluid. Finally! My water had broken. I called my doula and let her know. She had been in contact with me and knew everything going on the past few days so she was just as relieved for me. I was still hoping for a natural birth plan so I stayed at home for another couple of hours. We arrived at the hospital for the fourth time on Friday October 8, at around 4am. When I got there I felt like a crazy person. Sleep deprived and having had contractions a few minutes apart for the last 2 days I was done. We then found out Max was transverse. That is why I was having such horrible contractions and back labor. The contractions were trying to get him to rotate as opposed to opening my cervix. I no longer had the strength to labor naturally. I asked for the epidural.
By 5am I was feeling better, able to get some sleep, and things started moving. I progressed to a 9 in just a few hours. I was able to progress on my own without the use of pitocin. The nurse came in to check me around 1pm and said I was at a 9 plus. She thought I'd be complete really soon so she got the room ready for delivery. But then things seemed to come to an abrupt stop. I stayed at a 9.5 for 7 hours after they set up the room for delivery. They even started pitocin to get me to open that last half a centimeter. Nothing. At around 6pm the Dr came in to see me. He was concerned because I was running a fever of 104. He said it was most likely because of the stress my body had endured with my long labor. There was the concern of infection though and he suggested that I start thinking about a cesarean. The baby was still doing really well at this time. His heart beat never showed any signs of stress so we opted to wait longer. He came back in at 7pm to see what I'd decided. I told him I wanted to wait longer to see if my body would just complete on its own. By 8pm I was still not opening up the last little bit that I needed to. I had to make the difficult decision to go ahead with the cesarean. After over 60 hours of labor I didn't even get the opportunity to push. I was sad but I really felt like my Dr had left the decision up to us. I never felt pushed or coerced. I also felt I was making the right decision for my baby and I.
At 9pm we were taken back for surgery. The emotions I felt will stay with me forever. I was happy that after all of this I would finally be meeting my Max, but I was terrified. This was the last thing that I would have ever planned for and it was happening.
It all went fairly quickly though once we were in the O.R. Max was born at 9:25pm. When I heard him cry for the first time my tears came. Seth cried too and it was the sweetest moment. That cry changed us forever. Max weighed in at a healthy 8.4 lbs and was 22.5 inches long. We are so happy to have him here with us finally. He is healthy and perfect. We are so blessed.