Axel West

I had my membranes swept at noon on Fri April 8^th. My first contractions started at 3am on Sat April 9^th. They were coming 7-10 mins apart. I labored alone until 7am. I woke my husband, telling him it was time to get up. He asked what time it was and grumbled when I told him how early it was. I said ?I?m having contractions.? He told me to shut up. Haha, as if I would joke about that at 39w4. I told him I was serious and he sure woke up then! We made coffee and started getting super excited.

At 8:30am we headed to the hospital ? the next town over, so I could get checked and we knew where we were at. I was 3cm and contrax were coming 4 mins apart. They told us to come back in a while if I needed something for the pain. We went for breakfast. DH noted it would be the last  meal out, just the two of us, for a while. We went to the grocery store to grab snacks for labor and then went to the park for a walk. The pain started to intensify so we headed back to the hospital . I was 3-4cm @ noon and was given a shot of morphine.

We wanted to stay in town (thinking we were having a baby that night) so we went to ILs to rest. The morphine slowed my contrax and eased my pain. We went for an hour long walk at 5pm. The morphine wore off at about 8pm. We decided to spend the night at ILs because our place is 25 mins from the hospital and theirs is 10.

We went to bed at 11pm. I called maternity at 2:30am because thepain was back and I was conracting every 5-7 mins. The nurse said to wait it out, I lasted until 5:30am. I was admitted at 5cm. I labored in the tub (heaven) for an hour. I started asking about an epidural (thinking I was giving birth soon) at 7am. I was told to wait longer so the epi wouldn?t slow labor down. I had another shot of morphine and started on the gas a while later. I eventually got the epi at 3pm. I had stalled at 5cm so I was given oxytocin to speed things up. It sure worked! The epi started to wear off on my right side so I was back on the gas until I would have more epi.

DH was an amazing birth coach. He was so supportive and really helped me cope through the whole thing. My nurse was also amazing and she really made my experience enjoyable.

I labored until 6:45pm when I could finally start pushing. I pushed for 2 hrs. The 1^st hour was the hardest part of the entire l&d. I got through it and found my second wind. I used the mirror and it was incredibly motivating! At 8:53pm on Sun April 10th Axel West was born. He came out a bit stunned and wasn?t breathing properly. He was monitored in NICU for 14 hrs and is doing great now. He weighed 6lbs12oz.

All in all I labored for 42 hrs. It was challenging but was really an amazing experience. I?ve definitely patted myself on the back for my hard work.