My 4 week early unintentional med-free* birth story

So my routine doctor appointment on Friday, April 29 went in a direction I never expected. So much so that I snuck out of my office for an early lunch thinking i could be back before anyone missed me. When the nurse checked  my Bp it was high for the second time so doc told me to go over to the lab and have blood work started but before that she wanted to do my first cervix check since I was 36 weeks. As she's checking me she asks if I have been contracting because I was at 3cm. She told me to forget the lab and head over to triage and let them do everything there. Luckily DH works down the street from the hospital and was there not even 2 minutes after me.

So we check in and they hook me up to everything to check my Bp and listen for babies heart rate along with a bunch of labs. After all is hooked up nurse checks me again and says I'm 4. I'm not feeling a thing! Bp was steadily rising 150/106 which is insane as my Bp was never that high in my life. But luckily all blood work for preeclampsia came back negative.

All the while I figure I will be put on meds and sent home yet nurses and doc are trying to determine if I should go to l&d or antipartum. After about two hours and no success of Bp lowering from meds I get checked again and am at 5. Nurse is joking I'm a crazy person and shows me the printout of all the contractions I've had which were pretty consistent at 4-5 minutes apart =

So they send us to L&D and DH and give our parents a call. Of course it?s the weekend that my parents were out of town and DHs parents were actually on their way to go camping for the weekend so they all jumped on the freeway and came back in our direction.

When I get to l&d I get hooked up to everything and lay there watching George Lopez. =} MIL arrives first and although I love her I was a bit annoyed with her hanging out. I felt like these were the last moments DH and I could share as a twosome and with the baby coming a month early we never had our last official date night so I was a little upset, maybe I was just being a brat. But anyway my parents and sis got there soon after and they also just hung out. *Sigh*

So I believe it was close to 8:30 or 9pm when I was checked again and told I was 6cm. Still not feeling any pain but I did start to feel my stomach tightening. It was the weirdest feeling, like someone was standing behind me and bunching my tummy together and then pushing it upward. Around 11pm I start feeling minor pain but nothing intolerable I would say 2 on a scale of 1-10. Around midnight our parent?s start getting tired and all go into the lobby because there was more room for them to kind of relax. DH gets on the tiny couch in there and falls asleep and around 3am I start getting really irritated because I am sleepy and DH is snoring and I can?t fall asleep because I have the I.V in my left hand and BP machine on my right arm, there is the heart rate monitor for baby attached to my tummy and since I was on BP meds that was being placed through my I.V they stuck a freaking catheter in my which had me terrified to move and the contractions were getting a little worse (maybe a 3 or 4) still manageable but just not able to sleep through. So I am lying on my back dead tired and unable to get into a comfy position. I finally told the nurse I want the epi because I was hoping it could help me rest.  

Around 3:30am I got the epi and was out cold by 4. I woke up at 7:50am as did DH and he told me our family left around 5am. Nurse checked me again about 8:30 and when I found out I was still at 6cm I just about had a fit and asked if the OB could break my water. He finally came in close to 10am to break it. 

Shortly before noon I start feeling sleepy again so I try to get comfortable and fall asleep as I start feeling minor contractions again and the epi is wearing off. The pain started first on my left side and then proceeded to my right. I finally get somewhat comfortable by lying on my side but the nurse comes in and says they lose the babies heart rate when I roll over so I have to get on my back again. My back was KILLING me as those beds suck! I started crying! I was hot and tired and irritated and everything else and on top of that our families had returned and there talking was just bothering me more.

After my emotional breakdown nurse checks me shortly after 1pm and says I?m around 9cm. I start feeling the urge to poop and at this point epi is out completely! So contractions hurt like a mother%^#$% I keep telling the nurse I want to push or go to the bathroom or something and she tells me not yet. Well by 1:30 I?m pissed because what I thought was pain at 1pm I swear is now about to kill me and I feel like someone just put a watermelon in my butt and I want it out. Nurse says shes paging the doc because I?m at 10 and I start pushing without them. Nurse and some other staff run in and they put my legs in stirrups and tell me to put my head to my chest. I literally felt like I was being tortured and instead of helping me everyone is just standing around me watching.

DH grabs my hand but I remember feeling irritated and not wanting to be touched so I swatted him away. I wanted to hold onto the rails because it was easier. While pushing everyone kept saying I was doing a really good job but it was hard because I guess I wasn?t taking the deep breathe I needed to in between pushes so I started getting a little lightheaded, so the nurse grabbed the oxygen mask and put it on my face but I swatted that away because that made it worse.  DH was awesome though at coaching, you know how you breathe hard after a fast sprint like you are trying to catch your breath? Well that?s what I kept doing and he kept reminding me to slow down and was breathing with me. I had forgotten everything I learned in Lamaze class but apparently he remembered and was applying everything.

Baby was crowning by the time OB finally got there and I could feel him but pushing was the best relief so I tried not to focus on the ?ring of fire? as they call it and just push. After a minute I felt the head pop and DH got all excited saying he could see him another push and shoulders came and then like half a push and the rest of his body wriggled out. He was on my chest before I knew it screaming. All of the pain was worth it and the second he came out I felt a million times better and quickly forgot all my body had just gone through. He's absolutely perfect coming in at 5lb 3oz and 19 inches long. Considering that he was 4 weeks early doc was pretty happy with that.

However, Doc told me afterwards that the baby came out face up, which is what was making my pushing a bit more difficult.

*Somewhat med-free