late and long - vacuum delivery

I wrote this soon after DS's birth, but never got around to sharing it until now:

The day I reached 41 weeks I had an appointment with my OB.  We had decided not to find out the baby?s gender, so I was getting especially anxious at this point.  There they checked my blood pressure which was getting to be on the high side.  The doctor informed me the baby?s head was at -2 station and I was not dilated at all, so we really weren?t making any progress at this point.  He went on to tell me that because I was already a week late and my blood pressure was high and rising, I should be induced soon.  First I had to go to L&D for a non-stress test.  If my BP didn?t go down, I would have to be induced that night.  If it did, I would come back the next morning.  I nearly cried at the thought of being induced, especially when he told me that with the pitocin I would probably want to get an epidural (which I was hoping to avoid).  In L&D my blood pressure did go down to a more acceptable level, so they sent me home and told me to come back at 6 the next morning.

After getting my bag completely together, taking a shower, and writing some final thank-you notes, I went to bed around 11 that night, expecting to get a (more than usual at this point) restless sleep.  As soon as I laid down I felt a sharp pain that started in the front and moved to my back slowly.  I KNEW it was a contraction, because it felt like a period cram from hell, yet at the same time was like nothing I had felt before.  15 minutes later I felt another one.  Then another at 15 minutes.  I started keeping track, and within half an hour they had jumped down to 10 minutes apart 

The whole time I had been able to hold my pain in, and my husband Chris had no idea what was going on- he was asleep beside me in fact!  But eventually I couldn?t hold it anymore and instinctively grabbed his arm when I gasped out.  He groggily asked what was wrong, and I said, ?I think I?m having contractions.?  To which he simply said, ?Oh good, that means you won?t have to be induced? and then went back to sleep J .  At this point I knew I would only keep him up if I stayed in bed and there really wasn?t anything he could do for me.  At least one of us should get some sleep!  So I went downstairs and laid on the couch, turned on some Jimmy Fallon, and opened my computer to a contraction counter. 

As the night went on I quickly progressed to anywhere from 6-8 minutes apart, always about a minute long each.  Around 5:30 Chris woke up and came down, since we were already supposed to be at the hospital at 6  for the induction.  Not knowing if I should wait or go ahead in, I called the hospital and they told me to come on in!

I had pretty much decided at this point I wanted an epidural.  After getting no sleep for 24 hours so far and expecting the day to be a long one, I knew I would need some rest.  Upon examination at the hospital I was 3 cm dilated,  so right away they gave me the epidural and also pitocin.   They said this was a common procedure, since I was already numb from the epidural, to speed up the labor process.  BEST THING EVER!  After the epidural, I rested (as best as I could with IVs, pulse monitors, blood pressure cuff, the epidural, and nurses coming in and out).  The nurse checked me around 8:30am and I was already 5cm- she told me I would be having the baby before her shift ended at dinnertime!  I wanted my sister in the delivery room with me, since she?s my best friend and also so she could take pictures in the moments after the baby come.  She had been planning to come after she got of work in the early afternoon, but we decided she?d better get here soon because I was progressing so quickly.  My mom, who had come in around 8 that morning, called her and she was there in minutes. 

After a couple hours I kept being woken out of my drowsy state by a lot of pressure, but I was so tired I didn?t really pay much attention.  When one of the nurses came in I thought I felt my water break, so she took a look at me.  To all our surprise I was already 9 cm!  She said to let them know when I felt the urge to push.  I then realized that?s what I had been feeling for at least the last hour!  In minutes they had me up and pushing.  We tried a few different ways (side and crouching being the best), but the nurse kept telling me that with every contraction only 1 out of my 2 pushes was effective.  After an hour they could see the head, but the baby wasn?t moving any further.  The doctor came in and helped my push a few times, but still no progress.  They whispered back and forth with each other and one of the nurses left the room and came back with a covered medical table (a little scary looking to say the least).  The doctor told me they were going to use the vacuum to help get the baby out- which actually didn?t scare me at all since my sister had delivered her daughter with the vacuum as well. 

As the doctor put the vacuum in I remember being almost in shock that the moment was here.  We were going to meet our little baby in possibly minutes!  After 9 months and (surprisingly only) 13 hours in labor, this baby was coming out!  It was an intense few minutes, but our baby BOY (I knew it the whole time) was born at 12:03 pm.  At a whopping 9 lb. 5 oz. it was no wonder he couldn?t get out on his own! The moment they put him on my chest, my heart melted as he lifted his head and looked right at me.  Cameron was mine- he was the one that had been kicking me in the side for the past 5 months, and now he was here!  With each day Chris and I have with Cameron, we get to know him a little bit more; and I look forward to a lifetime of getting to know our precious baby boy!