Coopers Birth Story! (Re-post from August 2012)

Hi everyone! I wanted to share Coopers lengthy birth story as I always loved coming over here to read other moms experiences. 

Tony (daddy) coached a softball tournament a town away on Saturday morning so I decided to go to the outlet mall and enjoy the beautiful weather. My cousin informed me that the day before her son was born she went to the same exact outlets and to pack my bag (yeah right cousin). I went up to the tournament to say hi and get some sun and a few spaced out contractions happened which I really thought nothing of as they had been so sporadic. Around 7 pm they started coming about every 5-6 minutes. I told Tony this could be it so it was time to get some rest, square things away and to get his bag ready. I took a shower, shaved, painted my toes and cleaned the house like crazy. 

At 1:00 am we were about 4 minutes apart and it was time to go in. I was tolerating the pain pretty well and the nurses later admitted they assumed I was having false labor because I was smiling and making jokes through contractions but we were 5 cm and 100% effaced and it was time to check in.

By 3:30 am we were 7cm and they told me they'd recommend the epidural now if I wanted one because he was right on the floor to which I agreed. I was terrified of the epi but I don't know how I could have tolerated without one.  

Things started slowing down around 6 am, we were about 8 cm and they started pitocin and they decided to break my water which showed he had made a bowel movement inside. They gave me the low down on the dangers of this and that the respiratory team would be here for the delivery in case there were complications. I was devastated. A c-section was not something I had even wanted on the radar and there it was looming over my head. It took until 12pm to reach 10 cm where I was notified by the Dr (not my normal Dr he was on vacation of course) that I needed to start pushing even though I wasn't feeling the need.

I pushed from 12-3 without even feeling the need to push, it was very discouraging but Tony cheered me on and the wonderful staff of nurses were such amazing advocates for me as well. The Dr. on the other hand would come in about every 30 minutes and tell me if I didn't make progress it was time to consider other options. He was incredibly rude and was just a dark cloud of rain every time he walked in the door. I felt as if my ideal birth was just being ruined every time I saw his stupid face walk in the room. It kept me going though just because I wanted to prove him wrong. I referred to him as Dr. Evil for the rest of the day. 

At 3:30 I was given until 4pm to get him out or it was time to get a C-section. They assumed he was just very large and I'm a pretty petite girl (5''0) and dad is 6'7". I was very against having a mirror to see everything but we decided maybe it would help. The minute I saw tufts of his hair I pushed like a madwoman and had them turn off my epi as suggested by Dr. Evil. I wanted that little head of hair in my arms MY way and right now. 

Cooper was born vaginally at 4:08 pm weighting 7 lbs 7 oz with vacuum assistance. Dr. Evil said he came straight down like a torpedo instead of pivoting like most births. He was healthy and strong and cried and wiggled like crazy. 

I guess what I learned out of everything is to trust your instincts and be nice to the nurses as they will reciprocate. Had I not had them as well as Tony I feel like I'd be recovering from an unnecessary C-Section right now. I was more proud of my "team" I had in the room than anything, they kept me going and I'm forever grateful. I ended up thanking Dr. Evil too even though I made it clear how mad I was at him after.