Callen's intense delivery (long)

About time I share my story! 

My EDD was Jan 21. From the beginning I joked with my Dr that I would have my son early bc his new godparents were getting married on my due date...I ended up being right even tho we still didn't make it to the wedding.

On Saturday Jan 15 I worked all day, putting in one of the busiest days of my pregnancy yet! DH and I joked that if that day didn't put me into labor nothing would! Well I felt fine the rest of the weekend and then met a friend for breakfast Monday morning and to discuss all things baby/breastfeeding (she was on her 2nd pregnancy). I had a Dr appt that afternoon at which my Dr said she was surprised I didn't go over the weekend! I was 3 cm dialated and over 80% effaced, which was the same as the week before. My Dr swept my membranes for the 3rd time in as many weeks and we set an induction date in case I needed it (altho neither of us thought I would). Just like every other time she swept my membranes, I had mild cramping throught the rest of the day. I went home and did my normal "day off cleaning," and DH went back to work. By 6:30pm I started having mild contractions that were more uncomfortable than painful. DH got home a little after 7:00 for supper but I wasn't feeling well enough to eat. I kept feeling like I had to use the bathroom but didn't when I tried. I finally decided to take a bath while DH finished supper. He came in to check on me and I told him I was having menstrual-type cramps x1000. He called the hospital to see if something could be wrong bc I wasn't experiencing contractions like our class had described. The on-call Dr said to come in if it was bad otherwise wait it out...super helpful! We decided to time the "cramps" and were at 2.5 mins! I told DH we needed to go so he got our bags. Problem was I couldn't get out of the tub, the cramps were so bad! We finally left for the hospital at 8:45pm.

The hospital was only a 10 min drive but it was the worst drive ever! By the time we got there I couldn't walk in, DH almost carried me! Each contraction brought me to my knees. Once we got checked in I was at 7+ cms. I had planned to make it as long as possible but was open to meds if needed. I was barely in the bed when I told DH I needed an epidural. My contractions were coupling and I was getting no relief, I would spike then drop a fraction then spike again. The Dr with my epidural arrived in less than 10 mins...I have never seen them move that fast before! My nurse had a blood pressure cuff around the IV bag I needed to have in me before I could get the epidural to push it thru faster. I kicked DH out for the epidural bc he is horrible in hospitals and the last thing I needed was him to pass out when the Dr was pushing a huge needle in my back! I felt so muchbetter after the epidural and we were all able to relax for a while. I couldn't feel the contractions at all so they put an internal monitor on baby to keep track of him. Since things had calmed down, DH decided to go move the car to the long-term parking and get our bags. He had literally walked out the door when the nurse came running in saying DS's heartrate dropped into the 70's and weneeded to get it up or we were headed for an emergency c-section. Another nurse asked where DH was and when I told her she ran out to catch him. She followed him all the way to the parking lot, missing him around each corner. My nurse told me I had to change positions, kinda difficult when I can't feel my legs! I was also given oxygen to help his heartrate. I was so scared I was going to have an emergency c-section and DH was going to miss the birth of his son! DS's heartrate finally came back up just before DH walked back in. DH was a little concerned coming back to me hooked up to oxygen. We had to shift positions every so often to make sure his heartrate didn't drop again.

The nurse brought in a bar to put on the bed a little while later and said we weregoing to do some practice pushes to move him into position. I actually really liked pushing that way, we wrapped a blanket around the bar for leverage and I pulled on one end while a nurse pulled on the other end. The Dr came in and said we were going to try pushing for real now. I still couldn't feel contractions so we had to go off the monitor so I knew when to push. After a couple pushes, the Dr asked if I had an urge to push, I said no I was just going when the nurse told me to. The Dr said apparently DS wanted out then because he was moving down without contractions! he had his feet in my ribs and was kicking against them to move his way down! The Dr said he had a thick head of black hair, just like dad! She asked if I was ok with an episiotomy, otherwise I would tear, so I opted for that. DS was out in 2 more pushes! The cord was around his neck but wasn't cutting off air too bad so they weren't too concerned. DH got to cut the cord and they wiped him off a little while I got a couple stitches. He was screaming (of course) until DH went overand started talking to him...he stopped immediately and turned his head to find dad's voice!

Callen Francis was born on Tuesday Jan 18, 2011 at 3:28am. He was 7lbs 13 oz and 20" long with a full head of black hair and mile long eyelashes. He is our everything!