Birth Story Part 2

Birth Story Part 2

J was able to get some much needed R&R (bastard :p) and I watched him sleep from 4:00am until 7:00am. The doctor had said the day before she was going to induce me at 8:30am if my contractions hadn't started. Well they were strong all night and of course when she came in they slowed down and were light again. When she checked me that morning I was only 3cm dilated, UGH! She said she didn't want to induce me just yet and see if my contractions would pick up again. I was quite happy about that. I jumped out of bed and started walking the halls to try and walk that babe out of me. J and I did many laps around the hospital and my contractions were back to being fierce again. I was pumped! My nurse, Judy (who was absolutely amazing) suggested I have a warm shower to take the edge off. I hopped in and that really made my contractions closer and much stronger. The shower felt so good and I was so happy to feel such strong contractions, I highly recommend a nice warm shower during labour. After the shower I had to be monitored again to check my vitals, babies heartbeat and my contractions. The contractions were very close together and everything was looking great. The doctor came back and checked me again and I was dilated 6-7cm.

In my "zone" haha

 As soon as I could I jumped out of bed and hopped on the birthing ball. The nurse showed J how to give me a fabulous massage and he massaged me for over an hour while I was on the ball. The nurse told me that when I was experiencing a contraction to try and relax my shoulders and breathe in each breath for my baby. She said breath is your drug, let your breath touch your toes. I totally thought of yoga and kind of went into a meditative state. The power of breath is so strong. J was also the PERFECT partner. He knows that when I'm in my "zone" I don't like to be talked to, touched (except for massage), but I do need someone to squeeze & have lip chap ready for me when needed :p. He had his hand, arm, head and shoulders ready for me to squeeze at all times. He had said later he always thought I was a weakling but I have a dang good grip. I couldn't have asked for a better support person, and I think that's what made my labor such a positive experience.

After being on the ball for close to two hours I got back in bed to try and rest my body. My contractions had slowed again!!! They were still strong but were about 4-5min apart. The nurse suggested giving me pitocin which I really didn't want, but at this point I said what the hell?!

Getting the pitocin

 As soon as she put me on the "drip" my contractions were fierce. I was totally riding the wave, I would get this strong pain in my legs and then I knew a contraction would be there to follow. It would peak and pain would be at its worst but I just kept thinking surf this wave down with pride haha. So wacky, but it totally helped. The pain was getting harder and harder to just use the "ride the wave" method. Judy said she can always tell how strong a contraction is by how far back the toes curl into the foot. Well my toes were flexed almost all the way back to my foot. I got checked after an hour and was at a 8. I was slowly progressing. The nurse offered me to take some kind of pain relief, she said that I may progress more quickly if I had more rest. I had opted out of having an epidural because I like to be in control of my body. The thought of not being able to move my lower half makes me craazzzyyy. This definitely was never an option for me. She had told me about Nitrous Oxide (laughing gas) earlier that morning. I had decided that a couple of inhales of that would do me good and I had the option of inhaling it whenever I felt necessary. Well you all know how that goes, I would inhale about every third contraction and then it felt too good so I started inhaling it with every contraction... damn drugs!! At one point I asked the nurse where I could buy it. It basically feels like you have had a couple of bottles of wine. I would inhale as soon as I would start feeling the tingle in my legs and would keep breathing into it until the contraction would subside. Than I would be able to fully rest in between contractions. Ooooh I could go for some laughing gas right now :p.

The nurse said I would know the moment I felt I needed to push and they didn't have to check me again. I was nervous I would not know or miss the feeling but ohhh boy you know!!! J helped me to go pee and I knew the time was near. I was digging my fingers so far into poor J's shoulder. When I got back to the bed the nurse was feeling my belly and was pretty sure the babe was sunny side up. So she asked me to get on all fours for just a minute. As soon as J helped me assume the position I screamed "I'M GONNA PUUUUUUUSSSSSSHHHHHHH" and pushed with all my might. The nurse quickly got me flipped over, called the doctor and it was time!!!

I have the Crrrazy look in my eye. (I don't know why I took my hair down, it drove me mad when I was pushing)