Seth moments after birth To give a little pre-labor background...After having what I would call a disappointing labor and delivery with Ben, I had decided that pain-free and anti-climatic was not the way to go for my third birthing experience. I definitely felt like I "missed out" on something with Ben and didn't want to feel that way again. I had also dumbly watched the cheesy documentary by Ricki Lake (yes, THAT Ricki Lake) called "The Business of Being Born" and was newly interested in a natural birth and the amazing experience that it can be. So that's all fine and good until you're actually IN labor but I decided I'd try to go epidural-free and adapt according to the circumstances.
So September 12th, my due date, rolls around and my OB had decided to induce me - he'd been in there long enough! Got to the hospital at 7:30am and proceeded to get jammed with a needle 3 times by a nurse trying to start my IV. She gave up and got another one after much fussing about and ritual and I don't know what, finally got the darn thing in on the fourth try. Hallelujah! Let's get rolling! Now I thought - induction = fast and furious labor = baby comes SOON....no no no, that was not the case for me. By the time Pitocen was started and things got going, it was probably 9am. I was thinking I would have the baby by 10am...haha...not even close. The nurse told me I have "a nice contraction pattern" and I should be progressing quickly. Well, dumbass nurse (sorry, but really) NOT SO. As my OB informed her when she came in and saw my "nice contraction pattern" that since I'm slender the machine is reading the contractions as monstrous when really they're not. So when I said my pain on a scale of 1 to 10 was a ZERO, I wasn't lying. I also had to have IV antibiotics because I was Group B Strep positive...umm, has anyone else had this? I don't know if it was just the strange position of where they finally got my IV in (which by the way, my arm now looks like I've been abused) or what but the nurse said that the antibiotics would burn a little. A little? It felt like someone was crushing my wrist! I was trying not to complain since I was about to have a baby which is obviously more painful but man! it hurt.
To make a long story short, after much TV watching, no pain, and upping my Pitocen on a regular basis, nothing was happening. I was 2 cm when I got to the hospital and I was 3cm at noon when my OB broke my water. I was thinking, "OK, here it comes, water is going to be broken, NOW fast and furious L&D". I braced myself. NOTHING. At 3pm, I'm now on a dose of around 23 Pitocen (30 is the highest they can go) and the nurse checks to see how far I'm dilated - 3 cm!! My heart sunk - ARE YOU KIDDING ME - 3cm!!! I've been sitting here in this hospital bed ALL DAY and I'm only 3 CM!!!! So now I'm disappointed and starting to get upset. Contractions are starting to hurt a little now - pain scale 2 - but I know that I cannot do this all night and am starting to fear that if I do get to 30 on the Pitocen and haven't started dilating that eventually they're going to tell me I need a c-section since I only have so long to deliver the baby now that my water has been broken. I'm getting nervous and more upset. I have this instinct that's telling me to get an epidural and things will move right along but I'm still holding out hope to do it without one. They up my Pitocen to 26 and although contractions are coupling now and really starting to be strong, they're also coming at further intervals apart.
So I sit and think about pros and cons for a good half hour. I know that I HAVE to make a decision on the epidural soon because soon I'm not going to be able to sit still to have one - pain scale now 4. At 3:30 I look at my new, younger nurse and say "I want the epidural. Get him in here." Luckily, the anesthesiologist is NOT my neighbor because that just would have been weird, but Dr. O'Neil is someone we've met before. He lives in "that other neighborhood" with the million dollar homes - Tucker's Cove. So as expected, sitting up on the edge of the bed is the worst possible position for me to be in when I have a contraction. I can't even think straight and want no one to touch me when I have one. We have to wait through was seems like a bazillion of them to finally get the epidural completed. AAAHH...when it is done though, I'm finally relaxed and instantaneously I feel the baby start to move and he's moving fast! I look at the nurse and tell her they need to get my OB there immediately. My OB was in her office 5 mins down the road. Within 15 mins I went from 3cm to fully dilated and ready to push! OB still not there but coming. They tell me to do everything I can NOT to push until she gets there. Okey Dokey. I pushed maybe 3 times and out came his head, she suctioned some stuff out of his mouth, got his shoulder out, and then I got to reach down and pull him up to my chest with my own hands! Very cool! Because it happened so fast the epidural didn't take full effect and I really got to feel the pressure of the pushing this time which was a different experience for me as well.
I got to hold Seth for less than 30 seconds before they whisked him away. Since he came out so fast, the fluid in his lungs didn't have time to be squeezed out by contractions and the birth canal, etc...so he still had some in there and was breathing really fast and shallow. He cried a good deal when he first came out which helped push it out but they had to take him away for the first hour to help release the fluid and slow his breathing. He came back to the room just in time for the arrival of his big brothers! Cal was ecstatic to see him. In fact, he had woken up the morning I went to the hospital singing "Happy Birthday" to the baby in his bed. How sweet! I guess he asked Grammy Pat all day "What was taking so long?!" He was very anxious to see his new brother. Ben was scared when he saw me in the hospital for the first time and didn't want anything to do with me. He was mildly interested in the baby at first but wasn't sure what to make of everything!
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