"OUR LITTLE LIFE": Dawson's Birth Story Part 2

Getting checked in in triage

Once we got to the hospital we sat in triage for a couple of hours just hooked up to the contraction monitor and monitoring Dawson's heartbeat. Brent and I were actually having a good time playing around and joking about different things. The nurse came in and said my contractions were decent and pretty close together...I didn't feel a thing! I was thinking well this is not what I had thought of when I imagined going into labor, but I knew this wasn't over yet. Finally my o.b. came in and checked everything....much to my dismay I was only 40% effaced and 1cm dilated. All I could think was how in the world did my water break with such a vengeance ( and still going)? The good part about my water breaking was they couldn't send me home! I got admitted and walked to our room because I was feeling great! We had an awesome room and a great nursing staff. They came in immediately and started my i.v's going. I was hooked up to penicillin and a bag a fluids. Then they hooked up the monitors and let us be. They told me my doctor would be coming in shortly to check progress since it had now been about 4 hours since my water broke. I had no clue who was on call that day so I had my fingers crossed.....As soon as Dr. Luge ( my other female doc) walked in I was so relieved. She then proceeds to tell me that she and my midwife would be popping in and out. I could not have asked for a better duo! She checked my progress and says maybe 2 cm and 50% ....WHAT?? that is it....She then told the nurses go grab the Pitocin....I have heard so many negative things about Pitocin that I was a tad nervous...but knew that if I had been induced the next day this is how it would go. So I relaxed knowing that these doctors do this everyday.

Last pic as just the two of us!

After about an hour of Pitocin I started to feel my contractions. They were about 3-5 minutes apart and were kind of strong, but still not very painful. Shortly after our families showed up and came in to say hi. After about 3 hours of Pitocin these contractions started to get quite strong, but I did NOT want my epidural until I was checked again. I wanted to wait until at least 4 cm. My midwife came in to check my progress and thought my contractions were looking good. She checked and said 2.5 to maybe 3 cm. and still only about 60%. Wow this was taking forever. She then told the nurses to get some internal monitors (not my fav). Brent noticed that the monitor was no longer picking up my contractions about 45 minutes later. The nurse came in an paged my midwife telling her we were no longer picking up contractions. But because I had not had any pain meds I said...I promise they are there! Well my midwife comes in removes the monitor and grabs another....mind you this process was a tad painful and I was totally upset this was happening again. Not only did she want to place this monitor but she now wanted to attach a fetal heart rate monitor to Dawson's head. UMMM WHAT? I'm barely dilated and effaced and you want to do what? So she proceeds to do this as she checks me. She said wow good thing I came in your almost a 4 or 5! What in 45 minutes??? WOOHOO...I knew things were getting a tad painful but really only in my back still. I still didn't want the epidural because I knew that sometimes it can slow labor and obviously even with Pitocin this was taking a while. I got a shot of some pain medicine to ease the pain I had started feeling. MISTAKE! The medication made me so dizzy I could not get my eyes to be still, finally I started vomiting...ugh this was not what I was wanting....but it did ease my pain somewhat. About an hour later I was having "labor shakes" who knew there was such. I was shaking uncontrollably and everyone kept asking are you cold. Finally, I was hurting badly and all the people in my room kind of got me on edge. I politely told Brent to ask everyone to leave the room because I was hurting and wanted my epidural. Even thought I could feel my contractions, the majority of my pain was still in my lower back...I knew people have back labor and I was starting to sense this was going to be me too! My nurses reassured me that the shakes were normal and that they may increase with the epidural...Oh Goody! I was very excited about the epidural, but had mixed emotions of joy and fear. Fear of pain, moving and messing things up, and fear of things not going well....but as people say, at this point...who cares! It took a while to get an anesthesiologist due to being a shift change, but thank goodness he came up as soon as he was ready. He came in and talked me through everything and told Brent to sit in front of me. I truly think the worst part was that cold iodine hahaa! It was a piece of cake! Did not hurt one bit! After about 30 minutes ahhhh no feeling! This kept weirding me out throughout the day, but I knew it was worth it! About 2 hours later I started noticing a spot in my lower back that still had feeling and at this point they had upped my Pitocin and I was definitely feeling that pain. I tried to breathe through knowing that an epidural was all I could get. Dr. Luge came back about 5 p.m. to check me and said I was a 7. Getting close I thought! Since I wasn't having the baby our family came back in for a little while and let Brent go eat :( boo since I had not eaten since our date night the night before! She told me she would be back at nine or so to check my progress. Well another shift change was taking place at 7 and my new nurse that would deliver showed up. I told her I was still having some pain so she asked how severe. I said well about a 7 now, but I figured as long as it stays in that tiny spot I would be fine. My brother and sister-in-law came up to the hospital to see us and give us a gift for Dawson. As soon as they came in the room I started to feel weird. I knew it was close to time for Dr. Luge to come back but my nurse had checked and I still was only about 90% and 8 cm. I told my brother sorry to kick you out but I am not feeling well. Then it hit...the most excruciating lower back pain of my life....It was a 10 of 10 for sure...I was sweating, crying, saying "ouch" and trying to breathe but I kept telling Brent why isn't the epidural working. At this point I had already used 2 bottles of epidural almost and she called the anesthesiologist to come inject something straight into my catheter which worked for all of 30 minutes. Finally Brent was getting upset because we rang the bell and for 20 minutes could not get any nurse...apparently they deliver babies hehehe.....Finally once my nurse came in she called Dr. Luge to come check me. She had been running behind so she did not make it back at nine. She came about 9:30. I knew she could see my pain so she immediately told the nurse to prepare the room. She checked and said alright Dad lets get ready! WOOHOO....As she checked on Dawson she said something ( who knows exactly but I think I kinda know) about his positioning and she did something and all of the sudden I had relief in my back. I believe he was "sunny side up". Once I felt better I had a great time as silly as that sounds. During my breaks in pushing I was joking with Brent and Dr. Luge about getting me some food. After about an hour and fifteen minutes Dawson Job entered our world at 11:13 pm Monday June 3, 2013. That was the longest 18 hours of my life, but I would not change it for anything!