Birth Story!

As I'm writing this I remember I have my "38 Weeks!" post pending in my outbox, no need to make that post now, right??

Rewinding and repeating a little. I had an appt Tuesday 9/18 and during that visit the doctor checked me for the first time. He said I was already 4cm and we would probably see baby any day (mentioned it would be a week tops). They measured my belly and it was 38cm which is what it has been the last three weeks.

He told me to go on as I have been and he'll see me the following Tuesday if not before.

That night I had a ton of cramping, so much so it was uncomfortable to do just about anything, sitting, standing or laying. By Wednesday morning though that sensation was gone. Wednesday and Thursday I continued to feel pressure down below when I stood up. I assumed maybe after the exam she dropped. By Thursday at work the pressure had increased and I kept getting the urge to go #2, but every time I went to the bathroom nothing would happen. I knew I wasn't constipated because I had actually gone to the bathroom. I hadn't been feeling any additional pain with the Braxton Hicks and wondered if the "you gotta poop" sensations were real contractions.

I decided to call the nurse and ask her just to be safe. She told me if I was in the area to swing in and they would check me out. So I left work quietly thinking I would return right after. Not that I don't want people to know what's going on, but I didn't want 20 questions without actually knowing what was happening. Soooo I get to the docs office and to my excitement (joking here) he says he'll need to "check" me again to see if he can see anything different. When he did, he said I was 5cm dilated and asked if I was in labor...I kind of laughed and said, "You tell me, that's why I'm here". Unfortunately my BP was up when I signed in (158/100) so after that and the exam he sent me to the hospital.

I called Hardy and headed on over to Northeast Georgia. I also texted work to let my boss know I wouldn't be returning. Last week when I went in just for BP monitoring they put me in a small exam room, but this time they actually put me in a delivery room and I got a little freaked out. Hardy headed on over about 4:15 and the nurse went ahead and connected my IV. They said the doctor would be by in a couple hours to break my water. I kept asking "Are you sure we're having a baby??" and the nurses kept saying "If he said you were 5cm he's not letting you go home."

I texted my mom first to give her a head start since she's 3hrs away and we settled into our room. At about 7:30 the doctor finally came in and checked me again (don't know if it had to do with me being raised up on a hospital bed or the way he made me sprawl out like a damn frog, but that huuuurrrtttt like hell no joke), by that time I was 7cm and he broke my water. He kept asking what my pain scale was and I told him all I had felt up to that point were severe period cramps, but they were tolerable. I'm not saying I'm superwoman, because there was definitely pain.....to come.  The doctor and nurse both said I had done pretty good to get to 7cm without pain.  Because I was already 7cm he said if I wanted an epidural I needed to decide now before it was too late.

All along I've said I wanted to try it naturally if possible.  And if it had continued semi-pain free I would have.  Call me a wuss if you want, but knowing labor was going to be worse than just checking for dilation - I decided to take the epidural!  I'm so glad I did too, because within about 10mins those contractions were fierce!  I had no idea it could change so quickly.  In fact, the epidural was a breeze compared to the contractions I was feeling.  I was nervous about the needle and all the horror stories I've heard about epidural, but I'm thankful to say the injection itself was no big deal.

My doctor said he was going to let me progress and come back in a couple of hours to see how things look at that point.  At 9pm or so my evening nurse came in and checked me, I made it to 9.5cm, but there was a piece of my cervix that was kind of blocking progress.  She told me to get some rest and let things progress a little further.  At this time I kept feeling this crazy sharp pain in my right hip, all I could describe it as was like someone stabbing me every time I had a contraction.  We tried upping my epidural a tad and I rotated onto my right side to see if it would help the epidural flow that way.  It did eventually, but at 1am when the nurse came back and I started pushing the crap got worse.  I used that pain as my focal point when I pushed because that was the only time I felt relief. 

I pushed for 2 hours before Persephone made her first appearance into the world, but I really have to say my nurse was amazing.  She was so positive and encouraging, I couldn't have asked for a better experience I don't think.  Even with the hip pain, she was sweet.  Aside from the hip issues, I really couldn't feel a thing from my belly button down until probably 15mins prior to her actual birth.  It was definitely a strange feeling, the pressure of a baby coming out of you.  I was so happy to see her and hear that cry!  Apparently I did rip a litle, but thankfully because of the epidural I didn't feel it actually happening (however it definitely has reared it's ugly head healing these last few days).

Ultimately I had a smooth delivery and aside from the pain alternating in my hips post epidural, I do not feel traumatized what so ever.  It's amazing to be able to hold this sweet little girl who was once in my belly.