Right around midnight on Wednesday night I started to have contractions (ctx). But it was no biggie since I've been having them since like ever. I figured I would go to sleep and if I was in real labor then I would eventually wake up from the pain. On Thursday morning when I got up I called the doctor because I was still contracting and wasn't feeling the baby move. I went to the office and didn't send my son to school because he had been feeling sick from the night before.
I arrived at the doctor's office around 9:10am and I kept having ctx so they checked my cervix and I was 3-4cm with ctx every 6 mins. I was monitored for about 20 minutes and things were still the same. My midwife told me that I was in the early stage of labor and that I should go home and wait till they get closer together or stronger. Instead, I decided to walk a bit so I headed to the lab to turn in a 24 hr urine sample I had to do last week because they found protein in my urine when I was in L&D with the flu and I needed blood work with it. Then we, my son and I, headed to target and we walked all over the store for about 2 hrs. I was very excited at the thought that this could be the real thing and I wanted to do everything in my power to make sure my contractions didn't stop like in previous days. After gathering a few items for the house we ate pizza and headed home. Contractions were coming faithfully at 5-6 mins apart and I was trying to play it cool by working on the finishing touches in the nursery to kill time before I took Steven to his doctors appointment at 1:30p.
Now if u remember my birth plan was to have a natural delivery and the winning game plan was to try and labor at home as long as possible.
By 1p I was in a lot of pain. So I canceled the appointment I had with Steven called Steven Sr. to tell him to try to get home fast because I wanted to head to the hospital already (I had talked to him earlier and we agreed to wait till he got out to go to the hospital). He said to call my mom and have her take me that he'll meet me there. I said its ok I'll wait. But by 2p I was crying through my ctx and they were still 4-6 mins apart. I didn't think there was much progress so at that instant I decided that if I was less than 7cm I was going for the epidural. I called my mom and decided to jump in the shower in the mean time. Steven jr. was such a great help. He kept rubbing my back and saying its ok mom it's ok. While in the shower I felt like I was going to die! (Later I would realize that at this point my contractions started coming every two minutes) I had learned that the warm water would help me relax a bit and relax my muscles. Freaking liars! I told my son to call my mom and tell her to hurry up, he did so and by the time I got out of the shower my mom had arrived with my younger sister and helped me get dressed. I was in so much pain I could barely move, breathe, walk, or do anything at all. I did not remember the pain being this bad the first time around and I started feeling defeated. She grabbed my hospital bag and slowly walked me to the car, soon were on our way. It was a little after 3pm when we left. Last time I recalled seeing the clock it was 3:11p and we were in a small traffic about 15 mins away from the hospital. We made it to the hospital and she wheeled me to triage. My doctor was waiting for me because I had called them saying I was coming in right after I had called my mom and they also got a heads up from the office earlier that morning. Again the pain was so unbearable that at this point I thought I was going to die! Again. lol I was so nauseous too. I lost track of how close and long the ctx were, all I wanted was to be checked to get the epidural. Everything was getting to me. My mom trying to help change me into a gown, the nurse trying to put monitors on me and getting an IV line started. I was just so annoyed and wanted nothing more than for all this to be over. The doctor came in and checked me then said "you're 7cm and fully effaced. Lets get you to a room". I asked about the epidural and she said that she didn't know if we would have time to get it but that if we didn't she would coach me through. Not to worry. She was so sweet.
So anyways. We get to the room and I'm like the exorcist. They kept saying you're doing great keep breathing etc and all I wanted to say was " Shut the hell up! You're lying I'm not doing it right! I can't handle this. I can't do this just give me the drugs." I have seriously never experienced so much pain or even imagined such pain to be this bad. Once they switched me over to the new bed the doctor said that she wanted to check me again. I guess they can tell when a woman is progressing rather fast by her actions and pain. She checked me and said that I was 10cm that she was going to change and break my water so we can push a baby out. I'm like "Wait. Wait. What about the epidural?". She's said "we don't have time." So she did as she said and she talked me through what she was doing and before I knew it we were ready to push. I kept asking where my husband was and my mom said he was on his way pushing 80 on the highway on a tractor truck. No time to wait tho. So we started to push. Omg HELL ON EARTH! Worse pain/pressure in the world. I even forgot how to push. I was screaming more than anything and the nurses kept saying "you're not pushing, you're screaming. Push with your bottom. Put your chin on your chest. Lets try again."
Once I felt the baby's head right about to come out and everyone one saying "he's coming, I see a head full of black hair" I knew I had to compose myself. As nauseous as I was and as painful as it all was it was either do it wrong and have all those feelings even longer or start concentrating and push that kid OUT! So I grabbed my thighs and pulled back. Put my chin on my chest. Waited for a contraction. Pushed and pushed until a head popped out. Then I heard "good that's good. Now keep on pushing to get those shoulders out. Take as many small pushes as you can even if you don't feel a contraction" and so I did. Then I felt two of the most amazing feeling in the world, relieve and happiness. The pressure was gone. My baby was out. I had done it. I had a natural child birth like I wanted. It felt amazing. I was overflowing with happiness. They placed my baby on my chest and I just looked at him and thought "so you're my little baby. The one that I've been waiting for for almost 10 months to meet." He didn't cry at first but my doctor assured me he was fine with an apgar score of 8 and 9. My mom cut the umbilical cord and they took the baby to the warmer to clean him up and assess him. Time of birth was recorded as 4:04pm. You do the math but that was one hell of a fast delivery.
My doctor stood there pressing on my belly and explaining what she was doing. She said that when she broke my water there was a small tint of pink and she thought there was something up with the placenta. I kept waiting for her to say ok one more push and it will all be over but she didn't. Instead she said, "I need to put some pressure on your belly to get the placenta out" and just like that the worse part was over and the birth stages were complete.
She said I didn't tear much and I just needed 1-2 stitches. After that and examining the placenta she said that the placenta ruptured prematurely and that was the reason why I was in so much pain (What?! so you're saying it could have been less painful?). That she got it all out (that was the reasoning for her pressing on my belly and me not pushing it out) and she was going to send it to the lab. It was protocol to make sure all parts of the placenta was out.
About half an hour later I was given my sweet baby boy to nurse (something else that I wanted to do was nurse within the hour, thank god there were no major complications that prevented me from doing that) and he latched on like a pro. My mom went to get my son and sister in the waiting room and shortly after my husband too walks in. Yes, he missed the birth :(. He was so upset and I felt so bad. He would of been so proud of me, us.
Off the record, He told me that when his mom called him to say I had given birth he didn't believe her. After hanging up he said his eyes got so watery and he felt so angry for not making it on time. I don't think he'll repeat that to anyone again but I thought it was so sweet. I couldn't imagine the feeling of not being by your wife's side through so much pain and emotional moment let alone missing your son's birth.
About an hour later my nurse sat down with me to work on my admission since there was no time for any of that when I arrived. She also expressed her concern about my high blood pressure. My pressure kept rising with no sign of slowing down. It was at 161/101 when I looked and she said it had not been below 150 since I delivered. She told the doctor and they kept monitoring me for another hour. Then they diagnosed me with Pre-Eclampsia and the doctor came to talk to me about the treatment for it and what was going to happen next. As my nurse drew my blood she we talked about it and it all made sense. My retaining water the last couple of weeks. My rapidly weekly weight gain. The protein in my urine during my flu episode. The weird thing was that every time at my appointments and even earlier that day my blood pressure had been normal. Luckily I had gone for blood work and to return my 24hr urine earlier that day and results were in. It was official I had preeclampsia and had to be put on Magnesium. Which meant bed rest for the next 24 hours, compression boots, IV lines, and vital checks every two hours. Awesome!
I was told that I would feel like crap and like I had the flu all over again. So I asked for no visitors for the next 24 hrs or at least for traffic to be kept at a minimum. The good thing was that I didn't feel like crap at all and it was all because I was diagnosed with it after delivery making my treatment time shorter. The only other bad thing that happened was that I got a fever during my hospital stay and it kept coming and going with a slight headache. Other than that Saturday afternoon we were ready for discharge and we started a new chapter in our life as a family of four.
More adventures, more of the unexpected, more wonderful moments. Motherhood is truly an amazing feeling and I'm so honored to be given the opportunity to experience it.
A special thanks to all the fabulous nurses and techs that took care of me and our sweet baby.
Adrián Joel
6lbs 3oz
20 in
1/3/13 4:04pm
Baby Loving
xoxo
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