Baby Luke, born January 11, 2020 at 9:59 pm. 5 lbs, 12.4 oz, 19" long.
A Little More
First realized I was having contractions around noon. Made it to the hospital at 2:45 pm. Water broke at 4 pm, ready to push by 8, baby born at 9:59 pm.
The Full Story
I'm pretty sure I went into labor the night of January 10, but I didn't realize that was what was happening. I was in a lot of pain, enough so that I couldn't sleep, but I didn't feel any stomach tightening or back pain like I was expecting, just lots of pelvic pain. Baby had dropped the day I hit 35 weeks, and ever since it felt like I was walking around with a bowling ball between my legs--so pelvic pain was nothing new, and I didn't think too much about it.
But as I toddled around Saturday morning, the pain was so much worse than what I was used to that I started to wonder. Could contractions come just as pelvic pain? Around noon I decided to pull up my contraction counter app and measure how often the pain was coming. I couldn't tell if it was coming as a pattern, or just popping up based on how I was moving around. The app showed me that the pains were coming about 8 minutes apart consistently. I started to consider that these could be contractions... but I wanted baby to come so badly, I wondered if I was just making it up.
Until the contractions kicked up a notch and became more painful than I'd experienced all pregnancy. Suddenly I was confident that they were real. In our birthing class, they told us to go to the hospital once we had contractions coming 5 minutes apart that lasted one minute each for a solid hour. By 2:30 or so the contractions were coming 3-4 minutes apart. That had only been the case for about 20 minutes when I gave the hospital a call to see what they advised. Since I thought I might be leaking amniotic fluid too, they told us to come on in.
By then the contractions were hurting more than anything I'd ever felt in my life. The hospital doesn't admit you until you've progressed a certain amount. At my last doctor's appointment I'd been dilated to only 1 cm. At the hospital... I was only dilated to 2 cm. After all that pain! I couldn't be admitted. It was 3:40 by then. The nurse told me they weren't kicking me out. She wanted me to go walk around the halls for an hour, and she would check me again. She said she had a feeling I was very close to real labor. She gave me the world's biggest pad to wear before she sent me on my way, just in case my water broke. And off I went, terrified to face an hour's worth of contractions (20 if they were coming 3 minutes apart!) on my own. Trevor and I moved slowly around the maternity wing. Finally we ended up at the hospital's atrium garden, a beautiful space with art installations designed to look like plants. There's this gorgeous tree in there with pink blossoms all over it. It looks so serene. I limped over underneath it and tried to use visualization to block out the pain... and then I got hit with the worst contraction of all, followed by a huge gush as my water broke. (Right exactly at 4 pm on the dot!) This was great news! You are automatically admitted once your water breaks, so after that they sent me off to labor and delivery even though I was still dilated to a 3.
Next time around I need to do a better job of practicing my pain management. By now I was in so much agony none of the skills I'd prepared did me any good. I'd submitted a birth plan to the hospital requesting an epidural. I thought I'd have to ask for it when I wanted it, but they'd already sent for the anesthesiologist by the time they got me into my room. Unfortunately, the nurse let me know he was helping with a c-section, and they weren't sure when he would be available. So, she offered to give me pain meds in an IV while I waited. She went off to get them, and then instead came back with the anesthesiologist after all! She caught him right before he went into the c-section. I was so grateful. It took a little bit for the epidural to kick in. At first the pain just lessened, but then I went so numb I couldn't tell when contractions were happening at all.
By 5:50, I had dilated to a 6! The nurse told me I was making great progress. She said they usually didn't see so many contractions without pitocin, the drug they use to induce labor. I've heard that pitocin contractions are especially painful because they come so close together, so, maybe that's why I had such a hard time before the epidural? The nurse thought I'd be ready to push soon. It took a bit longer than she predicted, but at 8 pm, they told me it was time to push. By then there had been a shift change, so I had a nurse in training and her trainer both attending to me. The epidural had numbed me a bit too much so it was hard to feel my contractions or to know if I was succeeding in pushing. If I really focused, I could feel a bit of pressure when the contractions came, but it was faint. The nurses really had to coach me on what to do. They warned me beforehand that with first time moms, it takes an average of 2 hours to push. I hit that pretty much on the nose. It wasn't until 9:59 pm that baby boy finally made his debut.
And there he was. After so many months of waiting and daydreaming, he was actually there in my arms. I recognized his cute little nose from his ultrasound pictures. :) He was so sweet and tiny and cute... Only 5 lbs 12.4 oz. Right away he seemed so alert, looking all around him and trying to figure out what was going on. My dad came by a couple hours later and took a great video of this--I'll have to share it when I get a copy.
There's really no words for that magical moment when Trevor and I were officially parents with babe in arms, and especially none that don't sound very cheesy. Knowing that ahead of us we'll get to watch this little baby through all stages of growing up, and maybe even through his own parenting years into the grandparent stage... Thinking of my own relationship with my parents and how they are some of my best friends, and hoping for that with him too. I'm so excited for everything that we are experiencing now and everything that is ahead!
My birth story ended on a slightly dramatic note. We stayed in labor and delivery until midnight, when we were officially scheduled to be moved to the mother/baby wing of the hospital. My parents came by to bring me some food to eat (I wasn't allowed to eat during labor after I was admitted at the hospital). The nurses arrived to take me to my new room. And... that's when things went a bit south. When they helped me out of bed, I started shivering violently and uncontrollably. They told me that was normal and just adrenaline leaving my body, but I felt like I was freezing to death. All of a sudden I was extremely thirsty and on the brink of passing out. They rushed me to my new room, and for me everything is a blur for a few hours after that... but basically I'd caught an infection, and I came down with an epic fever. The nurses measured it at 108 degrees. Yes, I know, 108 degrees means I should be dead or at least brain damaged, so hopefully that was just an equipment failure. After that first measurement, they tried measuring me a different way and got a temperature of 108.8. I don't know if that was really accurate, but as you can imagine, my medical team went nuts. My heart rate was sky rocketing and things looked very scary for a little while. Worst of all, I couldn't cuddle my baby or feed him while they tried to get me treated. Trevor took good care of him, fortunately. And obviously it all turned out okay. The fever broke, they put me on an IV dip of antibiotics and all was well. I just wish I understood better why that happened and if it will happen again next time.
Anyway, now we are all home and happy. Tomorrow a baby photographer is coming by to get some shots, so hopefully I will have those to share soon. Baby boy is very sleepy most of the time. My favorite moments are when he is alert and looking around at everything--everything is new and exciting to him! He is still so very little. Babies lose weight for a bit after birth, and he's down to 5 lbs 5 oz. Even his newborn sized clothes drown him. But everyone assures me he'll grow faster than I can imagine.
