I think that sometimes society wants pregnant women to have or expects them to have horrible pregnancy experiences. Throwing up at week 11 on the streets of London on a Friday evening was probably my pregnancy low and just in general not my finest hour...but from about week 14 everything was fantastic. I even managed a trip home to California for Christmas between 29-32 weeks.
As my March 7th due date grew closer, I was so excited for this little boy to finally be here! My Mom, Dad, and Sister had booked a flight for March 10th, so I was just crossing my fingers that Baby Boy would get here in time to meet them!
Then at 12:15am on Friday, March 3rd I felt it. While laying in bed something wasn't quite right, I rolled over and there it was - my waters broke! At first Jacob made fun of me saying I had just peed my pants (since there are stories of prego ladies mistaking peeing for waters breaking), but there was no way my bladder could hold that much!! We went to the hospital where they confirmed that we were in the early stages of labor...yay! Not much longer to go!
I had been so calm and collected when thinking about labor, but it hit me all of a sudden! In a matter of hours I would be holding this little someone that had been growing and kicking around inside me for 9 long months and would be gaining a new title...MOM! AHH!!
Since I wasn't contracting yet, I was sent home and told to get some sleep...as if I could sleep!!! As soon I got home I FaceTimed my Mom to share the news and then tried to get some sleep (tried being the key word there). After falling asleep around 3:30am, I woke up at 5:00 to the start of contractions. I have to say that the beginning contractions felt like strong period cramps and I just felt uncomfortable, I just didn't know what to do with myself! Sitting, standing, laying down...nothing was comfortable.
At 1:30pm on Friday we finally decided to head back to the hospital. When they examined me I still wasn't dilated enough and they were going to send me home, but when they looked at Little Boy's heart rate, it kept dropping. They eventually attributed it to him taking naps...sleepy boy! But it was enough to keep me in the hospital. I was held in the assessment unit until a room opened up in the labor ward..about 6 hours later! While in the assessment unit I wasn't able to have any pain relief!
By the time I was moved to my delivery room, I was 7cm dilated. The first thing I did was call for the anaesthesiologist and get my name down for an epidural!!! My right side took straight away, but my left side needed a bit more convincing. After about 45 minutes and a special concoction that the anaesthesiologist said was his "special recipe", I was completely pain free and in heaven! I was able to get a few hours of sleep. Around midnight they took a look and I was at 10cm... Ready to push and sooo close to meeting our little boy!
The midwife asked that I let the epidural fade so that I could feel my contractions and know when to push, so she took away my epidural button. Mean! At first I didn't mind, but later that all changed! In looking at the baby's position, the doctor noticed that he was facing my left, which wasn't good. They decided to give me syntocinon to increase the strength and frequency of my contractions, hoping that the stronger contractions would convince him to turn to the right position.
The midwife got a little too happy with the syntocinon and at one point I had 20 contractions within 30 minutes...yikes! After about 2 hours of pushing and only using gas and air for pain relief, Little Boy wasn't turning. At one point I was absolutely sobbing and feeling so incredibly sorry for myself! I chalked it up to pregnancy and labor hormones!!
Suddenly I had my midwife and the head midwife, my OBGYN and her lead consultant, and the anaesthesiologist all in my room. They were telling us that we needed to change course of care and get into the operating room. They felt that the best course of action was going to be an Assisted Forceps Delivery, and if that didn't work we needed to look at doing a c-section.
After a few minutes of panicking from both me and Jacob, we were hurried into the operating room. Once I was numbed again and unable to feel anything (and I mean anything), they examined Little boy's position. He had dropped into the birth canal between the trip from our room to the operating room and once the episiotomy was done, they were able to turn him by hand. With the guidance from the forceps, he was out in one push!!
That first minute when they put him on my chest and I got to look at him for the first time is indescribable. The amount of pure love that I felt for this little person who was now in my arms is out of this world. It felt so surreal at first that this perfect little boy was ours! I looked over at Jacob and we were both just stunned into blissful silence.
28 hours after my waters breaking, we were holding our little boy! And we couldn't be more happy or more in love with him!
No comments