Before I start the birth story, I just want to say how happy I am. Parenting is HARD! The first week has been more work than I could have ever imagined but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I tear up just looking at him knowing how much it took for us to bring this beautiful life into the world. He's all ours. He's perfect in every way. I keep thinking how lucky I am to have him and just can't believe that he's actually here. I gave birth. I'm a mom. I have a son! It's too hard to believe. :)
Wednesday, July 5
41 weeks and 5 days pregnant... and still no signs of labor! We got up that morning and went to the chiropractor for an adjustment. I'd gone on Monday in hopes of having the Webster technique performed to induce labor. She asked that I come back on Wednesday and swore that the adjustments would make labor easier. Not going to lie, I felt a million times better after that first adjustment. Then, made our way to the OB for what we thought was going to be a non-stress test. However, once we were there, they called us back to do an ultrasound. They checked his measurements, amniotic fluid levels, movements, and umbilical cord. Then we met with a midwife. She offered to check me but said there was no point if I still wanted to be induced that day. It was essentially our choice to move forward with an induction that evening or to keep waiting another day or two.
Knowing that an induction could take days, we decided to stick with the plan. I couldn't imagine waiting any longer. So the midwife called the charge nurse in L&D then returned to tell us to arrive before our scheduled time (5PM). She said there were beds available so the sooner we got there, the better. We were instructed to go grab lunch, pack the car, and come back to be emitted. That was the craziest feeling! We were officially on the road to getting baby out!!! Unbelievable!
We came home to load the car. Mr. Merman showered and shaved cause we knew it'd be awhile before we could do that again. I called my friend over to pick up our dog. It all seemed to happen so fast. When my friend left with Piper, I started crying. I knew that was the last time she'd leave as an "only child" and as our only baby. I took one last chalkboard picture and we were on our way. Our first stop, Chick-Fil-A! I had planned to eat two large fries before going in to be induced but that's when I thought it was going to be 5 PM! Since it was only 1:30, I opted for a normal meal but ate every bit of it.
At the Hospital
2:00 Once at the hospital, we had to check-in and go through all the paperwork. We finally got into a room around 2:30ish. The nurse checked me and I was still only 1 cm. dilated and 70% effaced. It had been over a week and nothing had changed! At that point, we had to wait for the midwife to make the next call. Pitocin or Cytotec? I changed into my gown, crawled into the hospital bed and settled in with Ellen on TV.
4:00 The midwife came in to explain how Cytotec works. It's a tiny little pill that is supposed to induce contractions. The plan was that I would take a dose every 4 hours until I'd taken 4 doses. I took the first pill at 4:15 PM. According to the monitors, I was having mild-moderate contractions every 3-4 minutes but wasn't feeling anything.
8:15 They checked me again and nothing had changed. But, my contractions were getting stronger and were much closer together. Because of this, they were unable to give me another dose. Protocol doesn't allow one to take Cytotec if the contractions are as consistent as mine were because it can put too much stress on the baby. So, they hooked me up to fluids hoping that would calm down the irritation. The midwife discussed using a Cook's Catheter to move things along. I was pretty weary of doing this **flashbacks to infertility and HSG procedures**. The idea of having another balloon in my cervix was making me anxious. The midwife liked how strong and consistent my contractions were so we decided to wait it out and see if the fluids helped to calm things down.
Thursday, July 6
Officially 41 weeks and 6 days pregnant... still no baby
12:30 (AM) My contractions were getting further apart but not enough to take more Cytotec, so we started low dose pitocin at a level 2. At this point, we were pretty tired and knew the pitocin would be more likely to work. So, we decided to call it a night and try to get some sleep.
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| The view of Pitocin and Saline from my bed that night |
Sidenote: At some point during all of this, we set the room up with our stringed lights. We turned all the fluorescent lights out and had the white lights on the counter. My sister came by to hang out for a little bit but I can't remember when that was exactly. I know she walked the halls with me and took some pictures. I was bouncing and rolling on the peanut ball hoping to get things moving. She also brought the lavender oil in case I wanted something to help calm me down. I'd also packed Clary Sage Oil that's supposed to have a calming effect on laboring women. I put a bit on a napkin and had it ready to smell whenever I felt stressed or couldn't handle the contractions. It seemed to work! Even Mr. Merman was using it after my bad contractions.
6:30 I woke up to pee and thought my water was breaking. It was a really weird slow leak of some sweet smelling liquid. The midwife wasn't sure that it was my water but thought it was possible. She checked me again and I was only 2 cm. and still 70% effaced. At this point, the contractions were going off the grid but I was still only feeling mildly uncomfortable and pain level was at a 3 out of 10.
1:45 PM Turned pitocin up to 16. I started feeling little cramps but it still wasn't very painful or uncomfortable.
3:15 We decided to take a nap. I woke up around 4 to some really intense contractions. I didn't want to wake Mr. Merman up because I kept thinking I'd lay back down to keep sleeping. But, they were getting really intense. I was breathing through them and bouncing on the ball but it wasn't helping the pain. So, I woke him up and told him I was finally feeling the contractions.
**SAPPY MOMENT**
Mr. Merman ran to his bag and pulled something out. He told me that he wanted to give me something (a push gift) before the pain got too bad. It was a ring with the July birthstone in it. A ruby to always remind me of our sweet little guy. To make it even more special, he used the setting he'd originally bought as my engagement ring but ended up not using. He's been saving it as a push gift all these years.
6:15 They checked me again. 2 cm. dilated and 80% effaced. I was so mad about this! All this pitocin and the painful contractions, and I'd barely made any progress. At this point, the midwife suggested using a Cook's Catheter but also told me that I could continue on naturally now that the contractions were actually doing something. The pain was so intense, I was on the verge of tears with each contraction. I couldn't imagine doing another 3 hours of tpain to only progress 1 cm.
So... Cook's Catheter for the win!
6:50 The Cook's Catheter was placed. (It is a little catheter with a balloon on each side. It goes through your cervix and the balloons are filled/blown up to help ripen and open the cervix. It is supposed to fall out once you've dilated 5-6 cm. Basically, it's a really uncomfortable way to move things along). I had flashbacks of the HSG and infertility so I really had a hard time agreeing to use this but knew it would be worth it. I kept telling myself that there would be a baby at the end of this balloon. Also, it really wasn't bad at all, nothing at all like the HSG.
Labor was getting more and more intense. I was leaning on Mr. Merman a lot more and couldn't do anything other than stand and sway. At one point, my sister and mom poked their heads in. I was so mad cause I thought I'd made it clear that I didn't want anyone in the room while I was laboring. Mr. Merman said, "Now is not a good time!" and then I felt bad cause my sister was just dropping off a goody bag. She whispered that she just wanted to bring us a treat. I can't remember what she said after that cause I was mid-contraction but I remember appreciating it and feeling a little more motivated to keep getting through each one. We peeked in the bag and it was full of chocolate and gummy bears. I will always remember the smell of my husband eating gummy bears while I was laboring. I even ate one!
9:30 My water broke! I was in the midst of a contraction, leaning on Mr. Merman and swaying when it felt like a balloon popped in my belly and liquid was pouring out. Relief is what I felt as I said, "My water broke!" Mr. Merman ran to get the nurse. They cleaned me and the floor up.
Something was finally happening! The nurse pulled on the catheter and taped it further down on my thigh so that it was putting more pressure on my cervix... hopefully getting my cervix to hurry up and dilate!
Each contraction after this was so intense, I seriously thought I was dying. I was literally crying through them and telling my husband that I just couldn't do it anymore. They were getting so close together that I didn't have much time to recover. The nurse kept coming in to tug on the cook's catheter. We could definitely tell it was getting looser but it still wasn't coming out... which meant that I was still less then 6 cm. dilated. I was trying so hard to make it to 6 cm. before deciding whether or not I wanted an epidural. But the contractions were just becoming too much to handle. I was doing really well with the breathing but also felt like I couldn't catch my breath. After each contraction, I'd tug on the catheter and then cry cause it wasn't coming out.
I'm not sure what it was but I finally gave in to the pain told my husband that I wanted an epidural. All I kept thinking about was how drained and tired I was. I couldn't fathom having enough energy to push out a baby after enduring hours more of this. He agreed that it was a good idea and said some encouraging words before getting the nurse. Of course, once I'd made the decision it seemed like each contraction that happened while waiting for them to get set-up was the most excruciating one so far. It took 45 minutes for them to get started!
11:20 EPIDURAL! Sweet, sweet epidural! It was almost impossible to sit still through the contractions while the anesthesiologist was getting everything placed but as soon as he started poking around on my back some crazy adrenaline took over my body and I just sat as still as ever and barely flinched at the contractions.
It took effect almost immediately. I could still feel some pain at first but it was definitely better than before. They laid me up in bed and I instantly felt relieved. I didn't realize how exhausting it had been until I was finally lying down and breathing normally.
The nurse said she wanted to check me so she gave the cook's catheter a tug and it came right out!! Sure enough, I was 6 cm. dilated and 100% effaced. I'd made it! And now... bedtime!
Friday
Officially 42 weeks pregnant!
4:30ish I woke up starving! I also knew that baby's head was right there. I kept thinking that if I just reached down, I'd be able to touch his head! But, that scared me and I really wanted more sleep so I decided to ignore it. My mom just happened to come in the room to check the contractions on the computer and saw that I was up. She asked the nurse if I could eat and they brought me some jello. I drank come coconut water with pineapple juice, as well. My sister came in to say hey (they'd been in the waiting room all night with my dad). The nurse asked if I felt constipated as that may indicate that it's time to push. She said that the pattern of contractions were showing that baby was still sunny side-up so they wanted me to put the peanut ball between my legs and lay on my side to encourage him to turn. They kept calling it the magic ball! She didn't want to check my progress until we gave him time to turn. So, we went back to sleep for a little bit after this as we were told to rest up for the real thing!
5:56 The nurse woke me up to see if she could check me. I told her that I was pretty sure his head was poking out. I was right! They told me that I was 10 cm. and that baby was at Station 2. As Mr. Merman puts it, "That was a magical moment! It was time to get the real stuff going."
7ish The nurse had me do a practice push to see if he was really ready to come out. Apparently, they'd stopped the pitocin around 4:30 to give my body a break, which had slowed the contractions down. My push didn't do much so she had to turn the pitocin back up. We waited til those contractions started looking good again.
7:15 My midwife arrived! (The midwife that had done all of my appointments and was the head of my Centering group). Friday just so happened to be her "on-call" day and she came immediately to my room. She told the other doctors and midwives she wasn't leaving til my baby came. :) It was such a relief to have her there!
Everyone kept commenting on how cool the date was 7/7/17 and wanted me to aim for 7:17 AM as the time of birth. (yeah right!)
I finally started pushing around 7:20. With some coercing from my mom, I'd decided to use the mirror so I could see what was going on. It really helped as I couldn't feel what I was doing but could see the fruits of my labor. (ha!)
I pushed for a little over an hour with Mr. Merman on my left leg, the nurse on my right leg. My mom was standing behind me in complete silence (I really think she was in shock), and my midwife was between my legs. The nurse watched for the contractions and would yell, "Okay now!" when it was time to push. She counted through each one which really helped me figure out how to regulate my breathing and gave me a pushing goal. Honestly, it was pretty amazing. I couldn't feel anything but I was watching my progress and could see the baby coming out! His hair was sticking out and the midwife was giving him a mohawk. We'd have some friendly chit-chat between pushing session, as well. It was too so laid back & fun actually.
8:33 My baby boy finally came! I can't even describe how magical that moment was! They pulled him out and put him directly on my chest. I was in complete shock. I just kept holding him, looking at him, looking at my husband, looking back at him. I just couldn't believe it! I remember feeling like I was going to cry uncontrollably but made myself hold it together. I did have tears streaming down my face and I'm quite sure I caught Mr. Merman crying too. He leaned over and kissed me and it was the best moment of my life!
He came into the world at 8:33 AM on 7/7/17. His weight registered at 7 lbs. 1 oz. and he was 21.5 inches long. His hands and feet were so big they wouldn't fit on the footprint stickers. He was (and still is) absolutely perfect.
I know they say that some women don't instantly feel that love and admiration for their baby but I most certainly did. I couldn't get enough of him! It was instant love and my heart is so full.
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| My little Merbaby! |
