My due date arrived and I decided that Emmett had proven his point that he could make it to full term despite comments by so many people that I was huge and would never make it to my due date. I was pretty uncomfortable and decided that I would try to exercise him out. I swam when I woke up and then went for a three and a half mile walk. I didn't feel any contractions coming on so I went about my day. Clara had woken up at 3:45 in the morning and I was unable to go back to sleep and Kevin had gone into work at 4:00 AM so I knew that it would be a long day.
I took Clara to Gymboree in the morning and was having some contractions as we got ready. We stopped at Tia's to see Bailey crawl and she told me that I should sit on a towel in my car and not go to Gymboree since I was having contractions. I told her she was crazy and of course my contractions went away on the drive there. Luckily I was able to take a nap with Clara in the afternoon so I got a little rest. Kevin was still working so I took Clara to swim lessons and got her fed. I was super hot and not hungry so I barely ate dinner (I regretted that decision later). I gave Clara a bath and got her ready for bed and Kevin finally got home a little after 9:00. I was reading her a story in her bedroom when Kevin came in and all of a sudden I started having really strong contractions. They came on so suddenly that in the middle of a page I told him that I couldn't read anymore and gave him the book. I had to do cat and cow yoga poses to make the contractions bearable. Clara thought this was funny and did them with me! I said goodnight to Clara telling her that my tummy hurt and went downstairs thinking that these contractions would pass too. Turns out I was wrong.
I quickly realized that this was the real deal and in between contractions tried to get everything ready. I gathered Clara's swimsuit and towel for swim lessons and put the yogurt I had made into containers. I had to keep stopping to do cat and cow when I had contractions and I'm sure it looked comical. I realized that I should eat something but this was difficult as I had to do it between contractions and was not much in the mood for eating. I managed to get a peach down and then gave up. Kevin came down from getting Clara to sleep and I told him to call Laurie to come get Clara because I needed to go to the hospital.
Laurie came right away and got sleeping Clara from her bed. Clara was fine until we took her sleep sack off. Then she started screaming but calmed down when I rocked her (difficult to do while having contractions). She then started screaming again when Laurie told her she was going to Tia's house and screamed the whole way to the car. Laurie said that our neighbors were going to think she was kidnapping Clara. Apparently she calmed down once in the car. Kevin gathered our things and brought the car around. I was dreading the ride to the hospital and told Laurie when she got to our house that I wanted an epidural now. I think she thought I was kidding but I was dead serious. It was the worst car ride of my life and I think there are permanent bite marks in Kevin's seat belt. I kept trying to picture the contractions, which were about four minutes apart, as waves that I was riding out and it helped a little. I told myself it was like running a half marathon and the feeling I get around mile 10. I always picture the finish and how good I will feel. This time the finish was an epidural and I imagined how good it would feel not to be in pain anymore! The contractions had come on so quickly and strongly that I didn't really have a chance to get used to them before they were unbearable...it was not what I had expected.
We got to the hospital around 11:30 and I had Kevin get a wheelchair for me because there was no way I could walk. I was wheeled to labor and delivery and put in a triage room. The waiting was torture and I wanted to cry each time I had a contraction. Luckily I was dilated to a five and my contractions were really strong so I was admitted right away. I felt like I was being a baby but the nurse told me that I was very composed for being so far dilated with strong contractions. That made me feel a little better. By midnight I was dilated to a six and they got ready to give me an epidural. I got really cold and started shaking uncontrollably. Around 12:30 I got the epidural. The nurse told me that I had a three minute contraction while the anesthesiologist put it in, but somehow I managed to stay still. Luckily the epidural kicked in right away and I could finally relax. By 2:15 I was dilated to seven and the doctor was going into a c-section and was worried that he wouldn't make it out in time to deliver Emmett. Our nurse said she would check me again at 3:00, but said she didn't think I would make it that long before I needed to push...boy was she wrong! My mom arrived around 2:00 (Kevin's parents were already there) and came in and talked to us. We decided to get some rest since it had been a long day. Kevin slept but I had a hard time. I got really itchy, which is apparently a side effect of epidurals, and had a hard time falling asleep. I also got really hungry now that I was no longer in pain, but of course I couldn't eat anything.
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| Yay epidural! |
At 4:00 AM I was still a seven, but Emmett was lower and I could feel some pressure. My contractions were regular and the nurse and doctor kept telling me everything looked good. At one point the nurse wanted to start Pitocin to help my body progress but the doctor said that my body was ready and he wanted to go the natural route. At 5:30 our moms came in and we told them that they should go home and sleep as nothing was happening. My mom went to Robert and Erika's but Kevin's parents opted to stay (I think they regretted that decision later!). Around 7:00 I realized that my water had broken and the nurse confirmed this as well as that my mucus plug fell out. However, I was still at a seven. At 7:30 I was to an eight but my contractions were still five minutes apart (farther apart and not nearly as strong as when I was admitted) so they decided to start Pitocin. By 9:30 I was up to 5 ml of Pitocin and they decided to lay me on my side thinking it would help labor progress. It was more comfortable and I was able to sleep a little bit. By 10:30 they decided that my contractions were too close together but not strong enough so they decreased my Pitocin to 2 ml and I slept some more. At 11:45 a new nurse came in and said I was only dilated to six...what?! After two other nurses had told me I was at eight I started to feel really discouraged. This labor which had started out so fast and strong was going so much slower than mine with Clara did and it was disheartening since I seemed to be going backward. I wondered if it was due to the epidural, but knew that I could not have handled the pain without it and did not doubt my decision to get one.
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| After way too many hours of labor |
They inserted an internal contraction monitor that supposedly monitors the strength of the contractions more accurately and confirmed that although my contractions were consistent, they were simply not strong enough. The rest of the afternoon was spent increasing the Pitocin to 4 ml and then decreasing back to 2 ml when the contractions got too close together but still not strong enough. This happened over and over again and the nurses started talking about how glad they were that the doctor wasn't pushing for a c-section. I never imagined that I would need a c-section, but as the day progressed and I become more tired and discouraged I started to fear that I was going to need one. I talked about it with Kevin and knew he was concerned too. Around 2:00 PM I got more medication in my epidural because I was starting to feel a lot of pain again. It helped and the nurses decide that I needed to change positions every half hour. I moved from side to side and then they wanted to try cat and cow. Although it was extremely difficult without having much control of my lower body, I managed to do it leaning against the back of the bed. I did it for 30 minutes and felt so weak and hungry the entire time. I asked for jello, juice, and water and the nurses told me that they had to talk to the doctor first. This is when I knew that c-section was really an option and they didn't want me to eat in case I needed one.
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| Cat and cow |
Around 4:00 the doctor decided that the nurses were being too cautious and that they needed to stop decreasing the Pitocin. Right after that I start feeling lots of pressure and like I needed to push. I was at a nine and one hundred percent effaced! They had me do a couple of pushes while they tried to stretch me to a ten. They decided to let me rest and I managed to sleep until around 5:00 when I felt tons of pressure and the need to push. The nurses checked me and said that I was ready and I could start pushing! Kevin and one of the nurses held my legs and I pushed. The small water membrane that was left ruptured with a loud pop and everything started to happen quickly. The nurses said I was crowning so I stopped pushing while they tried to figure out where the doctor was. It was a new doctor on call and there was some confusion about were she was. The nurses started getting ready to deliver Emmett themselves when in walks a midwife who asked if she can deliver my baby. Of course I say yes, I just want him out! I pushed for between five to ten minutes and I could definitely feel it. It was more painful than Clara's birth, but at that point I didn't care and was just so happy that I wasn't going to have a c-section! I guess the midwife gave me a giant episiotomy (Kevin said he winced) and I could feel her pulling Emmett. She kept saying how big he was and I was worried I was going to have a nine pound baby. Emmett finally shot out in a gush that splashed all over the midwife who actually jumped back. I laughed and cried at the same time. Kevin cut the umbilical cord and they wiped Emmett off and showed him to me before taking him to get weighed. I knew right away that his middle name was Jon, not Joseph (I had been wavering). He weighed 7 pounds 13 ounces and was 20 inches long (not exactly what I would call huge) and was absolutely perfect! We did skin to skin right away and he started nursing pretty quickly and was a good little eater.
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| Finally ready! |
It was an extremely long labor and not at all what I expected, but the end result was a perfect little boy who we are super in love with. I must say that I forgot the pain from Clara's birth right away because it wasn't that bad, but I don't think I'm going to forget this any time soon. It definitely made me glad that I am not having anymore children because I don't want to repeat this experience ever again! I also decided that getting induced is the way to go. You get a good night's sleep, are not in pain on the ride to the hospital, and in my case even though Clara was sunny-side up, it was much faster than not being induced. I was hoping for a different experience this time around and I got it...be careful what you wish for!
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