a very, very late birth story

I know that it's been seven and a half months since I gave birth, but I figured getting it written out now would be better than getting it written out never.

[Note: I did not write this entirely from memory; I had my laptop with me in the hospital and wrote down a lot of it as it happened, and then the rest a few days later. Just in case you were doubting my ability to remember so many details (which you should). Also, this does include a few childbirth-related details that you may or may not be interested in reading about--nothing too graphic, but still. Read at your own risk.]

Emerson's Birth

Induction certainly makes for less exciting of a birth story, but oh well! I was a week past my due date and ready to get that baby out, so induction it was. (Yes, I know I could have waited it out. But I didn't.)

We checked into the hospital at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 21.

Excuse my no-makeup face. I was checking in to give birth, after all.

The room was surprisingly large and had a fun view looking out over Provo.

Woah there, belly.

I was only dilated to 1.5 cm when we checked in, but Emerson had dropped down farther than expected (to a +1 station), and the nurse was very excited about that. Dr. Drewes came in to explain what would be going on--that they'd be giving me a drug overnight to get my body ready for labor, and then Pitocin would be started sometime early in the morning to start contractions. The nurse came back around 10:00 and gave me Cytotec (the preparatory drug), and then we started to wait!

The nurses kept telling me to try to sleep, but it was not very comfortable in that bed, and before midnight, the contractions were getting pretty strong. I'd been advised to eat and drink if I could before getting an epidural or starting Pitocin, so Andrew got me some snacks, and we had a tiny feast. Then all we could do was wait and work through the contractions, which were hurting quite a bit. The original plan was to give me another dose of Cytotec around 1:00 a.m., but the contractions were already coming too strong and too close together for that. Instead, they waited for another couple hours and then just went ahead with the Pitocin.

Meanwhile, the contractions were getting more and more painful, so I got some drugs in my IV to take the edge off. It felt like I had just gotten high and I got super tired, so I was able to get about 45 minutes of sleep, but it wore off very quickly. I got another dose of that drug, but it didn't have any effect on me and didn't touch the pain, so I decided to get an epidural around 6:30. 

Right before the anesthesiologist came in, I was chugging some water, and then I got really queasy and threw it all up, including some of the food I'd eaten earlier. I'm guessing it was a combination of my nerves, the drugs that were in my system, and the fact that I had drunk a little too much water on a somewhat-empty stomach, but it wasn't too bad. There was a lot happening to distract me! 

Getting the epidural itself was just a little painful and felt really strange. Once it had fully set in, it felt extremely strange (and not altogether pleasant). I couldn't move my legs at all, and I can see why people say they don't like them. But I don't regret my decision in the slightest, because it made the rest of labor much more enjoyable for me. 

After the epidural, I was able to rest a little bit more, and I started dilating much more quickly. At one point, the nurses came to break my water to get things moving along, but when they checked me, my water had already broken. I had no idea that it had happened because of the epidural!

Around 12:30, our new nurse (who was less talkative, a little older, and more of a down-to-business type of lady) came in to check me, and I was at a 10 (we suspect I had been at a 10 for a while, but she'd been busy before then). She got everything ready for delivery and had me start pushing around 1:00 p.m. The pushing wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but it was incredibly tiring. I was really nervous that I wouldn't be able to push correctly, because I had no feeling below where the epidural was placed. But I just tried to focus as hard as I could, and it worked! 

The initial pushing was also much more intimate and less of a spectacle than I was anticipating, with just me, Andrew, and the nurse in the room. The nurse was on my right and Andrew was on my left (holding my legs, since you're supposed to pull your legs to your chest and I couldn't lift my legs on my own). Then they would wait for me to feel a contraction coming (I could still feel the pressure), and then Andrew would slowly count to ten while I held my breath and pushed. (You have to push for three counts of ten during each contraction, one push right after the other.) Then I would try to relax and catch my breath for a minute or less before the next contraction came.

So I pushed like that, with Andrew and the nurse, for just 15 or 20 minutes. Then Dr. Wolsey came in, they got everything totally ready, and then we started pushing again. After just two more contractions, Emerson was born at 1:39 p.m. on June 22! 

All wrapped up, just a couple hours old.

Right after he was born, I just felt an overwhelming sense of relief. Then I got to hold him, and it was strange and incredible and wonderful. He was very calm and just fell asleep on my chest. I'm pretty sure I just cried the whole time I was holding him. He had quite the cone head for a few hours, so that was cute.

Everyone had been saying that he was going to be huge, which made me nervous, but he ended up weighing 8 lbs, 2 oz. So a little big, but not huge. He felt pretty tiny to me when I held him! 

So tired, but so happy to have him here!

In case you wanted a summary of the timeline of events, here is one I just whipped up:

• 8:00 p.m. (June 21): Checked in to the hospital
• 10:30 p.m.: Got first dose of Cytotec (which turned out to be the only dose needed)
• 1:00 a.m. (June 22): Contractions got stronger and were coming every couple minutes
• 3:00 a.m.: Started Pitocin
• 6:30 a.m.: Got the epidural
• 12:30 p.m.: Dilated to a 10!
• 1:00 p.m.: Started pushing
• 1:20 p.m.: Doctor came in to deliver
• 1:39 p.m.: Emerson made his debut!

Overall, labor was just about what I had expected--contractions were very painful, and the epidural was great. Pushing was easier and shorter than I had feared, which was fantastic! The one thing I had not anticipated was how painful the "kneading" would be right after Emerson was born. They had to massage my stomach to help the uterus contract and get back to normal, and WOW did that hurt. Much more than any of the contractions had. Thankfully it only lasted a few minutes. But the end result was just as sweet as I was hoping, and that's all that matters, right?