We have a baby - Birth Story!

Let me start from where I last left off... I went for my 38 week check up Friday April 23rd. My doctor was out of town so I saw one of his associates. My blood pressure was high (again!) so he sent me to Wesley where I was admitted for a 24 hour urine collection. I was released Saturday evening and told to go home, rest and I was not to return to work. I still had two weeks until my due date so my plan was to rest up and wait patiently (ok, maybe not paitently!) for the baby to arrive. 

Scott and I went out Sunday to purchase our carseat/stroller system and after that outing I was ready to rest. I had taken my walk for the day! I went to sleep Sunday night at about 11:00 p.m. and was ready for a restful night. Ok, not really but I sure didn't expect to experience what happened next! 

I woke up at 1:00 a.m. thinking I needed to urinate but something was different. I wasn't sure at that time what was happening but I knew it was definitely something. Scott came in and asked me if I was ok and I told him I thought something was happening with my body but that he should go back to sleep and I would wake him if things progressed. One of the big things we learned in our Bradley classes was to not wake your husband at the first sign of labor. He would need his rest so he could be good support for me later. I was having the first signs of labor and contractions started shortly after Scott went to lay back down. I kept going back and forth from the bathroom to the bedroom. Scott couldn't sleep so he got up and started timing my contractions. By 2:00 a.m. they were only about three minutes apart! He was packing our bags and texting with our doula while I did everything I could to relax and get through each contraction. Our doula, J, got to our house at about 5:30 a.m. and by that time my contractions were more intense and I had no doubt that I was in labor. Scott and J made me some eggs and toast to help keep my body fueled up to help avoid early exhaustion. J suggested I take Benedryl so I could try to get some rest. Yeah right!! I got in the bathtub shortly thereafter and the water really seemed to help with the pain. J encouraged Scott to take a nap and assured him that she had things covered where I was concerned. 

I went back and forth from the bath to the bed but every time I would lay down to rest in between contractions it would cause another one to start. I wasn't able to sit or lay down during contractions so I paced all over the house. I was working hard and getting no rest but I had a wonderful support system to help me stay focused. I asked Scott to call my boss (who is also my friend and Chiropractor) Matt, around 10:00 a.m. to see if he would be willing to come work on me to help things move along. Thankfully, Matt agreed to come work his magic and arrived at about 12:30 p.m. He was so kind, gentle and patient (poor guy had to stop working about every 2-3 minutes so I could walk through another contraction) with me and after his treatment things definitely picked up and my labor changed. 

I labored at home until about 3:00 p.m. and decided I was ready to head to the hospital. My contractions were about two minutes apart at this point. The ride to Wesley seemed like an eternity! Upon arrival I was checked in and the resident doctor determined me to be dialated to about 6-7 cenimeters. WOW, I thought, "I'm almost to transition. I can do this!" I got teary and cried a little just knowing I'd made it this far. I got in to the bathtub and the jets felt amazing on my laboring body. J continuously poured water over me, which was really relaxing. I was so thankful to not be strapped down to the bed! The nurses were WONDERFUL and allowed me to move about freely. Each time I felt a contraction coming they would just stop what they were doing, stay silent and let me get through it before resuming whatever it was they needed to accomplish. They kept the lights low and made a very peaceful environment for me. I don't remember talking much or even having my eyes open much. What I do remember is moaning a lot and walking around the room a lot. That is what got me from one contraction to the next. That and the amazing support of my birth team! Dr. D arrived around 5:30 to check and see how I was progressing. He told me I was only dilated to 4-5 centimeters. I was CRUSHED! However, I was also determined to continue with my Bradley Birth plan and he told me he would be back in a couple of hours to check on me.

He returned around 8:00 p.m. and I was dilated to about a 5. Not much progress! My contractions were only about a minute or so apart and I should have been dilating at least one centimeter per hour. Dr. D said I was doing absolutely everything right; walking and relaxing through contractions. J suggested I get an epidural (I'm still not quite sure why I did that though because I felt like I was doing great managing my pain). Dr. D talked with us and said he was concerned that the baby may be stuck in the birth canal but agreed I could labor for another hour. He also talked to us about our options, one of them being a cesarean section. After they gave me the epidural he came back in to check on me. I asked him for his honest opinion on if he thought the baby was stuck. He thought the baby was stuck and thought it was a high probability that he would be quite large to fit through the birth canal. {Remember from my previous post that I was measuring 6 weeks ahead and they had estimated from the sono a week earlier that he was about 8 pounds 7 ounces.} 

I decided at that point that if I was going to end up in a c-section anyway that we should just do it. They whisked me away to the operating room and got everything prepped. Our precious baby boy, Landon Scott, was born Monday April 26th at 9:08 p.m. I remember hearing Scott say, "he doesn't look that big" and when I looked at him, all naked and pink, I thought the same thing. Our little darling came in to this world weighing 7 pounds 5 ounces and measuring a whopping 19 inches long. Dr. D said he was indeed stuck with his face pressed sideways against the bony part of my pelvis. 

I never in a million years thought I would end up with a c-section but it was obviously the way Landon needed to make his debut. Our ultimate goal was a healthy mom and healthy baby. We achieved both! I am very thankful that I was able to labor naturally for 20 hours and I believe that gave him a lot of massage while still inside. He scored a 9 out of 10 on his APGAR and had NO fluid in his lungs, which often happens with c-section babies. Believe it or not we didn't take any photo's during labor. See my next post for photos taken after the birth.