My Birth Story

Well..I woke up Sunday to signs of labor. Some bleeding and contractions but nothing to call the doctor. The funny part is that on Wed I was no where close to having a baby, no dilation or thinning of cervix. So I went to church and lunch with my parents all while having some contractions every hour or so off and on. I came home and finished cleaning the house and still nothing seemed to be progressing. Evening came and I started having contractions about 15-30 min apart but still not consistent. I went to sleep about 10:30 and woke up about 12am to contractions again but they felt a little stronger. But again, no pattern could be set but they were occurring enough that I couldn't sleep. So I got up and took a bath, still the same thing. I went down stairs and finished packing and decided to call the doctor at 5am to make sure that these contractions would not be putting the baby in danger. As expected they said call back when they are 5 min apart for an hour. I got frustrated and laid down and dozed off waking here and there to contractions. Emily and Jamie woke up about 6:30am Monday morning to get dressed for school and work. I decided to go get in the bed and try and sleep some more. I went upstairs and laid down and another contraction came and BAM..my water broke around 7am. So I called the dr back expecting to be told to go to the hospital but instead was instructed to time my contractions and detect fetal movement. Going on my previous labor with Emily, I knew that if we didnt act fast I would have this baby at home. LOL! Well as I waited on my dad to get to my house I was having to breathe through these contractions and they were about 5 mins apart. Finally the nurse called back and said go to the office. I was like that is stupid..why go there when my water has broke so off we went. On the way..the nurse calls back to ask about timing of contractions again..well they were now 3 min apart and I could tell she was nervous considering the circumstances of the baby and that 2nd babies come in about 1/2 the time of the 1st. She said she would call me back and let me know what the dr says..Well she called back and said the dr still hadn't called but want to know contraction time which was ranging between 2 or 3 min but they were now impossible to talk through. She hung and immediately called back and said the dr said go straight to the hospital. HALLELUJAH! FINALLY! EPIDURAL here I come..:) So we arrived and I met my mom at the front and was escorted up. They took me in and said they would need to monitor me for about 30 min before anything could be done..I was like "WHAT! I have to endure this for 30 min..well then she couldn't get the monitor to pick up my contractions..I was like "You've got to be kidding me. LOOK at my face..does it look like I am not having contractions." Then she decided to check me..I was ONLY 2cm dilated and it was 8:40am. I was then told I had to get to 4cm before an epidural..I thought I would die. By this point, contractions were 2 min apart and coming stronger than ever..I was breathing so hard that when they put the oxygen mask on me I was sucking the plastic together and couldn't breath..GO FIGURE! LOL! AND THEN..the worst part is that they were still trying to get the 30 min of monitoring and I was having to endure this while laying on my back..WHO CAME UP WITH THIS IDEA TO LABOR ON YOUR BACK? Hello...isnt supposed to be gravity working with you? I was about to go out of my mind. Meanwhile, I am begging for an epidural, they can't get the monitors to get good reading's, the baby's heartrate was all over the place, I am suffocating myself with my own oxygen mask, my husband is signing mine and his life away, the nurse is frantically trying to set everything up while dealing with my crazy self, and my mother was trying to help me get a grip, and my contractions were one right after the other..THEN the anesthesiologist arrived, but she says she can't give me anything until I have so much IV fluid in me...WELL I wasn't close considering I had just got the IV so she preps me anyway to have it ready. So I get to sit up..HOORAY! She gets everything ready and then tells me she can only give me a test dose. WHAT? She gives me the test dose while I am getting the rest of my fluids..I do fine and she gives me my 1st dose of the epidural...HALLELUJAH!! Then the dr steps in and says lets check your progress. She said "YOUR COMPLETE!" I was like "what..what do you mean complete.." She said I was fully dialated and ready to go..I was shocked..the nurse looks at my chart and says 71 mins it took me to get from 2cm to 10cm..WOWZER! I got lucky in getting the epidural b/c they dont give it once you get ready to push..Thank you Jesus for the timing..So as the epidural sets in..I am gaining my sanity and the dr has me start pushing..Again..Baby's heart rate is showing signs of distress..We try a couple more times..same thing..we rest for a while..change positions..and still not making much progress..so dr says prep the OR..she then says we are going to try a vacuum..but we are doing it in the Operating Room (OR)SO off we go...Jamie is getting dressed to come in..and the dr has me prepped for a c-section..I was given an extra dose of epidural just in case of C-Section and man that was quite some med..completely numb. She told me give it everything I had and we start pushing again and then baby Harrison entered the world with the help of the vacuum at 11:20am. He cried they NICU team took him and assessed him and then left with them after he got a kiss from his mommy. :)Meanwhile, the dr had to spend a little extra time on me due to some problems with delivering the placenta. But all was well in the end..I was then rolled to post partum recovery room and the waiting game to hear news on Baby Harrison began..