My birth experience

Well I thought I should write down all the details of my birth experience before I forgot them all. I've already tried to block out some things :) but I'm pretty sure I can remember most of it. Don't feel like you have to read all of this, but if you want to, go ahead! I read a whole bunch of birth stories right before I had Eli, and I thought it was really fun. Anyway, so here it goes:

Eli was due on April 17th, but that day came and went. I was dilated to a 1 at my 40 week checkup, but I had been that dilated for a few weeks already. So at 41 weeks things started to happen. I went in to the doctor that morning for my checkup and I had 2 contractions while I was hooked up to the fetal monitor. Jeremy had taken the morning off to come with me and was planning on going back to work, but I kept on having contractions. I'd had Braxton Hicks contractions before, but these felt real...meaning they hurt. :) So we went to the grocery store and I kept having them every 10-15 minutes, so he decided to stay home. Well I had them all day long from 9:30am - midnight and then I fell asleep and they were gone. I was so sure we would be heading to the hospital that night, but they died down. The next 2 days I had some more for a few hours at a time, but again they just died down.

So I was scheduled to be induced on Monday, the 27th and the doctor said I was supposed to come in on Sunday night at 9:00pm and they would give me a suppository thing that would dilate me to a 2 or 3 by the next morning. Then he would start me on Pitocin or break my water or something. So we went to the hospital Sunday night and I got checked in and everything and by about 10:00 we were settled and the nurse came in to check me and I was dilated to a 2.5! I was pretty excited because I felt like all those contractions had at least done something. So she had me hooked up to 2 monitors - one to track his heartbeat and one to track my contractions, and I was having contractions pretty regularly already. So she called the doctor and he said not to do the suppository, but wait a couple hours and check me again. So we just hung out for a little while, trying to get some rest and then she came back around midnight to check me again. (Side note - holy cow, that hurt so bad. That made we wish I had an epidural for that because my cervix was really far back and she was not gentle. Ugh.) Anyway, so she checked me again and I wasn't any more dilated. So she said to walk around a bit and she'd come back in an hour or so to start me on Pitocin.

So we went for a little stroll around the maternity wing and then I took a hot shower. I was having a lot of back labor - which now I know was because he was face up - so the shower felt really nice. Then at 1:40 she started me on Pitocin. Fun, fun. I felt like I was doing pretty good dealing with the contractions. I couldn't sleep, but I could rest and I was staying pretty relaxed during the contractions. But she kept coming back and increasing the dose and pretty soon I was struggling. She started at a 2 (which I don't know exactly what that means) and by 5:00am it was at a 10 and I asked for an epidural. The contractions were right on top of each other and there was no gradual build up. I didn't have to look at the screen to know that they just shot up and had all sorts of spikes. I had quite a few that would start before the previous one had ended and I was starting to panic. So luckily they got the epidural going pretty quickly and by 5:30 I was feeling much better. I didn't plan to get an epidural, but I'm sure glad I decided to. They actually told me I could have gotten one the second I walked in the door because I was dilated enough, but I wasn't in excruciating pain then.

Anyway, so then the nurse checked me again (this time no pain, hooray!) at about 6:00 am and I was dilated to a 4.5. So I tried to get some rest since we had been up all night and then my doctor arrived at 8:00 and checked me and I was dilated to an 8! I was so surprised because I had been so comfortable, it was weird to think that I had progressed so quickly. (I was also glad I hadn't felt that quick progression). So he broke my water then and told me to get ready because he thought it would be pretty soon. I had a new nurse by then, Heather, and she was awesome. She came in about an hour later to check me and I was just about fully dilated. I was still feeling pretty numb so I was wondering how I was going to push because I didn't feel the urge to at all. But then I did. By 9:45 I was fully dilated and ready and my epidural was starting to die down. They didn't want to give me anymore because they wanted me to push, which was fine because I wasn't in any pain...yet. So I started pushing and I could feel the pressure of his head down there, but still not too much pain. After a little while of pushing I started feeling the contractions again and I could feel his feet up in my ribs which made it hard to lean forward and push.

Anyway so Heather pointed out to Jeremy that she was starting to see the head. I was getting excited and I asked them if he had hair. They said it didn't look like it (which made be disappointed, because I'd had heartburn the entire pregnancy - that should earn me some hair). Then she realized that he was posterior (face up, "sunny-side up"). Babies are supposed to come out face down with the back of their head coming out first because it's the smallest part. Well my little guy was not only face up, but his head was tilted back, so his forehead was coming out first - not so good. That's why they saw no hair. So she called the doctor in, who had been in surgery, and he came in. By this time I had already been pushing for over an hour and no progress had been made (which is why they finally realized he wasn't coming out right). And I was feeling a lot by this point.

So the doctor came in and he looked a little concerned - not something you want to see. He said he didn't think the baby was going to make it out without some help. He said he thought he should use forceps so he could tilt the baby's head so he could come out easier. He said I could keep pushing for hours but it wouldn't do any good. So, I decided to trust his judgment. I was a little nervous because I was feeling a lot and I didn't think those forceps would feel too nice, but he said we'd try it and if I couldn't handle it maybe they could up my epidural. So anyway, I geared myself up and he got the forceps in there and tilted the baby's head. This is where everything gets fuzzy because I was in a lot of pain. I definitely felt when he tilted his head and all of a sudden there was this huge amount of pressure and pain and everyone was telling me to push and I'm thinking "Are you kidding? I can't even breathe!" But somehow I pushed as hard as I could and in about 2 or 3 pushes he came out!

I felt such a relief when he was out, not just physically but mentally, emotionally, etc. So they put him on my stomach and again I was kind of in a bit of a shock, but I gave him some kisses and was so happy to see him! The nurses were laughing because he had a big lump on the front of his head (kind of like a unicorn). My nurse was so worried that I would be freaking out about it, but I thought he was perfect. (The lump was gone within an hour, by the way). They had to take him away after a few seconds because he was a little blue, so they gave him some oxygen and then they weighed and measured him and everything. Then they put him back on me and he fell asleep sucking his thumb. So cute! We were so happy! The doctor had to spend about 45 minutes sewing me up because I got a 3rd degree tear, but it was all worth it. So I nursed him after awhile and I finally got to eat too :) and then we all just rested for a bit. I almost passed out when they moved me from the delivery room to the recovery room (that was an exciting little experience). I guess it was because loss of blood or something. I just remember everything going black and the nurse and Jeremy yelling at me to keep my eyes open and look at them. I kept telling them "I can't see anything!" but they didn't seem to care if I could see them so long as I was trying to open my eyes. Anyway, I made it and once I was back laying down my color and sight returned.

Then it was so nice to just be able to relax and spend time getting to know each other. The doctor said if I wasn't so tall he probably would have had to do a C section because he wouldn't have had room to tilt the baby's head, so I was really grateful for my long genes!

So now it's been 3 weeks and it feels like a lifetime ago. Physically, recovery has been a lot harder than I ever anticipated, but I'm getting better. I bruised my tailbone really bad (okay, Eli's head bruised my tailbone really bad) so that has made it hard to sit or stand for very long, but it's getting a little better every day. There's been some other unpleasant recovery-related things, but all in all, I'm starting to feel more like myself. That's my story! Congrats if you made it this far. :)

***ELI UPDATE: So I took the little guy to the doctor last Thursday for his check up and he was 10 lbs. 7 oz.! Yeah, he's growing quite fast. The doctor said everything's great and he's doing really well! I also took him to Sacrament meeting yesterday and that was pretty fun. He was like a little celebrity with everyone coming to get their peek at him. He behaved very well and only made a few grunting noises, but nothing too disruptive.