It was pretty uneventful for a long time. For the most part,
it was talking, walking, being checked without making much progress, and
attempting sleep. Make sure to notice that I used the word “attempt”. I was
exhausted and couldn’t get more than a few minutes to a half hour (maximum) of
“sleep” at a time. Finally, at midnight, my nurse told me that my IV couldn’t
wait anymore and they put it in. That was a good thing because by the time 1am
came – after 7 hours of active labor – I decided I wanted some pain meds. The
first round of pain meds was pretty nice. It didn’t completely stop my
contractions… I could still feel them coming frequently… but they weren’t
nearly as bad. I was able to get around 45 minutes to an hour of uninterrupted
sleep. Mom and Dad left sometime around 2am. My pain meds had worn off by 3am,
like I had been told it would, so I got another dose. This one wasn’t nearly as
effective. I was also told at that time that since I had been in labor for so
long that the chances of infection were increasing and if there wasn’t promising
progression by 6am, they were going to start me on Pitocin to get him here
faster. (Pretty sure I was only dilated to a 5 at this point… I hadn’t
progressed much at all since we had been there.)
By around 4:30am, I was ready for some more pain medicine.
But, the last one hadn’t worked nearly as well and the doctor told me that
eventually the IV pain meds wouldn’t do any good at all. I decided that if they
were going to speed things up, I would need the epidural. Not just for the
pain, but so I could rest. When the anesthesiologist came in to give me the
epidural at 5am, I had been awake with minimal sleep for a full 24 hours and in
active labor for 11 hours with minimal pain management. By that point, I was
mentally, physically, and emotionally drained. I’m not going to lie, that
epidural scared me to death. It wasn’t AS painful as I had hyped myself up to
thinking it would be, but it still burned very badly while he was back there.
Brian stood in front of me so I could lean on him. I honestly don’t know if I
could have handled it the way I did if he hadn’t have been there. (Side note:
not being able to use your legs is the STRANGEST feeling. I could still feel them
there, so it wasn’t like they felt like they had been amputated or anything,
but it was like they were asleep. Not just a little tingly asleep, like when
you’ve sat the wrong way for entirely too long and your legs feel like they’re
full of cement.) Once the epidural was in, my doctor took off the monitoring
belts and put in an internal monitor to keep a better watch on Trevor’s vitals.
I liked lying on my left side so I could see people that were there.
6am came and still not enough progress so they started me on
a Pitocin drip. But, that’s also when the problems started. They wanted to
gradually increase the amount of Pitocin but by the time I got to a level 3,
one of my monitors went haywire. Almost immediately, my nurse ran into the room
followed by another 3-4 nurses. The Pitocin was making Trevor’s heart rate
drop. They pushed fluids through my IV line, turned the Pitocin off, and got my
doctor. After they explained to her what happened, she decided to leave it off
for an hour or so and then start all over.
It’s hard to remember all the times things happened after
this… much of it is a blur. My 2nd Pitocin drip made his heart rate
get really low again at the same level it had before so it had to be stopped
for a while again. A 3rd Pitocin drip was started and was left at a
level 2 so his heart rate wouldn’t drop anymore which caused me to start
dilating more, but not very quickly. My parents came back around 9 that morning
and hung out in my room all day.
Sometime in the afternoon, I had FINALLY dilated to a 7 (waiting
to dilate was one of the most frustrating things since I wasn’t able to speed it
up myself) but it just wasn’t enough. My doctor and nurse came in and talked to
me about a c-section and how the time for when one was going to be needed was
getting very close. I had been in active labor for too long and the risk for
infection was getting too high. Not going to lie, I started crying. I felt
defeated… helpless… hopeless. My doctor was incredible. She knew I didn’t want
a c-section as long as I could help it so she decided to let me go a bit
longer. A short time after, my nurse came back and started to prep me for the
surgery by washing my belly with the antibacterial scrub and getting out all of
the equipment that would be needed. In the meantime, my nurse rolled me to my
right side to give my left side a break and to try to get the right side of my
cervix to dilate (the left had dilated all the way, but the right side was the
one that wasn’t doing what it needed to), but every time I would be on my right
side for any length of time, Trevor’s heart rate would drop again. I was put on
my back and given an oxygen mask while more fluids were flushed through my IV
line. I honestly lost count of how many times I had to use that mask.
My doctor came back in at about 2pm or so to check me (I
think with the intention of taking me down to the operating room) and I was
almost completely dilated! There was still a small piece on the right side that
hadn’t dilated all the way. The c-section talk went away and my doctor told me
that it shouldn’t be much longer. I think this is when Brian’s mom came to visit.
She wasn’t able to stay long because she had to get Timothy and Thomas from
school. (Brian played an incredibly cruel trick on my mom… he went out and told
her that I had regressed and gone from a 10 back to a 7. She, of course,
flipped.)
The nurse came in and checked me again at 3:30pm and I was
still almost dilated to 10. The right side still had a little piece, but she
said it was incredibly soft and wanted the doctor’s opinion. Dr. Delong came in
and agreed – saying that it should be soft enough for Trevor to get past it – and
wanted me to try a few pushes. After a couple, she said she wanted to try to
deliver the baby so Brian went out into the hallway and told Mom and Dad that
they needed to go to the waiting room while we were trying to get Trevor out. (My
doctor also asked if I wanted a mirror placed at the foot of the bed so I could
see him being born. Um, sorry, but… no thanks. Gross.)
Pushing started at 3:44pm. Brian started out counting for me…
and did GREAT… at first. He started out doing a pretty good pace. But then he
decided that if he counted slower, I would push longer. WRONG. It got to the
point where I had to stop pushing by the time he got to number 6 or 7… there
was no way I was making it to number 10 at that pace. I distinctly remember
saying some “choice words” and then the nurse immediately offering to count for
me. Once the doctor thought Trevor was
in a good position, they broke away the bed – which, I have to say, was pretty
impressive. That was, however, the most vulnerable I’ve ever felt. (Laughable,
but kinda gross moment: While Trevor’s head was still in the birth canal, the
doctor asked Brian if he wanted to come see the baby’s full head of hair. I
felt bad for Brian because he was looking for a nice way to decline her offer.
As he was stuttering, she said “It’s ok… you don’t have to.” He promptly
replied with “No. No. Nope, I don’t wanna do that.”)
Pushing alone wasn’t doing it. His face was facing the
ceiling instead of the floor so his head was having a hard time getting past my
pelvic bone. My doctor told me that he wasn’t going to get out on his own, so
she got a vacuum and attached it to his head. From where I was, I couldn’t
really see much of anything she was doing. (Brian later described it to me… he
compared it to it looking like she had gone fishing and was pulling back the
fishing pole, trying to pull a big fish out of the water.) All I know is it
helped. She would pull while I would push and then wait for the next
contraction to do it all again. Finally, we got his head out (I swear, I
thought it would be easier than that). She asked if I wanted to reach down and
touch his head… I don’t even remember how I responded… I just know I didn’t do
it. Again… gross. Once his head was out, the rest was incredibly easy. All it
took was 3 more pushes.
Brian and I welcomed
our son, Trevor James Hart into the world on September 13, 2013 at 4:48pm.
But… just because he was here, doesn’t mean
everything was fine..... To be continued....
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