Thursday, March 17, 2011

Ethan's Birth Story

My mind is fading fast and we are wide awake at 4:30 am. Seems like the perfect time to write. Which also means look for lots of errors!!!!

There are some parallels in my two boys birth stories. That is very long "pre-labor." In quotations because at the time they are painful, the contractions were coming every five minutes for several hours. I think to myself that this HAS to be the real deal. With Andrew I was 2-3 cm dilated and 75% effaced for 2 or 3 weeks and with Ethan I was 4 cm dilated and 0% effaced for two weeks.

Saturday- Went in to Labor and Delivery- "yes you are having contractions, I know you are in pain but you are not progressing." Damn. "Go home and take some tylenol, a bath, drink tons of water and rest." Damn you nurse, get it out. Is what I am thinking.

Monday- more contractions. Tylenol-check. Bath and shower- check. Drink tons of water- check. Rest- kinda check. How much rest can you get chasing a toddler and having to pee every five minutes from said water. Contractions getting closer and closer. I go to L and D. "yes you are having contractions, I know you are in pain but you are not progressing." F- though I am not terribly disappointed because I know that I have an induction planned within 24 hours of this discharge.

7 pm Tuesday night Andrew and our dog, Sophie, went to my dads for a few days. I cried knowing that I am about to ruin Andrew's perfect world of being a spoiled only child all because of my shellfish reasons of wanting another child and you know continue man-kind.

10 pm We headed to L&D. We checked in and got settled for the "long" process of an induction. We expecting it to take 20 ish hours. It took 10.

Wednesday 2-2-2011 12 am- This time around they inserted a pill into my cervix. After two hours nothing was happening. Which is normal but in my head I am thinking they are going to have to start a form of torture called pitocin (which assisted in the very painful birth of Drew). The nurse said if the first dose doesn't work they will just put in another after four hours.

2 am- As soon as she left the room those REAL-not-pre-labor contractions started and jumped to one to two minutes apart. I think I am dealing with the pain pretty good. I wasn't stressed out about it because I knew I was going the epidural route. They started to get real intense and was thinking it was time for drugs.

*the rest of the time table are predictions because details get blurry!!

3:30 am- Nurse comes and checks me. I'm fully effaced but still 4 cm. I ask for pain relief. Shot of stadol is my best option at this point. UGH. I hate that stuff. Does not take the pain away. Just makes you feel like your tripping on some serious narcotics for the minute between contractions and as soon as that contraction starts you are brought back to reality to be tortured by your own body. During these cycles I remember hearing Ryan and my mom play words with friends

4:30 am- the tripping off of stadol only lasted an hour before I felt it wear off. I was checked and think the nurse said 5-6 cm now. Yay!!! Epidural. Let's hope you do your job this time.

5:00 am- finally the anesthesiologist makes an appearance. The process of the placement of the epi was a breeze. It was having to sit in that "scared-cat" position during a million contractions is what sucked. I also lost my cool with one of the nurses. She kept telling me to stop humming and just breath through them. I think I snapped at her with something like " I hum". Real creative. I was seriously amazed I got those two words out of my mouth!

5:30 am- Wonderful painless bliss. I'm not sure what happened between now and 9:30 am. Did I nap? Watch tv? Chat with the hubs and my mom? Not sure maybe they can leave some insight in the comments!

9:30- fully dilated and effaced. Nurse had me do a practice push and the told me to labor down. My epi worked so well I could let this happen more easily. Last time I could not resist the urges to push. Also, at this time my dad, step-dad, and good friend Ross all show up to give their love and support. Unfortunately they didn't get to stay long because I started feeling some spasms down there. The nurse had me do one push and made me stop. She said he was about to come out! I couldn't believe it!!! My Dr. H sprinted from his offices. I remember the nurse told him to relax bc she made me put my legs together!

10:26 am- All the delivery materials were set up. I think I pushed for two or three contractions and Ethan was born!!!! I thought to myself "I could do that again!"

He was 9 lbs 3 oz and 22 in. At first he looked just like Drew but slowly all his own physical characteristics began to stick out!

Ryan said his umbilical cord was something like 3 ft long! Some how I missed that part. Since Ethan did not spend much time in the birth canal he struggled with some fluid in his lungs. Similar to what can happen in a c-sec. He managed to clear his lungs out by that evening. Also had some pooping and jaundice issues but that all took care of itself within the first week of life.

Andrew came and visited but wanted nothing to do with me. All he wanted was to run up and down the hallway and get behind the nurses station.

We had a few visitors but not as much this time because we did not have to stay those extra days. With in 27 hours of Ethan's arrival we were able to be back home relaxing in our own space.

Seriously, that had to be the most perfect induction and delivery known to man! I really could do it again! However, the transition of one child to two is way harder than I thought. Hard enough I am thinking two is enough and wouldn't ever be able to handle three!

1 comment:

lfulwood said...

Sarah, we all dozed in those few short hours. I agree in that it was a pretty stress free process. (notice I didn't say painless!) Thank you again for letting me share the experience. I love you!