Jack’s Birth, the (Not Too Gory) Details

I was scheduled to be induced Thursday night.  Amanda lovingly entertained me all day to keep my sanity.  We went to Cherry Creek Mall where she encouraged me to buy this gorgeous dress with the hope that it will fit by July.  (Darn that Glee, while looking for a pic of the dress I found Lea Michele in it)  We also got our nails done and had lunch at Cafe Rio.  Amanda quickly dropped by a clinic to get her shots for Thailand while we were out.  (She leaves today!  Bon Voyage!)  I had painless contractions randomly all day, from 3-15 minutes apart.  I hoped this might lead to natural labor but it did not. 

Ben and I were anxious but trying to play it cool that evening.  I can’t remember what we had for dinner that night.  Chipotle maybe?  My favorite summer program So You Think You Can Dance premiered that night.  Another good distraction while I waited for 9 pm to come. 

At 8:40 we put my hospital bag and extra large pillow in the car and drove to Lutheran Hospital.  At the ER entrance they transferred me to a wheelchair (totally unnecessary, but kind of fun) and took me up to the L&D unit.  This was kind of a nice way to go.  They had all my paperwork ready and everyone was expecting me, and I was in no pain.  Just a smooth transfer to my room for the next couple days. 

I changed into a gown and they took my vitals and checked my cervix.  Still a 1, dagnabbit.  Now a “very loose” 1 cm.  Ben and I laughed that over the past three weeks I had progressed from “almost 1” to “a solid 1” to “a loose 1” to “a very loose 1.”  They placed an IV in my right wrist (my first, ironically).  They explained the plan of action and assured me that one way or another I wouldn’t need to leave the hospital without a baby, that this induction was going to work!  They put me on the monitors for 30 minutes and decided that I was not contracting too much for the misoprostol (a medication that softens the cervix to start labor).  I got an oral dose at 10 along with a small dose of Ambian so I could sleep.  Ben stayed with me through all this, then went home around 10:30. 

At 3:30 another cervix check showed no change so they gave me a second dose of misoprostol and I fell back into a groggy sleep.

At 5:00 I woke up with mild contractions.  I stayed quiet in bed but could not fall back asleep.  At 6:00 suddenly the contractions were very strong and more painful.  I put an episode of 30 Rock on my laptop to distract me but the pain was too much for Tina Fey.  I called my nurse and she drew me a jacuzzi bath.  The bath lessened the pain to a bearable amount and I labored there for about an hour.  Ben called to check in.  The plan was for him to take Jem to the dog boarders at 8 when they open.  Brian was our back-up to take the dog if Ben needed to hurry in sooner.  I told him I was laboring pretty bad, that I was even thinking of getting the epidural already.  But it was only another hour until he’d join me and the nurses said there was no hurry for him to come.  However, after we talked Brian called Ben and offered to take Jem anyway, so Ben was able to come to me by 7:20.  I was so glad!  The contractions were escalating fast!  I could barely breathe through them now.  It was crazy how strong the belly contracted shape and how hard it would become.  Ben jumped in with coaching my breathing and called my nurse to start the epidural process. 

The epidural was placed at 8:40, just in time if you ask me.  The contraction pain was scary bad but Ben kept me calm through it.  My Australian anesthesiologist was quick and kind.  My nurse rechecked my cervix and found I was 4 cm with bulging water sac! 

I tried to nap but didn’t ever fall asleep.  Ben kept me company except when I sent him out to get food in the cafeteria for himself.  He was also in charge of sending out text updates to people and did a great job.  By midday I was 5 cm.  My nurse suggested we break my water and start pitocin to ease things along, if I wanted.  (I wanted.  I hoped to have the baby with my midwife who arranged the induction and was on that day until 5 pm).  I countered that we just break the water first and wait on the pitocin.  My nurse helped boost me in bed and the act of pulling myself up suddenly broke the water!  My nurse stared at it confused for a second before telling me what happened – she couldn’t believe it just popped on its own like that.  The water had meconium in it so they watched my monitors closely.  Jack had some decelerations, indicating some cord compression.  They put in an intra-uterine monitor to track my contractions more accurately.  Within an hour he looked better, having “adjusted to his new environment.” 

Ben put Singin’ in the Rain on the DVD player for me while I tried to sleep some more.  The good thing about that movie is I’ve seen it so many times, I don’t have to see the screen to know what it looks like!  While I watched all the routines in my head with my eyes closed the contractions kept doing their thing.  I was feeling kind of weak and asked the nurses if there was anything besides ice I could eat or drink.  Being a nurse, I knew there’s always some room for negotiation and they ended up bringing me a popsicle.  Heaven! 

A little while after the movie ended I told my nurse that the contractions had changed quality.  I could feel them mounting by chest pressure and slight shortness of breath.  Then at the peak I could feel pressure lower, in the birth canal.  Another check revealed I was 9+ dilated!  It was about 2:30.  They let me labor a while longer.  The fetal heart rate monitor kept sliding off during the contractions so they talked about putting in a scalp monitor.  I wanted to hold off on that a little more.

At 3:00 I said they could put the scalp monitor in since I could tell they weren’t really getting good data.  Also, they started up some pitocin because my contractions were kind of far apart for the final stage of labor.  The pitocin was set to the lowest dose and the nurse prepped the probe.  She was about to put it in but paused, looking quizzically at my nethers, and suggested I try a push with the next contraction.  “Huh, well let’s just do that then.  Looks like he’s on his way.” 

My midwife and the nursery team assembled in the room and the delivery supply table was brought inside.  My midwife had been knocked over by her labrador the day before and fractured her pinky finger.  It was bandaged and braced making sterile gloving slightly comical, but I was totally fine with her doing the delivery.  Something for us to laugh about.  At 3:30 I started pushing with each contraction.  22 minutes and 9 contractions later Jack was born! 

When they held him up all bloody and screaming my first thought was “Holy smokes!  That thing is huge!”  Ben and I were both in shock.  Suddenly we were parents!?  They wiped Jack down and did the initial assessment in the warmer bassinet.  His Apgar was 7 and 9 – really good.  A short Chinese nurse bossed Ben around, telling him what to take pictures of.  I’m glad she did 🙂  We declared Jack’s name and word soon got around the unit about our interesting middle name choice.  Random nurses popped in to say congratulations and they loved the name. 

The afterbirth was really weird.  I was shaking violently but not cold.  I tried nursing for just a few minutes and Jack already seemed to know what to do.  Ben held him in the rocking chair while I got fixed up.  It took an hour of stitching to fix my tears.  They saved my placenta per my request so I could look at it before tossing it.  I think placentas are so cool.  Mine was perfectly round and intact.  They let me order lunch so I got a grilled cheese sandwich, sierra mist, and veggie sticks.  Ben helped me eat a little but it came right back up.  Ugh.  My blood pressure had dropped to the 80s systolic and apparently I lost all my color and had purple lips.  They let us stay in the L&D room for two hours, twice what it usually takes to recover after the epidural is turned off.

I held Jack in my arms while they wheeled me down the hall to the Mom/Baby unit.  Ben somehow managed to carry everything we brought except the lunch tray in one load.  Here we settled in for a scary, nerve wracking, exciting, happy two days.  I had some issues with heart palpitations and shortness of breath that seemed to have resolved.  Other than that it was a standard stay before we came home on Sunday. 

I loved my experience at Lutheran.  The nurses I had during the entire stay were excellent.  My midwife was wonderful.  I couldn’t have asked for a better induction experience.