Around 5 pm on the 30th I begin getting abdominal cramps that were different than the ones I received before. 2 hours later, they changed, and started at my back, and worked their way towards my front. They continued even as I sat, so at 7:30 pm I told my fiance I was going to go lay down and see if they went away - but to be prepared - because I wasn't sure that these were fake. The cramping dulled as I lay there on my side, until a few minutes later when I felt a *pop!*. My eyes flew open and I rolled quickly from my side to up on my knees, leaning over the couch and uttering, "Uhh...uh oh." My fiance came rushing over asking what happened, and I told him, "I'm not sure. I either just peed myself or my water just broke." So we rushed together to the bathroom, and as I pulled down my pants I felt another leak. I wasn't sure it was amniotic fluid - for some reason I've been under the assumption it's clear, not clear but yellowish-brown. So we started timing contractions: 3 minutes...2 minutes...4 minutes...3 minutes... 2 minutes... and got into the car. They progressively stayed at 3 minutes apart. I kept up with my visualizations : ocean waves coming into shore as I breathed in, and the ocean waves rolling back out, as I breathed out.
Now here's the funny part: After we got through security(which took FOREVER because the guy ahead of us was stoned), we headed to admission. They wanted to know why I was there. "I'm in labor!" I announced proudly. They looked skeptical, and asked how I knew. I told them my water broke. Again, they looked skeptical. After about 10 minutes of questions, they brought me to the labor and delivery room, and I got into the bed. Yes, I did get hooked up to an External Fetal Monitor. The nurses came in, and asked more questions, and told me I'd get cervically checked. I didn't want to get checked, but I figured I could relent. 5 cm dilated. I continued my visualizations. "If everyone were like this, we'd be out of a job." My fiance and I heard the midwife tell her assistant. The nurses were awesome, as my labor progressed they waited when I told them to "hold on" as a contraction came in and I breathed through them. They wanted to do a routine IV, but I requested a Hep-Lock instead. I was "in the zone" so I figured I could relent to the less invasive stuff. As I progressed, they continued the internal exams.
Pressure waves got harder and harder; I was on my hands and knees at the head of the bed, at the end of the bed(which made the nurses nervous), I was kneeling upright, squatting, at one point I had one leg on the floor outside the bed, and the other on the bed. I remember thinking, "Is he EVER going to come?" Apparently I bit my fiance in the nose one of the times he went to kiss me as I was surfing through a contraction; and as I progressed further, more and more people filtered in, and started flying questions at me, and the more agitated I got. I asked for as low a pain-relief as possible; I probably wouldn't have even asked for it if the room hadn't been so crowded. Anyway, it just took the edge off. I could still feel everything, but it took that edge off.
Finally I began feeling the pressure waves build up so much, that I had to push them out. I wound up doing this on my back - NOT because that's how the doctor wanted me(actually, he wanted me flat on my back, but I refused - I was inclined more upright), but because even though I intended on giving birth squatting, my left foot was going numb and I was afraid it might give out and I'd fall over. I liked being inclined because I had my fiance's support behind me, and for some reason it made the back labor more manageable(active labor was ENTIRELY back labor, apparently as I was further along my fiance even saw our son's head pressing against my back!). As the pressure waves pushed up, I pushed down. "Keep it up!" Everyone would tell me, "If you continue pushing, it'll be over sooner!" But I couldn't. I had to rest. His head crowned, god it felt like it had to be his shoulders! And the ring of fire got more and more intense. Finally he slipped out at 4:03 am. Here's the scare part.
Apparently he cried when he came out, then stopped, went limp, and turned purple. They lost his heartbeat. He was rushed over to the table and apparently(this I heard from my fiance, as I was still delirious from giving birth), the neonatal doctor gave him a vigorous rub and got his heart back in a few seconds. We consented to a spinal tap, because he had a fever and they were afraid he had aspirated meconium which I had been leaking later on into labor. All tests are negative. He didn't have an infection, and no one's sure why he had a fever, because I didn't. I lacerated twice. Once on my perineum and once on my inner labia. It took them an hour to stitch me up. So anyway, to sum it all up... Gavin is a healthy 8 lb 5 oz boy. :)
Edited by EchoSoul - 4/3/11 at 8:21pm
