Here goes:
At my 30 week appt. on Tuesday, my blood pressure was a little over borderline, and it was the second week in a row that I had been spilling protein. The OB did an internal exam and I was dilated to 1, but still thick. He striped my membranesand scheduled my induction for Thursday. He said that they would start the pitocin and he would break my water and that we would have a baby by the afternoon. Ha!
We got to the hospital at 7:30 Thursday morning and when the OB came in, he checked me. He said that I was still about the same as Tuesday, but he could not feel baby's head, so he did not want to break my water due to the risk of cord prolapse. So, we started on 25 mg of Cytotech. After four hours, no change, so we upped it to 50 mg.
At 5 pm, I felt a gush and called the nurse to tell her my water broke. I had been having some contractions up to that point and they were strong and regular, getting stronger and starting to be uncomfortable. I had to remember my breathing exercises and psych myself out that I could do it.
When the nurse came in to check me, my mother and DH recoiled when she lifted the sheet. Turns out that it wasn't my water breaking, it was pure blood. She says, well. some women have very bloody show, let me check you. She could not find my cervix because of all of the blood clots. She started pulling them out and they felt as big as a baby coming out. My mom told me later that they were about the size of oranges. They were foul smelling and the thought of all that blood coming out of my made me hysterical. It didn't help that the nurse went into nurse mode, from casual, relaxed mode in a matter of moments.
About 5:30, the OB came in and told me that my water had not broken and that I was dilated to 4 and about 80 - 90% effaced. He told me that he was going to break my water, do an amnioinfusion, place a pressure monitor and an internal fetal monitor and that the blood was concerning. He was going to give me a chance to get to a good labor pattern, but if it didn't work, we were off for a c-section. He also ordered my epidural and the nurse put me on oxygen.
So, off we went. The baby was having serious decels whenever I lay on my left side, so after the epidural, I was mostly on my right side. My right side went instantly numb, but there was a small portion of my left side that the epidural never worked on. At shift change, about 7:00, the nurse checked me one last time. I was at 6 and fully effaced, with just a tiny lip on the left side of my cervix. I was encouraging my mom, DH and best friend to go get something to eat when they could, but no one wanted to go. Our hospital has valet parking since they are in the midst of this humongous contruction project and it closes at 8pm. So, DH and BF go to get cars out of valet around 7:15, mom and MIL stayed with me. The OB came in to check on things and said that my labor pattern was great and he felt that we could avoid a section.
Mom asked him, in his vst experience, how long would it take to go from 6 to 10 and then push a baby out. he said that all labors are different, but he thought anywhere from 1 to 2 hours. He also felt that pushing wouldn't take very long. So, on a whim, he decided to check my cervix while chatting with my mother. He finished his little spiel and then looked up and said, well, how about ten minutes? You can start pushing whenever you want.
I totally panicked since DH wasn't there and had left the cell phone in the room. So MIL goes chasing them across the hospital and catches up with Dh and BF coming in from the parking garage and tells them to run, the baby is coming. This all happened around 7:30. DH comes flying into the room as the OB is telling me to push, for the very first time. I pushed twice, moved the baby down, waited for the next contraction, pushed once and his head was out. The cord was wrapped loosely around his neck, and as the OB is undoing that, BF walks in the room to see a head hanging out of my crotch. The next push, he was out. MIL completely missed it.
I had an internal second degree tear, and Graham's APGARs were 8 and 9. He was very purple for a while. He took a long time to cry and took a long time to turn pink.
It took the OB almost 1/2 hour to sew me up and to get the hemorraging to stop. He delivered the placenta in chunks and delivered more blood clots. It looked like a slaughterhouse in the room and between my legs after the birth.
My right leg stayed numb until about 4 in the morning since I was laying mostly on that side during labor and I am extremely swollen and sore in the crotch. Graham is a good nurser, but he does have a tendency to suck his tongue, so we are working on that. I did get some sleep in the hospital and Kemma spent the night at BFs house. She is so excited to have a real live baby. She wants to hold him all the time. She had quite a few melt downs today as she didn't sleep well last night, didn't get a nap today and had to deal with a new baby in her life, but she is sleeping now and I hope that tomorrow is better.
We got to leave the hospital at 4pm and I am so glad that we are home to recover as a family in our own surroundings. It is going to be quite an adustment, but we'll get there. Here are some pictures:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4.../July05001.jpg
minutes after birth
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4.../July05014.jpg
meeting mom and dad
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4.../July05021.jpg
meeting big sis
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4.../July05026.jpg
with dad and big sis
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4.../July05031.jpg
taking a nap in the hospital
