**I don't know how to post pictures here, but there are pics in my livejournal (the link is in my signature).**
I promised to post the birth story and have finally finished typing it out while Collin was napping. Please be aware that it is very, very long and detailed. I am not kidding. Please do not feel obligated to read the entire thing, unless you want to (I'll never know!)
My labor was only 4 hours and 22 minutes! Very, very fast for a first time mom!! I did have to push for over an hour and a half, but still not too shabby! Here's the whole story:
The Birth of Collin Henry Joseph Kornish
Collin Henry Joseph Kornish
October 18, 2006
1:53PM
6 pounds, 1 ounce
19 inches long
It all started Wednesday morning at 9:30AM. I was upstairs sleeping and woke up because I heard a popping noise and felt a kick in my abdomen. I thought to myself “that can’t be my water breaking, can it?” Sure enough, I stood up and a little gush of fluid came out. I still wasn’t 100% convinced but when I walked downstairs more and more fluid came out and then I knew that it was my water breaking.
I called the midwife’s office to confirm that my water broke and asked if I needed to go directly to the hospital. I wasn’t having any contractions yet, so I thought I might be able to stay home a bit, but they said since we were 45 min from the hospital, just to come on in. I called Scott, my mom and my sister.
Scott took about 30 minutes to get home and I spent the time waiting packing up some last minute things, getting dressed and cleaning up the house a bit. I started having rather mild contractions, but didn’t time them because they really didn’t hurt that much. After he got home he spent a about 15 minutes getting his stuff ready and then we were off at around 10:15. I forgot some paperwork so we had to go back to the house and also had to stop for gas. It was probably about 10:30 when we left Massillon.
By this time my contractions we getting much more painful, so I decided to time them. They were 3 minutes apart. As I said before, it takes 45 minutes to get to the hospital, so by the time we were near, my contractions were really painful and still every 3 minutes.
Here’s where the story gets interesting…Scott cannot remember what exit to get off at. We had only been to the hospital once and I was in no shape to remember the exit either!! We ended up getting off at the wrong one, getting lost for about 5 minutes and then finally found that little blue ‘H’ sign and followed it straight to the ER where Scott dropped me off and left to park the car. It is now 11:15AM.
I go into the ER and say “I’m having a baby, I need to go to Labor & Delivery” and everyone in the ER stares at me and one of the nurses says “Honey, there is no L&D here…you are at the wrong hospital.”
I freaked out!! We were at the wrong hospital!! I wanted to leave, but they wouldn’t let me. They promised to transfer me to Akron City, but first I had to get admitted to St. Thomas, get checked out, and then get transferred. Now I am really freaking out because 1) Scott has no idea what is going on and is off parking the car 2) my contractions are getting VERY painful and 3) I feel so stupid. After they finally find Scott they pack me up in the ambulance and get me to City which is thankfully, only 5 min away.
I get admitted to City at around 11:45AM. My midwife was already there. I was in so much pain at this point that I told her that I wasn’t sure I could do this naturally. She examined me and told me that I was already 8 cm!!!!! I couldn’t believe it! She said, “well, you’re almost done…” and then I told her “oh, if that is the case, I can do it!” and they wheeled me off to a delivery room.
My sister arrived from Toledo about 5 minutes after I got into the delivery room! I wanted to get into the shower immediately, but they wanted to do a quick check of me and the baby. Everything was fine, so off to the shower I went. The hot water felt so good! I stayed in there for few contractions, but then I started moving around. I was everywhere and in every position possible! Let me tell you that it’s true that you no longer care about modesty when you are in labor. I was wearing a long tank top, but that’s it and I didn’t care who saw what (and let me tell you there was lots to see). I also made a lot of noise during the contractions, low moaning noises seemed to feel best, but there was a couple times I let out some loud high-pitched screams!
The contractions started to get really intense and I could tell I was in transition. It hurt so much. I was completely dilated at 12:36 and they started having me try to push then. I only pushed when I felt like I wanted to. Some contractions would go by and I wouldn’t try to push at all. I moved around a lot, tried different positions. Trying to push was so difficult. I felt that I couldn’t do it; like my body wasn’t strong enough. I started to get really scared around 1:00. I felt like my pushing wasn’t effective and that the baby was never going to come out.
By 1:30 I was in hell. I vomited twice. The pain during the contractions was unreal. I felt my body tiring out. I kept saying “I can’t do this. I can’t do this.” I was crying and asking for a c-section or to “just get this baby out.” I also kept saying how tired I was and how I “just wanted to go to sleep in my bed with Sammie [my cat].” I cried. I screamed. I swore. I made every noise imaginable. I squirmed around in every position imaginable. It was hard to get into different positions because I was so tired and everything hurt so much, but moving around did help.
Unbelievably, I was able to rest in between contractions. I would close my eyes and try to sleep. I know that there were only minutes between them, but I felt like each break was a very long time. At this point they really wanted me to try pushing harder. My sister was trying to coach me through them. But I was so tired! My body felt like it was giving up. All I wanted to do was have the pain stop and go to sleep. I tried pushing with each contraction, but the pain was just too much. I could tell I wasn’t pushing effectively and I was so angry at myself for not being able to.
My midwife suggested I go back and sit on the toilet. I did and I felt better. I would grip the door handle during contractions and lean forward. My pushing became more effective. My midwife checked me out while I was sitting. I kept telling her that I couldn’t do this. I was so scared at this point. I really thought the pain would never, ever end. I was scared that I wasn’t going to be able to push the baby out. The fear took over my body and that was all I could think about.
At this point my midwife asked if I wanted an epidural. Don’t worry—they were never going to actually give me one at this point. There was no way they could. The baby was almost all the way out. They were just trying to get me to relax.
I was so terrified at this point I said “yes, give me an epidural.” This was the first time during the entire labor I asked for pain meds. When I made that decision, I felt angry at myself again for not being able to do it without meds, but the prospect of the pain going away was too tempting that it overrode the disappointment I felt.
Again, they were never intending to actually give me the epidural. I think they were thinking I would relax if I thought the pain was going to go away. And guess what? It worked!! They put the IV in, with just plain fluids, to “prepare” me for my epidural. Within 2 minutes of the IV going in, I pushed through 2 contractions and the baby was out!!
I can’t describe how good it felt when he finally came out. It was like all the pain vanished. It was gone. I felt so good. I delivered the placenta a few minutes later and again, the feeling was unbelievably wonderful. Scott cut the cord and I could hear the baby crying as they checked him over.
But I wasn’t completely done. I was so surprised to feel contractions again. And they were painful. I just didn’t understand. I kept telling my midwife “I thought I was done! Why does it still hurt??” She saw that I was in real pain and asked if I wanted something for the pain through the IV. At this point, since the baby was out already, I agreed and they put something in the IV that took the edge off the new pain I was having. It turned out that I had a few really large blood clots that needed to come out. One came out spontaneously, but there were still some more stuck in there. Before I knew what was happening, my midwife shoved her hand up into my uterus and moved around and pulled out some insanely huge clots. It hurt so much when she did this, but I felt so much better after they were out.
I was bleeding too much for their comfort, so they gave me some pitocin in my IV to help stop the bleeding. This, along with the small amount of pain med added to my IV after the birth, was the only “un-natural” part of my labor. I couldn’t argue with them because the bleeding was honestly life threatening. I later learned that they were considering giving me a blood transfusion.
I didn’t have to have an episitomity and I didn’t tear at my perineum. I did have a very small tear on my right labia, which needed a few stitches.
By the time I was wheeled into my recovery room, I was hardly feeling any pain. I thought it might be because I did get some pain meds in my IV after the birth, and that was probably partly true, but really, I felt very good considering I just gave birth. After a few hours, I felt totally fine. They kept asking if I wanted more pain meds, but I didn’t need them (or any ice packs). I felt fine. And I was fine. I was walking around freely by the end of the night. For the rest of my stay I didn’t need any more pain meds and truly felt that I could easily go home on Thursday instead of Friday. But since I lost so much blood, they needed me to stay till Friday. I kept Collin in my room almost the entire time. If I wasn’t going to the bathroom, I was holding him in my arms. I spent hours just staring at him while he slept in my arms. It’s difficult being home and having other stuff that needs to be done and not being able to hold him all the time!
We left the hospital on Friday and have been settling in at home ever since.
Collin is, so far, the best behaved baby ever. This might be due to the fact that he was 2 weeks early and he’s just tired out, but he sleeps very well and eats like a little champ. He hardly ever cries (no shrieking yet!) and when he does cry it’s quickly remedied by fixing whatever was bothering him. Again, he’s only a few days old so I’m not counting my chickens before they hatch. He may turn out to be a very fussy baby, but for some reason, I don’t see that happening!
I promised to post the birth story and have finally finished typing it out while Collin was napping. Please be aware that it is very, very long and detailed. I am not kidding. Please do not feel obligated to read the entire thing, unless you want to (I'll never know!)
My labor was only 4 hours and 22 minutes! Very, very fast for a first time mom!! I did have to push for over an hour and a half, but still not too shabby! Here's the whole story:
The Birth of Collin Henry Joseph Kornish
Collin Henry Joseph Kornish
October 18, 2006
1:53PM
6 pounds, 1 ounce
19 inches long
It all started Wednesday morning at 9:30AM. I was upstairs sleeping and woke up because I heard a popping noise and felt a kick in my abdomen. I thought to myself “that can’t be my water breaking, can it?” Sure enough, I stood up and a little gush of fluid came out. I still wasn’t 100% convinced but when I walked downstairs more and more fluid came out and then I knew that it was my water breaking.
I called the midwife’s office to confirm that my water broke and asked if I needed to go directly to the hospital. I wasn’t having any contractions yet, so I thought I might be able to stay home a bit, but they said since we were 45 min from the hospital, just to come on in. I called Scott, my mom and my sister.
Scott took about 30 minutes to get home and I spent the time waiting packing up some last minute things, getting dressed and cleaning up the house a bit. I started having rather mild contractions, but didn’t time them because they really didn’t hurt that much. After he got home he spent a about 15 minutes getting his stuff ready and then we were off at around 10:15. I forgot some paperwork so we had to go back to the house and also had to stop for gas. It was probably about 10:30 when we left Massillon.
By this time my contractions we getting much more painful, so I decided to time them. They were 3 minutes apart. As I said before, it takes 45 minutes to get to the hospital, so by the time we were near, my contractions were really painful and still every 3 minutes.
Here’s where the story gets interesting…Scott cannot remember what exit to get off at. We had only been to the hospital once and I was in no shape to remember the exit either!! We ended up getting off at the wrong one, getting lost for about 5 minutes and then finally found that little blue ‘H’ sign and followed it straight to the ER where Scott dropped me off and left to park the car. It is now 11:15AM.
I go into the ER and say “I’m having a baby, I need to go to Labor & Delivery” and everyone in the ER stares at me and one of the nurses says “Honey, there is no L&D here…you are at the wrong hospital.”
I freaked out!! We were at the wrong hospital!! I wanted to leave, but they wouldn’t let me. They promised to transfer me to Akron City, but first I had to get admitted to St. Thomas, get checked out, and then get transferred. Now I am really freaking out because 1) Scott has no idea what is going on and is off parking the car 2) my contractions are getting VERY painful and 3) I feel so stupid. After they finally find Scott they pack me up in the ambulance and get me to City which is thankfully, only 5 min away.
I get admitted to City at around 11:45AM. My midwife was already there. I was in so much pain at this point that I told her that I wasn’t sure I could do this naturally. She examined me and told me that I was already 8 cm!!!!! I couldn’t believe it! She said, “well, you’re almost done…” and then I told her “oh, if that is the case, I can do it!” and they wheeled me off to a delivery room.
My sister arrived from Toledo about 5 minutes after I got into the delivery room! I wanted to get into the shower immediately, but they wanted to do a quick check of me and the baby. Everything was fine, so off to the shower I went. The hot water felt so good! I stayed in there for few contractions, but then I started moving around. I was everywhere and in every position possible! Let me tell you that it’s true that you no longer care about modesty when you are in labor. I was wearing a long tank top, but that’s it and I didn’t care who saw what (and let me tell you there was lots to see). I also made a lot of noise during the contractions, low moaning noises seemed to feel best, but there was a couple times I let out some loud high-pitched screams!
The contractions started to get really intense and I could tell I was in transition. It hurt so much. I was completely dilated at 12:36 and they started having me try to push then. I only pushed when I felt like I wanted to. Some contractions would go by and I wouldn’t try to push at all. I moved around a lot, tried different positions. Trying to push was so difficult. I felt that I couldn’t do it; like my body wasn’t strong enough. I started to get really scared around 1:00. I felt like my pushing wasn’t effective and that the baby was never going to come out.
By 1:30 I was in hell. I vomited twice. The pain during the contractions was unreal. I felt my body tiring out. I kept saying “I can’t do this. I can’t do this.” I was crying and asking for a c-section or to “just get this baby out.” I also kept saying how tired I was and how I “just wanted to go to sleep in my bed with Sammie [my cat].” I cried. I screamed. I swore. I made every noise imaginable. I squirmed around in every position imaginable. It was hard to get into different positions because I was so tired and everything hurt so much, but moving around did help.
Unbelievably, I was able to rest in between contractions. I would close my eyes and try to sleep. I know that there were only minutes between them, but I felt like each break was a very long time. At this point they really wanted me to try pushing harder. My sister was trying to coach me through them. But I was so tired! My body felt like it was giving up. All I wanted to do was have the pain stop and go to sleep. I tried pushing with each contraction, but the pain was just too much. I could tell I wasn’t pushing effectively and I was so angry at myself for not being able to.
My midwife suggested I go back and sit on the toilet. I did and I felt better. I would grip the door handle during contractions and lean forward. My pushing became more effective. My midwife checked me out while I was sitting. I kept telling her that I couldn’t do this. I was so scared at this point. I really thought the pain would never, ever end. I was scared that I wasn’t going to be able to push the baby out. The fear took over my body and that was all I could think about.
At this point my midwife asked if I wanted an epidural. Don’t worry—they were never going to actually give me one at this point. There was no way they could. The baby was almost all the way out. They were just trying to get me to relax.
I was so terrified at this point I said “yes, give me an epidural.” This was the first time during the entire labor I asked for pain meds. When I made that decision, I felt angry at myself again for not being able to do it without meds, but the prospect of the pain going away was too tempting that it overrode the disappointment I felt.
Again, they were never intending to actually give me the epidural. I think they were thinking I would relax if I thought the pain was going to go away. And guess what? It worked!! They put the IV in, with just plain fluids, to “prepare” me for my epidural. Within 2 minutes of the IV going in, I pushed through 2 contractions and the baby was out!!
I can’t describe how good it felt when he finally came out. It was like all the pain vanished. It was gone. I felt so good. I delivered the placenta a few minutes later and again, the feeling was unbelievably wonderful. Scott cut the cord and I could hear the baby crying as they checked him over.
But I wasn’t completely done. I was so surprised to feel contractions again. And they were painful. I just didn’t understand. I kept telling my midwife “I thought I was done! Why does it still hurt??” She saw that I was in real pain and asked if I wanted something for the pain through the IV. At this point, since the baby was out already, I agreed and they put something in the IV that took the edge off the new pain I was having. It turned out that I had a few really large blood clots that needed to come out. One came out spontaneously, but there were still some more stuck in there. Before I knew what was happening, my midwife shoved her hand up into my uterus and moved around and pulled out some insanely huge clots. It hurt so much when she did this, but I felt so much better after they were out.
I was bleeding too much for their comfort, so they gave me some pitocin in my IV to help stop the bleeding. This, along with the small amount of pain med added to my IV after the birth, was the only “un-natural” part of my labor. I couldn’t argue with them because the bleeding was honestly life threatening. I later learned that they were considering giving me a blood transfusion.
I didn’t have to have an episitomity and I didn’t tear at my perineum. I did have a very small tear on my right labia, which needed a few stitches.
By the time I was wheeled into my recovery room, I was hardly feeling any pain. I thought it might be because I did get some pain meds in my IV after the birth, and that was probably partly true, but really, I felt very good considering I just gave birth. After a few hours, I felt totally fine. They kept asking if I wanted more pain meds, but I didn’t need them (or any ice packs). I felt fine. And I was fine. I was walking around freely by the end of the night. For the rest of my stay I didn’t need any more pain meds and truly felt that I could easily go home on Thursday instead of Friday. But since I lost so much blood, they needed me to stay till Friday. I kept Collin in my room almost the entire time. If I wasn’t going to the bathroom, I was holding him in my arms. I spent hours just staring at him while he slept in my arms. It’s difficult being home and having other stuff that needs to be done and not being able to hold him all the time!
We left the hospital on Friday and have been settling in at home ever since.
Collin is, so far, the best behaved baby ever. This might be due to the fact that he was 2 weeks early and he’s just tired out, but he sleeps very well and eats like a little champ. He hardly ever cries (no shrieking yet!) and when he does cry it’s quickly remedied by fixing whatever was bothering him. Again, he’s only a few days old so I’m not counting my chickens before they hatch. He may turn out to be a very fussy baby, but for some reason, I don’t see that happening!
C on g r a t u l a t i o n s ! ! ! 
: Collin!!
Enjoy your babymoon...And you are not the only one who has missed the hospital
: ...Kiera was born in March but there was a blizzard that day. It was also about 45 minutes away and we missed it and drove right past it into another town - lots of snow + country roads + Mama in labor = YIKES! Glad to hear you made it!
