Sam's Birth

Right before they broke my water....
He's finally here!!

This is without a doubt the longest post I will ever do. But I decided I wanted to write down Sam's birth story, I didn't with Edie because I didn't really think anyone wanted to hear all those details -which are exciting to me, but may not be to someone else. This time however, I decided I wanted a record of it, since so much becomes blurred with time.

So here we go: We'll it was Monday morning and I was 38 weeks pregnant and 2 days, I had been having a lot of contractions over the past few days, but I honestly just thought I was going to go on like that and be miserable contracting for a couple more weeks, I really didn't think I would go into labor anytime soon. I remember waking up and noticing my house was a mess (as it usually is Monday mornings since I don't generally bother with housework as much over the weekends). It was such a beautiful day though, that I decided I would take the girls to Target for some errands and then to the park for lunch, and I would deal with the mess during nap time. So I got the girls and I ready, and as we were getting ready I kept noticing this pain at the top of my belly on the right side. It wasn't a contraction, but it was a sharp acute pain that would come on and then disappear. I felt my belly where I was having the pain and it was extremely tender- so sore in fact that when I just barely touched it, it took my breathe away. I figured it was some sort of round ligament pain up higher (yes- very good reasoning I know), and I kept going about my business. At Target they began to get so painful I was leaning over the cart and breathing heavy. I took my junk to check out and left. A normal person would have gone home at this point and laid down, but I had told my girls we would go to the park for lunch so I didn't want to deal with the enormous meltdown hissy fit that was sure to ensue if I went back on my word. In the car on the way to the park the pain seemed to be letting up some so I figured things were on the upswing. Around 11:30 or so we got to the park and began eating our lunches, and at this point the pain began to get so painful I was feeling a little nauseated from it. I was sitting against a tree, and I honestly didn't hardly feel like I could move. I was beginning to wonder how I would get my kids in our car and get home. I tried eating in hopes it would make me feel better- but it only made me feel worse. I continued to feel worse and worse, and I was starting to feel rather panicky and like something might be really wrong. It wasn't normal pregnancy pain anymore. A friend of mine from my ward was there and I was so out of it- I wouldn't be surprised if she thought I was nuts now! So I rounded up my kids (with the help of said friend) and loaded them in the car. I realized at this point that I had only felt my baby move a couple times all morning- and that they were tiny soft movements. Normally late morning was his favorite time to go nuts and move constantly so I also started to worry about him a bit too. I pulled up to the house, and instead of un-buckling the girls I told them to stay put. I looked all over the car for my cell phone to call John at work, but I couldn't find it anywhere. So I went into the house ( after I had rolled down all the windows for my girlies of course) and was practically bent in half in pain while I ripped the house apart looking for my phone. I found it and immediately called John. As soon as he picked up I burst into tears and began to describe what was happening. I have to hand it to him- I hung up the phone and he made it from Alpine Clinic (he was in his OBGYN rotation) on 2nd south to our house in just a couple minutes. I was sitting in the car with the girls (who were giggling and talking and truly oblivious to my distress!!) waiting for him to come. He pulled up and we immediately went up to his parents house and thank heavens, his brother was home studying and took our girls. I had called my midwife on the way up and the nurse had said to not bother driving out to Riverton (where my midwife delivers) but to just stop and LDS L&D and maybe the could see what was going on. So we got there and they hooked me up- after a full interrogation of course- and discovered that our baby's heart rate was extremely flat. Before this I had never known what this meant, or that it was a problem. I just thought, baby's heart beating: good- not beating: bad. They said it needed to have accelerations and decelerations and his was just completely flat and slightly high. The Dr. on call felt this was a sign that Sam was in distress. They also commented that I was contracting every 90 seconds - which is also not the norm. This news especially shocked me as I truly had not even felt them!! I had been having contractions on and off for days- some painful some just a nuisance- but I really hadn't noticed these! Moving on- I really didn't want an IV- but they pretty much forced me to have one- and then they did an ultrasound. Dr. Daniels (on-call Dr.) was concerned Icould have some problems with my placenta. They did an ultrasound and they couldn't see anything out of the norm, but it did concern him that my placenta was right where my pain was. So they said they were going to watch baby's heartrate carefully to see if it started to have a normal pattern and if he didn't- it was a C-section for me. They had also checked me at this point and I was at a 3- which I had been for a couple weeks- so no biggie there. I was pretty worked up over the thought of a Cesarean- not my cup of tea. Thankfully though, after a lot of praying and a couple hours on my left side, my contractions evened out to 3-5 minutes apart (still not very painful ) and Sam's heartrate slowed down to a more normal rate and he began have accelerations and decelerations with each of my contractions. I also had the pain completely subside. I was SO happy. At this point Dr. Daniels didn't think I would need a Cesarean but felt that I was in real labor since I was contracting so consistently- and he wouldn't let me leave. I asked to be checked again and the nurse said I was at a 4. At this point I started to believe I really might be in labor. I called my midwife and she felt that it was safe for me to leave LDS and drive to Riverton since I had been contracting for a few hours now and had only dilated maybe a cm at most. So she called Dr. Daniels and he still wouldn't release me since it was a huge liability for him. I can't say I blame him. Finally John suggested we just sign an AMA and get out of there and go to Riverton so I could have my midwife deliver me. Of course the nurse acted like we were completely out of our freakin minds, but I really wanted my midwife deliver me. And as some of you may know- a Dr.'s approach is quite different than a midwifes. Plus I really really love my midwife and had been driving a half an hour each way for each apppointment my whole pregnancy. After a lot of debating we decided to just have them draw the paperwork and we would deal with the insurance later. So amidst my contractions we signed and left and headed out to Riverton. At this point it was almost 4:00. Poor John hadn't eaten since Breakfast since he had left his lunch at work to come rescue me, so I told him he should stop at Taco Bell. We pulled up to the drive thru and it went something like this:

Taco Bell dude: What can I get for you?

Me: yes, can I get a chicken taco and small sprite?

John: hmmm... what do I want, what do I want? Hmmm...

While John was debating on his food choices a huge contraction hit (most painful yet) so I pretty much yelled at the top of my lungs....

Me: JUST ORDER DAMNIT!!!!

Taco Bell dude: Whoa....

After the contraction subsided John and I started laughing so hard. Honestly- I don't know if I have ever laughed so hard before in my life! As we pulled up to pay for the food the guy at the drive thru looked terrified. John said to me "please don't act like your in labor" I said "but I am in labor!!" He said "yes- but I don't want to look like a jerk who stops for food while his wife is in pain". I assured him it was really okay as I had wanted him to stop for food. But I truly don't think I've ever laughed that hard, we still laugh pretty hard when we remember it.

We got to Riverton at 4:30 or so and I was hooked up to all the monitors and checked and it was deicded I was at maybe a 5. I was surprised at this point at how slow my labor was going- as with Edie I had gone from a 3 to a 10 in half an hour! I figured once they broke my water I would go very quickly. We decided to walk around for a couple hours. Over this time I noticed that my contractions weren't getting any closer together and weren't really painful anymore. My midwife came at 7 after she was done with all her charting and I was still at a 5. We debated what to do- my contractions were spacing further and further apart. She suggested breaking my water or starting an IV of pitocin. Both I was very much against. I asked her if we could go home and she said yes- but that she felt it was risk if I went quickly- I may not make it back out to Riverton. She said at a 5 I probably wouldn't last long without going into hard labor. I finally decided I just wanted to go home. We packed up and said a prayer that everything would be okay. As we left the hospital and got in the elevator I had rather bad feeling. I asked John if he felt that way too and he said he did. As we headed downstairs I began having a huge intensely painful contraction. Needless to say we decided we should just stay. So we came back upstairs and my midwife broke my water. It was now almost 8 o clock. I began have hard fast and painful contractions. John filled the birthing tub and I hopped in. I was a little dissapointed the birthing tub didn't ease the pain of my contractions that much. It was soothing- but I was expecting more relief I guess. I labored in the tub until I was told to get out and check the baby's heart rate. All was well- so once again I hopped back in. John was an sweetheart the whole time. He rubbed my shoulders, said kind words and even read me funny stories to distract me. Around 11 pm I got out and they checked me. Still at a freakin 5!! I wanted to cry! (And I did). I couldn't believe how much my contractions hurt and I was at a flippin 5?!? My midwife suggested walking around some more. So we used the portable monitor and paced the Riverton L&D ward. I know that place by heart now. It was horrible- my contractions were just killing me and being upright was a nightmare! So finally around 12:30 they checked me again.. She said "maybe a 5+ but maybe not..." I cried some more. I told my midwife- I didn't know how much longer I could take. I decided to keep going longer before breaking down and getting meds. I tried a million different positions. My midwife was a sweetheart. She joked with me in between and rubbed my back and shoulders during. John sat and fanned me. At 1:30 I had been in so much pain I thought for certain they would check me and I would be at an 8. Nope a 5. My midwife was perplexed as his head was insanely low and pressing directly against my cervix. She didn't know what could be holding me up. Since I had been at a 5 for nearly 9 hours she said it was really in my best interest to have a pitocin drip started. I gave in. But I told them I really needed an epidural placed before I could deal with the pitocin drip since I was already in so much pain. I got my epidural and it was pure bliss! I loved everyone in the room after it took effect. I was smiling and happy. So at 2:10 am they started my pitocin drip. She started it as low as she thought would be effective. And boy oh boy it was. Although I had the epidural placed I could feel INTENSE pressure. My contractions started one on top of another. After only 15 minutes though Sam's heartrate began to completely stop at the peak of my contractions. She turned off my pitocin drip and had my turn on my side and try all different positions. This did seem to help him a bit. I told her the pressure was insanely low and really intense so she checked me and FINALLY I was complete and she could see Sam's cute l ittle head. John suited up and scrubbed down to get ready to deliver Sam!!! It was 2:45 and I pushed through 2 contractions (the most I have ever had to push) and John worked him free and pulled him out! They laid him on my chest and I was so happy and so relieved that he was okay I burst into tears. They did discover after he was born that I had a tear in the top of my placenta. If that was what caused the upper belly pain, who knows? I am just so thankful that he is here safe and sound and healthy! It's amazing how much you can love someone so immensely who you have never really met. After a long and bizaare day our gorgeous Sammy was born at 2:53 AM. He weighed 7 lbs and was 19 inches. And we are crazy in love with him!

If you didn't read this entire post- then I don't blame you one bit! It is mostly for my own record keeping!