Monday, August 26, 2013

Rowe's Birth Story


This is a very long and detailed post. You have been warned!
I want to preface this by saying that with my first son’s birth my water broke so I knew I was going to have the baby soon. But after laboring for about 15 hours I got an epidural and Pitocin, and had him 5 hours later!  Talk about a long freaking day. Also my contractions felt different, I thought so anyway.

On Monday August 5th in the morning I started having some lower abdomen pain but I didn’t think anything of it, I just thought I had to go to the bathroom (#2).  Throughout the day I kept having the pain (contractions) so I thought I should maybe timing them and see if it was labor. They were very sporadic and not time able, so again I didn’t think it was labor pains and kept going about my day. I even went to Target with my son and walked around, but having to stop when a contraction would hit. For the rest of the day I just took it easy and relaxed. Before going to bed Sean and I were talking and I told him that I was determined to have this baby naturally and I didn’t want to give in and get an epidural, but if in the end of labor, where I’ve heard it’s the hardest, I ask for one don’t let me get one! We then went to bed. At around 1am I couldn’t lay in bed anymore because the contractions were getting a little more intense and coming every 10 minutes. I got up and called my midwife to let her know what was going on. She said to try to get some sleep and call her back when they got more intense and closer together. I decided it was going to be a long night. I started a movie (The Breakfast Club, which I will always remember now as the movie I labored through) to try to take my mind off of the contractions. When each one would hit I would get on my hands and knees and rock back and forth, it seemed to help a little bit.

At around 3am I think my water broke but it wasn’t like with my first son where it was a gush of water and then trickling, it was more like a little gush and then that was it. So they think that maybe it broke up high and his head was blocking anymore water from coming out. I continued to watch the movie and rock back and forth. At about 4:15am I decided to get in the shower to see it that would help. At that point they were coming a little faster, maybe every 5 minutes and getting very intense. I was kneeling in the shower with the water hitting my back for about 15 minutes and then couldn’t handle it anymore and decided it was time to go into the hospital. I got out and woke Sean up. He took a shower while I called my midwife and told her we would meet her at the hospital. I then called my mom so she could come over and sleep at the house with Cru. That 15 to 20 minutes waiting for her to show up were miserable. The contractions were every five minutes and HARD! We left our house at 5am and the drive was not too bad but not fun. Luckily it was early in the morning so there was no traffic. We got to the hospital at 5:15am. We went to the ER to let them know I was there and they wheeled me up to Labor and Delivery Triage. I was about to change into the hospital gown and my midwife showed up and saw how much pain I was in by my face and because I wouldn’t sit on the bed. It just didn’t feel good to sit I wanted to be moving with each contraction. So she asked if I wanted to skip triage and go directly to a room, I nodded! So to the room I went.

Once I was in my gown and on the bed she checked me. (Side note: On the way to the hospital I told Sean that when they check me to see where I’m at and I’m between 5-7cm then I can keep doing what I’m doing but if I’m anywhere below that I’m going to be pissed and I AM going to get an epidural) So when she checked me I waited for the worst…..she then said I was 8cm!!!! Uh…what?!? Ok that’s pretty much awesome! After she checked me I wanted to get back in the shower while they filled up the tub for me. The contractions got way worse and I started to get nauseous. I did throw up in the shower which was interesting because I hadn’t had anything to eat for a long time so there was nothing really coming up. The tub was filled and I was done with the shower at that point so I moved to the tub. When I got in the tub the contractions picked up a few notches. They were probably every two minutes or so….I wasn’t really focusing on timing them, but they were very painful and that’s when I started telling them I couldn’t do it and I wanted an epidural. Sean stayed really calm and kept telling me I could do it and that I was almost there. The midwife kept saying just one more contraction, just one more contraction. I wanted to cry but I just couldn’t get the tears out. After about 15 minutes in the tub I wanted her to check me again to see if I had progressed much. When she did she said I was still 8cm but my cervix was very soft. I then knelt on the bed with my arms over the back of it. Kind of like this.



I was having a hard time with the contractions and was getting really angry at Sean because he was staying so calm and I was in so much pain for heaven’s sake! During one of the contractions I threw the throw-up bag on the ground and yelled “I can’t do this anymore! Just let me have an epidural!” Pretty much begging Sean to give in. The contraction ended and I told Sean I needed that throw-up bag back. He was so kind and just picked it up and gave it back to me. So I guess we know now where my two year old learned how to throw a tantrum. They gave me the paperwork to sign to get the epidural but said it might take a little bit to get the anesthesiologist there to do it. Ahh…I was going to get relief soon!

But at that point the midwife gave me some awesome advice; she said to try to push through the contractions to see if that would help. And oh boy did it! I pushed and it didn’t hurt as much. I got into a zone and couldn’t really hear the conversations going on around me. Maybe after a couple pushes I kind of felt like my baby was coming out. So I said to them, “Uh…I think I feel him coming out!” They just kept saying ok good keep pushing. I had a blanket or a towel over my back and shoulders so they couldn’t really see what was going on down below. So I kept pushing and I kept feeling him get closer and closer to coming out but it hurt. Finally she lifted the blanket and saw that I was pushing my baby out, so that’s when people kicked it into high gear. She said at the next contraction I was going to push my baby out. I wanted to stretch more because I felt like I was going to tear.. But she said we needed to get him out because he was right there and they couldn’t get a good heartbeat reading on him. So I pushed and I pushed hard. I guess I got him out to about his eyeballs and then didn’t want to push anymore because it hurt too much. But I guess I did because two seconds later his head was out and it didn’t hurt as much anymore. They then said I needed to get the rest of him out and to push, but I wasn’t having a contraction and it’s hard to push without the help of a contraction. So I tried and nothing, tried again and nothing. Then the nurse got in my face and said I needed to push harder and get my baby out!! Apparently his poor shoulders were stuck and wouldn’t budge. So the midwife I guess stuck her hand in and grabbed his arm and pulled him out with help from me pushing. Finally he was out and they placed him between my legs on the bed and I just stared at him and couldn’t believe I just did that. They took him away and cleaned him up and checked him out while I lay on my back and delivered the placenta. I did have a small tear which she stitched me up real quick. While she was doing that they weighed him and he was 10lbs 1oz, holy cow!! I really couldn’t believe I just did that. They placed him in my arms while they finished cleaning me up and he was perfect. Just hanging out with mom and couldn’t be in a happier place then right there on my chest.
Rowe Michael Larson
Born August 6th 2013 at 7:29am
10lbs 1oz, 21 ¼ in long
He’s been a pretty good baby except he doesn’t like to sleep and he has a lot of gas. He likes to eat a lot which is always fun when you’re both trying to get the hang of breast feeding. But he is a sweet baby and I’m glad he’s mine. Cru doesn’t really pay attention to him that much unless he has a pacifier in his mouth then Cru likes to steal it and run away. He does like to hold him though, it’s actually really cute! I can’t wait to see them play together.

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