My Labor Story

Tuesday, November 24

Our actual estimated due date came and went uneventfully & Dean is due home tomorrow. I definitely would prefer to go into labor after Dean gets home so missing our due date wasn't too much of a stressor for me. Since I did not want to continue to be pregnant for much longer after tomorrow, I decided to do some things that might make labor happen sooner:

• 4pm: I go for a "long" walk, from my condo down & through the Ballard locks & back. It took me an hour to make the circle and it had gotten pretty dark by time I got home. Watching 3 hours of Law & Order SVU before my walk had me a little spooked especially after the sun set.
• 7pm: I eat some mildly spicy jambalaya for dinner.
• 8pm: I take a bath.

Wednesday, November 25

I am close enough to the end of my book (The Sultan of Palermo, by Tariq Ali) that I decide to sit up & read rather than go to sleep. Before I know it, it's 1 am and I actually can't sleep. I decide to get up & watch a video rather than lie in bed.

• 2:05am: Is that a contraction?? Unlike the Braxton Hicks contractions of October, this was focused in my lower pelvis. It's a little like a menstrual cramp, which I read is what actual contractions are supposed to feel like. I make note of the time & continue with the video.
• 2:20am: Is that ANOTHER contraction??
• 2:48am: OHMYGOSH! I'm in labor!
• 2:53am: OHMYGOSH! These contractions are close together & are lasting about a minute each

During the 3 o'clock hour, I had 5 contractions, roughly every 10 minutes. During the 4 o'clock hour, I had 10.

At 5 o'clock, I called the on call OB - Dr. Wilbur - to let her know I was had been having contractions for over 2 hours and that they were getting closer together. She told me to remain calm & continue to monitor the contractions. If they get closer together, I could go to triage at the hospital. After getting off the phone, I got a little scared & decided to wake my mom.

"Mom? Mom!"

She didn't stir, the contraction passed & I decided to let her sleep. No need to wake everyone before it was necessary.

At 6 o'clock, the contractions were 5 minutes apart and getting steadily more painful. I decided that I would call Dean & let him know things were happening. I called his pager & expected to type in my phone number, but instead had to leave a message..

"Hi honey, it's me. Well, I'm having contractions. I called the doctor and she told me to..." BEEP! I decided not to call back.

Close to 6:30, I decided it was time to wake my mom.

"Mom? Mom!"

"Uh... yeah?"

"I'm in labor."

"WHAT!?!" She screamed as she jumped out of bed.

"It's okay, I called the doctor. I'll give Melinda a call in about 30 minutes."

"Are you okay? Do we need to go?"

"I'm fine. I've been having contractions for about 4 hours..."

"4 hours! What didn't you wake me earlier?" She was up now running around the room, grabbing clothes.

"It's okay, calm down..."

The phone rang - it was Dean calling back.

"Hi honey. Yeah, I'm in labor now."

I called Melinda 30 minutes later.

At the hospital, they hooked me up to the fetal monitor and we waited. The lines on the fetal monitor resembled a line drawing of the mountain range in New Mexico - every 3 to 5 minutes or so the line would take a sharp upward turn, flatten out, then drop... just like a mesa. It was almost thrilling to watch - sometimes the contractions would come sooner, sometimes they would come later.

The nurse came in after about an hour, checked & told me I was only about 1 cm dilated. She offered me a shot of morphine to help me get some sleep and I gladly took it. Sadly, this meant we had to drive home and wait. Melinda dropped us off & I slept for about 2 hours.

Around 1:30, the contractions were still coming on & breaking their way through my morphine haze. Between 1:30 and 5pm, the contractions got stronger and more painful. The pain was so intense, I couldn't sit through them. I was so big, though, that when sitting or laying down between the contractions, it took me nearly the entire contraction to get to my feet. And what was the pain like? Well, how can you describe your pelvis being pulled apart? The best analogy I can think of is that pain when you slide off your bicycle seat and onto the cross bar. Add to that menstrual cramps and, if you're like me, tense neck & shoulder muscles. It hurt everywhere.

We got back to the hospital at 5pm. I had not dilated much beyond where we were in the morning. At 6pm, they told us to walk around the hospital for 2 hours, then come back. Uh... ok.

Dean arrived at 7 and by then, Melinda, my mom & I had a pretty good system in place. When a contraction would hit, they would stand in front of me & take my hands. I would lock eyes with them and focus on breathing. Because the pain was mostly in my pelvis, we added lunges to the routine so I could keep those pelvic floor muscles otherwise occupied while the contractions tried to rip the underlying skeleton in two.

Dean took over primary coaching responsibilities when he arrived and did a great job. In addition to giving me something to focus on, he made me laugh which didn't hurt.

We go back up to triage at 8 and get hooked back up to the monitor. The same mesa sketches assure me everything is okay. I'm in pretty high spirits because I know, I just KNOW that we're going to be checked in & the baby will be born soon.

"Sorry, you're only 1.8 cm dilated," said the nurse.

"What?!"

By this time, I had been in labor for 18 hours. I was tired and every inch of my body was hurting. I couldn't understand how I could only be 1.8 cm dilated when we had walked so far for so long. I was doing everything right, but this was going wrong. I began to feel overwhelmed with failure and the prospect of going home again without the baby sucked what little energy I had out completely. Left with feeling nothing but the ever more intense contractions, I started to bawl. I wanted a hug. I wanted the pain to stop. I wanted to be checked in & have the baby pulled out of me. Anything but going home.

"Would you like some more morphine?" the nurse asked. She wasn't giving me the sympathy I needed. Where was Dean? I thought, while nodding for another dose of morphine. At least I could get some sleep...

When we got to the hospital that evening, we brought all our luggage in with us. Now, we were carrying it all out & I was beside myself with despair. The contractions were increasing in pain, but my mind was flooded with sorrow so they wheeled me out of the hospital sobbing.

The morphine kicked in sometime on the way home, but this time, instead of giving me a peaceful 2 hours of sleep, I caught 2 minute naps in between contractions. The contractions insisted I stand, but like before, getting to a standing position was difficult and by time I executed the move, the contraction had passed and I was drifting back to sleep.

I cried to my neighbor - who happened to be in the hallway when we got home. I took a bath. I had a few bites of pizza. I lay down in bed. I slept for 2 minutes. I was kicked in the crotch. I tried to stand. The pain would pass. I lay back down. I'd fall asleep for 90 seconds, then the cycle would start again. This was the most miserable I can ever remember feeling in my life.

Around 1:20am, I had just struggled to stand as a remedy for the latest contraction and decided to go to the bathroom. For the first time in my life, blood in the water was the happiest thing I had ever seen. "DEAN! It's time to go back to the hospital!" Before we left, the nurse told us that we could be sure that labor was advancing when there was blood in my urine. If we came back after seeing that, we'd be sure to get checked in. I was so happy... the light was at the end of the tunnel. The pain was going to end. We just had to get back to the hospital.

The morphine, however, was making me a little crazy.

"Are you going out tomorrow night with Jeff?" I asked Dean.

"The building across from the hospital exploded!" I said randomly.

We were checked back in to triage at 2am. When the nurse checked me this time, she said I was 6 cm dilated and I couldn't have been happier.

"We're checking you in! Did you want to get the epidural?"

"Yes!"

The 2 anesthesiologists on call that night were in other surgeries so I had to wait another 90 minutes before I could have relief from the pain which was more intense than before. I could no longer talk and was reduced to moaning loudly & sticking my arms out in front of me.

"UH! UH! UH!"

Either mom or Dean would take my hands and help me breath through it. The epidural ended all the pain & suffering rather nicely. I didn't even feel bad about not delivering naturally - 25 hours of labor was plenty of pain.

Around 6:15, the doctor came in and told us it was time to start pushing. She cautioned me that sometimes the pushing can take up to 2 hours, but I shouldn't worry because they'd be there with me throughout the process. "Sure. Okay. Whatever." I thought. I couldn't feel anything.

As they put me up in stirrups, Dean stepped out of the room. The nurse brought in a mirror so we could watch -- watching other people give birth in videos = gross. Watching yourself give birth = amazing!

"Okay, try pushing just once & let's see where you are," the doctor said. Pushing when you can't feel anything below your shoulders is funny.

I gave a little push & saw my baby's head in my... well, you know. There was his head! WOW!

"WHOA! STOP!" the doctor said. This was just a test push & they weren't ready to receive the baby. The doctor didn't have on her gear, the mats weren't in place to protect the floor, only 1 nurse was in the room, the receiving area wasn't set up... where was Dean?

The room & everyone was ready by time Dean got back. He took his position at one leg, my mom was at the other. I pushed 2 more times, they told me to stop. My eyes were fixed on the mirror and the little head I could see emerging from my... well, you know.

We had to wait for another contraction before I could push again. It seemed like the wait lasted forever. "Is the baby okay?" His head is in the birth canal for what seemed like forever. Can he breath? was all I could think. The doctor assured me he was okay & told me to get ready for another push.

1 push later, my son was born. Mom said his eyes were open. We named him Wesley Oscar.

7 lbs. 11.5 oz., 21"

10 toes. 10 fingers.