40 weeks/ Birth Story

This past Sunday, I would have been 40 weeks pregnant with Mr. Brett but he had other plans at 39 weeks 5 days. 

I seriously had just finished typing this post about 45 minutes before my water broke.  I wasn't very convinced that the stripping of my membranes for the 3rd time would work.  Well I was wrong. 

On Wednesday, May 30th, I had just gotten home from work around 6pm and let the dog outside.  It was a beautiful Wednesday evening.  I plopped my big butt down in one of the Adirondack chairs to read the grocery ads for the week.  Emar got home shortly after and came outside to greet me and the dog.  All of a sudden, I felt liquid gush out and said to Emar "I either just pissed my pants or my water broke."  I hobbled back inside the house to go to the bathroom.  As I was sitting on the toilet, Emar said "This isn't our plan, we are supposed to have him in June."  It made me laugh.  He asked if he had time for a shower.  It told him to go take the dog on a walk, feed her and then I will let him know if it's the "real deal."  Well, it certainly was, b/c 15 minutes later, I was still dripping into the toilet. 

Emar took a shower while I packed up the last of the items we needed for the hospital bag.  We dropped Maggie off at PetsMart and grabbed a quick bite to eat since I knew it would be my last for a while.



Me outside the hospital

We arrived at the hospital around 8pm. Weighed in at 210 (total weight gain 18 lbs).  The hooked me up to the monitors and tested my HEAVY duty pad I had to wear to get to the hospital.  It was definitely amniotic fluid with meconium.  That freaked me out but the doc on call and the nurse didn't seem too concerned because Brett was doing great.

Blown Vein - 8 days later

I was officially admitted at 8:39pm on Wednesday, 5/30/12.  They took me to my delivery room and started getting the ball rolling.  They were going to induce my labor as I had NO contractions.  I got my IV put in (btw, the lady blew my vain- a first for me:( ) .  They started me on Pitocin and hooked me up to the monitors. 

I "labored" for a few hours and they weren't happy with the contractions so they put me on an internal monitor for my contractions.  Let's just say that wasn't fun going to the bathroom which for the entire night, the nurses came in about every 30 minutes to up my Pitocin and I would hobble to the bathroom with the help of Emar.  I never felt a contraction through the whole night nor did I dilate past a 1 1/2 or 2. 

The morning came and Dr. Duff came to check on me around 8am.  Before she came in, she had them shut off the Pitocin.  She checked my cervix and I don't think I was more than a 2 (how disappointing right?).  She felt another bag of amniotic fluid and broke that.  She also decided to hook me up on an internal heart rate monitor for Brett and redo the internal contraction monitor.  She suggested that if I was going to have an epidural, to have it "sooner than later" to help my hips relax.   Apparently I have a small pelvic bone.  She thought for sure we would have a baby by 6pm since that would put us about 24 hours since my water broke. 

Around 10:30am I started feeling the contractions (for once!).  It was nice to know my body was doing something.  I was checked again and was close to a 3 or 4.  We called in the epidural.   About 30-40 minutes later the anesthesiologist came in and administered the epidural.  It was one of the biggest fears I had and it went great.  I seriously remember saying  "why would anyone labor without one intentionally?"  I immediately felt my right leg go numb and my left still had some feeling.   My inlaws came to give Emar a break and visit for a few minutes.  I started to doze off for about 30 minutes and then I started to feel my contractions on my left side.  It was absolutely HORRIBLE.  (again, don't understand why people don't do the epidural?)  I labored through them with tears (and puked 3-4 times) for about an hour or so and the anesthesiologist came back in and gave me a shot of more meds.   Nothing.  About another hour or so went by and he came back in and repositioned the catheter and oh.my.God.  that was the best feeling in the world!  At this point I was at a 6 and the nurses did not think they would re-do the epidural since I was progressing so well.  Thank God we didn't have to come to that! That was the worst 2-3 hours E.V.E.R.   This puts about 3 or 4pm. 

Definitely AFTER the Epidural

I was able to rest in between cervix checks.  The only "pain" I felt was the urge to poop.  This was Brett making his way down.  Around 6pm I started to push with contractions.  I pushed for 2 1/2 hours total.  It wasn't bad at all (again, because of the epidural:))  It was kind of scary b/c they lost the monitor of my contractions and we had some "dead time" because they would miss a contraction or two and we wouldn't be pushing.  I did have to get an episotomy.  I started tearing towards my anus and there are some massive hemorrhoids down there.  Dr. Duff was afraid of an anal rupture so she did the snipping- which I could hear- YUCK!  There were multiple talks of a c-section because he was too big for my pelvic bone.  This was after the bed was dropped, doc suited up and I was pushing for 2 hours.  I started changing my way of pushing because everyone was encouraging (grunting and moaning).  Well that was when the talks of the c-section were arising.  Then, one of the nurses for Brett suggested I hold my breath.  With that, I had 2 contractions and Brett made his arrival, cone head and all!  The first cry was the best sound I had ever heard!  Emar cut the cord and followed him to the warmer where he was cleaned up before he came to me.  It was nice because I could see him at all times while Dr. Duff was stitching me up.  When I asked how many stitches, I got "Quite a few."  I had such an adrenaline rush for the next 4 hours (at least!) while Emar was passed out in our room in the postpartum unit.

Less than 48 hours later, we were ready to go home!!

Next on the chronicals of Brett James:  Hospital visit #1 for jaundice