Phew.. now that Zeke is sleeping under his lights I have a little bit of time to write out my labor story. Now if you are easily grossed out just don't read this post. I'm going to write the gross stuff and the cool stuff.
You've been warned...
P.S. This is INCREDIBLY long.
Sunday morning I woke up at about 7am and when I went to the bathroom and realized I had lost my bloody show. I was kind of worried because it was bright bright red so I called my parents and my mom convinced me to call the doctor. He wasn't worried one little bit so I decided not to even think about it. I didn't want to get my hopes up because I was so tired of being pregnant and I was suppose to be induced Monday morning anyway.
9am I started to have contractions. I decided to ignore them since I wasn't going to have the baby until Monday anyway.
11am- We went to church and I started to time my contractions. They were 5 minutes apart. I decided my body was tricking me and that it was just rotten!
12am- Harold convinces me to go home and have his parents teach our primary class (THANKS!)
1pm- Contractions were about 3-4 minutes apart and my parents think I should probably go to the hospital. I still don't think it is a good idea so I go to my parents house, because that is closer to the hospital. I desperately didn't want to go to the hospital because I just knew they would send me away and I would just have to go back on Monday anyway. Luckily Harold is smart and he convinced me that we could pack up our hospital stuff in the car with us and sleep at my parents house so we could just go to the hospital on Monday. He really thought it was time, but he could tell I was being unreasonable.
2pm- We were on our way to my parents house and my dad called me and told me I was just being silly and that I needed to go straight to the hospital. I refused to do it. I said, "you know I won't deliver this baby on the floor at your house! Just let me go there first!!!" I think he could tell I was crazy so he didn't fight with me about it.
2:30pm-3:30ish My mom let me sit on the couch and had me sip drinks and massaged my legs. I think mom's know exactly what you need because after I had a little bit of time to think about it calmly I knew I should go to the hospital. The worst thing that could happen would be that they would send me away. Plus my contractions were much more painful and were coming every 2-3 minutes.
4pm- They observe me at the hospital. Immediately my contractions slowed down. I was so so very upset.. I couldn't even believe it! Harold could tell that I was freaking out so he told me he had a trick he wanted to try. He said he was going to fall asleep and my job was to wake him up any time I had a contraction. Amazingly enough this made my contractions much closer and more regular. Harold said that's just how things work out when he tries to take a nap. :)
5pm- I changed from 3cm's to 3+ cm's and was 80% effaced. I was SO upset. I knew that wasn't enough progress to be admitted to the hospital. The nurse called my doctor and he told her to let me stay. When she told me I pretty much cried with joy! I think my doctor just took pity on me, but I'm so glad he did! Dr. Parker wanted me to immediately get an epidural and start on some Pitocin to help my contractions stay regular. I had already promised myself that I would listen to any instructions he gave me so I had no complaints. The nurse had some trouble giving me an IV because the veins in my hands have a history of collapsing. After 3 shots and some very sore hands the IV was in. They placed the epidural with no trouble and then gave me some pitocin. My body just wanted a little bit of pit and then it decided that it could do the whole contraction thing by it's self.
5pm-8pm - This was the best part of labor. I just laid back and rested and felt like a big cheater! I didn't realize how great the epidural was! I felt some pressure but it didn't bother me at all! All the sudden I was 6cms and 95% effaced! Hurray!
Now I can't remember what time everything was - Dr. Parker came and checked... I was still 6cm's but I had edema (swelling) on my cervix so it was not effaced as much! Nooo! Dr. Parker feels around and finds out that Zeke is sunny side up! He is suppose to be looking down and he was looking up! Dr. Parker tried to turn him by tugging on his head.. but while he was trying to do it Zeke's heartrate when CRAZY! It was bouncing all over the place so they stopped. As soon as he stopped trying to turn him I started violently shaking. I couldn't even help it! I wasn't cold or anything! So they decided to just let me labor for a while longer and see if he would just turn himself.
After a while of laboring Dr. Parker came to check me again. I was still making no progress. I think at this point he was seriously thinking of wheeling me into the operating room and doing a c-section. He asked me how I was feeling and I said I could definately wait a little longer and that I actually felt good. I got a blessing from Harold, my dad and his dad. It was so wonderful to priesthood holders so close by. I feel the blessing is really what made the difference.
So then he came back an hour later. I had dilated another cm and was almost to 8cms! Phew. No c-section yet. He left and I told my mom... it feels like I should push but I know I'm not suppose to. So every contraction I tried really hard not to push. Another hour went by and Dr. Parker came back. He said he could stretch me to 9cm's and that the babies head was just stopping me from dilating the rest of the way. He wanted to try something.. so every contraction I had he had me push and he pushed my cervix open with his fingers. Amazingly enough that worked. The baby was really low in the canal so it was time to really push.
Harold's mom grabbed one leg, my mom grabbed another, Harold grabbed my neck, a nurse grabbed a knee and Dr. Parker held my cervix. My dad was in charge of watching the monitor and telling us when to go. Talk about group labor! The Doctor really wanted my legs to be supported so nothing bad would happen to my hips.
After about 1/2 hour of pushing Dr. Parker said he didn't have to hold my cervix anymore and he was in charge of watching the babies progress. Every time I pushed everybody would be like.. look at his hair! OH! More Hair! I kept thinking... they can see his hair I'm almost done!
After 1 hour of thinking that I started to ask.. am I making any progress? Everybody was like.. oh yeah... but I could tell they were lying to me! THEN.. Dr. Parker had to rush out of the room and deliver a woman who was 32 weeks, 10cm's dilated and with broken water. Dr. Parker ran out of the door and delivered that baby and came back and I still hadn't had the baby. He came back and told me.. if you push for another 1/2 hour and make no progress we will just have to do a c-section. He couldn't use the forceps because Zeke had slightly turned and was now staring at my left leg. I think Zeke heard him because he immediately started to make better progress.
They pulled my legs up even closer to my face, which made it even easier to push, and we started to really make progress. They made me stop pushing so we could readjust the bed because Zeke was coming! I was SO happy! A couple more pushes and he was coming out, he even flipped around the right direction! Everybody started yelling! I didn't know why everybody was yelling.. I was kind of busy! Then Harold just yells out "OH MY GOSH HE IS HUGE!!!!!" Apparently everybody was just shocked by how big he was. They were like.. he is so chubby!! Everybody kept asking me if I thought he was cute but I couldn't see him because a nurse was standing right in the way! She moved and I couldn't believe how much he looked like Harold!
Harold cut the cord and they laid him on my tummy while they cleaned him up. All I could say was "hi" over and over because I couldn't believe he was finally here! Then they finished warming him up, putting drops in his eyes and measuring him. 8lbs 9oz! What a big boy!
He was born at 6:59am on Nov. 3rd, 2008. This little boy is so spunky.. Dr. Parker told me if I hadn't had him by 7am he would do a c-section. Talk about cutting it close.
I'm so happy that I can finally hold my little boy!!
