Evan's birth story!

Julia_JJ · December 2011

Hi ladies! I'm still in the hospital, taking advantage of everyone waiting on me hand and foot, and I figured I'd also take advantage of the free WiFi at Rose and let everyone know how it went.

We went in for my 39-week appointment and NST Thursday morning, and the baby looked great - heart rate went up with movement, plenty of movement, etc. - but my blood pressure was still creeping up. We had planned for me to get through the weekend and possibly induce on Monday, but my OB felt my blood pressure was high enough that waiting was a bigger risk - if I weren't as far along, I'd be on BP medication, but since I was full term the cure would be to have the baby. So, she called Rose and I was put on the schedule to be called in for cervix ripening between 5-6 pm Thursday, and then we'd begin the Pitocin induction Friday morning.

We've been packed for weeks, so we spent the day killing time - big lunch at Denver Diner, watching Hulu at home... and around 3 pm I decided to take a bath to relax before we headed in. I had been in there for maybe 45 minutes when I changed positions and felt a little spurt of liquid. Thinking I had peed in the water or something, I drained the tub and hopped on the toilet to pee. Once I finished, I pulled on some underwear, and as I stood up I felt another little spurt. I put a big ol' pad in a fresh pair of undies, and for the next 15 minutes I felt the spurt every time I went from sitting to standing. So, we called the on-call OB at Metro Ob/gyn and she told us to go ahead and make our way to Rose early. By the time we got to Emergency to check in, my jeans were pretty soaked. So - no cervix ripening for me!

I got settled into our room and the nurses let me know they'd check on me at 11 and, depending on how far along I was, they'd start the Pitocin. We walked around, I sat on the ball, I took a bath... and by 11 I was only 2-3 cm. I was hesitant to start the Pitocin, knowing the odds of more drugs and intervention down the road were high, so they started it on a tiny dose and slowly turned it up over the next five hours. The contractions were bearable and I was able to breath through them with DH's help - he was great and massaging and giving hip pressure as needed.

Between 4 and 5 am, the contractions started to get a lot worse. They were only three minutes apart, so I was sure things were dilating like crazy. At 4:45, they checked my cervix - and I was only 4 cm. So, I asked for a low dose of Fentanyl to help take the edge of the contractions off. The first couple contractions on the Fentantyl definitely felt better, but they were still very intense. And after that, they basically felt the same way they did before the narcotic - like I was being ripped in half. We called my nurse back in after about 30 minutes, and she turned off the Pitocin completely and said that she could up the Fentanyl dosage, but we decided to just go ahead and get the epidural - since I was supposedly only 4 at this point and Fentanyl can't be used for long, I didn't want to risk not having anything as the pain got worse.

The anesthesiologist came in to administer the epidural, which didn't hurt at all. The hardest part was having to remain still for the 10-minute insertion process while I had four painful, intense contractions; Jason held my shoulders and I white-knuckled his shirt while my nurse talked me through the breathing. But man - epidurals are amazing. I almost immediately felt relief once the insertion was done. My nurse got the catheter ready and when she went to insert it she discovered the baby was really low because she didn't have as much space to work in as she expected. And then she checked my cervix - and in 45 minutes I had gone from 4 cm to TEN. So, going through transition while having an epidural inserted is SUPER-fun.

I also didn't really get to have much time with the epidural. They propped me up so the drugs could work their way down the crotch and legs, and my OB was planning for pushing to begin at 8 am. A little after 8, my nurse came in and helped me push through about a half-dozen contractions. I was starting to feel more pain with each contraction, so we figured I had a "window" where the epidural had failed, and they gave me a redose, which helped a ton. But then my doctor showed up - with the pushing, I had been pushing out a lot of blood, so they were worried something had ruptured and decided to use forceps to help Evan the rest of the way out. I only ended up pushing for about 45 minutes, and with two good pushes and the forceps he slid right out! 9:20 am, December 2nd, 20 inches long, 7 pounds 4 ounces.

He got an 8-9 on his Apgar and was put on my chest right away while my OB sewed me up (I had a third-degree tear) and delivered the placenta. And now here we are, less than 36 hours later, having all sorts of fun bonding. Yay for babies!