The 42-Hour Journey to the Best Moment of My Life.... (LONG)

Jezzabella08 · January 2012

Sorry this is a little overdue, but I wanted to share my birth story with you ladies, but things have been a little crazy, and this is the first chance I have had to sit down at the computer rather than be on TN from my phone.

The night of January 3, I woke up with a migraine after taking tylenol for my headache and going to sleep. I wasn't sure whether I could take tylenol again as it had only been two and a half hours since the last dose, and I knew that I couldn't take my migraine medicine. I called the after hours number for my dr and they told me I could take the tylenol, but to go to the hospital as they wanted to rule out Preeclampsia and high blood pressure.

When we got to the hospital, my blood pressure was elevated, so they had to determine if the raised blood pressure was causing the headache or the headache was causing my blood pressure to rise. After blood work and monitoring, they determined it was in fact a migraine, treated me for it and discharged me at 11am Wednesday.

I was scheduled for my weekly prenatal appointment on Wednesday evening, but ended up going to my appointment straight from the hospital as we were in the area anyway. Exam determined 50% effaced, still no dilation and that the baby wasn't coming anytime soon. We scheduled an induction for the following Wednesday night/Thursday morning, and I notified work that I was going to make Friday, January 6 my last day.

I worked all day Thursday and felt great. Went to bed Thursday night and woke up at 2:30 in the morning to cramping. I realized that these "cramps" were coming 10 minutes apart and determined they were contractions. Since I had no other signs of labor, I knew there was no reason to call the doctor, so I watched TV and the clock and kept track of how far apart they were. I sent G to work that day and told him it could be 2 hours or it could be 10 - that I was going to go for a walk and then call the drs office when I got back once they were open. After calling the Drs office they told me to come to the office to be monitored - At this point the contractions were about 8 minutes apart. I called my husband to come home from work, and got in the shower. While driving to the office the contractions were about 6-7 minutes apart. When I got to the office my blood pressure was slightly elevated again and the monitors were tracking my contractions at 6 minutes apart. Dr checked me - still no dilation - maybe 60 % effaced. The dr was going to send me home to labor at home a bit but wanted to check my blood pressure before leaving. My blood pressure was now 154/100 - Change of plans - go directly to L & D.

Once I arrived at the hospital, they had to keep me on the monitors and do all the bloodwork again to rule out pre-e. I also had an U/S done to make sure the baby and fluid levels were all ok. Once I was cleared, I was able to walk the floors, however, I had to be on the monitors every 2 hours for a half hour because of the blood pressure. By Friday evening I had developed back labor and just kept walking to keep the pain at bay. I had hoped with all the walking I was doing that I would have made drastic progress - wrong - 1 cm by Friday night. I took a hot shower around Midnight and realized that I had lost my MP - I felt like I was finally getting somewhere. They gave me Ambien so that I could sleep, but all that did was make me loopy while still feeling pain. At 4am, I was checked again was 2cm - I was then put on pitocin and given an epidural. They told me to try to get some rest. I slept for about 2 hours and at 9 am, the dr broke my water. There was merconium (sp?) so I had to be closely monitored - I think at this point I was 4cm, but the time all blurred together by now. Once I did reach 4 cm, I was stuck there for about 5-6 hours. Then progressed to 6cm and was stuck there.

At some point my epidural became one sided, so they "topped it off" - which lasts 2 hours. After the 2 hours and me still being in labor, they asked if I wanted to redo the epi to balance it out in case I do need a c-section. The epidural was taken out and redone and it was even once again. Around 5:00?? I started feeling the intense back labor again as well as in my hips and determined that the epidural was wearing off down my legs this time instead of to one side. At that point the anestesiologist (sp?) came in to discuss that because of the issues with the epidural, if I did get sent for a c-section, they'd have to do a spinal tap.

By 6:30-7:00, as each contraction came, the back pain was unbearable. My sister (who was my coach) and the nurse said that with each contraction I was bearing down and they thought that I was ready to push. I kept telling them they were wrong - I didn't feel pressure, I didn't feel like I had to move my bowels and there was no way. Low and behold - Dr checked me and I was 100% effaced, 9cm dilated - 10cm while contracting and it was time to push.

Once I started pushing, I couldn't fight against the hip/back pain or hold my breath to get to 10. I asked my sister to count faster and she laughed and said she couldn't. The nurse told me that we could try pushing with my lying on my side and deliver her that way. I could not imagine how that would work, but after much convincing on my sister and the nurse's part we tried it, because we were getting no where with me on my back. I was exhausted, hadn't eaten or drank anything in two days and couldn't push against the pain. After 4 sets of three pushes on my right side, and 3 more sets on my left, it was time for the dr to come in and the final pushes. Although we were having such great success with me on my sides, the dr (unfortunately not mine by this point) said I had to push from my back. I knew I was only a few pushes away and determination was on my side now. Four more pushes on my back and the dr said It's a GIRL!

Madison Marie arrived on her due date, January 7, 2012 at 8:13pm, weighing 8lb 2 oz and was 20 inches long. I am absolutely in awe that I have a little girl as everyone convinced me that I was having a boy. I couldn't be happier with my little family and wanted to thank all of you for the congratulatory wishes on facebook and thank you to lisa5ny for keeping you all updated through it all