Saturday, August 23
Friday, August 22
Labor & Delivery - Part 2
At 10:00 pm, after being examined by my nurse, the on call doctor was called (my doctor was not on call until the morning). It was decided (not by us) that since the OR Staff was short on people, they were not going to induce me further as there was a strong possibility that I would need an emergency c-section. At this point I was in a lot of pain as the contractions were very close together, in my mind I was thinking "just take me in for a c-section now! I don't want to wait anymore!" They gave me a sandwich to eat since I had not eaten all day but it was not what I wanted. I was given a shot of morphine to help with the pain and to help me sleep.
I sent my mother home to get some sleep even though she did not want to leave my side. Scott was able to sleep in a chair in my room. I got a couple hours of sleep but it was very difficult to sleep through the contractions. By 4:00 in the morning, Scott was still sleeping but my contractions were getting worse. At 6:00 am my water broke on its own. Scott called my mom and she was on her way to the hospital.
At 7:00 a new nurse came in, she examined me and I was now dilated to 8 centimeters. She asked if I wanted any pain medications and I said yes, before we could talk about options or what I wanted, she shot me with a syringe and said, "this might make you a little drowsy." I didn't even get a chance to talk about side effects or anything. Whatever she gave me made me so out of it, I wasn't even able to open my eyes! My mother walked into the room right after I was given the drug and she knew I was mad. I had no idea who was in the room since I couldn't open my eyes, I had not met the doctor yet and I didn't know where my husband was.
The nurse told my mom it would probably be another couple of hours but within minutes I felt like I needed to push. She of course did not believe me but examined me and saw I was at 1o centimeters, still had not met the on call doctor yet, and I was still unable to open my eyes. The nurse set me up to get me started until the doctor could get here. Scott came back into the room and didn't leave me side again. He was there, holding my hand and supporting me all the way. My mom was getting ready to leave to room when I started to push, the nurse quickly told her to hold my other leg. She was able to stay and help me out. She was so happy to be ale to watch the birth of her first grandchild.
The pushing was difficult to get started as I was having difficulty processing what they were saying to me. Finally the nurse that went off duty at 7:00, Rachelle, explained to me that I needed to hold my breath and to breath out while pushing in order to get the most out of my push, my mother helped pull me forward to get into position and Scott continued to encourage me. (Rachelle said that she had been here all night waiting for this baby and she was going to stay and see that baby!)
Brendan Matthew was born at 8:26 am. As I was pushing I knew the head was out, all of the sudden I look down and there was my baby, It was an amazing feeling that came over me all at once. Because he was late, there was meconium in utero that needed to be suctioned out of his mouth and nose right away. But he was beautiful!
I sent my mother home to get some sleep even though she did not want to leave my side. Scott was able to sleep in a chair in my room. I got a couple hours of sleep but it was very difficult to sleep through the contractions. By 4:00 in the morning, Scott was still sleeping but my contractions were getting worse. At 6:00 am my water broke on its own. Scott called my mom and she was on her way to the hospital.
At 7:00 a new nurse came in, she examined me and I was now dilated to 8 centimeters. She asked if I wanted any pain medications and I said yes, before we could talk about options or what I wanted, she shot me with a syringe and said, "this might make you a little drowsy." I didn't even get a chance to talk about side effects or anything. Whatever she gave me made me so out of it, I wasn't even able to open my eyes! My mother walked into the room right after I was given the drug and she knew I was mad. I had no idea who was in the room since I couldn't open my eyes, I had not met the doctor yet and I didn't know where my husband was.
The nurse told my mom it would probably be another couple of hours but within minutes I felt like I needed to push. She of course did not believe me but examined me and saw I was at 1o centimeters, still had not met the on call doctor yet, and I was still unable to open my eyes. The nurse set me up to get me started until the doctor could get here. Scott came back into the room and didn't leave me side again. He was there, holding my hand and supporting me all the way. My mom was getting ready to leave to room when I started to push, the nurse quickly told her to hold my other leg. She was able to stay and help me out. She was so happy to be ale to watch the birth of her first grandchild.
The pushing was difficult to get started as I was having difficulty processing what they were saying to me. Finally the nurse that went off duty at 7:00, Rachelle, explained to me that I needed to hold my breath and to breath out while pushing in order to get the most out of my push, my mother helped pull me forward to get into position and Scott continued to encourage me. (Rachelle said that she had been here all night waiting for this baby and she was going to stay and see that baby!)
Brendan Matthew was born at 8:26 am. As I was pushing I knew the head was out, all of the sudden I look down and there was my baby, It was an amazing feeling that came over me all at once. Because he was late, there was meconium in utero that needed to be suctioned out of his mouth and nose right away. But he was beautiful!
Monday, August 4
Labor & Delivery - Part 1
Sunday, July 13th
On Sunday morning I woke up and knew that I was in labor. I had been having pains since early in the morning but it wasn’t until I woke up that I realized what was going on. We were getting ready to go to church and so I didn’t tell Scott right away. At about 8:20 (10 minutes before we are suppose to leave for church) I realized that I had lost the remainder of my mucus plug and that church may not be the best option at this point. I decided to tell Scott at this point that I was indeed in labor. Being that I was now 11 days overdue and we had tried everything to speed up labor with no prevail, we were anxious to have this baby. We headed down to the mall to try to walk the baby out and enjoy the free air-conditioning. After walking the mall (a couple times) my contractions were approximately 10 minutes apart and so we headed home to take a shower and a nap. 
On Sunday morning I woke up and knew that I was in labor. I had been having pains since early in the morning but it wasn’t until I woke up that I realized what was going on. We were getting ready to go to church and so I didn’t tell Scott right away. At about 8:20 (10 minutes before we are suppose to leave for church) I realized that I had lost the remainder of my mucus plug and that church may not be the best option at this point. I decided to tell Scott at this point that I was indeed in labor. Being that I was now 11 days overdue and we had tried everything to speed up labor with no prevail, we were anxious to have this baby. We headed down to the mall to try to walk the baby out and enjoy the free air-conditioning. After walking the mall (a couple times) my contractions were approximately 10 minutes apart and so we headed home to take a shower and a nap.
Scott, being the patient husband that he is, insisted that we track the contractions by writing each and every contraction down on paper, when they got to be closer together, although not consistent (anywhere from 2 to 7 minutes apart) he loaded me up into the car and off we were to Riverside Community Hospital, all the time asking how I was doing, I think I was doing better than he was at this point! We checked into the hospital at 2:30 on Sunday afternoon and I was hooked up to monitors to see where I had progressed to.
Above is a picture of me as I was being checked into my room, my last pregnant belly shot, man I was pregnant! After being examined and wired up to monitors I was told that I was only 3 centimeters dilated which would not be enough to keep me in the hospital under normal circumstances but the monitors showed that the baby’s heart rate was “not doing what we want it to” according to the nurse. They told me because I was late term, the placenta was probably old and so the baby was not responding well to my contractions. Since I was to be induced Monday morning anyway, they were just going to keep me in the hospital in order to monitor the baby, so into bed I went.
So there I was with an IV in my left arm (my very first IV which I hated), a blood pressure gage on my right arm and two monitor strapped to my belly. We enjoyed seeing the rate of contractions go up and down, the baby’s heartbeat rise and drop and had a pleasant first couple of hours, playing cards, listening to music and just talking; my mother came to join us for a while as well. At 7:00, shift change, a new nurse came on named Rachelle (one of the only good experiences that I can remember). I had now been in bed for 4 ½ hours and still 3 centimeters dilated. They decided that since the baby still was not doing well, they were going to try and speed things up, I was given a suppository of some sort, inserted vaginally that was suppose to help induce labor. This quickly sped up my contractions, they started coming one right after the other, I felt as though I would come down from one contraction and the next one would start. They were close together (about 30 seconds apart) and much more intense, it was harder for me to concentrate but I just kept thinking it would be over soon. Rachelle, the nurse came back to check on me after 3 hours of intense contractions (10:00 at night) and I was now dilated to . . . only 3 centimeters . . .
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