My Labor Experience

This post is for all the future mommies out there.  Believe it or not, a beautiful and wonderful labor can exist!

The last photo of me as a pregnant woman.

Instead of starting from the beginning of labor, let me go back to the beginning of my pregnancy.  Don't worry, it won't be that bad.  It's a fairly long story so I will do my best to shorten it to the most interesting and more important details.  After all, I am typing with one hand while Payton occupies my left arm.

Like most people, I had heard all the horror stories of experiences of pregnancy and labor.  Plus I watched a lot of Teen Mom.  As a result, I had a mental wish list.  On it were items such as:

• No stretch marks
• No swelling
• No complications
• Early baby arrival (By early, I meant two weeks.  Secretly I hoped for a 7 lb baby because I was a 9 lb baby, was eager to meet my child, avoid late pregnancy ailments,....and get out of work.)

Pertaining to the labor, I hoped:

• To not be induced (believing it would make my labor longer and more complicated)
• To not have a c-section

In regards to my wish list, I definitely got stretch marks.... about a million of them.  I didn't however get any swelling, thank goodness!  The two days of swelling during my eighth month after we moved to our new house do not count.  I do actually have a picture of my porky toes from those days.

Pay close attention to the purple toes and presence of a kankle.

I planned on only taking one week off work before my due date (July 4th).  However, due to extremely high levels of protein in my urine, I was taken out of work and put on bed rest nearly five weeks before my due date and told I was going to be induced at 9 PM on June 24th.  However, apparently Payton did not want to wait that long to meet everyone.  And that, my friends and readers, is where my real labor story begins.

**WARNING!! If you do not want to know details of what giving birth is like, read no further.  I do not want to get comments about why I put this on the internet.. yada yada yada.  Read at your own risk.**

Twas the evening of June 19th and I was at a friend's house.  Technically I was in violation of my bed rest but I had to get out of the house and I was really only sitting and relaxing outside, talking with my friends so I figured it was an outdoor bed rest.  Later that night I got this feeling.  Almost like the queasy feeling you get when you need to poop real bad, but it went away.  My friends noticed my reaction and wanted to make sure I was OK.  I brushed it off as a sudden urge to "have a bowel movement" and because I was embarrassed about it I just told my friends I "had a pain".  Well, the feeling came and went a few times and I knew I wasn't feeling well so I left my friend's house shortly after.

I went home and had the feeling a few times more.  I sat on the toilet a couple times, attempting to poop, when it finally dawned on me.  I came out of the bathroom and told Carlos my suspicion that I may be having contractions and was going to start timing them to be sure.  I was right and eventually they started to get more painful.  They continued through the night, starting out at about 20 minutes apart.  Carlos was so wonderful.  He went through the entire labor with me.  We both slept between each contraction but every time I felt another one coming, he woke up with me to hold my hand.  I never got a chance to take a child birth class but from watching baby shows during my bed rest, I knew I needed to be as relaxed as possible during contractions so my cervix could dilate. So I just breathed deep.  This went on through the night and into the next morning but my contractions seemed to be stuck at 10 minutes apart.

In a frustrated state, I called the doctor's office to talk to the on call Doc.  She told me that a lot of women go into labor at night so I should go about my day, take a shower, and walk around to see if the contractions stopped or progressed.  The pain was too much so I spent most of the day on the sofa while Carlos stayed nearby, cooking for me and such, so he could hold my hand through the contractions.  He was wonderful.  But they didn't progress and they didn't go away.

I called the doctor again around 5:00 PM to report... well nothing (from this point on, I really have no concept of time so I will rely on approximations and what Carlos tells me).  I told her that my contractions were still ten minutes apart.  The doctor told me to go to the hospital so they could take a look at me and see what was going on.  At that point Carlos was grilling outside so we waited for his chicken to finish cooking so we could leave.  He was running around the house gathering my bag and other things I needed.  I was getting real strong and frequent contractions when I walked so I crawled around on the floor gathering things as well.  Carlos loaded the car and we were on our way!

We arrived to the hospital to do some monitoring.  They hooked me up to the baby and contraction monitor for about an hour but it seemed like forever.  The nurse finally came back with bad news.  My contractions were not progressing and not very regular so they were going to send me home on Ambien.  I was really upset because I knew in my heart that my labor was real and we were going to have to drive back.  The drive home on Ambien was fun!  I felt like I was very drunk.  I was confused, repeating myself, and had trouble walking in the house and into bed.  I guess I was having contractions while I was sleeping but I don't remember them until BAM!  I woke out of a very deep sleep with a monster contraction and I got more very strong contractions every couple minutes after that.  Carlos says I was only asleep for 40 minutes before I woke up.  He was really worried about the amount of pain I was in and so we took off for the hospital again. 

This time they were convinced that I was in labor and admitted me.  This is when the labor starts to be 'beautiful and wonderful'.  Shortly after being admitted I received my epidural.  I know some people are against it and other people are scared of it, but I'm not sure I could have done it without it.  Actually, I'm sure I could have but this would have been a much different story.  I had to sit hunched over the side of the bed while the anesthesiologist did his thing.  The most painful part of that was the numbing shot which hurt less than the numbing shots I was given when I broke my toe.  I had to sit very still, even through a contraction.  I think I received my epidural around 2:00 or 3:00 AM.  After that we slept through the night, I didn't feel a thing.

The next morning I felt so rested, I couldn't even believe I was in labor.  The nurse discovered that my water bag broke through the night by itself.  Hooray!  Carlos and I went in and out of sleep through the morning and were feverishly updating friends and family about what was happening through text.  Carlos was also able to watch FIFA Soccer.  It was a great, relaxed morning.

Late in the morning I started to feel my contractions again and became concerned that pushing would be unbearable so the nurse got me an extra epidural boost.  I was back to feeling.... great!  After a while I started to feel the contractions again but the feeling was just a great amount of pressure.  Tons of pressure!  This feeling, apparently, is normal.  The nurse let me know that they do things a little differently at our hospital.  Instead of pushing right when I was fully dilated, they like to let the contractions do more of the work.  I simply had to breath through some tough contractions until I felt ready to push.

When I was ready the nurse explained the process... push through my bottom for a count of ten, three times for each contraction.  The key was to push like I was taking a BIG POOP because pushing through my vagina wouldn't produce a baby.  It was spectacular!  We did a test push before my doctor arrived and Payton crowned!  What we mostly saw was very dark, loooong hair!  Oh yeah, when I say "we" I literally mean it because with my approval, they brought a giant mirror on a stand so I could see my labor as I went through it.  People might feel weird about looking at themselves in a mirror but I highly recommend it.  I think it was motivating because I could actually see my progress instead of rely on the word of the people around me.  Seeing Payton's little misshapen, hairy head emerge was even more motivation to get him out.  I pushed like my life depended on it.  I was laughing and talking with everyone there between contractions.  It felt wonderful, no screaming, crying, or yelling to report.  As always, Carlos was wonderful... just so present and supportive through the entire process.  Next thing I knew, I opened my eyes after a big push and the doctor was holding my little naked baby.  We only pushed for 20 minutes.  Carlos cut the cord, which took a couple tries, and they placed him on my chest.

I couldn't stop staring at him, touching him, and crying.  I couldn't believe that I was looking at the being that had been living inside me for the past eight and a half months.  He was our baby!  He was healthy so they left him on my chest for several minutes, which I loved!  I watched the nurse clean and measure him from across the room while my doctor stitched me up.  Carlos diligently took pictures of Payton through the process (because I ordered him to do so).

Born June 21, 2010 12:43 PM 7 lb 4 oz 20.5 inches

Our first family photo

And that is the story of my labor.  I look back on the entire process so fondly and do not regret a minute.  I just wish I could express in this blog how meaningful it all was for me.  You just had to be there.  And now I have my son, who I love more than anything in this world.

The two men in my life.