Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Graham's Birth Story

The day had finally arrived...we would finally get to meet our sweet baby boy! After only having two sonograms (at 9 and 18 weeks) and opting to not have the 4D, we were so anxious to see what G would look like. 

My parents came in town Sunday evening and we were scheduled to check into the hospital at 6:00 a.m. 

Do I look tired/swollen or what? Ha!

Ready to meet G-man! 

We arrived at L&D right on time only to be greeted by a nurse letting us know that she "didn't have us down to arrive until 7 and that right now they were swamped." Apparently they had several women come in with some emergencies/gone into birth naturally and let's be honest, when you are being induced you get pushed to the very end.

Ryan and I got settled into our room and around 9:00 a nurse finally came in to get my pitocin started.

(I would also like to make note that we were conveniently placed in a room across from a lady who was in full blown labor without an epidural. We heard every scream, moan and word she said. Hearing someone scream, "get this baby outta me!" is not exactly reassuring. Ryan tried to convince me we should just head back home and come back another day. haha)

Once they got me hooked up to the machines and let me know I was having a contraction I realized that I had actually been having them for several days. Because G had been so active my entire pregnancy I had mistaken those moments of discomfort as him just kicking.

At around 11:00 I was beginning to have contractions a little closer together, but still feeling pretty good.


Around noon my doctor came in and broke my water. After this point the contractions really picked up and were much more intense. Once I dilated to a 4 I was able to get my epidural.
That thing really is as good as they say. Unfortunately, my contractions still weren't at our goal of 2 minutes apart, so the nurse decided to back off of the epidural a bit. We continued backing off of the meds until my legs no longer felt like slabs of meat and I was able to once again start feeling the contractions.

It was around this point that I started getting sick. Man did I regret those popsicles.

At 6:30 I was dilated to a 10 and it was time to push.
I pushed. and pushed. and threw up. and did crazy positions. and pushed some more and still no baby.

(the vomiting while trying to push a baby out was definitely one of my finer moments in life)

After an hour, Graham still had not progressed any farther down and while the nurse could feel his head, she told Ryan that she just didn't think I was going to be able to have the baby. He was face up and I was too small. My doctor said to keep pushing. So we did.

Ryan was amazing throughout the whole process. I'll admit that going into the delivery I was more worried about him than me, but he was my rock. Macey was also in the room with us and her eyes will never be the same. :) She was also such a big help and it was great to have her in there to keep my family updated via text.

After another hour with no progress the decision was finally made that I was going to have a c-section. At this point it was around 8:30. I had the most wonderful nurse and although her shift ended at 7:00 she stuck around and even went into the operating room with me. Without a doubt, I believe that God had his hand on the entire situation. Although I went into the hospital that day never once considering that I would have anything other than a normal delivery, He knew that things would turn out differently. Tara, our nurse, was wonderful and I am so thankful He placed her in our lives.

When Dr. B came in and said that it looks like I was going to have to have a c-section, I was devastated. I know many, many women have them every day, but that was not my plan. (you'd think I would have learned my lesson about this planning stuff by now) I felt as if I had let myself and Ryan down for not being able to have Graham (crazy, I know) and I just was not prepared for surgery. But regardless of whether I was ready or not, it was time for G to make his entrance.

To be continued...

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