7lbs, 14 oz
20 inches long
28 hours in labor
He was 3 weeks early. I was happy about that; if he had been carried to term he probably would have been too big for me to deliver vaginally and I would have needed a C-Section, and also because I was convinced I was going to have a May baby.
The previous morning (Monday), Paul and I had tons of plans for the day. We were going into town for a regular Dr appointment, then get our car-seats installed by the Fire Department, followed by the gym and the grocery store, etc. I was going to drive Paul to work and use his car. I was getting ready to leave and I thought I had wet my pants (which happened a few times during my pregnancy, so I thought nothing of it.) Then as we were driving into town I felt a little cramp, like Braxton Hicks. Again I brushed it off. I got another one about 10 minutes later and told Paul he might want to come to the doctor with me. We stopped to return some DVD's to Redbox and all of a sudden the rest of my water broke.
In Paul's driver's seat.
We raced to the doctor and they confirmed it - I was 2 cm dilated and in labor. We didn't even have my bag packed yet. We called our family, sent out mass text messages and went straight to Martha Jefferson Hospital.
My Birth Room, lucky #7
I tried to keep myself from having any high expectations of how I would handle labor and childbirth. Quite frankly, I've never been in a lot of pain before. I've never broken a bone or been in an accident or anything close to it, therefore I had no idea how much pain I could take. All I did was promise myself that I would hold out on any pain meds until I absolutely could not take any more. I stayed in the tub as long as I could, the water really helped the pain in my lower back. The human body is amazing in how it copes with pain and stress. Between each contraction I felt so relaxed and calm I thought I could just drift off to sleep. Someone told me that would happen and I really had a hard time believing that, but she was right. It was around then that I hit my first mental 'brick wall'. I needed something, but I didn't want an epidural yet, so I took some fentynal. By about 8:30 I had 3 shots and it wasn't really taking affect anymore. I didn't want to ask for the epidural until I knew how much more I was dilated, since if I was getting ready to start pushing then there was no point in having any more drugs. I was convinced I was in transition when then Dr came to check me at 9:00. But I was only 5 cm! I'm sad to say I was losing my cool at this point because the pressure was so uncomfortable at only 5 cm. When the Dr asked me how I felt I said. "Like I'm going to sh*t out a Buick, how do you think I feel??" He didn't miss a beat though, his response was "Let's try to make that feel more like a Volkswagen." I gave in at this point and asked for the drugs. By 10:30 I was much more comfortable and was trying to sleep as my body prepared for childbirth.
I need to take a moment and mention that the noises women make in labor are hilarious......if it's not you in labor. I had more laughs at the videos we saw in birthing class and at the women I heard in labor when our birthing class toured the hospital. But it came back to bite me later when it was my turn. At first I was able to be quiet and just breathe or move around a little to handle it, but then I slowly started getting louder as the contractions intensified. I went from deep Yoga breaths to slight humming, to Buddhist-monk-style-chant, and finally when I was pushing and frustrated I probably sounded like Dory (from Finding Nemo) trying to speak whale in humpback dialect.
It took almost another 14 hours before I was able to start pushing. That took almost another 3 hours. It turns out he was stuck on my pubic bone and we needed to get him under it to come out. I had to keep turning on my sides and trying different positions. I could not tell if he was moving forward with each push, but I was hanging on the the encouraging words coming from both Paul and Mom as they were watching the whole thing. You lose all modesty at this point because there are so many people 'all up in it'. Lucky for me, Lisa, who taught our birthing class, was on duty that day and was with me the whole time. The last 20 minutes were the hardest but they were also a blur. I couldn't breathe in the position I was in but I couldn't move anymore after he started crowning - I had to push as is. It was just when I thought I was going to pass out from lack of oxygen that I felt something give and the doctor laid this wiggly, slimy, cone headed little human on my belly. Time stopped. You know how in the movies when the main character has that scene where all the sound is gone from the background, everything is in slow-mo and all he can focus on is that one person, or that one event that has been building up inside of him throughout the whole film? It was like that. He was here. Everything Paul and I had done to prepare was for this moment on. I don't remember Paul cutting the cord. I don't remember then taking him directly over the cart thing and getting his APGAR score, or saying he needed oxygen and wouldn't cry at first. I didn't even get a good look at him because he was covered in so much stuff. I couldn't even speak right away. I was truly dumbfounded for a minute.
Cleaning him off and giving him oxygen
I snapped out of it when I realized they were trying to clean me up. Relief that it was over hit me hard and that's when I started to cry and apologize to everyone for being so mean there for a few minutes. I found out I only needed one stitch and the Dr didn't even need to use the vacuum extractor or forceps. At least I had a little victory there.
One of the nurses brought Grayson back over to me after he was cleaned off and bundled up like a little baby burrito. Finally I got a good look at my son. While I had been pregnant I was constantly wondering what he would look like. Would he have my hair color? Paul's height? He might look like Paul's grandfather! Or my dad! The curiosity drove me nuts.
Me seeing Grayson before he goes to the nursery
Given the end product, I'd do it again.
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