I’m generally not much of a planner and didn’t go to the hospital with a written out or well thought out birth plan. I trusted my doctors and my only plan was to meet my healthy baby boy.
Induction
Our baby was due Thursday, February 27th. But, as my due date came and went and baby boy did not seem like he was coming any time soon, we decided to schedule an induction for Monday night. In my head if we scheduled it, he would just come on his own before then. We had our weekly doctors appointment that Monday afternoon. We had an ultrasound where she guesstimated he weighed about 7 lbs 2 oz. But she couldn’t get an accurate weight because his head was so low and said her guesstimate was probably wrong. And I still wasn’t dilated. At. All.
That night we checked into the hospital around 9pm. I was given Cervidil (TMI – it’s inserted vaginally and placed near your cervix to soften it). It is supposed to stay in overnight and then removed in the morning. We anxiously stayed up all night watching Nick At Nite. And unfortunately at one point I realized the Cervidil had come out. It was only about an hour before they would be removing it. But the nurse said it needed to be in for the entire time and she had to put a new one in. Having been in for hours, the original one made everything very sensitive. She went to insert the new one and I’ve never felt anything so painful. I screamed so much and so loud that the nurses in the hall thought I went into labor. The nurse said she wasn’t anywhere near where it needed to be but had to just leave it because I couldn’t handle the pain.
About an hour later I was given nitrous oxide to help deal with the pain of removing the Cervidil and checking to see if my cervix had dilated. I remember screaming in pain into the mask on my face. After hearing the nurse say “2 cm,” I ripped the mask off and said “that’s it?!” But apparently 2 cm is huge. Some people go through all that and might only be 1/2 cm dilated or not dilated at all.
Labor
That morning about at 7am my doctor came and said my cervix was about 3 cm dilated and realized that my water had broken. I was then given Pitocin – given through an IV and induces labor by causing or speeding up contractions. This can (and did) cause contractions to be more painful. As I started to feel my contractions, and then quickly started to feel them get more and more painful, my cervix was dilating about a cm every time I was checked.
The nurse who was caring for me was an angel and kept giving strategies to deal with the pain. I got on my knees and elbows on the hospital bed, stood and leaned on a yoga ball while Jon rubbed my back, we slow danced around our hospital room. At 11am I decided it was enough and I was ready for the epidural. I thought getting an epidural would be painful but I think the hardest part is just sitting still through painful contractions while its inserted in your back.
With an epidural, the bottom half of your body basically goes numb. You’re not allowed to get up or move. I was given a catheter and every once in a while the nurse would help me switch positions on the bed. I was still able to feel/move my feet, but I no longer felt any pain or any of the contractions. I only knew I was having a contraction from seeing it on the monitor.
As the day went on, things seemed to be moving very quickly. I was 9 cm dilated by about 5pm. We were convinced (and hoping) the baby would be born before the nurses switched shifts at 7pm. But then things started to slow down a little and the nurse had me lay in different positions to get his head to come down lower before I started to push.
Delivery
After the shift change, I started pushing. With Jon and the nurse each holding a leg, I pushed for almost 4 hours. Because of the epidural I struggled to feel the contractions or at least tell the difference between a contraction or the baby moving. At one point the nurse brought over a mirror so I could see what was happening. And thinking it would help with the pushing (it’s hard to push in the right place and not clench too much in my hands or face).
While pushing I started to get a fever, as high as 102.6. After every push, Jon would feed me ice chips and sometimes I would fall asleep from the fever.
The baby’s head was so low for so long but after hours of pushing, he still wasn’t coming out. Jon was getting concerned and I was definitely reaching limits. We definitely needed to do something other than just keep pushing. The doctor came in and was ready to suction the baby out. He put a small circle suction cup on the baby’s head. He pulled while I pushed and within a few minutes the baby was out. Or at least I think it was a few minutes. The actual delivery feels like a huge blur.
I remember pushing. I remember screaming. And I remember not having a chance to catch my breath in between pushes. I remember Jon encouraging me and letting me know the baby was actually coming out.
And then he was in my arms.
At 11:22pm Aaron Marcus Stanton was born.
He was 8lbs 13oz and about 20” long.
We learned so much of what happened during the delivery, afterwards. I had third degree tearing. And postpartum hemorrhaging – I lost about 1,200 ml of blood, my doctor said most people lose 3-400 ml. I remember feeling some pain while the doctor stitched me back up. I reacted with an ‘oy’ every time I felt something. And I remember being stressed about having to push out the placenta but have no memory of it actually coming out. (Jon reassured me later that it was out). But also being able to have a calm conversation with the doctor about other people we know whose babies he’s delivered.
And then after the doctor was gone and the nurses were cleaning everything up, I threw up all over myself.
It was a much crazier journey than I could’ve ever expected. My pregnancy was somewhat easy (once I got past the throwing up) and healthy. I can’t really say things didn’t go according to plan, because my only plan was to get my baby out. And he’s here and he’s beautiful and we’re learning how to do life as a family of three.
Aaron didn’t have the easiest start. The delivery was just as difficult for him and I plan on sharing what he went through and his experience in the NICU.
But for now I’m going to soak up the baby snuggles and change all the diapers.
