Our Little Leach: James' Birth Story

Prepare for this to be the longest post to date about our boy as we share his birth story....

October 13th:
I started having regular contractions every 5-10 minutes while at work that afternoon. I also just overall felt "crummy". I called the triage nurse at my OB office and was instructed to head to triage. Then I called John who immediately left work to pick me up.

We got to triage about 4:00pm. They hooked me up to a monitor and checked my cevix. I was still dilated to 1 cm and of course hadn't had a contraction since walking through the door. Go figure.

We walked the halls for 1 hr and upon getting re-checked there were still no changes. From this point we were sent home and wait it out until my contractions were every 5 minutes.

October 15th:
I woke up at 3:30 am with EXCRUCIATING lower back pain and contractions every 10-12 minutes. I got up and took a hot shower to relax but, was not successful. I determined it would not be wise to go into work so I notified the necessary people.

My OB office opened at 9:00 am and I decided I would call despite having my weekly appointment at 3:00 pm that afternoon. When I talked to the triage nurse she told me based on my symptoms that I was likely in the early stages of labor and that I'd need to go back into triage if my contractions started coming every 5-10 minutes. I told her I'd just plan to wait until my afternoon appointment if possible.

Still feeling miserable, we headed to my afternoon appointment. I had my usual sonogram then saw my doctor. She checked my cervix and determined I was "barely a 2", but 70% effaced from the 30% last week. I was tired, beyond tired and she could clearly see that. We talked about induction and she had offered to induce the next morning or early the following week. After much debate, we opted for a 10/19 induction, if I would even make it that far. We left the appointment and I was feeling pretty emotional and defeated.

We got home and I tried to nap, but no luck. I then found myself doing things around the house to keep busy and distracted from my contractions. About 10:00 pm John and I went out on a 2 mile walk. I was contracting consistently every 4-6 minutes and was unable to walk or talk during the contractions. We decided we were going to go back into triage if the contractions continued once we got home. But, of course, once we got home they stopped!

October 16th:
John went ahead and went to bed. I tried but still struggled to get comfortable. I took a hot bath to try and relax but, it only helped temporarily. My contractions were anywhere from 5-10 minutes apart so I went ahead and called the on-call doctor. She called back and told me nothing new- "take a hot bath, take tylenol, take benadryl, don't go to triage unless your contractions are 3-5 minutes apart, etc." I was so discouraged and still in so much pain.

The same pattern continued well into the wee hours of the morning. I was so restless that I finally woke John up at 3:30 am requesting his company on another walk. We got about a block from home with contractions every 3-5 minutes and I told him,"That's it, I'm exhausted and we are going in!" I called the on-call doctor again not to get her advice but, to inform her that we were headed to the hospital.

We arrived at the ED about 4:30 am, grabbed a wheel chair, and John wheeled me up to triage again. In true John fashion, he made sure to snap a "selfie" on the elevator as I was mid-contraction (pictured below). He will pay for that one day! :)

John WILL pay for this picture some day. :)

We got all checked into triage and it was determined I was still dilated to a 2 but, now about 80% effaced. We opted to walk the halls yet again for another hour despite my severe pain. I could not move or talk during contractions they were so intense. After an hour they checked me again....UNCHANGED. I was about to lose it and have a mental breakdown. I hadn't slept in 24 hours and the pain was excruciating at this point. I flat out told the nurse that I was not going home to which she replied, "Well if you aren't in labor then there really isn't anything we can do." She offered to let me walk another hour then get re-checked. I initially obliged until my pain at this point was so severe I could not move off of the bed. It was at this point John left the room to go talk to the nurses.

When John came back into the room he said he "politely but firmly" let the nurse know that we were not going home. That he wanted them to call my doctor and move up my induction to the 16th and push things along. Apparently the nurses thought I would be too tired to push out a baby with my level of exhaustion (ha!). Moments later my OB popped her head into the triage room and let me know that we were staying to start the induction! WOO HOO!! I told my OB that if I was able to move I would have jumped off the table to hug her. I should note that I owe my hubby A LOT for his conversation to those nurses. Although he (and we) were not hot on the idea of being induced, he knew I was at my max and advocated for me when I clearly could not advocate for myself.

It was about 8:30 am at this point and we were moved to our labor room 15ish minutes later. The nurse got us all settled, started my IV, I had to sign a ton of paperwork, and John ran down to the car to gather our bags. This is where things started to get more real. We were really staying and we were really going meet our son sometime that day!

Our labor nurse was simply awesome! She immediately contacted anesthesia to get my epidural placed so I could get some relief. The anesthesiologist was awesome and I had zero pain with my epidural. I was so much more relaxed and calm once the epidural started kicking in. Next up... the Pitocin! These made my contractions more intense, however I could not feel them. :) My Pitocin was started around 10:00 and from this point forward it was just my job to relax and try to squeeze in a nap. We alerted all of our family and some friends, John did some work, and I was happy as a clam enjoying my unlimited supply of popsicles and ice chips.

Playing the waiting game...

I was already progressing along relatively quickly once the Pitocin was started. In no time I was at 4/5 cm. My nurse informed me that my doctor was going to pop in over her lunch break to break my water. It was around 12:30/1:00 when all of a sudden I felt him kick and then felt this huge gush of fluid down south. My water had broken!!!! The nurse popped into the room again and sure enough, she confirmed my water broke. The nurse checked me again and I was at a 6!! My doctor had shown up at this point and we had a good laugh that she wasn't going to need to break my water.

This is the part of the story where it all starts to get fuzzy and run together. It was about 2:00 and I noticed that I was feeling a lot of pressure. I let the nurse know, she checked me again, and much to everyone's surprise I was COMPLETE! We were absolutely shocked. She immediately started getting the room prepped for James' arrival and paged my doctor.

The room was all ready to go and I started pushing about 2:30. I was nervous for the pushing part. Hoping that it would go smoothly and not take several hours. John was really great during this part. He was comforting yet provided comic relief. Some of his jokes provided some good belly laughs that helped move James down into position better. Everyone was in the room except for my doctor at this point. I was still having the urge to push but, my nurse told me that I needed to hold off (apparently she didn't want to catch our baby, ha!). My doctor finally showed up, I pushed two more times, and James was officially born at 2:59 p.m.! He came out screaming and was immediately placed on my chest. It was from that point on that nothing else mattered (as I type this I've got tears in my eyes). He was absolutely perfect and we were instantly in love.

We did skin-to-skin for a while as John and I doted over him. The baby nurse came back about a half hour later to weigh him, give him a bath, and give him his shots. James weighed in at 7lbs and 11.4 oz. He was 19 inches long with his head circumference at 13.5 inches. He is perfect! Once he was all bathed John finally got to hold him and love on him. We were simply in awe that he was finally here and that he came so quickly.

We spent the next two hours in out labor room bonding with James until we were moved to the mother/baby side of the floor. At this point we just spent time snuggling an getting to know our son. We could not be more in love with him and this new life journey that has begun. :)