My Birth Story!!

Where to begin? Well it was a Tuesday, and I had a doctor's appointment scheduled for the morning. I went in, and my doctor could not believe that I hadn't had the baby yet. I had been 0 station, 80% effaced, and 1 cm dilated for 3 weeks. On top of that, at this check, the doctor said my baby had dropped even lower to a +1 station...must have been why I felt all that pain the night before.

He wanted to strip my membranes to get labor moving naturally in a couple of days, but since the baby had dropped lower it would have been very painful. He didn't want to attempt it for fear of sending me off the table. So he offered other options, wait naturally for potentially a couple more weeks, or get induced. Which do you think I picked. INDUCTION! I wanted everything to go naturally and to deliver at the natural birthing center, but I couldn't take being pregnant anymore!

Induction options were very slim...he couldn't break my water again because the baby was so low so we talked about Cytotec. It is a small capsule they insert to help women efface, but since I was already almost completely effaced, he thought it would send me into labor. No side effects for baby! So I said yes. I asked when the soonest was that we could induce. He chuckled and said that night. I SAID YES!

We traveled to the hospital that evening knowing that I had to deliver in Labor and Delivery instead of Family Beginnings, but my doctor said if there were no complications, I could do everything the same. Well, my nurse had a different idea. We got in, she hooked me up to an IV, and said I was on an all saline diet and couldn't get out of bed. What? I was sooooo mad! On top of that, she tripped over my IV and fell on the floor. I know it hurt her, but she almost ripped the IV out of my arm!

Praise the Lord that 1.5 hours after we arrived, she went off duty. Our new nurse was from Family Beginnings YAY! The first thing she did was remove the saline from my IV, tell me I could eat whatever I wanted, and tell me I could get up to encourage labor. By this time my first dose of Cytotec had been inserted so I got on the birthing ball with some minor contractions.

Around 11 pm, the contractions were getting stronger, but they were still pretty puny. My 2nd dose of Cytotec was inserted and BAM...15 minutes later I was having STRONG contractions 2 minutes apart. There was really no warning or build up like there would have been if the labor progressed naturally. These contractions hurt sooooo bad! All that would soothe me was my chocolate pop tarts LOL!

This went on until 3 am when they informed me I was 100% effaced now, but only 3 cm dilated. AHHH...I couldn't take much more...I wanted in the water, but they said it might slow my labor if I wasn't 5 cm. At 4 am they let me in the water, but I was still only 3 cm. From 4 am to 5 am, I went from 3 cm to 8 cm WOOHOO! The water helped me to relax and let my body do its job! At about 6:40 am I started to push in the squatting position in the water. It HURT, but the squatting position was great. Once the doctor could see the baby, he had me return to the traditional position in the water. Our baby boy Hunter was born at 7:23 am on Wednesday 4/27/2011, one day before my due date. He was 7lbs 5 oz and 21 inches long. He was so beautiful! I was in labor for a little longer than 10 hours and only pushed for 45 minutes. I still got to do the water birth and natural labor with no pain killers. I was so happy!

Below are some pictures of our little bundle for your enjoyment!

Hunter right after he was born.

Hunter smiling during a diaper change :-)

Play time!

Hunter right after his first big boy bath in the tub!