So it all started the morning of June 30th. I had woken up at around 4 am needing to go to the bathroom but afterwards, I couldn't go back to sleep because I was so uncomfortable. I had a couple contractions but not much. Adam woke up too and couldn't fall back asleep so he kept me company for a bit. Around 5, my contractions started getting consistent and stronger with some back pain. This went on for a couple hours so I texted our doula Meagan to let her know this probably was it. After another few contractions, we texted her to come over and help with the labor and then after another couple contractions, we just told her to meet us at the hospital haha.
We got there about a quarter after 8 and they did a check and I was at 2 cm. I had been at 2 a couple days before at my doctor's appointment so they asked if I wanted to stay or go home. I felt like this was a weird question because my contractions were still a few minutes apart. I asked the nurse how I would know to go back to the hospital when the usual indication (close contractions) was already happening haha. She couldn't tell me so I decided to just stay. Meagan got to the hospital and we just worked on hypnobirthing scripts while I labored. After a couple hours of laboring (around 11 am), I was checked again and was at 4 cm so they officially admitted me. My doctor came in as well and we decided to just keep laboring naturally.
I did a little bit of laboring on the exercise ball and just standing and walking but around noon, I decided to labor in the bathtub. I had decided to do wireless monitoring but it was a struggle to get Teddy's heartbeat. He was kind of diagonal inside me and kept on moving so as soon as they got the right spot, he wiggled away. So throughout labor, they kept coming in and trying to hold the monitors in place. At around a quarter after 2, the water got cold so I decided to get checked while I waited for the tub to refill. Sadly I was still at a 4 so I went back in the tub to continue laboring.
At 3:30, I got out of the bath. I was feeling quite a bit discouraged that labor wasn't progressing very well. I was super tired and struggling to stay focused. We all talked with the nurse about what options I had in terms of pain management and trying to get labor moving. Most likely they'd want to start pitocin and/or break my water if I got an epidural. I was super scared about the epidural after getting a spinal headache with Eli so I didn't know what to do. I got some time to talk privately with Adam about it all. Everyone kept repeating that it was up to me which didn't make it easier haha. We talked about what made Eli's birth so hard because I was worried another difficult birth would lead to postpartum depression again. One thing I knew I wanted was to be present during and after delivery. I didn't want to be so completely exhausted and broken by the time I met Teddy and that was the most important thing for me. Dr. Huggins had said that the bath could've possibly slowed my labor so I decided to wait a bit longer but I was more comfortable with the idea of interventions.
At 4:30, they checked me again and I was only at a 4 1/2. I was super discouraged and tired of listening to hypnobirthing scripts so Adam suggested we try to more upbeat music. So basically we had a dance party while I bounced on the ball and listened to music. With every contraction, we would pause and switch gears back to relaxing and Meagan would give me counter pressure. After awhile, I felt like the contractions were getting worse and I was struggling to handle them so I decided to get an epidural.
Around 6, the anesthetist came to get the epidural set up. I was super anxious because I hate needles and having to hold perfectly still while having intense contractions as a needle goes into your back is the worse thing ever. Once he got it in, I started to feel like I was going to pass out and my blood pressure dramatically dropped. They hurried to lay me down and they gave me some medicine in my IV to raise my blood pressure but that made my heart race and it felt like a panic attack. Luckily though, Teddy stayed fine during the whole process. The problem then became that I was only feeling the epidural in my left leg. So my whole right side, back, and my abdomen could feel every contraction still. They tried laying me on my right side to help it work more evenly and it helped a little bit but I still felt it all. At 7, the anesthetist came back in and upped the dosage which made it help a little in my crotch and back but my entire abdomen felt contractions still. This made it super difficult to consciously relax my muscles during contractions because I felt some parts but not others so the contractions felt worse.
At 7:30, they started the lowest possible pitocin drip and the craziness ensued. Teddy's heart rate decreased because of it so they stopped it. Ten minutes later, Meagan came back from her dinner break and saw nurses rushing in. Teddy's heart rate was staying too low so everyone started to worry. They checked me again and I was at a 5 1/2 and very thin. I didn't really know what was going on but they had me on my side, gave me oxygen, and kept telling me to take deep breaths. At 7:47, Dr. Huggins came in and said she needed to break my water because Teddy's heart rate wasn’t going up and there were times where they couldn't get a reading. During this time, they hadn't really told me what was going on so I was confused. Meagan told me about the heart rate issue and that we needed to speed things up. Dr. Huggins broke my water and I was still at a 5 1/2 so she and Meagan were worried that she'd have to do a c-section. Dr. Huggins placed an internal fetal monitor in Teddy's head to make sure we had a good reading but the heart rate was still low. As her hand was still inside of me holding the monitor in place, she then had a look of shock, her hand jutted out by a couple inches and said the baby was coming now. Her hand had been pushed out by Teddy's head. Adam and I were super confused because it had been just a minute before that she said I was at a 5 1/2. I felt my body starting to push and all I could do was keep yelling out "what is happening?!" haha. Adam was confused and so he looked and saw Teddy's head. He then kind of grabbed my face so I could focus and told me that Teddy was coming right now and he could see his head. I pushed for a contraction and his head was out and the shoulders came the next push. At 7:53, they placed Teddy on my chest and I was in shock. After the placenta was delivered and I calmed down, they had to explain to me what happened. Apparently after breaking my water and while Dr. Huggins' hand was inside of me, she felt my cervix go from 5 cm to 10 cm in a second. SO crazy!! Teddy was perfectly healthy and didn't seem to have any effects from the heart rate issue and also there didn't seem to be any reason for the deceleration other than the pitocin. I was just so grateful to have Teddy outside of me and finally be done with pregnancy and birth!
Postpartum went pretty smoothly minus the epidural lingering for a long time and so I fell when they made me go to bathroom and they didn't take my word for it that my leg was still numb. Breastfeeding went pretty much the same way that it did with Wesley but a couple weeks after birth, he got the hang of it. So that's his story! It was definitely unforgettable haha.
