My Birth Story

My due date was November 26, 2009.  Which also happen to be Thanksgiving Day.  I however, had told my doctor that the baby would not be coming until the next week.  I had been diagnosed with gestational diabetes, and therefore, she wouldn't allow me to go more than 1 week past my due date.  I told her that I thought the baby would come on the 4th of December.  And since that was 1 week past my due date, she said if this baby doesn't come out on it's own by December 4th, we're inducing you that morning.  So Thanksgiving day came and went.  My sister was in town visiting and was trying everything she could to get me into labor.  I even went bowling that Saturday.  But to no avail.  I went back to work on that Monday.  On Tuesday, my boss calls me and tell me that he is sending me home.  Tells me to take the next few days off to prepare for baby.  The next few days are spent walking around the mall, Target, and anywhere else I could stand to be to try and start labor, but this kid was not coming out for anything!  Thursday night rolls around and my husband and I are sitting on the couch looking at each other, thinking "ZOMG!  This is our last night as just us...tomorrow is the big day!"  At around 11:00 PM he tells me that we should head to bed and try to get some sleep because I'll need my energy tomorrow.  We head into our room and get changed.  As I lay down, I feel this minor pain in my side.  At first I think nothing of it.  But then there is another one and it's more in my abdomen.  So I lay there a little longer, but by 11:30 I know I'm in labor.  I tell my husband to stay in bed and get some sleep so that one of us is rested.  I get up and just walk around the house, so some laundry, some light cleaning, anything to keep busy.  I work through the contractions pretty well.  Around 3:30 AM I go to take a shower to see if that helps soothe the pain at all.  While in the shower I have 3 pretty strong contractions but can't really time them.  So when I get out of the shower, I ask my husband to get up with me and time my contractions as I can't anymore.  They're pretty intense, but not regularly spaced.  Around 5:00, we decide that even though I'm in labor and could probably do more laboring at home before going in, our appointment to go in for an induction is at 5:30.  Since I don't always have the best of luck, I figure I better go in, because the second I decide to stay home, the contractions would stop and I miss my induction appointment.  So we call my friend Elizabeth who is our pseudo-doula and tell her that we're heading to the hospital and that she can come and meet us whenever she likes.  I also call our friend Virginia and ask her to pick up some donuts for the nurses and then come and meet us at the hospital. (You gotta keep the nurses happy!)  The ride to the hospital sucked.  Not because it took too long or anything, but because hitting bumps in the middle of a contraction really BLOWS!!!  We get to the hospital and I walk myself in to the ER to check in. They won't let me walk myself up to the maternity wing, so I wait for someone to wheel me up in the wheelchair.  We get to our room and the nurses get me all checked in and hand me my FABULOUS hospital attire.  I should have been walking a runway in that!  Ha ha.  I had talked to my doctor about how I didn't want an epidural if possible.  And about how I wanted to be able to move around as much as possible when I was laboring.  The nurses were accommodating as much as possible.  They got me hooked up to my IVs and to the baby monitor to make sure everything was moving along OK.  They checked me at 6:00 and said I was at 3cm.  My doctor was scheduled to come in at 7:00 to start the induction, but the nurses thought I may be able to avoid pitocin since I was already in labor.  At 7:00 when my doctor came, she broke my water and checked me and I was already at 6cm.  She gave me the news that she thought I would be delivering this baby before noon.  For the next hour, I played video games on the PS3 in between contractions to keep me occupied.  My husband was amazing at keeping me laughing in between contractions as well.  He tried to make me laugh during a contraction...but quickly learned that it wasn't a good idea!  As my labor progressed and things got more intense, I tried several different positions to keep me as comfortable as possible.  I spent some time on the floor on all fours and that seemed to help a lot.  Around 9:30, they checked me again, and it seemed I had stalled out as I was only 6 1/2 cm.  So the nurse decided she was going to give me a little pitocin to kick start things again.  I now have a pure hatred of pitocin.  The contractions were instantly magnified and so much more painful. I moved to the bed again and knelt backwards and held onto the back of the bed.  I would fall asleep in between contractions.  Around 10:00 AM I told the nurse that I needed to push.  She checked me and said that I was at 9 1/2 cm and that I couldn't push yet.  I told her that she better get the doctor, because I'm pushing and there wasn't anything she could do to stop me.  She kept telling me that I didn't need to push yet and that I needed to wait.  Finally, my friend Elizabeth was able to convince her to call the doctor.  The doctor walked in at 10:30 AM.  She started to put on her gear and and I told her that I needed to push, she said go ahead.  I beared down and pushed for 3 rounds of counting to 10.  I am pretty sure that this is when I screamed "Holy Shit!" and my doctor replied "They don't call it the ring of fire for nothing, honey!"  I beared down 1 more time and in one fell swoop the baby flew out.  The doctor proclaimed "It's a GIRL!" (We didn't find out the gender of the baby as there are no real surprises left in life anymore other than that one)  Ms Delaney Rae entered the world at 10:50 AM.  I pushed for a total of 10 minutes.  2 total pushes.  I told that stupid nurse I needed to push!  Delaney weighed in at 8 lbs 2 oz. She was 21 inches long.  She had a good set of lungs and was wide awake!  I did end up with a 3rd degree tear, but, in the end, the pain was worth the gain!  As my husband placed Delaney on my chest for the first time my heart swelled and so did my eyes.  How could I possibly love something so little, so much.  She just looked into my eyes and calmed down and settled in for some quality snuggle time with mommy and daddy.  That day will forever be burned into my mind.