Parker's Birth

So, I sometimes read this blog called Raising Olives, and she posted some of her birth stories- years after the births. I liked the idea of telling the birth story with some perspective added by years, and not in the haze of newborn-no-sleep time right after the birth.

So, in celebration of Parker's third birthday here is the story of his birth- with lots of detail, skip over it if you want.

I was due December 22nd. I had been told repeatedly that they would induce me NO LATER than December 28th, if I went past due.

During my final weeks I was not dilating, not effacing, not even 'ripening'-- so my doctor GUARANTEED me that I would have a C-Section. But I wanted to at least try for a vaginal delivery. So he tried to stretch my cervix- painful but useless, still no progress.

Well my due date came and went

Me on December 22nd

I had my last Doctors appointment on Thursday, December 27th- one day before my promised induction date. My Doctor was unavailable, so I saw someone else, and she told me we were good to go for the induction on January 8th. WHAT!?!?!

"Excuse me I think you mean December 28th"

"No, You're fine, we'll wait until January."

I very nearly punched her.

Then she decided to send me to the hospital across the street for a NST since I was past my due date. Well, when they hooked me up my blood pressure was high. Mrs. "we'll induce in January" had bugged me enough to make my blood pressure skyrocket. So between the high blood pressure and Parker's heart rate changes with each contraction (common in past due babies) they told me to come back at 9pm and be induced.

Hallelujah!

So I went home had a bagel for a late lunch/early dinner and tried to get some sleep.

We went to the hospital at 9, and got admitted around 10.

Upon admission, I had a slight fever, so they gave me some antibiotics and said we would have to stay for 48 hours after the birth to make sure I didn't infect Parker with anything.

Since I was not dilating at all, they were going to the maximum dose of cervadil 3 times overnight, then start pitocin in the morning. Well, 20 minutes after the first dose, I went into labor. (I guess this is normal when you're past due)

A couple of hours later I was dilated to a 2!

They gave me a smaller dose of Cervadil and we waited and at 7 or 8 in the morning I was at a 4. They started the pitocin, got me an epidural and broke my water. With the epidural I was finally able to get a little sleep- not much, but it was something.

Just after noon I was ready to push. I was starving- I hadn't eaten anything since my small bagel for lunch the day before. But I had to push the baby out first. Well, when I was pregnant with Parker, being too hungry always made me throw up. So I threw up. Repeatedly. It was painful to vomit during a contraction, I never want to do that again.

So we began pushing: Two hours, multiple vomiting episodes, an episiotomy, a 3rd degree tear and multiple sulcus tears (that means some MAJOR internal tearing) later--- Parker was born. (after 16 hours of labor.)

He was 8lbs 2oz and 20-1/4 inches

They placed him right on my chest while they cleaned him off and Jason declined cutting the umbilical cord. (Jason doesn't like blood or anything like that) The first thing he did was start sticking out his tongue repeatedly, like a little lizard.

I spent the next hour getting stitched up while Parker got a clean bill of health except for a transitory heart murmur- which I guess is very common and it 'cleared up' very quickly. So all was well.

During my extended 'getting stiches' time my epidural wore off. The tearing hurt badly enough, but I could also feel the doctor doing the stitches.

I told the nurse that it hurt and she said "No, it doesn't- You just feel pressure and pulling"

 "No," I said "I feel pain"

The argument continued for a minute until the Doctor interrupted and told her to get me some pain meds. She was a crabby fat little lady nurse and I didn't like her- she continued to annoy me during my stay in the L&D Room.

Finally, I was stitched up and ready to hold my baby. And he was perfect.
Soon, we had some visitors:

And we survived the next 48 hours in the hospital, even though we were constantly woken by nurses. Parker lost 10% of his body weight which is the maximum "healthy" amount to lose so they asked us to supplement a little. And he ended up being just fine.

We were a new little family and it was awesome.