The Birth Story

I don't think this is too much info, but for some of you, it might be.  Read at your own discretion.

Mystery Baby was due August 9, the day before Princess Sparkley's 10th birthday.  She REALLY wanted him to be born on her birthday, so the week before, at my doctor's appointment when the doctor asked if I wanted my membranes stripped, I said no.  With Buddy, having my membranes stripped resulted in his birth that afternoon.  With Little Guy, I had to have my membranes stripped twice, but the second time, he was born early the next morning.  I was trying to hold out for PS's birthday.  And, part of me wasn't ready to face a newborn again.  Four and a half years is a long time between kids.

My next appointment was August 9.  I'm at 1 cm.  Still.  I had my membranes stripped.  That was a Thursday.  On Saturday (August 11) we went to see Mitt Romney and his newly announcement vice presidential running mate in downtown Manassas.  It was hot.  We had to stand and walk a lot.  By the end of the event, I was having regular contractions.  I thought this was it.  They stopped.

My next appointment was for a week after my due date.  Thursday, August 16.   I'm at 2 cm.  My doctor stripped my membranes again and sent me to the hospital for a non-stress test (ultrasound on the baby checking amniotic fluid levels, etc. and hooking me up to a monitor to listen to the baby's heart, etc.).  I was also scheduled for an induction the next morning if nothing happened before then.  Since I was being induced the next morning, they also put some sort of gel to help my cervix efface.  We went to the hospital after lunch.  We get home a little after five.  I'm having contractions.  The contractions are strong and every 5-7 minutes around 7PM.  B and I go to bed at midnight.  I don't want to show up at the hospital and have to labor there for several hours.  I also don't want to wait too long and miss out on an epidural like I did with Buddy. 

Around 2 AM I can't take the pain anymore.  I've been in bed, not really sleeping for a couple of hours and the contractions have moved from every 5 minutes to every 3.  And I'm shaking.  I don't remember shaking during labor until I was at the hospital before, so I'm starting to panic that I've waited too long.  B's mom had arrived the night before so we wake her and tell her we're going to the hospital.

We check in around 2:30 and once I'm all hooked up they check me.  I'm dilated to 3 cm.  I'm disappointed that I've had all these contractions and I'm only at a 3.  I'm in a lot of pain.  I tell them I want the epidural.  I can't get the epidural until my doctor has arrived at the hospital.  The nurse finally calls my doctor again, he's close, so she gets the anesthesiologist in there to start prepping me.  I'm shaking horribly.  They can't get my blood pressure due to the shaking.

The epidural gets in.  I start going numb.  Really strongly on my right.  Not as strongly or quickly on my left.  In fact, I can still feel the contractions very painfully only on the left side of my uterus.  After the epidural is taking effect, my nurse checks me again.  I'm at a 9.  This is like with Buddy, except they checked me before the epidural and said I didn't have time for an epidural.  I'm glad this nurse checked me after.  The doctor is called in, he checks me, says he can see the bag of waters and the head is right behind it.  It'll just be a few pushes.  He goes and puts on a gown thing on top of his scrubs.  They have me start pushing.  It's sort of surreal because I can't really tell I'm pushing but they have to tell me to take it slow so I don't tear.  The head is out.  I don't really feel anything until the body is out and there's a relief of pressure, but no pain.

Mystery Baby has arrived.  Just over two hours after we got to the hospital.  Almost as quickly as Buddy (an hour and a half, I think).  Little Guy was about 5 hours.  From the time my water broke (not in labor) to Princess Sparkley being born is something like 18 or 21 hours. 

They tell us he's 7lbs. 15 oz (later, the official weight is 7 lbs. 14.6 oz.).  He's 21 ¼ inches.  Our biggest baby.  Buddy was 21 inches.  And both Buddy and Little Guy were 7 lbs. 10 oz.  Buddy was early.  Little Guy was late.  Mystery Baby is our latest baby, 1 week and 1 day overdue.