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| Landon Kerry Heber 7 pounds 14 ounces 19 inches born at 4:35 a.m. |
First off, this is not how I expected my labor and delivery to go. I felt I would go early, I also thought it would go quickly but not this early and not this quickly.
Sunday, even after sleeping really well, I was sooo tired. Could not keep my eyes open tired. Not regular I have 2 small children and I'm pregnant tired. Literally could not keep my eyes open tired. As I tried to figure out what was wrong with me throughout the day I remembered being sooo tired the day before Tate was born too. I thought that maybe this is my body's way of getting me to get enough sleep to have enough energy to deliver a baby the next day but I also didn't want to get my hopes up (or anyone else's) so I didn't say anything.
Monday morning I woke up at my usual 2 a.m. to go to the bathroom. As I got up I felt a slight leak. I assumed it was just pee since my bladder was crazy full and any movement usually makes me pee a little bit (pregnancy problems). I went to the bathroom and after I emptied my bladder, every time I moved a small amount of liquid would come out. I wasn't sure if this was amniotic fluid or urine. I sat and tried to figure it out a for a few minutes but could never come to a definitive answer but I did decide to stay up for a little bit to see if anything happened.
Around 2:45 or 3 I started having what I was pretty sure were contractions but I'm always second guessing myself because I don't want to go to the hospital and have them send me home. Also, I've never had contractions without my water breaking (and therefore knowing for sure that I am in labor) or being induced (and also knowing for sure I am in labor). Also, I've never felt early labor contractions. When I feel contractions we're at the active labor stage and my contractions come hard and fast. About 3:15 I decided we should probably go to the hospital so I woke Anthony up and told him to shower. I called my mom around 3:30 and asked her to come over and stay with the kids. She arrived at 4:08 and by this time I was convinced the contractions were going to kill me before I made it to the hospital.
As we drove I continued to have contractions about 2-3 minutes apart and lasting for 30 seconds to a little over a minute. This drive was the longest 20 minutes of my life.
We made it to the hospital and Anthony dropped me off at the front door. I waddled myself up to the second floor, rang the bell and told the lady I was in labor. Anthony caught up to me at this time and we headed into the labor and delivery floor. The lady was asking me all kinds of stupid questions about insurance and my name and other things that I didn't have time for. I will talk to you after these death contractions are taken care of, okay? Pretty quickly another nurse took over and got me to our room. I went to the bathroom to get changed, which was a daunting task given the severity of my contractions. It took me a few minutes to even attempt getting changed but I finally did so and made it to the bed.
At this time the nurses were putting on my hospital bracelets and monitors and I'm convulsing in agony. A nurse asks me if I'd like an epidural and while in my head I thought "Duh! Obviously." I managed to answer with a much nicer "Yes, please." The head nurse tells me she's going to check me and then says "Oh, you're complete. The head is right there. You're not going to have time for an epidural." Hoping she was joking I asked "Really?!" She gave me the affirmative and I continued to writhe in pain and whimper that I couldn't do it. The nurse told me I had already done the hard part (contractions) and that I could do it. I didn't believe her.
The announcement that I was complete sent the nurses into action, trying to get the room ready, making sure the doctor had been called, etc. Soon after this I had to push. I think I apologized but told the nurse I had to push. Two pushes later, Landon was here and all the pain was gone. This is about when the doctor made it into my room, sorry you missed the party. I tore a bit with the delivery so the doctor sewed me back up and delivered the placenta. This part was not super painful but it was uncomfortable. At this point I was shaking and it was difficult for me to control my lower half. The muscles were all very tense. The doctor kept telling me to relax and I had to keep telling him I was trying. It was difficult. Having always been completely numb with my previous deliveries, this was a part that was just background noise. I had just had some serious trauma and the doctor is now sewing me up (which I did get some local anesthetic and those shots hurt like crazy) and also pulling on the umbilical cord to help deliver the placenta.
I don't think that I will ever choose to have an unmedicated birth again but it's nice to know that I could do it if I wanted/needed to.
Because he came so quickly, he had some breathing problems early on. The doctors were worried it was fluid in his lungs or that he could possibly have an infection but it turned out that he just was a grunty breather for the first day or so.
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| Minutes old |
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| Landon had this giant IV the whole time we were in the hospital just in case they needed it. They never did. |
We really sucked at taking pictures in the hospital. I'm blaming the trauma of the whole unmedicated birth thing.
