Ben's Birth Story

The last doctors appointment I had was for my routine 37 week check-up.  That was on Friday the 6th.  My doctor told me that I was 1cm dialated, 70% effaced and he was stationed at a +2.  She also went through what to do if I went into labor over the weekend and that she would be on call Friday and Saturday.    I left the appointment not too optimistic that we would be calling or seeing her.  Friday continued as usual, we went to lunch, made dinner, grabbed some ice cream and decided we should probably place the car seat in the car, just in case....I woke up Saturday around 1am feeling really crampy and just not myself.  The cramps continued for the rest of the day and after reading all of my pregnancy books as well as checking a couple of websites on google I came to the conclusion that they were most likely contractions.  At that point they were nothing to be worried about.  They were not consistant, just more annoying than anything.  I went to bed that night with inconsistant contractions and the feeling that Sunday was not going to be fun day.  Sunday I woke up at 3am and my conclusion was correct.  At that point I had contactions every 20 minutes.  I sat on the couch dowstairs and managed to get some sleep in between each one.  I headed back upstairs around 6am to let Dan know that they were a lot worse than yesterday and timing about 10 - 12 minutes a part.  As the day went on the contractions grew stronger, back pain started as well as some vomiting.  I spent most of the day in the pool, which was the only place that made me feel any slight relief.  Dan was amazing during the whole process.  He started getting laundry done, cleaned the house, got our hospital bags ready, rubbed my back when I asked and played some funny movies for me.  It wasnt until 6pm that night that they were 4-5 minutes a part.  Once this happend for an hour we decided now was the time to head to the hospital.  Dan packed the car up, we locked Toshi in the bedroom and headed out.

When we arrived at the hospital I was really excted to hear I was already 5cm dialated, half way there!  We were admitted and headed off to our delivery room.  The contractions continued to get worse, but were still manageable.  After about 2 and a half hours I was re-checked, only to find out I was barley 6cm dialated.  The doctor asked to break my water, which we declined.  We opted to wait another 30 minutes to see if it would happen naturally.  My water broke about 20 minutes later and that's when they real pain started.  I thought the contractions before were awful but they were nothing compared to the ones I felt after my water broke.  It felt like only minutes went by after my water broke to the first intense contraction.  I could not catch my breath or relax, the pain was more than I could handle.  Dan tried so hard to get me to relax but they were so close together by the time I was able to catch my  breath another one started again.  At that point my entire birth plan went out the window.  I pretty much begged for the epidural.  As much as I wanted to deliver naturally the lack of sleep for the past day as well as food was finally catching up to me, not to mention the pain was more than I could handle.  After making it to 7cm the epidural was administered.  Everything went great after that.  I was still able to feel the contractions but they were not nearly as strong as before.  I was also able to get some rest in before I had to push.  At 1:40am the pushing began, it took about an hour for him to crown which is when the doctor came in.  Even though she was not my usual physician she was a great doctor.  They never turned the lights on or put my legs in stirrups.  She sat calmly at the end of the bed and at 3:23am I was able to grab the baby and pull him onto my chest as he was being born.
Our birth plan did not work out as planned.  I still wish I could have had him naturally, however I do not regret the epidural and am very thankful it was available to me.  We are so thankful to have a happy, healthy baby boy.  We are having so much fun watching him grow each day.