I went to bed Sunday night excited for the graduation party I would be throwing my sister the next day. By 11pm I was up again. The dull pain in my lower back was just annoying enough to make sleeping difficult. I ended up on the couch, changing positions every hour trying to get comfortable. At 2:13am I was dozing in a sitting position with my feet up on the exercise ball when a sharp contraction woke me up. It wasn't too much longer before I realized I was in labor!
Knowing I would stick to my plan to labor at home as long as possible, I didn't bother waking Dave. At 3:15 he came to check on me. I was sitting on the exercise ball folding laundry. I told him I was in labor and his response was, "Let's see how things go and if I need to I'll call my receptionist in the morning to cancel patients." "No," I replied, "you are definitely canceling patients today."
We timed my contractions. They were about 5-6 minutes apart but only lasting 30-45 seconds, sometimes less. Certainly not strong enough or long enough to head for the hospital.
With nothing else to do, I sent Dave back to bed telling him one of us needed to be well rested. But he was back in the living room ten minutes later and informed me that he was going to the office to finish up some lab work and straighten his desk before he took the next few days off. When he got back we would go to the hospital. And so he left for the next hour.
While he was gone I puttered around the house tidying up, ate a little snack, and breathed through each contraction. They were getting more intense but still only lasting about 30 seconds. Dave returned at 5am and by 6:15am we were on our way. But I wondered the whole drive if it wasn't too premature to be going to the hospital. After all, I could still talk through the contractions and they only lasted about half as long as all the books say they should.
We checked in and I dressed in the hospital gown. The nurse came to hook me up to the monitors but told me she was about to finish her shift so she would send the fresh nurse in as soon as she arrived. Shannon, our labor and delivery nurse, was an angel! We are so grateful she was the one to help us through.
She introduced herself around 7am and started asking all the questions about my birth plan, pain levels, etc. When I said that the contractions were bearable and short she figured I would be dilated to about 3cm but because I was overdue they would let me stay. We were all surprised when she checked me and I was already dilated to a 7! Inwardly I was so grateful I had accomplished the first part of my plan to stay home as long as possible. Shannon could feel the baby's head in the birth canal and a bulging sack of waters that was still intact.
I spent about 20 minutes on the fetal monitor (the baby's heart rate was doing great!) and 40 minutes walking the room of every hour for the next few hours. At 10am a resident doctor came in and broke the sack of waters. Because the baby's head was so far down he plugged the hole and only a trickle came out. After that the contractions really started intensifying.
I was walking the floors and eating flavored ice when a particularly painful contraction came on. I flew to the sink, spit out the ice, and held on to the counter for dear life as I breathed through the contraction. It soon subsided but it wasn't long before the next one hit and I could feel an intense pressure down below -- like I needed to push. I worked through it but that pressure increased over the next two contractions and I finally told Dave what was going on. He ran for Shannon.
At 11:30ish she put me in bed and asked one of the other nurses to call our doctor. When she heard that he was still at his clinic and the resident doctor had gone to the O.R. she panicked slightly but still got me ready to deliver a baby and said it was time to push. I'm not sure my body was entirely ready to push but at this point I was in enough pain I was losing control and all I could do was follow instructions. So, on the next contraction, I pushed.
I pushed through about three contractions before the resident arrived and by the next contraction the doctor was there. I kept pushing and they could see the baby's head crowning but it was a little stuck. That's when it was decided to give me an episiotomy. Again, I don't recall them asking if they could do it. Maybe they did but those moments are all a blur. On the next contraction there was a terrible burning sensation - I'm pretty sure that was the cut. Then the following contraction and push brought a great sense of relief. Our little Benjamin was born at 12:18pm with a gush of water following him!
They immediately put him on my chest. He was so perfect! His eyes were open and he was relatively calm. I couldn't stop looking at this beautiful little boy that we had fought so hard to get. The doctor started stitching me up and the nurses wanted to weigh and measure the baby but I wouldn't let them take him from me until the doctor had finished -- I needed a diversion from this new pain.
I counted his fingers and marveled at his delicate features and the dark hair that covered the back of his head (not so much on top). We did it! Finally, after two years of doctors, countless medications, hundreds of needle pricks, and overwhelming heartache, we had our little baby. What a blessing! The Lord had heard our prayers and been extremely merciful sending us our perfect little Benjamin.
