Henry's Journey Part 2: Hospital

I had been laboring for something like 16 hours when we left for the hospital. In the car with my mom and Lawrence, I knelt in the front seat facing the back. As my mom drove the ten minutes to the hospital, I squeezed Lawrence's hand and breathed through each contraction. At the hospital, I climbed out of the car and slowly shuffled into the ER. Check in took what felt like forever. Maria, Lawrence and Katrina waited in the waiting area while my mom and Dawn, the midwife, went with me to deal with intake. While we waited for someone to take us to labor and delivery, I asked Dawn, almost desperately, how long would it be until I saw the anesthesiologist. She kindly informed me, with a chuckle, that as soon as they got half a bag of IV fluids into me, the anesthesiologist would come put the epidural in. With all the paperwork taken care of and my question answered, a nurse came with a wheel chair and lead the way to labor and delivery, or what we thought was labor and delivery. As we arrived in the room, another nurse rushed in and told me to stay put in the wheel chair.We were in the L&D intake room where they usually decided whether a woman was far enough along to be properly admitted but they knew I was at least 7cm and in active labor so I could go straight to a delivery room.
Up we went, two floors, to the room I was to deliver Henry in. Our arrival was marked with a flurry of activity. Someone helped me into a hospital gown, they put on fetal and maternal monitors and, after some struggle, they got an IV into my hand. Throughout all of this, I'm having intense contractions. At some point, the nurse midwife who was on call, checked my cervix to find that during the trip I had dilated to 8 1/2 cm. They asked if I wanted to skip the epidural since I was progressing. I almost laughed and told them to bring on the anesthesiologist. While we waited for the IV fluids to flow, I continued to labor. I had given up on staying on to of the contractions and had begun getting loud and thrashing.
Finally, the anesthesiologist came in. I had to sit up (they had me on my back) and scooch the the edge of the bed, which was a challenge. The anesthesiologist asked me several questions that I can't recall and got to work poking into my spine. Within minutes, the pain melted away. With the epidural's effectiveness confirmed, the nurse turned down the monitors, Dawn and Katrina took their leave so they could get some sleep, a bed was made up for Lawrence, mom and Maria settled into chairs, the lights were turned low and we all laid back for some much earned rest.
I dozed in between contractions. For those of you who don't know, an epidural takes away the pain but not the sensation so I could still feel the contractions, they just didn't hurt. I don't know how long we got to rest but it felt like it wasn't nearly enough time. At a certain point, the contractions started feeling a little pushy but instead of calling the nurse, I decided to ignore the sensation in the hopes of getting more rest. Not more than fifteen minutes later, the nurse midwife was in the room telling me I had to start pushing. I had someone page Dawn. When she called back, she said she'd come back to the hospital if I wanted her to but the most she could do was hold my hand because she didn't have privileges at the hospital. I let her go back to sleep and let the nurse midwife that I was prepared to start pushing.
The midwife called Lawrence and my mom over so they could hold my legs up for me, the epidural not allowing me to move on my own, and I began trying to get Henry out of me. With every contraction, I would bear down with all my strength but it felt like nothing was happening. After some time, my mom became lightheaded and had to sit down so Maria took over holding my leg as I continued to push. This continued awhile longer, still not feeling like I was making any progress. Finally, the nurse came in and took over for Maria who was getting lightheaded (mind you, Lawrence was still holding my leg like a champ). The nurse also gave me the key to getting Henry out. After observing me push a couple times, the nurse told me to take a deep breath before each push and hold it like I was going under water. With that advise in my head, things got moving. Every push got Henry closer and closer. As he was crowning, the midwife asked for my hand, which I initially refused to give her, being too involved in pushing, but relented after being asked again, feeling Henry's head for the first time. While he was crowning, I remember thinking when it was that they could grab him and pull him the rest of the way out because I just wanted him out. Soon, though, Henry's head was out. A couple more pushes brought his shoulders and next thing I knew, Henry was on my chest, crying his lungs out.
It was the best feeling on the planet, having my newborn on my chest. I held him as we waited for his cord to stop pulsing, the nurse and midwife cleaning him up as best they could. They asked Lawrence if he wanted to cut the cord and he said no. The midwife then told him he was cutting the cord and handed him the scissors. Once the cord was cut, they took Henry from me to properly clean him up and do the standard newborn stuff. My boy weighed 6lbs 8oz and was 19 1/2 in long. I birthed the placenta and since I had torn a little bit, the midwife gave me a couple stitches. Lawrence, mom and Maria passed Henry around once he was clean. Nurses cleaned me up and I finally got Henry back to try to nurse him. At some point, I got to eat a sandwich too. Eventually, we were taken to a postpartum room where mom and Maria setup and bed for Lawrence. The moms left and we finally got some sleep, with our new son sleeping in his bassinet next to my bed.

Henry's Journey Part 1: Home

It was 3:30 am and I had to pee. This was nothing new. I had gotten up a couple hours before to pee. This time was different though. There was my mucus plug, also known as bloody show. I tried not to get excited. A woman could loose her mucus plug up to a week before going into labor. Sure, I'd been wishing for labor to start all week. Henry was due in three days and had run out of room. So back to bed I went. An hour later, I woke again with mild discomfort in the uterine area. Just wishful thinking, go back to sleep. This continued until 7am, waking with discomfort then going back to sleep. Finally, I decided I really was in labor.
"Honey, I'm pretty sure I'm in labor."
"I'm not surprised."

Lawrence tried to get me to go back to sleep so I could get as much rest as possible while in early labor but laying down was getting uncomfortable. I got up and started pacing our little living room. I heard Maria getting ready for work in the other part of the house. I debated weather or not to let her know what was going on but decided against it since I still wasn't sure I really was in labor. At 8, though, I decided it was the real thing and time to let the world know that things were getting real. I called my mom who had a doctor's appointment but would come over afterwards. I texted the midwife and my sister. I also told Facebook and Lawrence let his mom know. The midwife texted back that she wanted me to come in to check my blood pressure because it had been high over the past week. So, with Lawrence up, he and I headed over to the midwife's office. It was fun, trying to give Lawrence driving directions in between contractions.

The midwife checked my blood pressure and it was down from the week before. Hurray! That meant we could still try a home birth. She also did a cervical check; 4.5 cm. I was also most half way there. She sent us back home with instructions to call her when the contractions got to 411, four minutes apart, one minute long, for one hour.

Back at home, I turned on Friends, as it had been my plan to marathon the show through early labor. Both my mom and Maria arrived. I delegated communication with my sister to my mom while Maria began cleaning the house. All the while, my contractions got stronger and stronger. I tried to time them myself but that began to get difficult. Lawrence then took over timing contractions. What felt like was very quickly, we got to the 411 point and called the midwife. She sent over her midwifery student, Katrina, since she had an appointment. What I remember about Katrina's arrival was her advice as to how to deal with the contractions.  I had been making very high pitched noises during each contractions up until that point. Katrina reminded me to make low and loose noises to help keep other thing loose.

The contractions continued to get worse and closer together. I labored on the toilet, while leaning on a yoga ball, lounging on our love seat and pacing the living room. I don't really remember a lot of labor. I do remember being really mean to Lawrence, not letting him soothe me or even talk to me during a contractions. Evening approached and the midwife arrived. It seemed to me that everyone sat around as I labored. Unbeknownst to me, part of our bedroom had flooded and everyone took care of it without me really noticing.

Eventually, the midwife did another cervical check. After many hours of labor, I was only 7 cm. It was time for some interventions. They broke my water and gave me some herbs that were supposed to help. The contractions got worse, near unbearable because of the pressure of Henry's head on my cervix. The pain radiated to my back and down my legs. All I could do during each contraction was breath. In between, I just wanted to sleep. I had been laboring for over 15 hours after not getting a full night's sleep, I was exhausted. This went on for a couple hours. The midwife tried to get me in bed for another cervical check several times but I refused. Finally, I was coaxed into my bed only to find nothing had changed. The midwife and Katrina conferred and came back with a suggestion; we go to the hospital. I was stalled, exhausted and my blood pressure was on the rise so they thought an epidural would help me get some rest before I got Henry out. They left Lawrence and I to discuss this. At this point, going to the hospital had crossed my mind several time and now the midwife was telling me she thought it was a good idea. There was no discussion, we were going to the hospital.

We announced our decision and everyone started getting ready to move out. Lawrence and my mom helped me pack a bag, the midwife loaded her gear in her car and made some phone calls and we decided who was driving with who. I insisted that someone drive Lawrence and me so he could continue to get his hands squeezed every contraction. So Lawrence and I got in my mom's car, the midwife got in her car and Katrina and Maria got into Katrina's car. We all pulled out and headed to St Joesph's Hospital.