Beware, there are discussions of bodily fluids and needles below. If you don't want to read about it, don't. Also, about 50% of this post has to do with the timing of Miles' arrival and my pregnancy, not the actual birth.
From the time I found out I was pregnant, my goal was to go in to labor on my own and to not have to have a c-section. I made that known to my doctor and she said that was fine, so long as both me and the baby were healthy and happy. It seems like everyone I know of was being induced and I didn't want to be one of those people who got induced because they just got uncomfortable and impatient. So the pregnancy progressed normally until week 26, when I did my glucose test, and hooray, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I tried following the diabetic diet given to me by the nutritionist, but it wasn't working for me. Being who I am, I did some "research" on the internet and after being terrified because I was predisposing myself and my kid to type 2 diabetes and obesity along with the increased chances of having a large baby (and therefore increased chances of c-section) my doctor suggested I cut out all carbs, and so I did. I didn't eat (much) bad stuff and actually lost weight through the 2nd half of my pregnancy. Baby continued to grow, and he even continued to measure a little big. One of the highlights of all my doctor visits was when I expressed concern (my dr. probably saw it as obsessive concern) over having a big baby, she said "Well, you could always take up smoking. That's shown great results at causing small babies." At that moment, I knew she understood my absurdity, and how to deal with me.
So pregnancy continued on rather normal for a few more weeks until I went in for a monthly appointment at week 32, and my blood pressure was high. (like 145/79 ish) Dr. said that I had to go to the lab, let them draw some blood and do a 24 hour urine collection. When I asked how I was supposed to do that at work, she laughed and said "oh, you're not going to work." Since I was about a month away from starting the largest project I had ever planned that was simply not going to do. (Don't doctors understand that overachieving people like me get more stressed out by NOT being at work!?) So I did my lab collections and the results said that I didn't have preeclampsia (technically) but that I was on the edge. Doctor's orders were to have blood pressure checks 2x/week, ultrasounds 1x/week, dr. appointments and 24 hour collections 1x/2 weeks. Yay. (not...)
Because I work with mostly men, and they're all basically terrified of pregnant women just dropping the kid out unannounced, (or they're concerned for my health) I compromised with my boss that I would work 2 days a week from home and 3 from work (he wanted me at home all the time). This allowed me to continue working and to wrap up everything I needed to, but still get my rest and do all my doctor appointment stuff without the stress of driving to work afterwards. This worked well for about 5 weeks at which point I went in for an ultrasound, and the tech stressed me out by saying "this is a BIG baby." After that, I was convinced Dr. Davis was going to make me be induced that week. Instead (because my BP and protein were up) she just made me stop going to work and actually sit at home and go insane/rest. Apparently she wanted me to actually rest on my 2 days/week off and not clean the house/run errands/other stuff. So bed rest GREATLY helped my blood pressure and protein, and my labs almost looked like I didn't actually have preeclampsia.
**(Jump forward to 1 week post-partum, I get readmitted to the hospital for preeclampsia and they give me a magnesium sulfate drip. Note to all pregnant women: avoid MgSO4 drips at all costs. They give it to you for pre-term labor and to deal with preeclampsia. It's miserable. Imagine being on the verge of a migraine as long as you're on the drip and radiating heat. You can't sleep because you're so uncomfortable, and nothing works for pain.)**
So lots of details, none about Miles' birth, and all about the timing. We did the weekly ultrasound and Dr. appointment thing for a couple more weeks, each time pushing off the decision with whether to induce or not because I REALLY didn't want to be induced, and Dr. Davis was fine with it as long as both the baby and I were healthy. Week 38 came along, and I was still doing fine and trying everything possible to go into labor on my own (except Castor oil). Nothing had worked, so we waited out the weekend. At this point, Beau and I had decided that we should probably induce the following week so that the baby didn't get to big, and so that my preeclampsia could be managed. Induction scheduled for Thursday, August 11 at 5:30 AM.
Beau and I didn't sleep much Wednesday night. I woke up at 4:20 to call the hospital to make sure they had room for me. They did, so I took my antibacterial soap shower and prepared to go to the hospital. We left the house a little later than we should have because we had to take the "Last picture as a duo" picture. We got to the hospital around 5:40, did the paperwork thing and went on up to labor and delivery. The nurse got my IV started on the 2nd try (and after me vomiting) and the pitocin drip started.
Christy came to keep Beau and me company about 9. Around 10:30, Dr. Davis came in, decided I looked WAAAY to comfortable and broke my water. Christy warned me that it was pretty gross when she had hers broken with David, but I was not prepared. I was totally disgusted and every time I moved more fluid would come out and it grossed me out even more. I am definitely glad that didn't happen to me in public. Breaking my water definitely increased my pain (because instead of a head pushing through a nice cushion of amniotic fluid, it's pushing directly on your cervix). I labored unmedicated until about 4:30, and didn't progress much at all (like 2 cm's all day...). Throughout the day my blood pressure had been on the high end of things and seemed to be increasing. Around 4:30, I decided I needed my epidural, and after a bag of fluids, got it. The epidural seemed to take effect almost immediately, and I was smiling by the time that Beau and Christy came back into the room.
I was able to rest some after getting the epidural. Dr. Davis came by and checked on me around 5:30, and I was still not progressing well. My day nurse prepped me for the potential of having a c-section if I continued not to dilate. I discussed with Dr. Davis and she basically said she'd let me labor as long as I wanted as long as both me and the baby were ok. At some point I developed a fever, which caused the baby's heart rate to get high. All I saw were high numbers, and I got really concerned. When Dr. Davis returned around 9 pm (after watching the finale of SYTCD and tucking her girls in), I was very stressed out by the baby's heart rate, and still hadn't progressed much and told her that I was ok with a c-section if that needed to be done (because I was worried that I was hurting the baby). She told me that my fever caused the baby's high heart rate, and that she wasn't worried with it -- we just needed to get my fever down. In the next hour or so, I (finally) progressed from around a 4 or 5 to 8 cm and fully effaced. At some point, I got a little nauseous and asked the nurse for some juice. She brought it to me, then realized I was nauseous and told me not to drink it since I was probably nauseous because I was going through transition (from 8 cm to 10 cm). Lo and behold, she was right and I was at 10 cm. Dr. Davis wanted me to "labor down" but in the next 20ish minutes, I had a lot of pressure in my bottom. There was some concern about the baby not being turned the right way because I was feeling pressure in my tailbone. As it turns out, his head was just a little off center, but facing the right way. At some point, I felt what I thought was the urge to push, so I informed my nurse. She checked me and said that we'd start pushing.
As I recall, I pushed for about 45 minutes, and got all kinds of "atta girls" for good pushing (Do they do that to everyone? I feel like they must...). At some point birth became imminent, and they started doing all the room set-up/prep stuff. I was pretty focused on pushing, but Beau tells me (and I sorta remember) that the transition nurse for Miles wasn't even there when he was delivered. I pushed him out at 11:24 PM, which met Dr. Davis' goal of "before midnight." Since Miles' warmer, etc wasn't ready yet Dr. Davis was just holding him and put him all gooey on my belly when I asked for him. After the nurse took him and cleaned him up, Beau brought him over to me to look at and we discussed names... I decided that he looked like a Miles instead of our other option and thus he was named Miles Andrew. Post baby delivery things happened (placenta, stitching, general clean-up, etc). Apparently my epidural ran out while they were stitching me up... Beau didn't tell me that until days later. Thankfully it takes a while to wear off.
Family came in, talked about how awesome he was, etc. We got into our mother baby room around 2:30, sent Miles to the nursery, took a short nap, my first food (since 7 pm 30 hours before...) arrived and I ate. We slept when we could, Miles got brought in, but wasn't really interested in eating so he went back to the nursery while we attempted to sleep some more.
!!!TMI ALERT!!!
The best way I can describe birth (with an epidural) is like you're taking a HUGE poop. When described that way, it seems way less daunting.
That is all I remember, and I'm glad I wrote it down because that birth amnesia thing already seems to be happening.
